Willkommen - Welcome to www.germanoriginality.com and the community section of the website! Having served as president of the Society for German-American Studies for 25 years and as curator of the German-Americana Collection and director of the German-American Studies Program at the University of Cincinnati for more than 30 years, and having received the Bundesverdienstkreuz from the Federal Republic of Germany (1991) and the Distinguished German-American of the Year Award from the United German-American Committee (2002), I have become acquainted with the German community in the U.S. Now, for the first time, German Americans around the U.S. have one common platform where they can share traditions, customs, recipes, heritage stories and tips for discovering their roots in Germany. We hope that you and your friends will embrace this website not only as a resource but also as a community and gathering place. We welcome your ideas and contributions which not only will strengthen the community on www.germanoriginality.com but also serve to promote the long-lasting ties between Germany and the U.S.

The Federal Republic of Germany and the United States of America have been good friends and allies for decades, but the actual ties between both countries go back several centuries to 1608, when the first Germans came to Jamestown, Virginia. This site will help you learn more about them and the skills, trades, and crafts they brought to the New World in the 17th century, and how they symbolize in microcosm the many contributions that Germans would make to the building of the country that became the U.S.A., and how closely connected both lands are.

In the course of time, Germans formed the largest immigrant group coming to America. Today, an estimated one-fourth of the population claims German ancestry, making German-Americans the largest ethnic component in the land. They came for a wide variety of reasons that vary with time, including social, political, economic, and religious factors, and settled throughout the country. However, they especially concentrated in the states beginning with Pennsylvania in the East and sweeping to the West Coast states of Oregon and Washington. In these twenty-one states German-Americans comprise the largest ethnic element, but they also settled outside of this German heritage heartland in two other states: Florida and Alaska. Yes, they live throughout the U.S., but in twenty-three states they are the most numerous.

The 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first Germans in America provides an historic opportunity to explore America's German heritage, and Germany as the ancestral homeland of millions of Americans today. The connections and associations between towns, cities, and sites in both countries are simply overwhelming. The number of German place names in the U.S. alone is but one indication that Germany and America are related. For example, there is only one Berlin in Germany, but many Berlins in the U.S.

In the history of German-American relations there are many significant dates, but for me the year 1987 is particularly important for two reasons. On June 12, 1987, President Reagan delivered his unforgettable speech at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, stating to the Soviet Union's then General Secretary Gorbachev: "Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" In less widely quoted words he also said in the same speech that he had noticed a slogan painted on the wall: "This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality!" Across the U.S. German-Americans had long held firmly to the belief that the wall would fall, and Berlin would again become the capital of a unified Germany, and it came true.

Another German-American dream came true later that year: just a few months later German-American Day became a reality. After taking on the responsibility of leading a national campaign that year to have the 6th of October declared as German-American Day, I arrived in Washington, D.C. on 2 October to attend a special Rose Garden ceremony at which President Reagan signed the proclamation for German-American Day. In words as unforgettable as those spoken in Berlin, he said: More Americans trace their heritage back to the German ancestry. More than seven million Americans have come to our shores through the years, and today some 60 million Americans - one in four - are of German descent. Few people have blended so completely into the multicultural tapestry of American society and yet have made such singular economic, political, social, scientific, and cultural contributions to the growth of these United States as have Americans of German extraction.

And, with regard to Germany, he exclaimed that: "Our histories are thus intertwined. We now contribute to each other's trade, enjoy each other's cultures, and learn from each other's experiences." After completing his speech, I had the opportunity to speak and expressed the gratitude of all German-Americans for proclaiming German-American Day and for his words at the Berlin Wall, and closed by simply saying: "Thank you, Mr. President." Thereafter, it was an honor when people started calling me the "Father of German-American Day," a title I never claimed, as obtaining the German-American Day proclamation was a national campaign and effort involving German-American organizations and individuals from coast to coast. I was nevertheless pleased to have facilitated the process in concert with German-Americans nationwide.

Following my remarks for the Rose Garden signing ceremony, I presented President Reagan with a copy of my book on the Cincinnati Germans, as I knew that it would one day land in his Presidential library, and this would assure that his library would have at least one German-American history book. Another book that will certainly also be in the Reagan Presidential Library in California is a recently published work, The Reagan Diaries (2007). In paging through it, I found his entry for the 2nd of October, and that he, of course, had noted his signing of the proclamation for German-American Day.

Much has happened since 1987, but most importantly for German-American relations, the unification of Germany and the annual celebration of German-American Day on the 6th of October each and every year. Since that time, the interest in German heritage on both sides of the Atlantic has only deepened, and beckons all to further explore the many fascinating places of German heritage in the U.S., as well as Germany.

www.germanoriginality.com provides a panorama of useful information for this exploration of discovery. It includes, for example biographies of famous Germans on both sides of the Atlantic in all possible fields of endeavor. German traditions, German words in America, German cooking and recipes, and many other topics are also covered, including highlights of the various tourism regions of Germany. All this makes a valuable contribution for learning more about the German heritage on both sides of the Atlantic. Moreover, it invites your active participation to suggest German heritage towns, cities, and sites across the country that others might want to visit.

Gute Reise/Have a good trip!
Dr. Don Heinrich Tolzmann