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Review: Walter S.G. Kohn, Governments And Politics Of The German-Speaking Countries, Heinz K. Meier

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

Walter S.G. Kohn, a professor of Political science at Illinois State University in Normal, wrote this book out of an interest in the diverse culture of Europe's German-speaking countries and in response to a perceived need to close a gap in the political science literature. He set himself the task of comparing the governments and politics of East and West Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein, "a group of nations that are both geographically and linguistically closely related, and yet have very different forms of government." Kohn begins by giving a sketch of the historical and constitutional growth of these five …

Review: Wilfred Martens, River Of Glass, Murray Communications

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

Wilfred Martens' competent writing style makes River of Glass a very "readable'' novel. The language, the images, the structure, and the transitions lead the reader easily from one chapter into the next. An effective cyclical construction provides a comfortable framework as the story begins and ends with the promise of spring. The circle construction is used within chapters also. The Siberian prairie is seen almost cinematically as a frame that begins and ends the first chapter. The reader first is shown the vast Siberian night sky, then is drawn into the bedroom of sleepless, frightened, 14-year-old David, then out again …

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The Bridge

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The Bridge

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Deepest Roots - Finest Fruits, Johannes Knudsen

The Bridge

Roots and fruits have an affinity in the natural order of things. It cannot be denied, of course, that the technical skills of our day can create marvels in sterile isolation or hot-house splendor, almost without roots. Nor must it be ignored that quickly growing plants with frail surface contacts to water and nutrients can grow luscious fruits. I would rather eat a strawberry than an acorn. Thus it shall not be contended that finest fruits require deepest roots. But let not the logic of cause and effect stifle a theme. Roots and fruits are valuable and related factors of …

Danish Settlement In Fresno County, California: An Example Of Acculturation To A Foreign Environment. 1880-1920, Marianne T. Stecher

The Bridge

Danish settlers were first attracted to Fresno County, California, in the late 1870's. By 1920, at the close of the era of Danish immigration, 1,839 Danes, 1 % of the entire Danish population of the United States, lived in Fresno County. The idea of Mediterranean crops thriving on twenty acres of fertile soil was tempting to aspiring farmers. The possibility of confining farm work to such a small land area seemed more preferable than one-hundred and sixty acres of spreading wheat fields in the midwestern prairie. A prospering fruit farm or a vineyard in sunny California was a dream of …

My Brother Is Born, Holger O. Nielsen, Harald R. Jensen, Translator

The Bridge

The day was February 14, 1889, and dusk had just fallen. As one looked over the western Nebraska prairie, the whole world was a huge blanket of glittering snow. The bright beams from the full moon fell upon the white snow, almost making day out of the night. Even the harsh Nebraska landscape was now white and soft, as gentle as a fairyland.

Danish Immigrant Materials: The Archives At Grand View College, Thorvald Hansen

The Bridge

Will Rogers, who claimed partial Indian ancestry, used to like to point out that his ancestors met the Mayflower at the dock. Be that as it may, it is certain that the dock was not crowded. The fact is, as John F. Kennedy once wrote, that this is a nation of immigrants. The vast majority of us are descendants of immigrants. Therefore, the history of this country, particularly at the grassroots level, is a story enacted by the immigrant.

Scandinavian American Archives, J. R. Christianson

The Bridge

The problem of locating and preserving Danish American historical materials has been in the spotlight in recent years. It has been discussed frequently in The Bridge and the Newsletter of the Danish American Heritage Society. In cooperation with Grand View College, the society launched a major project, the Danish Immigrant Archival Listing (DIAL), under Thorvald Hansen's leadership in 1979. That project aims to locate all Danish American historical materials presently deposited in archives and elsewhere throughout the United States, Canada and Denmark.

Four Poems On Death By Nis Petersen, Otto M. Sorensen

The Bridge

Very litte of Nis Petersen's poetry has been translated into English, and yet he is regarded as one of Denmark's finest poets in this century. In the following I offer readers of The Bridge translations and interpretations of four poems that deal with death, a subject that concerned Petersen over a considerable period of time. The reader should be cautioned, however, not to deem the poems typical of the poet. Death is one of many themes that run through his work. I have reproduced the originals here from the poet's Samlede Digte. ed. Hans Brix, Gyldendal, 1951 .

The Danish Colonization Society Of 1879, Frederick Hale

The Bridge

The Danish Colonization Society of 1879 (Den danske Kolonisations-Forening af 1879) is one of several organizations which historians have generally ignored. An analysis of it, however, could illuminate further a number of matters pertinent to the general theme of Scandinavian emigration. Essentially, it was an association that intended to assist economically deprived Danes in securing a collective home overseas as well as passage to it at the least possible expense. The Society was short-lived, apparently disbanding a little more than a year after coming into being. Moreover, the only direct evidence of its activity is its truncated biweekly newspaper, Udvandrings-Tidende …

Reminiscences From A Long Life, Ane Helena Paulsen

The Bridge

My maiden name was Ane Helene Nielsen and I was born in Yestergaard, Lendum Sogn close to Frederickshavn on January 22, 1866. My father's name was Ole Christian Nielsen, Kirkerod, Skaerum Sogn. He died early of tuberculosis. I can scarcely remember him. My mother's name was Mariane Jensen. She was the daughter of Jens Nielsen, Sondergaard, Lendum Sogn, and his wife Johanne Marie Larsdatter of Vang, S4,ndergaard, Tirslev Sogn.

