Hello from Germany!

David_NYC


There are many people around the world who heard Wolfman Jack on AFN near where the Americans had military bases, but had no idea what he looked like. The first time anyone saw moving pictures of Wolfman was in the film "American Graffiti. He also was the announcer of the television show "Midnight Special" from sometime in the mid 70's to 1981. There are few clips giving glimpses on Youtube, since few people had VCR's back then:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXTENLjqEVg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pr5GJ7nU30
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhQvsG-4CcQ
A later interview with Wolfman:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOasL9PqK_M

One of my favorite movies of all time.

Hallo Michael!

Willkommen auf unserer Gemeinschaft!

Meine Urgroßeltern stammen aus Deutschland, und ich wuchs in einer sehr deutsch-amerikanischen Gemeinschaft.

OK, I'm 30 years removed from the Amana Colonies, it's amazing how fast we forget.

I love my German roots, and look forward to your contributions! 

Der Apfel fällt nicht weit vom Baum.

Moin WarToad!

Thank you, what is your first name...?

Since my first encounter to the internet, in the late 1980s, it was always a pleasure to talk to people over in the good ole US of A, with a german family background...

Being a 50% american, my father was a resident in Phoenix/AZ, a former Col. in the Air-Force, Korea- and Vietnam-Veteran, there was always some kind of love/affinity to the US of A.

Und ein Satz in deutscher Sprache: Ich fühle mich in diesem Forum zuhause, es ist ein sehr schöner Platz im Internet, danke dafür!

German regards

Michael

My name is Todd.  (Middle name is "Michael", lol!)  My great grandparents came to America just before WWI. They didn't like what was happening in Europe and wanted a fresh start.   They arrived with 2 suitcases and US$120 dollars.    They're family name was "Jung", but to somehow become more "American" (whatever that is...) they changed it to "Young".

Sie sind hier herzlich willkommen. Diese sind meist "Salz der Erde" ehrlichen Menschen. Hart arbeitende Menschen regelmäßig. Sehr durchschnittliche Amerikaner.

.. if that makes sense... ? correct grammer, please.

Welcome Michael, glad for your recipes on German food (HINT) hehe glad you are here. Wabbit

My last name is Brenhöltz... perhaps 300 years ago it was Brenneshöitz, no one is sure. My ancestors emigrated from the Rheinpfalz/Palatinate, in 1763. Prior to living in Germany, they'd lived in what is now Switzerland. Of course we've lost the umlaut, and changed the z to an s.

When I was younger, I had vague dreams about visiting Germany, but now it seems perhaps it will never happen.

Moin Mosca!

Genealogy is one of my hobbies, I own documents and informations to retrace parts of our family history back to the year 1231, a very fascinating hobby, I even found out, that some of our ancestors were robber barons, or pirates.

Very many american families are of german origin, and it is always very interesting to research for the old names. Here a german database, to locate the regions in germany, where the last names were and are most present.

Link: http://www.verwandt.de/karten/

Kind regards

Michael

Might you know of ones for Italy and Poland?

Moin PizzaNut!

Here two links to the best german genealogy internet forums:

1. http://www.genealogie-forum.de/

2. http://forum.ahnenforschung.net/

Please register over there, and feel free to post your questions in english language, most german people are able to answer in english language. Also many german people are of polish origin, please look in the forum Nr. 2 at the section Ehemalige deutsche (Siedlungs-)Gebiete...

Good Luck! 

Michael

"My name is Todd.  (Middle name is "Michael", lol!)  My great grandparents came to America just before WWI. They didn't like what was happening in Europe and wanted a fresh start.   They arrived with 2 suitcases and US$120 dollars.    They're family name was "Jung", but to somehow become more "American" (whatever that is...) they changed it to "Young"."

Moin Todd/Michael!

This is a very typical description for the emigrants of that time, many families searched for a new life, food, and luck in the USA. The memories of most emigrants are very tragic. The city of Bremerhaven here in Northern Germany dedicated a museum to all these people.

Link: http://www.dah-bremerhaven.de/

The site of the Deutsches Auswanderer Haus is av. in both german and also in english language. A visit to this very special museum is very touching, like a trip back in time. If you ever visit germany, dont miss it!

