What’s a typical souvenir that you can find in Germany, apart from the embroidery patches with the city’s names and signature shield on it, which is typically European?
Typical for American tourists, there is the Bierstein- a ceramic beer mug where you can get your fill with a typical beer from Bavaria. That you can also find in typically German communities in the States, especially during the time of the Oktoberfests. But this topic is for another time. 🙂
Typical for Germany are the good luck charms, be it the pig, the mushroom or the lady bug. But how many of you know about the German Shield Charms?
Like in the picture above the Charm Bracelet is a bracelet that contains some good-luck charms attached to chain. The bracelet is worn on the wrist. In the case of the German Shield Charms, they are like the embroidery patches- each one containing a city with its signature shield on it. The difference is that they are formed out of metal and are attached to the bracelet.
There’s more to the Charm Bracelet and the Shield Charms than meets the eye and you can find more about this in this article which you can access via link below. Courtesy of German Girl in America. Enjoy! 🙂
Today is Mother’s Day! It seems this day has ancient Greek and Roman origins, who held festivals in honor of the mother goddesses Rhea and Cybele, but the clearest modern precedent for Mother’s Day is the early Christian festival known as “Mothering Sunday.” However, it wasn’t until 1914 that it was recognised as a national […]
Holstein Kiel’s 1:1 draw against third place Düsseldorf guarantees them their first ever promotion to the top tier of the German Bundesliga for next season!
KIEL, GERMANY- For the past 34 years of a united Germany, there had been no teams from the northernmost state in Germany, Schleswig-Holstein, in the German Soccer Bundesliga. In fact, no soccer team from Schleswig-Holstein has ever made it to the top league during all of the 75 years of post-war Germany.
That is until now. Since last night at 10:45pm local time, the Storks have become first class, and the curse has been broken!
Kiel’s blitzstart in the soccer match resulted in a 1-0 lead just after the first two minutes of the game. Up until Düsseldorf’s game-tying score in the 60th minute, the Storks kept the team in check for much of the first half of the match. And after the game-tying goal, made sure the ball didn’t reach their net for much of the game. The end result was a 1-1 draw, which results in the direct promotion into the Bundesliga for the first time ever. After two missed opportunities in the relegation rounds during the 2017-18 and 2020-21 seasons respectively, the mission was clear- Direct promotion, period. And with that, mission accomplished!
Highlights:
Kiel already has a top league professional team in the Zebras of THW Kiel in the German Handball Bundesliga, which has already establish a century-old tradition and with it, its interstate rivalry with SG Flensburg-Handewitt. In soccer, it’s a totally different league as it will be the lone team in the state, with Lübeck and Weiche Flensburg 08 both competing in the regional league. Yet it will have some neighboring competition with FC St. Pauli in the next season. That team, based in Hamburg, has been in the top tier of the league multiple times over the years before settling down in the 2nd tier of the league after the 2011-12 season.
Nevertheless, Kiel’s victory last night, combined with its direct relegation finally puts the state of Schleswig-Holstein on the map as the first soccer to enter the premier league for the first time. On the national level, it’s the 58th team to enter the top league. For the city of Kiel and its fans, they celebrated throughout the night as this was the historic moment they had been waiting for, for almost a decade.
And with that, we can say, congratulations and “Moin moin!” 🙂
We’re going to make another stop to Seiffen in this guest post series but for one primary reason: this church. The Bergkirchen Seiffen is one of the most beloved landmarks of the town in Saxony that is considered the toy capital of the world, and one that is one of the most commonly used motifs on the Christmas arches (Schwibbogen- or Schwibbi for short.) Karen Lodder of German Girl in America did some extensive research about its history which you can find in the article below. It also includes some guides on visiting Seiffen and enjoying Christmasses in the Ore Mountains:
Of course you can visit the Christmas market tour guide that I wrote in 2023 by clicking here. If you haven’t read about how German Girl in America was developed, check out the interview and visit the page.
In place of my usual False Friends on Fridays, where I usually present either quizzes or word pairings that are totally different, this False Friend feature looks at the category Royal Places. Both in German as well as in English, we have different types of Royal Places- Castles, Fortresses, Palaces, etc., each one different by their characteristics. Yet many of us mix them up from time to time because we don’t know what consists of one or the other.