The Partridge, Martin A. Hansen, Inga Wiehl, Translator

The Bridge

"Martin A. Hansen is considered one of the best and most influential Danish writers of the century. Despite his premature death in 1955 at the age of forty-six, he left a rich artistic legacy of novels, short stories, and travel descriptions as well as essays and books dealing with historical, cultural and philosophical themes.

'The Partridge' ('Agerhonen') is the title story of a collection of twelve short stories, all of which emphasize artistic expression as self-revelation. It is the means whereby the artist transforms the world and makes it new. The twelve stories are divided into three parts, childhood, adolescence …

Book Review, Ejnar Farstrup

The Bridge

This well-written and fully documented description of the merging of four Lutheran church bodies springing from German, Swedish, Finnish and Danish ethnic backgrounds is not "popular reading." It is however a description, much needed, of a process in which the heritage of each group is recognized and accepted for what it is in its own right, but also with a keen awareness of the subtle changes wrought by the impact of living in an environment vastly different from the conditions previously known to the original immigrants.

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The Bridge

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The Bridge

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The Bridge

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The Immigrant's Challenge To Dahs, Otto G. Hoiberg

The Bridge

During the half century preceding World War I, 300,000 Danish immigrants came to America, according to an estimate by Kristian Hvidt. Why did they come? Among many reasons, the Homestead Act of 1862 certainly stands out prominently. To the small-acreage farmers and the hired men in Danish agriculture, 160 acres of free, fertile land looked mighty inviting. Enthusiasm for migration was also generated by the glowing "Garden of Eden" advertising campaign conducted by America's railroads - a worthy prototype for today's Madison Avenue. Further, there were the so-called " America Letters" , received from relatives and friends already across the …

Rasmus Sorensen And Danish Emigration, 1847-1863, Frederick Hale

The Bridge

Probably no individual played a more seminal role in the limited Danish emigration to North America before and during the Civil War than Rasmus Sorensen. From the late 1840s until the early 1860s this author, educator, politician, and social reformer led three groups of his countrymen to Wisconsin and, through numerous booklets, speeches, and letters encouraged others to settle elsewhere in the United States and Canada. Yet Sorensen has generally been little more than a supernumerary in the historiography of this transatlantic migration. Its pioneering historian, Peter Sorensen Vig, devoted twelve pages to him in his mammoth compendium, a dozen …

The Danish-Language Press In America, Marion Marzolf

The Bridge

By the time Sophus F. Neble, a journeyman printer from Stubbekobing, Denmark, emigrated in 1883 to seek his fortune in the farmlands of the American Midwest, there was already a rudimentary Danish press tradition in the United States. But at that point in his life, Neble little cared or even knew much about it. He had thrown over his years of apprenticeship in the printing trade for a dream of becoming a successful American dairy farmer in order to win the hand of the young woman he loved.

Danes And Danish On The Great Plains: Some Sociolinguistic Aspects, Donald K. Watkins

The Bridge

The number of Scandinavians in the upper Midwest in 1850 was insignificant compared to the tens of thousands who arrived annually after the Civil War; but the early settlements, primarily in northern Illinois and eastern Wisconsin, typically served as way stations for the Scandinavians who came later, staying near the Great Lakes for shorter or longer periods of time before moving westward where more favorable conditions beckoned. It is in this connection one finds the nominal beginnings of a Danish presence in the prairie states, the region of the country most favored by the somewhat more than three hundred thousand …

Hans Christian Andersen's Life And Works: A Danish-American Perspective, Inga Kromann-Kelly

The Bridge

What meaning can Hans Christian Andersen's life and works, spanning almost the entire 19th century, have for the Danish-American of the twentieth and future centuries? What follows is the perspective of only one Danish-American; others may hold quite different views based on their familiarity and experiences with this internationally known and much revered figure. My intent is not to provide a definitive answer to the above question, but rather to stimulate thought on the subject.

Art? Among Danes In America?, Aase Bak

The Bridge

The Danish American Heritage Society has as one of its objectives to "encourage Danish American expression in the arts, humanities, and social sciences." It is to be hoped that the Danish American Heritage Society will have more luck in its endeavors to promote the arts than did another organization with somewhat similar aims. I refer here to Dansk Folkesamfund (Danish People's Society) and the abortive attempt to launch an art committee under its auspices in 1897.

Overgaard, Arizona - How Come?, Ole Overgaard

The Bridge

Have you ever heard about a little town in Arizona by the name of Overgaard? Probably not. I hadn't, until I suddenly saw the name on a map. I, a Danish journalist from the city of Aalborg, and family were planning a trip to the USA, and we decided to find out how our family name got to Arizona. After seeing the beautiful Grand Canyon, we went along Highway 40 to the city of Holbrook. From there it is only 50 miles to Overgaard. It is a very small town, but with a lot of vacation homes in the big …

Book Review, Egon Bodtker

The Bridge

This short book tells the reader what life was like for one young man in a small village in Denmark in the first two decades of this century. As the author writes in the Foreword: " it is a collection of reminiscences, a mosaic of people and places seen from a long distance, both geographically and chronologically." This sensitive sketch of a childhood and adolescence in the first two decades of the twentieth century will make all readers aware of the monumental changes in the world from then until now. While many of the individual behaviors can be related to …

Full Issue

The Bridge

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