Objekt des Monats
Jedes Objekt in der Sammlung des Deutschen Auswandererhauses erzählt eine ganz persönliche Auswanderungs- oder Einwanderungsgeschichte. In dieser Rubrik stellen wir Ihnen jeden Monat ein anderes Objekt vor – eine Fotografie, ein Dokument oder ein persönliches Erinnerungsstück.
May 2018
Newspaper excerpt from the Washington Journal dated May 21, 1965
Historical Context
Celebrations marking the beginning of the warm season are also part of local customs in many places in Germany. In particular, ‘Walpurgis Night,’ the night of May 1st, is celebrated with ‘May fires,’ dancing, and drinks. In many areas, especially in the villages and towns of present-day Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, the raising of Maypoles in the central square is part of the festivities. Through the many German emigrants of the 19th century, May celebrations ‘in the German custom’ – which often means following a standardized Bavarian model – have gained further popularity in the USA.
Short Biography
The “festival director” of the announced “May Festival at the Potomac” and brother of the donor, Paul August Lüdtke, was born on August 29, 1905, as the first of a total of eight children in Bremen. The inflation and unemployment in Germany prompted the trained butcher to board the steamship “Derfflinger” at the age of 18 – only to set foot on the mainland in the USA later. During the journey, he meets Bertha Geiger from Stuttgart, whom he will marry five years later. Five years in which he has to “work his way up” to Baltimore and the resident Bertha, by getting by as a farmworker, salesman, baker’s assistant, and boiler maker. The inconsistency of his “American wandering years” is contrasted by the stability that follows: After his marriage, Paul Lüdtke – or Ludtke – works for 40 years at the Baltimore city transportation services. In his free time, the “Mr. Oktoberfest of Baltimore,” as the Washington Journal once titled him, organizes numerous events for German Americans in the region. The native Bremer also founded his own club, the “Edelweiss Pleasure Club,” and moderated the German-language radio show “Edelweiss-Hour” for decades. For his commitment to the numerous German clubs in Baltimore and throughout Maryland, he received the Federal Cross of Merit in 1988. Paul Lüdtke passed away in Baltimore in 1992, five years after his wife.
Significance of the object
The May Festival in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, demonstrates the allure of events celebrating German heritage even after World War II. An allure that is not diminished by the fact that not everyone who cherishes the customs maintained there in the ‘New World’ is truly familiar with them ‘from home.’ Thus, the ‘May Festival on the Potomac,’ featuring a maypole in Bavarian colors and performances by a Schuhplattler and alpine costume association, is organized by native Bremer Paul Lüdtke. In a foreign land, the feeling of home seems to become elastic – and can extend from the region to the nation as needed.
Do You Also Have …
… a story of emigration or immigration in your family that you would like to share with the German Emigration Center together with the related objects and documents for its collection? Then please contact Dr. Tanja Fittkau by phone at +49 471 / 90 22 0 – 0
or by e-mail at: t.fittkau@dah-bremerhaven.de