In this guide by German Girl in America, Karen Lodder explains the differences in detail, including a colorful chart to help you make the distinction. Click on the source link below and enjoy the article! 🙂
Today is Father’s Day in Germany. In religious terms, it’s the Day of Ascension (Christi Himmelfahrt), which marks 40 days after the celebration of Easter, and is the day when Jesus Christ ascends to Heaven. In informal terms, it’s Männertag- the celebration of not only fathers but also men in general. There are a lot of questions surrounding this day that are explained in this article written by Karen Lodder five years ago. Two of them come to mind as you click on this link to read:
Why is Father’s Day not celebrated on a Sunday like in the US, and like on Mother’s Day, which is celebrated internationally?
Why does this particular day have to do with the wagon, as you can see in the photo above?
In northern Germany, it is called Alsterwasser. But overall, it’s simply called the Radler. Invented by Franz Xaver Kugler in 1922, the Radler is a combination of beer and lemons, designed originally to quench one’s thirst, even though it has the lowest alcohol content of all the beer types in Germany. It’s a very useful drink for those who are traveling together by bike, or for simply any occasion where a person wants something light so that he/she can stay sober to drive (or bike) home. 🙂
Here’s the rest of the story of how the Radler came to be, as this was written by German Girl in America a few years ago. Perfect timing as tomorrow is Father’s Day here in Germany, known informally as “Männertag”.
For many decades, there have been some stereotypes about Germany that have been ingrained into the minds of many Americans and foreigners alike, namely beer, bratwurst, schnitzel and Bavaria. To a lesser degree, we also have Berlin and its infamous Berlin Wall that could be added to the key words associated with Germany, yet these were my first two impressions of Germany when I grew up. Add Hamburg and Thuringia to my list later on while in high school and college, especially after having met my significant other half in college who originates from the latter, which is known as the Green Heart of Germany. But how about the rest of Germany? After all there is a lot more to the country than meets the eye; especially given the fact that some of the German culture and heritage made their way to the States over the years and many of us don’t even know about that.
There are many different sources out there that focus on German culture, history and language; each of them have their own focus and stories to share to the readers. All of them have one common value: to encourage people to visit Germany and embrace their culture. Two websites stand out that focus on just that, German culture, language and heritage. And this will be the focus on a mini-series that feature an interview, combined with some examples of their works.
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We’ll start with the German Girl in America, namely Karen Lodder.
Although she was born in California, her parents were Germans, and they emigrated to America shortly before Karen was born. The family of her mother originated from a village called Schreckendorf in the former German state of Schlesia, which is now part of Poland. They were a family of glass carvers and had a company that specialized in this trade. Like millions of other Germans residing in Central and Eastern Europe, her family was forced to vacate their homes and livelihoods when the Russians carried out Operation Swallow at the end of World War II in 1945. Schlesia became part of Poland, which in turn became part of the Communist alliance established by the Soviet Union and included the Warsaw Pact, equivalent to today’s NATO alliance. Poland remained behind the Iron Curtain until the Revolution in 1989 and the fall of Communism. Karen’s mother and her family eventually settled in North Rhine-Westfalia, where they settled down. After meeting her future husband and getting married, both her mother and father emigrated to the States in the 1960s.
And luckily for Karen, they took the German culture, stories, heritage and everything German with them, which became a fascinating topic for her growing up. In turn, all of that became part of a website based on her experiences as a German Girl living in America.
German Girl in America was launched in 2014 and the rest was history. Yet what does this website have to offer? I had a chance to interview her about this. This is what she mentioned:
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1. What led to the creation of German Girl in America?
I started writing German recipes and Christmas memories around 12 or 13 years ago? They caught enough attention that in 2014 I decided to create a website to capture them all. My original plan was to call it “What it’s Like to grow up a German Girl in America”. As you can see, the title was too unwieldy (and horrible…people would fall asleep before finishing the sentence). So, I shortened it to German Girl in America.
The name came from my childhood experience. In our home, I was raised German… German Food, Language, Parental Expectations, and Traditions. Outside the home, I did what I could to fit in as an American.
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2. Both your parents have German citizenship but you have an American one because you were born there. Was there any consideration to having a German one as well?
My parents were both German citizens when I was born (they got their US citizenship when I was in my 20s). Although I understand they could have set me up with German citizenship then, they chose not to. At age 18, my father counseled me to keep American citizenship. It made sense since that’s where I live.
