Provenance/Processing
The papers of the Erster Deutsch-Ungarischer
Unterstutzungs Verein (EDUUV), or the Banater
Benefit Society, were deposited in the
Immigration History Research Center in May
1966. They were a gift of Matthias Bohr, a
long-time officer of the Banater Benefit
Society, and were secured through the efforts of
Professor Timothy Smith, then a member of the
University of Minnesota Immigrant Archives
Committee. The collection consists of 17 legal
size folders, incorporating the minutes,
financial reports and records of the EDUUV /
Banater Benefit Society and Banater Athletic
Club as well as various printed publications
commemorating the history and achievements of
these and other German-American organizations in
Ohio and Pennsylvania. The collection was
processed in 1975-1976 by Paul Kelley and Kermit
B. Westerberg.
Biographical Sketch
The EDUUV was a
mutual aid society established by seven young
men in Cleveland, Ohio, on May 15, 1911. The
membership consisted primarily of Roman Catholic
German Americans who had emigrated from the
eastern part of the Banat, in what is now
Yugoslavia and Romania. They were descendants
of Swabians who settled in the Banat in the 16th
and 17th centuries and who began emigrating to
the United States in the late 1800's. As a
mutual aid society, the organizations provided
sick benefits of $7 a week, for which members
paid $.50 a month, and death benefits or
insurance payments of (originally) $200 for
which eligible members (over 40 years of age)
paid $1 a month. The latter benefits, called
the Sterbe Casse, were intended to cover
minimal burial expenses incurred by families of
deceased members of the Society. These
represented rather substantial benefits at the
time, as the daily income of a typical worker
did not exceed $1.50. Although the Society was
originally intended to serve a male membership,
women were admitted in 1912 and received the
same privileges and obligations as men. Between
1911 and 1961 the Society reportedly paid its
members $54,289 in sick benefits and $56,000 in
death benefits.
Other
German-speaking immigrants who settled in the
Cleveland, Ohio, area belonged primarily to a
second mutual aid society, the Greater
Beneficial Union of Pittsburgh. Although some
of the Banater emigrants also joined this Union,
the vast majority maintained exclusive
membership in the EDUUV. Over the years between
1911 and the mid 1920's the "Banaters" also
formed a number of educational and recreational
organizations, which, although administratively
separate, went under the Banater name. One
example is the Banater Athletic Club, founded on
September 1, 1921, whose minutes from 1922-1930
comprise a part of this collection. Other
Banater organizations included women's
societies, men's and women's choirs, youth
groups, and the like.
Characteristic of
the Society's history up to the early 1930's was
the expansion of its membership and total
financial assets. Contacts were also made with
other German-American organizations in Ohio and
throughout the American Midwest regarding the
exchange of members and the formation of
umbrella organizations. The Depression of the
1930's, however, left its mark on the Society in
terms of financial losses, the bankruptcy of the
Banater Hall Co., and membership reductions, all
of which led, in 1939, to a significant revision
of the Society's statutes concerning membership,
benefits and obligations. The twenty-year
period between 1940 and 1960 (the latter marking
the last entry in the final volume of Society
minutes in the collection) is one of internal
consolidation among the various Banater
organizations, where the planning and financing
of a new Society hall, the adoption of measures
for European relief in the wake of World War II,
and the quest for new membership assume
significance for the ongoing life of the
Society.
The Erster
Deutsch-Ungarischer Unterstutzungs Verein
celebrated its fortieth anniversary in 1951: the
program issued on this occasion (see Folder 16)
carries an advertisement to the effect that the
"Banater Klub" (Deutsch-Ungarisches Heim) of
Cleveland is the official home of eight
organizations. These are: The Erster
Deutsch-Ungarischer Unterstutzungs Verein; the
Banater Damen-Chor; the Banater Maenner-Chor;
the Banater Civic League; the Banater Frauen
Club; the Banater Sewing Circle; and the Greater
Beneficial Union, Districts 258 and 70.
On October 1,
1953, the official name of the organization
became the Banater Benefit Society, thereby
conforming to the names of the other Banater
clubs and associations.
Pre-eminent among
the Society's officers over the years since its
founding is Matthias Bohr, the donor of the
collection, who served both as President and
Secretary for long periods of time and.also
filled the position of Secretary of the Banater
Athletic Club.
Organization of the Collection
The collection
has been organized into the following five major
categories:
I. Protokoll (minutes of the meetings) of
the EDUUV/Banater Benefit Society,
1911-1960, (folders 1-8)
II.
Financial records and account books of the
Society, 1911-1945, (folders 9-13)
III.
