European History Commons^™

The Dynamic Relationship Between Young Spanish Catholics And The Church, Caroline Cox

CMC Senior Theses

Research Question: How is the commitment of Spaniards to Catholicism changing with younger generations? And why is this relevant given Spain’s deep roots with the religion?

The Catholic Church and Spain have been highly involved with each other for centuries. It is possible that the Church’s controversies and conservative values are distancing young members from pursuing a stronger relationship with their faith. I predicted that more young Spanish Catholics’ commitment to the Church was wavering because of three potential reasons: increased security and education, child sex abuse scandals involving clergymen, and the institution’s outdated attitudes. I conducted a study …

Front Matter

The Bridge

No abstract provided.

Beautiful Dannebrog, Nebraska, Christie Jensen Gehringer

The Bridge

In June, a yearly festival is held in Dannebrog, Nebraska, in conjunction with Grundlovsdag (Danish Constitution Day). The festival, which observes Denmark’s independence and honors the town of Dannebrog, named for Denmark’s flag, began in 1987. Dannebrog celebrates its Danish Days, known as Grundlovsfest, every year during the first weekend in June; however, the festival was previously held from the late 1800s through the 1930s when it was called Gorbennad (Dannebrog spelled backwards). Driving down the main street in Dannebrog today one can find an antique store, an ice cream shop, and a bakery, which showcase the town’s Danish …

A Tale Of Two Nations’ Histories The Application Of Literary Fairy Tales As A Firsthand Account Of History, Nicholas Gottlob

Honors College Theses

Fairy tales are often thought to be solely for children as a means of education and entertainment. The literary fairy tale provided a medium that allowed authors to express their opinions under the guise of a story. This has not always been the case as literary fairy tales have been utilized as political instruments by authors and intended for a highly educated audience. Using fairy tales as a facade provided protection for authors, as outright criticisms against those in power usually resulted in dire consequences such as imprisonment or even death for the objector. The literary fairy tale provided a …

Barnacle Geese And Sky Burials: Relativism In The Travels Of Sir John Mandeville, Akasha L. Khalsa

Conspectus Borealis

As a medieval travel narrative, The Travels of Sir John Mandeville was immensely popular for everyone from bookworms to world travelers in 14th and 15th century Europe. Given its popularity, and the period in which it was produced, one might expect the fictitious travelogue to display an incredible level of intolerance towards the various peoples and cultures it depicts. However, the Travels frequently surprises modern readers with its message of tolerance towards greater humanity, and its recognition of the universality of human experience as it is mirrored in the lives of people of different ethnic and cultural groups. In order …

The Eidgenössisches Schützenfest: A Traditional Shooting Festival, Stephen P. Halbrook

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The Eidgenössisches Schützenfest (Swiss federal shooting competition), the largest rifle shooting match in the world, is held every five years in a different region of Switzerland. I have participated in five of the matches at Thun in 1995, Bière in 2000, Frauenfeld in 2005, Aarau in 2010, and Raron (Visp) in 2015. The Luzern 2020 matches have been rescheduled to 2021 due to the coronavirus.

Meeder, Sven, The Irish Scholarly Presence At St. Gall—Networks Of Knowledge In The Early Middle Ages, Ken Shonk

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Founded in 720 C.E., the Monastery at St. Gall is located in the modern Swiss city of Saint Gallus. The complex is built on the grave of its namesake and is home to wide array of texts written by Irish scholars, or reflective of Irish learning during the “Carolingian renaissance.” How these works by Gaelic-Irish scholars arrived at St. Gall is the primary concern of Sven Meeder’s intellectual history of Hiberno-Latin texts.

Back Cover

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

Pierroz, Philippe, Quand Des Valaisan Colonisaient Le Wisconsin, Robert Sherwood

Swiss American Historical Society Review

For much of the history of the United States, the role of the Swiss immigrants has been reduced to that of a bit player. The traditional history books usually follow immigration patterns along linguistic lines, and the Swiss immigrants did not follow these linguistic lines. Therefore, the Swiss Romand, the Swiss Germans, and Swiss Italians often get labeled as either French, Germans, or Italians when they arrived in the United States.

