Gustave Koerner 200th Birthday Celebration
November 20-21, 2009

Aus dem Newsletter der St. Clair County Historical Society

Belleville feierte 200. Geburtstag des Deutschamerikaners Gustav Körner

Vor 200 Jahren wurde er in Frankfurt am Main geboren. 1833 musste er nach dem gescheiterten Wachensturm junger deutscher Revolutionäre, die in Deutschland eine Republik und freie Wahlen ausrufen wollten, aus seinem Heimatland fliehen: Gustav Körner emigrierte in die USA. Von seiner zweiten Heimat Belleville (Illinois) aus startete der Rechtsanwalt seine politische Karriere in den Vereinigten Staaten. Der 200. Geburtstag des Deutschamerikaners Gustav Körners am 20. November 2009 wurde in der Paderborner Partnerstadt mit einem festlichen Dinner begangen. Mehr als 150 Gäste nahmen daran teil, darunter Nachfahren Körners, die aus Kalifornien, Michigan und Maine angereist waren.

Bürgermeister Mark Eckert würdigte Körner als große Persönlichkeit der Geschichte Bellevilles, der 45.500 Einwohner zählenden größten Stadt im südlichen Illinois. Er sprach die Hoffnung aus, dass „möglichst rasch“ die Umgestaltung von Körners ehemaligem aus der Zeit um 1850 stammenden Wohnhaus zu einem Museum abgeschlossen werden kann. Die vermutlich schwierigste Teil, die kostspielige und schwierige Stabilisierung der Fundamente, ist geschafft. Vielleicht kann das Museum, das Körners Freundschaft zum gleichaltrigen Abraham Lincoln, ihren gemeinsamen Einsatz gegen die Sklaverei, aber auch Körners Rolle bei der Gründung der Republikanischen Partei 1856 und als erfolgreicher Unterstützer von Lincolns Präsidentschaftskandidatur im Jahre 1860 nachzeichnen soll, zur 200-Jahr-Feier der Stadt Belleville 2014 eröffnet werden. Eckert: „Das wäre großartig.“

Einer der Redner beim Festessen für Gustav Körner war ein Gast aus Bellevilles Partnerstadt: Wolfgang Stüken vom Deutsch-Amerikanischen Freundeskreis Paderborn-Belleville (DAFK). Er unterstützt das Belleviller Körner-Projekt durch Recherchen zu den Wurzeln Gustav Körners in Deutschland. Als einen Höhepunkt der Studentenjahre Gustav Körners in Jena, München und Heidelberg stellte er Körners Teilnahme am Hambacher Fest im Jahre 1832 heraus. Dem Vorsitzenden der Historischen Gesellschaft des Kreises St. Clair, Jack LeChien, der die Federführung des Museumsprojektes hat und als „Master of Ceremonies“ durch den Festabend führte, überreichte Wolfgang Stüken als Geburtstagsgeschenk einen Originalbrief Gustav Körners, den dieser 1867 aus Belleville an einen Freund in New York geschickt hatte: Den aus Hamm stammenden Deutschamerikaner Friedrich Kapp (1824-1884). Wolfgang Stüken hatte dieses Schreiben bei seinen Recherchen zu Körner in entdeckt. Er sagte unter dem Beifall der Festgäste: ,,Dieser Brief kehrt heute nach Belleville zurück.“

Es gab an diesem 200. Geburtstag noch ein weiteres Geschenk für das geplante Körner-Museum: Samuel Adams, Jahrgang 1925 und ein Ur-Urgroßenkel Körners aus Boston (Maine), überreichte aus dem Familienbesitz ein kostbares, 12 Pfund schweres Silbertablett. Gustav Körner hatte es 1864 zu seiner Verabschiedung als Botschafter Lincolns in Madrid als Erinnerungsgabe von der spanischen Königin Isabella II. erhalten. „Bis das Körner-Museum fertig ist, bekommt dieses Tablett einen sicheren Platz im Rathaus“, versprach Bürgermeister Mark Eckert.

Am Tag nach dem Geburtstag versammelten die sich Nachfahren Körners an dessen Grab auf dem Belleviller Stadtfriedhof Walnut Hill, um dort zu Ehren des großen Bellevillers einen Baum zu pflanzen. Die Wahl fiel auf einen White Oak, eine Eichenart, die als Staatsbaum von Illinois gilt. Ein Familienmitglied, das zur Baumpflanzung zum Spaten griff, war der 13-jährige Seth Blackwood aus Kalifornien, ein Ur-Ur-Ur-Urgroßenkel Körners.

