july2004
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MONTHLY HIGHHOLDER

July 2004

Vol. 3 Issue 7

300th Birthday of Bischofsreut.

Bischofsreut Invites You to it’s 300^th

Birthday Party

August 14^th, 2005

By Charles Nigl:

The year 2005, will have many celebrations throughout the year to celebrate the founding of Bischofsreut. But the main event will be the weekend of August 14th.  On this day, I believe Norbert Madl will announce the finalization of his book, which will have the genealogy of most of the Families which at one time lived or originated in Bischofsreut and the surrounding area.

The Town Council and the Organization Committee for the villages of Bischofsreut and Haidmuehle have extended an invitation to all U.S. citizens, whose ancestors formerly lived in this area, including the surrounding area, which includes Bohemia. The reason being, that after WWII, many Germans who once lived in Bohemia have now relocated in the Bischofsreut and Niederbayern area. Gary Luther and myself have talked about trying to charter a flight and thereby gain a reasonable rate for the journey to Bischofsreut. My cousin Karl Berger, has told me that if enough people make this journey, he will secure a Bus to meet us and drive the entire group to Bischofsreut. Once the major festivities have been completed in Bischofsreut, it may be possible to secure a Bus to make a journey into Bohemia,and tour the sites of the former villages and homes of the Highholders. We could also make the journey to Prague, which has kept its ancient look, from days in the past. At this time we have approximately 12 people who have expressed a desire to make this journey.

Included are the villages of:  Phillipsreut, Langreut, Bischofsreut, Haidmuehle, Kuschwarda, Schattawa, Neuthal, Uligsthal, Wolfsgrub, Rohrenberg, Elendbachl, Obermoldau, Jagerhauser, Guthausen, Haselberg, Hirschbergen, Salnau, Sonnberg, Hintring, Schonau, Boemisch Rohren, Leimsgrub, Steinriegel, Oberschneedorf, Birkenau, Schonberg, Guthausen, Landstrasser, Unterzassau, Oberzassau, and more.

If interested call Charles Nigl  

CHARLES NIGL ---website

Hi Charles,

Andreas Grims, a coordinator for the 300 years festivities sent the following, which I am translating

Dear Mr. Luther.

Mrs. Kruger from the tourist office forwarded your request for information concerning the 300 year festivities to me. 

A Festival committee, of which I am a member, has been organized to plan the event.

We are especially pleased that distant relatives from Bischofsreut who immigrated to North America are showing such a great interest on the homeland of their ancestors.

In particular, we would be happy if we could great a good number of you attending the festivities in 2005.

At this time, the Fest Committee is working on the program, which will contain numerous events throughout the entire year. The overall program is finished and soon can be viewed on the internet at www.haidmuehle.de, under the section Veranstaltungen.  (I only found one listing showing the event for 2005).

The main event will be on Sunday August 14, 2005.

We plan first off to post a number of pages concerning the Fest Year, which will then be continually updated.  As soon as these pages are posted to the website, I will let you know.

Should you have further questions about the Festival, contact us at any time.

This offer stands also for any of your fellow countrypersons.  If some can't speak German any longer, we will attempt as much as possible to answer questions in English.

The Festival year of 2005 is especially good as it offers the opportunity to make contact once again with the old homeland and with your relatives.  Perhaps we will personally greet each other in Bischofsreut during 2005.

With friendly greetings,

Andreas Grimbs

----- Original Message -----

From: Andreas Grimbs

To: gary.luther@sbcglobal.net

Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2004 1:38 AM

Subject: Anfrage an den Fremdenverkehrsverein Bischofsreut-Haidmühle

Sehr geehrter Herr Luther,

Frau Krueger vom Fremdenverkehrsverein hat Ihre Anfrage zur 300-Jahresfeier von Bischofsreut an mich weitergeleitet.

Zur Organisation dieser Feierlichkeiten wurde ein Festkomitee gebildet, dem auch ich angehöre.

Wir freuen uns ganz besonders, dass  die Nachfahren der nach Nordamerika ausgewanderten ehemaligen Bischofsreuter so großes Interesse an der Heimat ihrer Vorfahren haben.

