Meet Us in Mansfield

by Jody McKim
DVHH Founder & President
October 12, 2007

Leo Mayer, of Santa Ana, CA, President of the Landesverband der Donauschwaben (LUSA), warmly welcomed the DVHH in joining their yearly Tag der Donauschwaben celebration.  Jacob Hunsinger, President of the Mansfield Liederkranz, associate and site webmaster Dr. Thomas Thornton were extremely accommodating from day one of our planning stages to the last day of the event.  All three gentlemen, along with every person involved with the event, were exceptionally warm and friendly. 

Leo wrote. . . "The DVHH should make it a point to attend our meetings and Labor day gatherings as guests on a regular basis, because a lot of us think that your work is important, especially to keep the interest of the young generation."

Jacob Hunsinger, President of the Mansfield Liederkranz was the man of the hour.  There was no mistaking the energy and time that went into preparing for this huge event by the Mansfield Liederkranz -two years, I was told.  The many aspects to host such an event go far beyond what meets the eye. 

Based upon the sold admission tickets, tallies for the attendance were Saturday 1,673, Sunday 1,624 and for both days an additional 486 non-paying Jugend (youth) and Kinder (children) dancers.

The Tag der Donauschwaben was held for the first time in Mansfield in 2003; this year was the second time.

Congratulations to Jacob Hunsinger, the Mansfield Liederkranz members and all the clubs for providing us with an event to remember!

The Mansfield Liederkranz provided the DVHH a great location for our booth, along with a huge sandwich tent, tables and chairs.  Being situated between the main hall and the pavilion, we were right in the midst of pedestrian traffic.

Our presence at the Tag der Donauschwaben was a milestone and a weekend to remember for the DVHH.  We've come a long way in just five years, from fluff to tough, maintaining our focus in collecting and providing historical and genealogical information of the ancestral Danube Swabian for their descendants & working towards preserving the contributions entrusted to us.

Early Saturday morning we gathered to set up our booth for the big weekend event ahead of us. Everyone was busy planning and preparing.  What a great weekend it was for an outdoor event -the weather was wonderful!

I must admit, in all modesty, that we have some of the best Donauschwaben contemporaries worldwide aboard the DVHH.  It was with great pleasure that we humbly attempted to represent them and their contributions to all those who stopped by the DVHH booth.  Donauschwaben Clubs from all over the country attended the event and we were glad to be there to introduce the DVHH to them. I was touched to witness the commitment and involvement of our DVHH representatives working in the booth.

Linda McKenna, of Mansfield, OH and the Mansfield Coordinator for the DVHH, was a vital part of the event planning.  Early on, she met with Jacob Hunsinger at the Mansfield Liederkranz and took pictures of the layout. Linda helped to pave the way for our presence.  She utilized her creative abilities to make posters for the DVHH booth.  In spite of several serious health matters in her family & weathering the floods that hit her home just 2 weeks before the event, she continued her commitment to the DVHH and the event.  Linda wrote, "Now, I can release a sigh of relief -mission accomplished." . . . Read more

Linda and her husband Wayne were our anchors, thank you both.  Linda proudly carried the DVHH banner along with Suzanne Gross and Kathy Mettler Ward, three cousins meeting in Mansfield!

Beth Tolfree, from Bakersfield, CA. and the DVHH, Inc. Secretary, initiated the first contact with Tom Thornton, which led up to our participation in the Tag der Donauschwaben. Beth was a very good advocate for the DVHH and for our Donauschwaben heritage.  Moreover, she is the DVHH Apatin Coordinator.  Fortunately, she brought with her a large notebook filled with information about Apatin; and thankfully so, as she met many people who actually immigrated from that town.  She stayed on her toes during the entire event. Thank you Beth for all your hard work in making the debut of the DVHH a special event for us all to remember.

We are very fortunate that Tina Leto, a DVHH Board Member and Public Relations Chair, is a professional photographer. Her capabilities stood out in the graphic arts and printed items that she has designed for us, especially the very first DVHH banner, which made its debut in Mansfield. How exciting it was when I received the beautiful 6-foot banner from the CAD Company.  We were all so impressed.
 

Tina surprised the Event Committee
with our cool DVHH buttons!
 

Tina's hard work and thoughtfulness will always be remembered, as well as her talents. Thank you Tina, for bringing color to the event for the DVHH!

The "Meet the Authors" part of our venue proved to be mutually beneficial.  Between both of our agendas, our goals were met. The authors were Katherine Hoeger Flotz of Crown Point, IN, Elizabeth Walter of Palatine, IL, and Hans Kopp of Cleveland, OH. 