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkjpDaIXjus

Kind regards

Michael

Welcome aboard Michael. I never heard of currywurst.When I looked it up, I understood why. It was invented in the 1940s. I never heard of it from my dad.He talked about grandma using goose or chicken fat in making cookies for the holidays, and she would make griebenschmaltz and a dish he called "Come again in the Morning",I cannot recall how it's spelled in german,and other things.grandpa was a butcher and i think he made some of his own sausages, but I know they used to buy wursts from Usinger's in Milwaukee where my dad grew up. I have relatives still in Bavaria and in the Schwarzwald on my dad's side.His mother's side came from Riga to America.Don't know if they are still there and in Libau.
 
Most americans are friendly, but you do run into some who aren't nice to be polite,that that is in every country.
My dad worked in military intelligence for the US Airforce.Back in the 1960s he had a choice of going to Germany or England. But instead our family went to Alaska which was nice.
 
kind of a shame we didn't get to Germany. It would have been nice to go to Garmisch which I understand is a big winter resort area,and to Nuremberg and see the toy museum and other sites,and meet our cousins in both places.
 
Have you ever been to the United States? The springtime here in south Texas around San Antonio is really beautiful with all the wildflowers. When we get lots of rain, sometimes you can see fields just full of bluebonnets, like water almost.

Thanks Michael for posting that website. Even though i know very little german, it was fun to put in Hilpert,and see where all these families are. I found a few Steldts, that was my grandmother's maiden name,but not many. I tried Weichlein,(Grossmutter Hilpert)
found some, and same for Krebs(Grossmutter Steldt), but nothing for von Lilienschild,cousin Reinhold's family, or Malhov-Zeiter,another cousin.I'll have to ry again.
I did find Popp, which was my mother's family.Sometimes she spelled it Poppe, but I don't know what relation any of these people would be, if any,as her parents met on the boat coming to America right after World War 1 .They both were Hungarians,her family was from Budapest and his family the Popps momma said raised horses.
 
I also found out by accident there are Hilperts in France too,which gives me another line of research to pursue.If I ever get a chance to go to Nuremberg and see the family history book,maybe my cousins can tell me about this too.That is if they are aware of it.

Moin HollyDolly!

Thank you very much for your kind welcome, if you need further help, to research your family history here in Germany, let me know...

Sorry, I have never been in the USA, in the year 1979 I was stationed in Shilo/Canada as a Panzersoldat (Tanker) in the German armed forces, but only for 4 weeks.

I am suffering from Flugangst (Aviophobia), and a passage by ship is far to costly for me...

Kind regards from Germany

Michael

Michael, it's nice to know that I'm not the only one on this website with aviophobia. Just the thought of flying causes my stomach to do flip-flops. About five years ago, I was scheduled to accompany a couple of my fellow Godzilla fans to Tokyo; I obtained a passport, a non-refundable plane ticket and hotel reservations, believing that I could deal with my fear of flying well enough to make a trip that was, to me, the dream of a lifetime. A week before departure, however, my aviophobia became so intense that I had to cancel out, and my friends went without me. I ended up losing over seven hundred bucks in non-refundable charges because of this little misadventure. 

Moin noca!

Back in the year 1979, it was my second flight, only one flight to munich and back happened before, in the year 1972.

For the most of my Bundeswehr comrades, the 1979 flight to Shilo/Manitoba, with the airplane Bundesluftwaffe-1, was their very first flight, and many comrades went crazy, even before the jet lifted off towards canada.

We were even served german beers, to calm our moods down during the flight, a little "stoned" after all, I had a good flight, the hours over Greenland, what a sight...

Nowadays I avoid planes, airports, even tall buildings, not since just 11/9/2001. To live in a City like NYC, pure horror to me. I prefer the "flat" german life, no tall buildings, no planes, just farm-houses, and a clear landscape, like here in our Ammerland.



Regards from Germany

Michael

For decades, I avoid tall buildings, just even their site makes me shiver, I never come close to such a building, and I avoid looking at such buildings.

In german language this is Höhenangst (Acrophobia), and Platzangst (Claustrophipia). I am not able to use a elevator, even being close to a tall building, scares me to hell.

In the early 1970s, our local cinema was located in the basement of a 10 upper stories tall building, what a horror-trip...

Today, I avoid all this, no loss, just calming down on my own line.

German regards

Michael

...