Besonders würden wir uns freuen, wenn wir Sie alle zum Festjahr 2005 recht zahlreich hier in Bischofsreut begrüssen könnten.

Derzeit arbeitet das Festkomitee am Programm, das sich mit verschiedenen Veranstaltungen über das ganze Jahr 2005 erstrecken wird. Das Rahmenprogramm ist bereits fertig und kann vorerst unter der Internetadresse: www.haidmuehle.de  unter dem Punkt Veranstaltungen eingesehen werden.

Die Hauptfestveranstaltung wird am Sonntag den 14. August 2005 stattfinden.

Wir beabsichtigen demnächst auch eine eigene Seite zum Festjahr zu erstellen, die dann fortlaufend aktualisiert werden soll. Sobald diese Seite ins Web eingestellt ist, werde ich Sie informieren. 

Sollten Sie noch weitere Fragen zum Fest haben, können Sie sich jederzeit an uns wenden.

Dieses Angebot gilt selbstverständlich auch für Ihre Landsleute. Sollte jemand der deutschen Sprache nicht mehr mächtig sein, werden wir uns im Rahmen unserer Sprachkenntnisse bemühen Ihnen auch auf Englisch zu antworten.

Gerade das Festjahr 2005 bietet Gelegenheit wieder Kontakte zur alten Heimat und ihrer Bevölkerung zu knüpfen. Vielleicht lernen wir uns 2005 in Bischofsreut auch persönlich kennen.

Mit freundlichen Grüssen

Andreas Grimbs

dorf tief im Böhmerwald

Image from Ken Mauritz Family Collection. This is the song that would have been the most nostalgic for the immigrants. It was sung often at family get-togethers and in the taverns. Can anyone still sing it in the original dialect? I didn't think so. Does any one have a recording of this song?

Also from the Mauritz Collection:

What I have attached here from the Mauritz collection is as follows.  2 files that are two sides of a historical postcard from Bohemia addressed to Frau Theresia Kriha who lived on 11^th St in Oshkosh .  The address would be within one block to the west of South Park (from Georgia St. ) but before Rugby St. , according to the old method of numbering.  There are interesting things on this postcard that is a link between the old and new countries.  The stamp cancellation reads May 22, 1915 , which was before America entered WWI against Germany and Austria .  It is a sentimental wartime postcard with an Austrian soldier and his sweetheart, and it reads “My heart beats for you alone”. The stamp itself has a picture of the Franz Josef, the Austro-Hungarian Emperor.  The cancellation also reads ‘Ober-Moldau’, which is a region where many of the German-Bohemians of Oshkosh came from.  It is in the Boehmerwald and the village from which this letter was posted is likely Schattawa.  Notice the beautiful stylistic handwriting.

Pete, I think this would be a nice artifact to post on your website along with “ Dort tief im Boehmerwald.  I can dig out more tidbits if you like.

Ken Mauritz 

The great flood of 2004. 

It rained much more than usual this spring in Winnebago County. Many basements were flooded. My parents had over 2 1/2' of water in their basement. Everything was thrown out, well almost. More than two dumpsters of stuff was thrown away. Since I wasn't there I have no idea what was lost. Some things were saved and must be gone through to determine their worth.  I do have a photo album of people that I have no idea who they are. They are from the Manawa and Shawano area. The only name in it is BREIER. I also have some great items such as funeral memorial books. I will publish some of this information next month. The basement needed to be cleaned out but I would have preferred to have done it carefully.

A newspaper that was saved from the flood had the following story:

The Catholic Knight
March, 1933

Oshkosh Branch 292
Installs Officers for 1923

On Jan. 11th the following members were installed as officers of Branch 292:

President --- Alois Kinderman

Vice Pres. --- Alois Kempinger

Rec. Sec. --- Joseph Spannbauer

Fin. Sec. --- Killian Spannbauer

Trustee --- Herman Zarling

Sentinel --- Herman Stadler

Installing Officer --- Otto Stoegbauer.

A large crowd attended. After the installation ceremonies were completed Keeno was played and a delicious lunch served. Dancing and singing followed and all members voted it a successful gathering.

REMEMBER

If you are not receiving a notice that the Monthly Highholder is posted send me an email so I can add you to the mailing list. I had to redo the list and everyone was removed. Thank you.