May, Gregory, Jefferson’S Treasure: How Albert Gallatin Saved The New Nation From Debt, Stacy Gooden

Swiss American Historical Society Review

On the south side of the United States Treasury Building located in Washington, D.C. is a prominently placed statue of the likeness of Alexander Hamilton, the nation’s first Treasury Secretary. Other than scholars of American history and economics, few onlookers would have recognized the man from the statue until Lin-Manuel Miranda’s critically acclaimed Broadway stage production Hamilton: An American Musical (2015) resurrected the Secretary’s public historical legacy.

End Matter

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

Where Are The Sons Of Tell? A Brief History Of The Formative Years Of Swiss Biathlon, 1957-1964, Robert Sherwood

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Despite the lack of international success in biathlon, the sport has a long history in the Swiss Confederation. Biathlon, which combines the long-distance endurance of Nordic skiing and the precision marksmanship of rifle shooting, would seem a perfect match for the Swiss. In the 2010s, the Gasparin sisters (Elisa, Aita and Selina), along with Benjamin Weger, have helped Switzerland start to realize its potential as a player in the world of biathlon. But in the early years of the sport, the Swiss were not at the top of the list for strong biathlon nations. The reasons for this lack of …

The Swiss In The Swabian War Of 1499: An Analysis Of The Swiss Military At The End Of The Fifteenth Century, Albert Winkler

Swiss American Historical Society Review

By the end of the fifteenth century, the states of the Swiss Confederation had enjoyed almost complete autonomy from the neighboring feudal powers for generations. During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the states of the Swiss Confederation were beset by external threats to their security, independence, and existence. The largest single menace to Swiss independence was the Habsburg family who often controlled their lands according to monarchal authority and a social structure which kept their subject peoples as unfree serfs.

Radna: The Holy Shrine Of The Multinational Banat Region (Romania), Erika Vass

Journal of Global Catholicism

Radna is the sacral heart of the Banat region in Romania. The shrine has united the Catholics for centuries in veneration of Virgin Mary regardless of their nationality and native language. Roman Catholic Bulgarians, Croatians (called Krashovani), Hungarians, Germans, Roma, Romanians, and Slovakians venerate the Blessed Virgin Mary together, but believers of the Orthodox and Greek Catholic Church also visit the sacred venue. Until the borders changed after the First World War, a great number of pilgrims had visited Radna every year from the region of the Great Hungarian Plain. The pilgrimage may be considered a rite of passage connecting …

Minor Letnica: (Re)Locating The Tradition Of Shared Worship In North Macedonia, Ksenia Trofimova

Journal of Global Catholicism

This paper addresses trajectories of historical and devotional continuity of the annual pilgrimage to a Marian shrine. It analyzes the ways in which traditional worship of the Catholic Church in Letnica (Kosovo)—a major regional sanctuary of the former Yugoslavia—is relocated and replicated in a small chapel of St. Joseph in Skopje (North Macedonia). Both sites have been for a long period of time institutionally connected and shared by followers of different religious traditions (Catholic and Orthodox devotees, and especially by Muslims). Drawing upon fieldwork carried out in Macedonia and Serbia between 2014-2019, I focus on the processes of social construction …

Breaching Boundaries: Homogenizing The Dichotomy Between The Sacred And Profane In Csíksomlyó, Zsofia Lovei

Journal of Global Catholicism

This article examines how a Marian shrine in Csíksomlyó, Transylvania acts as a Foucauldian heterotopia for Magyar speaking individuals, residing in the Carpathian Basin, and beyond in the diaspora most especially during the annual Pentecost pilgrimage. Following introductory remarks on the site and my stance, I turn to methodology, and Hungarian scholarship on the topic. Afterwards, I provide a “thick description” of fieldwork I conducted on-site in May of 2015. I then turn to various theoretical ties, which I support with emic analysis. Lastly, I turn to ideas of heterotopias, and provide a brief formal analysis. My main incentive is …

Full Issue

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

Teju Cole: “I Have Experienced Great Freedom Precisely In Swiss Villages”, Alexandra Kedves

Swiss American Historical Society Review

A metal railing of a viewing terrace is plowing with hard strokes over the panorama picture of Helvetian mountain tops. On another, an orange protection-net covers a construction site. Slats of a shutter traverse the view on yet another photography. And over the postcard idyll of the lake of Brienz a foghorn pushes white and big.

