German

dignitaries

enjoy New Ulm hospitality

By KEVIN SWEENEY

Journal Editor

NEW ULM -- New Ulm city officials found just the right recipe for entertaining members of the German Bundestag Tuesday night. Take them to Turner Hall for one of those now internationally famous stuffed pork chop dinners, give them about five minutes worth of speeches, and turn things over to the Concord Singers and the Heritagefest Narren.

It was a formula that had New Ulm's most distinguished group of visitors singing, swaying and snake dancing to cap off their day trip to the city.

The members are part of the annual Congress-Bundestag Seminar, which is meeting in St. Paul this week. First District Congressman Gil Gutknecht is chairman of this year's seminar, and he set up the trip to New Ulm.

Gutknecht said he has learned, in his ten years in Congress, that there will be highs and lows in the relationships between the governments of Germany and America, but "there is a consistency between our people."

"One of the reasons I wanted to bring the Germans here to New Ulm, I wanted them to experience the pride that the people here in New Ulm have in their German Heritage... I wanted them to know that here in the center of America there are people who, regardless of the differences our governments may have, who understand how much we need each other."

Mayor Joel Albrecht welcomed the members of the Bundestag and members of Congress. He said New Ulm has long had close ties to Germany. He cited visits by ambassadors and dignitaries over the years, including German Ambassador Baron von Maltzahn in 1927, and former ambassador Dr. Friedrich von Prittwitz in 1931.

The current German ambassador to the U.S., Wolfgang Ischinger, cited Prittwitz in his comments, recalling that Prittwitz was the only German ambassador to voluntarily resign his post when Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party came to power. In his honor, the meeting hall in the German Embassy in Washington was named Prittwitz Hall about a year ago, said Ischinger.

"He represented the good Germany," Prittwitz said.

Hans-Ulrich Klose, who is Gutknecht's counterpart in the Seminar, told the audience "We usually go to Washington and to New York, and visit the government offices, then go home and tell people we have been to America. But to really get a feeling for the country, you have to go outside the Beltway to small communities, in places Minnesota and Iowa and Indiana, and for that reason we are so happy that Congressman Gutknecht proposed that we should go to New Ulm."

Once the speeches were over, the Concord Singers came out, and the effect was electrifying. If New Ulmites didn't realize how authentically German the Concord Singers' style of entertainment is, the German visitors let them know. Throughout the hour-long concert, the German guests sang along, clapped, and schunkeled. When the Narren invited them, they joined in dances and snaked through the crowd in long processions.

"This is more typical than what you would see in a lot of places in Germany," said Tilo Braune, of the Federal Ministry for Transportation, Building and Housing.

After the party came to an end, Gutknecht said the visit to New Ulm had been "Wunderbar!"

"My goal was to demonstrate that there was an enormous pride in their German heritage of the people in this part of Minnesota. To a certain degree, I think it helps them to know that there are people who are very, very proud of their German Heritage. And the Concord Singers, that was the icing on the cake. It was the perfect end to a wonderful day, and my only regret is that we couldn't stay longer."