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3. Describe your website: How is it structured and what does it consist of?
How is it structured? Oh boy. The best I can say is that I group by category. We just updated the website, and I’m constantly “fixing” early posts to make things look more coherent. I am however open to any suggestions to making it better in the future.
Honestly, the website is a hodgepodge of articles that cover hundreds of topics… recipes, travel, traditions, deep dives into history, product recommendations, and random pieces of information. If something interests me or seems relevant, I will write about it. One day a snippet of a song flitted through my memories, and I wrote a piece on the Schalmei.
Many of the early pieces on tradition or memories of childhood were written with my children in mind. To help them remember how and why we celebrated the holidays the way we do… to give them recipes to carry on the traditions. My degree is in history, and I’m an avid reader, so I enjoy doing a deep dive into the bits of German and German-American history that we don’t usually hear about. I started seeking out pockets of Germans in the US and share that history. The historian in me wants to save it all before it’s gone. I’ve even posted stories that were sent to me by readers.
Early on, I started sharing pages with lists of German-American events in the US (and Canada) as well as resources for German Food, Restaurants, Clothing, Schools, and German Clubs. I wanted to create a space to find all of that information. It has since expanded to include other German-American topics.
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4. Which of the sections would you recommend reading?
All of them. 😉
To be fair, not everyone is interested in history or my school days… but I feel like I put in a little something for everyone. If you want to travel to Germany, check out my travel pages… If you love history, go there. If you remember spending your Christmas with Oma…I have pages about German Christmas Traditions. Or maybe you just need a good Tomato Salad recipe, I have that too. 🙂
One of my most popular (or at least most shared) pages is called “When Your Parents are German”. I think it just rings familiar to so many German-Americans.
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5.What makes German Girl in America stand out among all other German (and American) websites?
Maybe the vast amount of content? There are well over 600 pages on the website covering an incredible number of topics. And I’m not nearly done.
Hildegard of Bingen- It is one of my favorite history posts…she was a strong woman.
Red Wine Cake– My cousin sent me a recipe from our Tante Edith. Puzzling it out to a working recipe in the US was a bit like a Baking Show technical challenge.
Auswandererhaus in Bremerhaven- A travel post I wrote after visiting for the German National Tourist Board, this one about the Emigration Museum in Bremerhaven. I love that this building is a bridge between Germany and America. It’s a great place to visit if you want to know what it was like for your ancestors to take that leap across the Atlantic.
(close runners up- Three Cages in Münster, The Candy Bomber: Operation Little Vittles, and the Muhlenberg Legend – was German almost the National Language of America?)
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7. I sometimes stumble across stories while visiting your website. You had some interesting stories that are worth noting. Tell us about the following:
a. Linden Tree – Linden Trees are everywhere in Germany. To some, it’s just a tree… but the importance and symbolism of the Linden tree go deeper than just “well, this is nice”. In the article I mention why I wrote it… a friend sent me an article about a Linden tree in the US, and I dug my teeth into the topic and came up with a lot more than expected.
b. German Chimney Sweep– Who doesn’t love a Chimney Sweep? We all need good luck. (it connects with the Good Luck Symbols post.) Sharing the WHY a chimney sweep is so lucky is what I enjoy.
c. The Ice Saints of May– My father and his family are all nurserymen. Plants have always been an important part of my life. (Although, fun fact, I have a brown thumb) The Ice Saints weren’t much of an issue in Southern California, but I’d hear about them from my Oma.
A post like this is an example of a little memory, or a bit of German lore, maybe something from a comment, that I can expand, and hopefully make interesting. I end up getting a lot of feedback from people who will tell me they remember their parents or grandparents mentioning this. It triggers a memory.
d. Raunächte in Germany– This is another post that came from a memory or tradition. My mother mentioned that her mother never did laundry between Christmas and New Year…. So, I did a deep dive to learn WHY.
Researching the Raunächte took me down another rabbit hole. Out of that research came a post for the Wild Hunt… which also connects to posts about Frau Perchta and Frau Holle. As a child, I was told she was the lady who made it snow by shaking her pillows. But her story goes far deeper into old pagan lore.
e. Good Luck Symbols– Good luck symbols are everywhere in Germany! It’s an obvious topic… especially figuring out why a pig, a clover, or a horseshoe was lucky. (I was the kid who always asked “WHY”) The post itself resonated with people who still, consciously, or unconsciously see those things as lucky… and it led me to other posts. Like the Chimney Sweep, and Guardian Angels (Schutzengel).