Two Early Nineteenth Century Overseas Emigrants From Näfels, Kanton Glarus, Switzerland: Walter Marianus Hauser And The Colony At Red River, Canada, Susanne Peter-Kubli

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Walter Marianus Hauser (1777-1850) was a member of Näfels’ elite society that had gained its wealth and prestige from the foreign military service of Swiss and occupied important public offices in the Canton. At the start of the nineteenth century, that group increasingly lost its importance. While its social prestige endured and its members such as the von Müller, von Bachmann, and von Hauser continued to use their titles of nobility, their economic base, that is highly paid officer positions in foreign military service, had disappeared.

In Memorium . . . Ilse M. Bachmann (Née Langhans) (December 21, 1932-October 12, 2019), Monika Bachmann

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Ilse Margarete Langhans was born in Allenstein, East Prussia (in present-day Poland), on December 21, 1932, the only daughter of Wilhelm Langhans and Margarete Emelie Issler. Her father was Oberstadtsgaertner (head city gardener) in nearby Koenigsburg until he was drafted into the German Army during World War II and killed in action, leaving behind Margarete, Ilse, older brother Juergen, and younger brother Dieter to fend for themselves when they and thousands of other ethnic Germans fled Russian forces invading East Prussia in the winter of 1944.

From Näfels To The United States: Emigrant Portraits From A Town In Switzerland’S Canton Glarus, Susanne Peter-Kubli

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Only a few, and mainly quite confusing, details are available about Feldmann’s life in Näfels and also about the date of his emigration. It derives, in part, from the fact that two people by the same name were living in Näfels. Both were butchers by profession and both had married women by the last name Müller. Checking the marriage and baptismal records of Näfels finally clarified the matter.

In The Turmoil Of The Civil War: Swiss Emigrant Daniel Schmid Of The Union Army, Fabian Braendle

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Swiss immigrants to the United States fought in the American Civil War on both sides. About 6,000 fought on the side of the Union, while the number of those who joined the Confederacy is not known.1 Some even rose to prominence reaching the rank of General. Daniel Schmid, a common soldier, who was born in 1834 in the Swiss town of Buchs, Canton St. Gallen, and joined the Union Army of the North. In his autobiography that he wrote for his numerous brothers in Switzerland, Schmid provided much detail about his war experience. It was quite common at the time …

In Memorium: Sabine Jessner Schlinger (1924-2019), Peter Sehlinger

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Sabine Luise Marianne Jessner Sehlinger died in Indianapolis on November 3, 2019. She was a professor of French history; the first woman president of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences; president of the Swiss-American Historical Society; several times president of the Indianapolis Wellesley Club; and the author of articles in historical journals and a biography of Edouard Herriot, French prime minister in the 1920s.

Back Cover

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

End Matter

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

Annual Swiss Days At The Woodrow Wilson Center, Naseer Ahmad

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Since 1864, Geneva has played an important role in international affairs in modern history. The city is also famous for the set of rules known as the “Geneva Conventions.” It is also the birthplace of Henri Dunant, the co-founder of Red Cross, who received the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901. Dunant played a significant role in the First Geneva Convention, as he was in charge of accommodating the attendees.

Tinderbox: Danish-Russian Relations, 1989-2019, Maddy Ghose

Master's Theses

This thesis documents and analyzes the major trends of the military, political, economic, and cultural relationships between Denmark and Russia from 1989 to 2019. I document the relationship from the Danish perspective, using primary sources, with the aim to conduct analysis of Danish politicians’ speeches and activities during this period. The outcome is a comprehensive image of the Danish-Russian bilateral relationship at the present time. This relationship has fluctuated widely during the time period under study. Shared economic development interests in the 1990s contributed to a positive relationship; controversy surrounding the war in Chechnya and an assertive Danish prime minister …