German-American Heritage Museum of the USA™
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Greetings from Washington, DC! We have survived the COVID pandemic, and have been busy organizing many different events. It’s once again time for our Annual Fund Campaign. Last year, we reached our goal of $30,000, and you may wonder where this money went?
In March, with winter still holding us in its grip here in Washington, DC, we opened our doors for a free fun and interactive seminar with German food lover, chef and cookbook author Kit Schulte exploring the evolution of German cooking.
During the summer, we featured a wonderful exhibit called Shared History Project: 1,700 Years of Jewish Life in German-speaking Lands that explored the deep connection between Jewish and non-Jewish peoples in central Europe. The opening lecture for this exhibit was also broadcast via Zoom, and attendees received full access to our virtual exhibit, which included high-resolution footage of the artifacts on display.
Now, as we move into autumn, we have been preparing for a number of events, including:
- participation in the Sept. 17 German-American Steuben Parade in New York.
- a formal luncheon honoring Gov. Jerry Brown as the 2022 Distinguished German-American in Sacramento on Wednesday, Oct. 5;
- a celebration of German immigrants and their many achievements on German-American Day (Oct. 6) in the German-American Friendship Garden on the National Mall; and last but not least
- Washington, DC’s inaugural Oct. 14 Taste of Oktoberfest, a collaboration of the German-American Heritage Foundation & Museum, the German Embassy in Washington, DC and Events DC
Later this year or early next year, we plan to host an authentic strudel baking workshop with an Austrian pastry chef. As you can see, we work hard to keep our and your heritage and the many excellent contributions of German-speaking immigrants over the course of four centuries alive. As a small organization with big plans and very limited funding, we rely on your generosity and your support more than ever. None of this would be possible without the contributions from you, our members and friends!
Let’s not just preserve the past, but carry it forward and bring awareness to our young generations. Today, on Sept. 15, 2022 we are officially launching our 2022 Annual Fund Campaign Drive with a $50,000 goal to support our work of promoting and preserving our cultural ancestry.
Last year, we kicked off our Oral History Project, and we are still looking for contributions—especially in the form of audio recordings accompanied by photos. In 2021, we launched a new project about the bravery and patriotism of German-Americans soldiers, going back to the Revolutionary War, which we want to expand with additional biographies. The ties between Germany and the U.S. date back centuries, and we have usually focused on the German immigrant perspective. However, in the spirit of transatlantic relations, we want to continue to explore that connection from a different perspective, namely through the lens of American military personnel stationed in Germany following World War II. The objective is to not only to conduct further research and collect experiences in the form of audio recordings and archival records, but to develop an interactive exhibit available to our members, German-American audiences, and all interested parties.
When Pastor Hans Haug founded GAHF in the wake of the U.S. Bicentennial Celebration in 1977, he not only envisioned an organization that would allow Americans to rediscover our heritage and make it accessible to younger generations, but to become a voice that speaks to all German-Americans in the country, a hub of the German-American family, some 45 million people strong, from coast to coast. It’s an ambitious objective, but as the old proverb says: Many hands make light work.
Thank you for your generosity and your support!