8. Your website also sells a German cookbook. Tell us about it.
A few years ago, I wrote the “Easy German Cookbook”. The idea was to write a German cookbook that could be used in an American kitchen with American products. The book is German Cooking 101. You will find traditional recipes for holidays, but most are everyday recipes I grew up with. The dishes my Oma and mother made, but never wrote down.
I’m proud to say the book has sold fairly well. My favorite comments come from people who buy multiple copies of the book to give to their adult children …so they don’t have to write out all the recipes themselves.
9. What are some of the benefits and drawbacks to having a website like German Girl in America?
Benefits- I like what I do. I love research and writing, and I really enjoy hearing from people who enjoy what I’ve written. I’ve made some very good friends along the way. And I’ve gotten to travel to places I never expected to go…German Fest in Milwaukee, the DANK Haus in Chicago, the Auswandererhaus in Bremerhaven. I will be visiting the German-American Heritage Museum in Washington DC a few weeks from now to see the Berlin Airlift exhibit.
Drawbacks- Being out in the public eye requires a thicker skin than I expected. The anonymity of the internet means I get to deal with Trolls and ugliness.
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10. What are some future projects for your website?
We just did a sort of overhaul of the website (after 10 years, it was TIME!). And I’m still fixing pages and images to make it fit better with the new look.
I keep a notebook with ideas for new posts… most recently I finished one that I started writing after a visit to the Friedenssaal in Münster. It includes information about the Thirty Years War and the Peace of Westphalia. (Pour a big cup of coffee before diving into that one. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t shorten it).
A new cookbook is in the planning stages….
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Last Question: If you are approached by someone wanting to create a website or blog on German-American culture, what would you recommend to that person?
Write what interests YOU… and use your unique voice. Be enthusiastic and consistent. Not everyone will like you (kind of like the real world) but that’s ok. The internet is filled with websites that have straightforward “facts” … it’s how you take facts and present them that will keep people wanting to read what you write.
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Many thanks for your time. 🙂
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You can find her website just by simply clicking on the window below. You can also subscribe to her website to follow up on some new articles coming out. The Files will feature a few of her greatest posts in the coming days featuring an excerpt from the post plus a link for each one so that you can read more about it. There are quite a few posts that will be quite interesting for you as readers, both from this interview as well as through my personal visits.
Please note that some of the posts in this article have been marked blue and linked, which will take you directly to the posts.
Rendsburg High Bridge in Rendsburg, Germany. Spanning the Baltic-North Sea Canal. Photo taken in April 2011
Co-Written for The Bridgehunter’s Chronicles
RENDSBURG, GERMANY- It started with a fire in a small shed. Then it spread to another. Explosions could be seen and heard before the blaze engulfed a nearby apartment. With 800°C heat, the flames reached the Rendsburg High Bridge within minutes, causing damage to the bridge decking. The fire happened underneath the super structure.
Fire crews were called to the scene at 9:15 this morning to try and contain the fire, which occurred at Kieler Strasse underneath the 1913 structure built by Friedrich Voss and is world-renowned for its loop trestle approach spans and its transporter/cantilever main span across the Baltic-North Sea Canal. After a pair of massive explosions, the flames reached the nearby apartment by 10:00am and the trestle span by 10:15. Smoke combined with the heat caused considerable damage to one of the trestle spans with wooden rail ties having been charred and a large hole created in the steel.
The rail line has been shut down since 9:30am and will remain closed down until the damage to the bridge is assessed. Between Neumünster and Rendsburg there is bus service to transport people across the Canal, yet the closure will affect rail service going to Husum and Kiel. Travellers should consider changing in Hamburg if going to the two cities. Commuters reliant on the line between Flensburg and Hamburg will need to plan in more time until the repairs to the bridge can be made and the structure reopens.
This story is ongoing but you can follow the updates via NDR here. The BHC will continue to keep you posted on the situation with the bridge.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and European Union leaders denounced on Saturday a recent spate of attacks on politicians in Germany, including one that sent a member of the European Parliament to hospital with serious injuries. Matthias Ecke, 41, a member of Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD), was hit and kicked on Friday by a group of […]
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THE FLENSBURG FILES 