April / May 2010
German-American Journal
9
50 Years Of History: Celebrated By DANK Milwaukee By: Ronald Kabitzke
On January 31, 1960 a group of 40 German Americans got together to discuss their desire to have an organization that would represent the German American interest at all three levels of government. From this meeting came the third chapter within the D.A.N.K. organization and the first chapter in Wisconsin. The Chapter received its Charter from the State of Wisconsin and was incorporated on June 21, 1960. The membership grew and our chapter prospered. Membership meetings, gatherings and dances became the routine of Milwaukee’s social calendar. The Milwaukee Chapter started other chapters in Wisconsin. At one time there were as many as nine chapters in Wisconsin. The German American National Congress is the only organization where participation in the American non-partisan political life is practiced. Many of our presidents and members have attended conferences and meetings promoting our goals in the city, the state and in Washington, D.C. In 1987, the German American Joint Action Committee, consisting of our German American National Congress, the Steuben Society of America and the United German American Committee of the U.S.A. organized the national observance of German American Day. They were instrumental in obtaining the Congressional Resolutions and Presidential Declarations proclaiming October 6 as German American Day. Since 1964 the Milwaukee Chapter also
crowned a young lady as the Miss DANK Milwaukee Queen. For many years our chapter has hosted the Miss DANK USA Pageant. Our own chapter has had 5 of its 34 Miss DANK Milwaukee Queens move on to become Miss DANK USA. Both locally and on the national level, the crowning of a queen has been discontinued. On September 26, 1971 the DANK Milwaukee Chapter fulfilled its goal of conducting a German Language School. Initiated by Vice President Oskar Grossman, the DANK Schule began with an enrollment of 24 students. The first classes were held at the Bavarian Inn. Mrs. Basler was the first teacher. Soon after, Marianne Trivalos became the school’s director with a staff of five teachers. The school relocated to the Albright United Methodist Church at 5555 West Capitol Drive. Years later it moved to Zion Lutheran Church at 12012 West North Avenue. More than 1350 students attended the school in the years that it was in operation. It continued into the 1990’s. Because there was no one willing to step forward to chair the school, it ceased operation after 27 years. The DANK Folk Dancers had their beginning in 1973 and today it has many engagements and is still active. The group has performed at festivals, churches, nursing homes, schools and on stage at German Fest. In 1984 the dancers performed for Vice-President Bush. In 1980 then Milwaukee Mayor Henry Maier was a special guest at our chapter’s 20th anniversary celebration. In his speech he issued a challenge to the German
community to begin an annual German festival. He asked our Milwaukee DANK Chapter to take the lead. In January, 1981 German Fest, Inc. was issued a charter. The original 5 members were Walter Geissler, Chairman, Marianne Trivalos, Kaspar Peters, Rolf Hoffmann and Anton Siladi. The first German Fest was held on August 14-16 1981. DANK members have held key positions with German Fest during the 30 years of its existence. The best way to describe Milwaukee’s German Fest is “Often imitated but never duplicated.” In 1983 Inge Stibbe convinced the chapter to sponsor a singing group within the chapter. Doris Mueller was the first
director. Roland and Martin Stibbe provided the guitar accompaniment. The DANK Folk Singers began as a ladies singing group and later added a men’s section. In 1999 the name was changed to the Milwaukee DANK Chor. Also started in 1983 was our Chapter’s own youth group. The youth group was called the Zukunft Gruppe. Anni Hammermeister’s son Wolfgang was the first president of the youth group. Adeline Kraenzler was elected as the Region’s President for the National DANK, representing the region at the executive board meetings. She served in the mid 1990’s and retired in 1996 from that position. The past few years have seen changes in the way our DANK Milwaukee Chapter provides help for German language education. Since we no longer have our own school, we now aid our area schools with gifts of computers, providing resources for teachers and students and with cash grants to teachers of the German language and culture. We are still promoting our German heritage through dance and song throughout the Milwaukee area with every opportunity made available to us. Our group is still very active at German Fest, the annual German American Day, Christmas concerts and much more. In all, it has been a very interesting 50 years of growth and change.
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www.dank.org/membership.html
Today!