Kathy Flotz has been a part of the DVHH for a long time now, and has shared her "Memories of Gakowa" that is published at the dvhh.org in the Batschka section. Kathy wrote. . . "From the moment I stepped up to the "DVHH booth, I noticed the big sign "Meet the Authors" and I felt welcome."  Read more . . .

We are glad that Elizabeth Walter has joined our DVHH circle. She displayed her Mother's prayer book. . . "The worn, purple velvet cover of Mutter's Gebetbuch not only holds prayers, scripture, holy pictures, pressed flowers and ferns but it also holds the only material thing I have left from my homeland." Elizabeth wrote... I believe that the DVHH and their web site is one more way of getting our story - all over the world."  Read more . . .

Hans Kopp, one of the DVHH most avid emissaries, has contributed an extensive amount of material to the dvhh.org, which he compiled into a book and had on display.  He thus provided our visitors insight to just some of the information that can be found at dvhh.org. See Hans Kopp Files. Hans wrote... "The DVHH.org group is indeed eye opening and in my opinion through them we finally find the missing links to our history in the USA and Canada." Read more. . .

It was a pleasure to meet these authors in person and we look forward to sharing a booth again next year. I recommend all of their books.

We signed up 34 new DVHH mail list subscribers, who we hope will come to know the DVHH as a special group of folks, all extending helping hands.

As an added treat, we raffled off a set of four Donauschwaben settlement maps, donated by John Reiser, with the winner to be chosen from among new DVHH Mail list subscribers.

Dennis Bauer took the microphone and made the announcement in the pavilion as Tina Leto assisted.  We solicited a nice young lady to draw the winning card.

The winner, Trudi Ward of Ohio. Congratulations!
Maps contributed by John Reiser of North Brunswick, NJ:

It was a pleasure to meet some of the members from the Trenton Donauschwaben Club who are associated with the DVHH. . . Adam Martini, of Hamilton, NJ, who has contributed several memoirs from his life in the old homeland to the DVHH.org; Josef Brandecker, of Trenton, NJ, President of the Trenton Donauschwaben Club; and Dennis Bauer of Levittown, PA, who publishes their newsletter and is the DVHH Batschka Regional Coordinator.

Hans Martini of Hamilton, NJ and Secretary for the Trenton Donauschwaben Club, visits us with his wife JoAnn and mother Eva, who was born in Batschka Palanka, (wife of Adam Martini). Hans wrote. . . "While there have been many authors and interested folks in the Verband who’ve been doing wonderful research and scholarship over the years, nothing comes close to making all the information, the stories and pictures as accessible and user-friendly as the DVHH has –and the site just keeps getting better."  Read more. . .

The event was exciting and the crowds came in spurts, thereby making it difficult at times to engage in long conversations. 

When Jacob Hunsinger was not checking on things himself, his son Jake Hunsinger was.

Visitors were able to preview a slide show, prepared by Tina, previewing many images published at the DVHH website. 

Karl Seitz, webmaster for the Los Angeles Donauschwaben Club, takes a look.
 

Joe Stein, President of one of the largest Danube Swabian organizations in our country "The American Aid Society" of Chicago, IL, produced a DVD titled "The History of the Donauschwaben from 1690-present." Watching the DVD, I learned some new things about the Donauschwaben.  Thank you Joe for making this DVD, I recommend it to all. 

Walter Scheffrahn, Publicist for The American Aid Society stopped by and shared with us that, in addition to their usual club activities, articles and stories on Danube Swabian customs, culture and Germanic history are published in their newsletter.  I received a copy of this newsletter & highly recommend everyone to subscribe to it!

John Pappert, President of The German Cultural Society located in St. Louis, MO.  This club has its origin in the St. Louis Chapter of the American Aid Society, which was founded in 1945 to help the German refugees of Eastern Europe who fled to Germany and Austria.
 

Walter Weinhardt of Mansfield, shared his family story about his grandfather and his wagon, which was on display at the event. You'll be able to read more about this story soon to be published at DVHH.org. Walter expressed an interest in becoming the Neu Pasua Village Coordinator.

Mansfield Liederkranz

Thomas "Tom" Thornton, the man who we were frequently in contact with for almost a year during the planning of the event.  He was great to work with & he went overboard to assist us. 

On Friday night at the dinner hall, he was cooking and over the weekend he was cooking, I don't think I ever saw him without an apron on.

Mansfield Liederkranz Food Fare