Hello Michael, I thought you might enjoy this article from our local newspaper, regarding German POWs brought to Wisconsin during WWII.  There were a fair amount of POWs here, and some books have been written about them.  Sometimes they were able to interact with the local populace, and were usually quite well received, due to the common heritage they shared with many Wisconsinites.  We have many of German descent here, and it seemed everyone realized these were more our cousins than our enemies.  

My own family is German and Polish on my dad's side, Great-Grandpa emigrated from Pomerania in 1880, but Polish was their language, and I heard a lot of that growing up. 

Maybe we are all cousins.

www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2009/08/13/news/z03italy.txt

I never knew there were POW camps in Wisconsin.
My dad was a prisioner of war of the Germans in North Africa.They had gone to get water at an oasis, and encountered german soldiers.He got wounded in the fighting. My dad was thirsty, and he asked one of the soldiers in german for water. The man gave him some, and asked where my dad was from.Daddy said Milwaukee, and this soldier said he had relatives there too! He mentioned a few names, but they weren't familiar to my dad.He asked who
daddy was related to, so he told him. They weren't kin. My dad and the other men got taken to the POW camp.  after my dad had been there for a bit, he was told to report to the commadant's office. The commander of the camp asked him various questions, to which he gave name rank and serial number,etc. After a bit  he was told he could go back to his quarters,but before he left, The commadant asked him,Oh, by the way, how's Reinhold?
My dad was like HUH??!!!.The commander of the camp then asks again about Reinhold and some of the other Milwaukee relatives. My dad told him they were doing good,and he learned this man was a von Lilienschild, and a cousin of both grandma and daddy's cousin,Reinhold von Lilienschild.In fact reinhold and he had served together in WW1 as artillary officers. He gave my dad some cigarettes and sent him on his way.
Daddy shared the cigarettes with everyone in his quaters and told them how he got them,since the guys were curious how he had them.
Not every day ,but once in awhile  he would get called to his cousin's office for a chat.Daddy always passed along any sausages, cigarettes,etc. he might recieve.He also told them how to act and what questions they might ask  if they called you into the office, how to evade their questions and other tips.
Daddy said one day they woke up, and the germans were gone.The only guards there were the italians,whom they managed to over power.Apparently they had water and food, because he didn't mention anything about them starving or suffering terrible thirst when they got liberated by the Allies.
 
The only thing my dad could figure out in all this, about the commadant knowing he was a relative, was because that soldier might have said something to the man.
 

Greetings!

I do not like to start a topic about the very many german POWs in the USA, because this is a very complex topic.

Let me share with all of you a five-part video documentary, my german friend Klaus "Terminus" uploaded at YouTube.

These five videos by Klaus are dedicated to his elder friend, "Veteran Werner". Werner passed away unexpected at July 11th, 2009. The journey of Veteran Werner, accompanied by his younger friend Klaus, in the year 2008, was the only chance for Werner, to visit the former battlefields in Normandy, and to stay at the gravesite of his best friend and comrade.

http://www.youtube.com/19.../uploads/4/JWIqS3A9ISU

Please start with the video 1 "WW II german Veteran" in the Youtube Channel...

Klaus also included another video in his channel, a very touching video in english language.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBdK4iWIAok


Dedicated to every fallen soldier, and to the last remaining veterans.

Salute!

Michael

Hi! Hopefully this reply gets posted since I have joined today (29 Jan 11).
 
I am Army Sergeant Mike Jungk. I am also known by friends as AFN Mike. Please send/forward me any messages, requests for contact, etc to me. I would love to chat with former listeners.
 
My email is:
 
Thanks and hope to chat with you again.
 
Regards,
 
Mike Jungk

Welcome, Mike!
 
What a surprise to hear from the radio personality Michael wrote about.
 
I did get to listen to AFN Bremerhaven for a few days in 1972 while on vacation in Germany! And for real thrills, there are a few Internet websites that allow one to remotely control a communications receiver in Europe. I found one in Italy, and was able to tune up AFN Frankfurt (Now AFN Wiesbaden) on 873 Khz.
 
Unfortunately, the software here removes URL's and email addresses for those with under something like 25 posts. However, people can send you private messages. Also, you can enter your email address in your profile. Just hover over "User Control Panel" on the top of this page, wait for the balloon to appear, then click on "Edit Profile".
 
Every so soften on German-language message boards, such as:
http://www.radioforen.de
you see messages by German nationals about AFN and BFBS, and lamenting the closing down of stations.