Nach der Baumpflanzung ging es in Begleitung des Bürgermeisters zum Körner-Haus an der Ecke Mascoutah Avenue/Abend-Street, wo sich die Körner-Nachfahren über den Stand der Restaurierungsarbeiten informieren ließen. Es folgte ein Empfang, zu dem die aus dem kalifornischen Napa Valley angereisten Weinbauern Rombauer, eine Familie von Körner-Nachfahren, wie bereits zum festlichen Dinner einen edlen Tropfen aus eigener Produktion servieren ließen. Mehrere männliche Familienmitglieder der Rombauers tragen den Namen des Frankfurter Auswanderers als Vornamen. Sie heißen Koerner Rombauer.

Bei dem Empfang zeigte Wolfgang Stüken eine Bildpräsentation zum deutschen Teil der Familiengeschichte Gustav Körners und seiner Frau Sophie.
Sophie Engelmann (1815-1888) stammte aus Imsbach in der Pfalz.

Zum Thema „Gustav Körner und das Hambacher Fest“ siehe auch:
www.demokratiegeschichte.eu Gustav Körner

Grußworte der Präsidenten

President’s Message
I am happy to report that our Oktoberfest and Taste of Germany were very successful. A great deal of thanks to all our members who volunteer their time to make these projects profitable.

Thanks to our German potato salad chairperson, Marie Reichling and her staff for doing a great job. They cooked 150 pounds of potatoes and nearly all of that was sold on Friday alone. Doris Roach, chairperson of the food booth and Larry Schaltenbrand, chairperson of the beer booth were kept hopping to keep up with the busy pace on Friday and Sat- urday. Incidentally, Larry has served as chair of the beer booth for 14 years and will pass the baton on. Thank you Larry for serving this organization for so many years.

If you did not attend this year’s Taste of Germany dinner, you missed a wonderful evening of entertainment and food. Thanks to Rich Berkel, chairman, for his dedicated work each year on our biggest fundraiser, and to all members on the Taste of Germany committees.

This year’s Hermann award went to Belleville Parks and Recreation Department for all the support they have given us and the work they have done over the years. The membership award was given to Herm Schoener, our membership chairman. Herm keeps our roster up to date and has continued to volunteer on most of our projects over the years. Congratulations to both!

The next general meeting is November 19th at Fischer’s Restaurant. Don’t forget we will have election of officers at this meeting. I want to thank Carrol Moore and Helen Fiedler, the nomi- nating committee, for their work in selecting a slate of officers. I hope everyone plans to at- tend. We would like to welcome Wolfgang and Renate Stueken from Paderborn who will join us for our November general meeting. Wolfgang has done extensive research on Gustav Koerner and will give a special presentation at the Belleville Historical Society’s celebration honoring Gustav Koerner’s 200th birthday anniversary. Bob and Ruth Fritz will be hosting Wolfgang and Renate during their stay in Belleville

Since this will be my last message to all of you as president, I would like to thank everyone who has helped me for the past two years. So many of you willingly offered your time to ac- complish whatever needed to be done. I was proud and eager to serve as your president and thankful for the opportunity. Highlights were the Paderborn Police exchange, the 2008 trip to Paderborn for DAFK’s 20th anniversary celebration and attending the Libori fest. So as we welcome a new president, please give him the generous support and enthusiasm you have shown me.

Ron Fritz
President

News from Paderborn
Here in Germany we had General Elections to the Bundestag, our Parlia- ment, on September 27th. Chancellor Angela Merkel will again head the new government that will be in office for 4 years. On August 30th there was an election of all the city parliaments in North Rhine Westphalia and also of the mayors. Mayor Heinz Paus (61) of Paderborn was returned to office with 50.18 % of the votes. It will be his third term as mayor. He visited Belleville in August 2002.

On August 15th five high school students arrived in Belleville for a three month stay: Laureen Gertzen (hosted by Crystal Zimmermann), Amelie Kroeger (Jackie Bassler), Philipp Dueker (Family Youmanns), Michael Wilmsmann (Christopher Crawford) and Lukas Zimmermann (Kevin Schae- fer). They attended classes at Belleville West and East.

They got a warm welcome by their host families as well as by BSC and were well received at school. On Sept. 13th, Mayor and Rita Eckert gave a won- derful reception at their home for the students and their hosts as well as for board members of BSC.