Minutes of the Banater Athletic Club,
1922-1930, (folder 14)
IV.
Membership Lists of the Banater Athletic
Club, early 1940's-1949, (folder 15)
V.
Miscellaneous printed publications relating
to the Society as a whole and other
German-American organizations in Ohio and
Pennsylvania, 1950-1964, (folders 16-17)
Scope and Content
PARTIAL
SUBJECT INVENTORY
The following
is a guide, not a complete index, to certain
persons, subjects, and associations prominent in
the collection.
AMERIKAN
DEUTSCH-UNGARISCHER KRANKEN UNTERSTUTZUNGS
VEREIN
Folders 5,6,8
BANATER
ATHLETEN CLUB/BANATER SPORT CLUB
Folders 14, 15[?]
BANATER
BENEFIT SOCIETY (see also EDUUV)
Folders 8,17 [1-13, 16]
BANATER CIVIC
LEAGUE
Folders 4-8
BANATER CLUB
Folders 7-8, 15[?], 16-17
BANATER
DAMENCHOR
Folders 4-8, 17
BANATER FRAUEN
VEREIN
Folders 5-8
BANATER HALL
BUILDING FUND (1947-1951)
Folder 8
BANATER HALL
GESELLSCHAFT [ -1937]
Folders 4,5,6,8
BANATER JUGEND
VEREIN
Folders 3-4,17
BANATER
MAENNERCHOR
Folders 4-8,17
BANATER SEWING
CIRCLE
Folder 8
BOHR, MATTHIAS
Folders 1-8,14,16-17
CENTRAL OHIO
SAENGER VEREIN
Folder 8
CLEVELAND
COUNCIL FOR THE PROTECTION OF FOREIGN-BORN
WORKERS
Folder 3
CLEVELAND
SOCCER LEAGUE
Folder 14
CUYAHOGA
DISTRICT 4 ASSOCIATION
Folder 7
DANUBESCHWABEN
[sic] SOCIETY, NEW YORK
Folder 8
DEUTSCH-AMERIKANISCHER
STAATSVERBAND
Folder 4
DEUTSCH-BANATER SPORT CLUB
Folder 14
DEUTSCH-CANADIAN VERBAND (GERMAN-CANADIAN HOME
SOCIETY), REGINA, SASKATCHEWAN
Folder 5
DEUTSCHE
KINDERCHOR, CLEVELAND
Folder 16
DEUTSCHE
SCHULE, CLEVELAND
Folder 16
DEUTSCHER
STADTVERBAND (GERMAN-AMERICAN CIVIC LEAGUE)
Folders 8,16
DEUTSCHE
ZENTRALE (GERMAN CENTRAL FARM)
Folders 8,16
EAST SIDE
CLEVELAND BENEFIT SOCIETY
Folder 8
EAST SIDE
SACHSENHEIM
Folder 8
ERSTER/DEUTSCH-UNGARISCHER
KRANKEN UNTERSTUTZUNGS VEREIN (SICK AND DEATH
BENEFIT SOCIETY)
Folders 1-13,16
EUROPEAN
RELIEF
Folders 8,17
GERMAN DAY
Folders 8,17
GESANG VEREIN
Folder 8
GREATER [or
GERMAN] BENEFICIAL UNION, DISTRICTS 70 & 258
Folders 5,7,8,16
HEIMATS
UNTERSTUTZUNGS VEREIN
Folder 4
INTERNATIONAL
SOCCER ASSOCIATION
Folder 14
LIBERATION OF
SOUTHERN HUNGARY
Folder 8
NAH-UND
GROCHET FRAUEN VEREIN
Folder 8
OHIO, STATE
SENATE. BILL 389 [1955]
Folder 8
PITTSBURGH
DEUTSCHER SPORTVEREIN
Folder 14
POLITISCHE
VERSAMLUNG
Folder 4
SCHWABISCHER
SAENGER VEREIN
Folders 7, 8
STAHLHEIM
ARTSGRUPPE (GERMAN WORLD WAR VETERANS)
Folder 5
STEUBEN
SOCIETY OF AMERICA
Folders 3,16
TURNER
HILFSCOMITTEE [sic]
Folder 14
UNITED STATES
FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION
Folder 14
UNITED
STATES. TREASURY DEPARTMENT. INTERNAL REVENUE
SERVICE
Folder 8
VEREINIGTE
BANATER, CINCINNATI
Folders 6,8
VEREINSNACHRICHTEN (periodical)
Folder 8
WACHTER UND
ANZEIGER (newspaper)
Folders 8,16,17
Preliminary Container List
