German Paper
America's Rich Heritage
THE GERMANS who came to
Cincinnati and Milwaukee and St.
Louisa century ago held onto their
language and culture to a remarkable
jxtent. And those communities are
richer for it. But most of the im
migrants of the last half century, no
tably from Central and Southern
Europe, were less successful. Their
children, impatient to become all-out
Americans and embarrassed by their
recent foreign extraction, went out
of their way to shake off the marks
of foreign origin.
It is a pity that the doctrine of
"Americanism" of the time was so
exclusive, depriving them of a second
language that might be highly useful.
During and after World War II, when
millions of Americans were on the
move about the world, the value of
foreign languages became apparent.
And today, with countless oppor
tunities in thé foreign service, in
U. S. business abroad, in the Peace
Corps and in fellowships for study
overseas, there must be millions of
young Americanssecond and third-
generation migrants who regret
that they lost their rightful heritage.
It is with some such thoughts in
mind that 50 Cincinnati professional
men of Italian descent have formed
the Da Vinci University Club. The
members have in common a college
education and fairly recent Italian
origin. They also have an eagerness
to salvage what they can from their
Italian heritage, perhaps after years of
neglect, and to enrich their lives in
America with a deeper knowledge of
Italy, its language, history and culture.
Friday was "Der Tag" for
Cincinnati's newest news
paper, the German lan
guage weekly Kurier.
Actually, the Kurier is a
descendant of the old Freie
Presse, which would have
been 95 years old this year,
but legal difficulties so far
have prevented use of the
name.
ssse, whicii^
The Freie Presse, wnicn
claimed as many as 10,000 the Qerman-lLguagfjreL
to 15,000 readers in recent
years continued even
through Worid War n and
was approved by the De
partment of Justice to cir
culate in German prisoner-
of-war camps in the United
States.
is to make good citizens
out of the Germans," Mr.
Dittrioh said, ("And they
are," Mrs. Lamers-Engel
added), "and to assimilate
the good values of their
German heritage into the
American way of life."
Deze twee stukjes werden door
onze attente abonnee Fe Klerks-
Kllhr geknipt uit de "Cincinnati
Enquirer". Zulke stukjes komen
overigens regelmatig voor in de
hele Amerikaanse pers. Zij zijn
in het kort een aanbeveling van
het streven van Tong—Tong? ver
geet als "true American" noch de
taal, noch de cultuur van Uw land
van herkomst. Het is goed voor U
zelf; het is goed voor Amerika!
Daarom: stoor U niet aan de vit-
ters, spotters en "critici" op
Tong-Tong. Wat zij meestal doen
is alleen "djaga moentah": opeten
wat het land biedt en daarmee uit.
Burgerschap van de laagste rang.