On Sept. 30th Mayor Eckert gave the students a tour of his office and showed them his „Paderborn Wall“ where he displays photos of his trip to Paderborn in 2008. He also talked to them about pro- jects and programs under way in Belleville. They also had a tour of the police station. The Belleville News Democrat published an interesting article on this visit.

Another highlight for them was a reception at City Hall on Oct 19th just before a meeting of the city aldermen started. Mayor Eckert presented to them certificates reading:

“Certificate of Recognition presented to…(name)… Commemorating your visit to the United States of America during the 20th Anniversary of the Sister Cities Youth Exchange Program and the 20-year friendship between Paderborn, Germany and Belleville, Illinois “
(Mayor’s signature and seal).

The 5 students will return home on Nov. 8th. Their stay in Belleville has been a wonderful experi- ence for them. We are grateful to everybody involved, especially to the host families, the principals of the schools, Mayor Eckert and BSC.

Next year we are expecting the Belleville students in Paderborn.

With the help of BSC and DAFK a contact has been established between McKendree College, Leba- non, football coach Carl Poelker and the secretary of the Paderborn football club, the Dolphins, Nico Meier. We’ll see what will come out of it. Best wishes! Here is their homepage: www.paderborn- dolphins.de It would be great if the Paderborn team could go to the US some time and vice versa… Wolfgang and Renate Stueken will visit Belleville in November 2009. We are proud of Wolfgang hav- ing done so much research on Gustav Koerner.

At this year’s general meeting of DAFK (Sept. 24th) Maria Thomalla, vice president since 1994, did not stand any more for this position. Heiner Sprenkamp who visited Belleville in 2007 was elected. President Broer thanked Maria very warmly for what she had done for DAFK and the relationship with Belleville. Bernd: ”Maria, you have been wonderful”, and everybody agreed. See a picture on our homepage: www.dafk-paderborn.de

DAFK is now looking forward to the big Thanksgiving dinner. We are expecting more than 150 at- tending.

Best wishes also to our friends across the Ocean for Thanksgiving 2009.

Bernd Broer
President

Dr. Otmar Allendorf
Secretary

Die Austauschschüler wurden in Belleville von Mayor Mark Eckert in der City Hall empfangen, wo er ihnen Informationen zur Stadt und ihrer Verwaltung gab.

Anschließend besuchten sie auch das Police Department.

Im News Democrat erschien dazu dieser Bericht.

A cultural exchange:

Students from Paderborn, Germany visit sister city Belleville

BY BRITTANY PALMER – News-Democrat

Five German exchange students and their host families visited City Hall on Wednesday to meet Mayor Mark Eckert and tour the police station.

Four of the Paderborn students are attending Belleville West High School: Amelie Kroger, Philipp Dueker, Laureen Gertzen and Lukas Zimmermann. One, Michael Wilmsmann, is attending Belleville East High School.

Eckert gave students a tour of his office and showed them his „Paderborn Wall,“ where he displays photos of trips he has made to the German city. He also talked to them about projects and programs under way at Belleville.
Eckert said that he loves the exchange program and has a deep respect for it. He has hosted students from Paderborn, and his children have visited the city often.

„It is good for our children; it has been a tremendous experience,“ Eckert said.

The students were then taken on a tour of the police station by Sgt. Tim Jones. He showed them the dispatcher’s office, records room, and the inside of a police car.

The students attend school, and can participate in sport activity practices.

„Lukas and me play in the soccer club,“ Philipp said.

Philipp also said the biggest difference between the two cities is the school systems. Amelie agreed, and said her favorite class is photography, which is not offered in Germany.

The students said the thing they miss most is their friends and family. Most agreed that the thing they liked best in America is the food; Taco Bell and Applebee’s were two favorites.

Many host families have taken the students to different places in St. Louis, such as a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game or the St. Louis City Museum. Some plan to visit places, such as Chicago and Arkansas.

Monna Youmans, host mother to Philipp, said she has enjoys „sharing different experiences with him in everyday life.“

Belleville and Paderborn have been involved in the Sister Cities Inc., program for 20 years.

Doris Roach, youth chairwoman of Sister Cities Inc., said the program is a hit with families.

„The families that participate just love it, and we are always looking for families (to host),“ she said.

Twice a year, students from each city visit the other. The summer exchange lasts three weeks. The school year exchange lasts 90 days for students visiting from Paderborn, and six weeks for students visiting from Belleville.