Grußworte der Präsidenten

President’s Message

I hope everyone is enjoying the nice weather we have had this past month. We have gotten a bit spoiled with the cool days, just hope Au- gust isn’t a scorcher.

The membership dinner was held in Paderborn at St. Michael’s parish center and although I had to be out of town for business, I heard there was a good turnout and those who attended had a good time. Thanks to Theresa and her committee that put it all together.

Norma Bergkoetter planned a day trip to St. Louis on June 25th for members and guests to visit the Holocaust Museum, churches and have lunch at St. Louis Gasthaus. From the comments I heard, the trip was a huge success. Thanks to Norma for a job well done.

The Paderborn exchange students arrived in Belleville on July 3 to spend two weeks with their host families and explore the City of

Belleville and the surrounding area. While here, the students met with Mayor Eckert at City Hall for the 20th anniversary of the youth exchange program between Belleville and Pader- born, Germany. Plaques and letters of accomplishment were presented to Belleville Sister Cities from Lansing Hecker, Honorary Consul General and Josephine Wittenauer, Illinois State Coordinator, recognizing the 20 years of promoting friendship and cultural student ex- changes. A metal plaque commemorating the anniversary will be placed outside in front of the Sister City sign at City Hall. Thanks to all past and present chairpersons, chaperones and host families who have made the youth exchange a success. May our success continue to flour- ish.

A new and much larger Sister City sign with our logo was recently installed near the foun- tain by the north entrance to Belleville on North Illinois St. The new sign looks great and is much more visible thanks to Rich Berkel and the Parks and Recreation Dept’s. efforts.

Oktoberfest is coming up Sept. 25 & 26th. Larry Schaltenbrand has already sent out sign- up sheets to volunteer your help. Following Oktoberfest is our Taste of Germany on Oct. 4th. Chairman, Rich Berkel has his committee working hard on the ad book. If you would like to help, call Rich at 234-2331. These are our biggest fund raisers of the year. Money raised goes to funding our youth exchange program. I encourage all of our membership to participate in these two events by volunteering their time or by attending. Invite your family and friends to these activities.

Ron Fritz
President

 

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News from Paderborn

Dear Friends in Belleville and Around

As we do every year we are celebrating the Libori festival at the end of July. This July has been full of activities due to the youth exchanges between our two cities and regions. The group chaperoned by Norman Hansmeyer, Eva Reike and Andrea Her- mes returned on July 26th from a three weeks’ stay in the US, two weeks in Belleville and one week in the area of Boston. They are back with wonderful memories of their time in Belleville and around. They experienced hospitality coming from the heart of the hosts they stayed with.
On behalf of the German-American Friendship Society Paderborn-Belleville (DAFK) we want to express our deeply felt gratitude to the host families, to the Belleville chaperones Doris Roach, Andy Gaa and Katie McDowell and to BSC for what they did to make this year’s youth exchange a very successful one. We also thank Mayor Eckert for the reception at the City Hall and the tour of the city he gave to the group.

This year marked the 20th time that Paderborn has participated in a youth exchange program with Belleville. Who would have thought that such a continuity could become real when in 1990 a group of Belleville youths headed for Paderborn, Germany. On July 6th , Mayor Mark Eckert gave a reception at the City Hall for the youths, representatives of BSC and former chaperones from Belleville. To mark the occasion, Lansing Hecker, honorary consul of the Federal Re- public of Germany to the US from St. Louis, presented a plaque to the Mayor recognizing 20 years of exchanges. Also present was Josephine Wittenauer of Illinois Sister Cities. DAFK has invited both to come to Paderborn. Amelie Reichling and Jonathan Crawford from Belleville are here just now for a counter visit. They hosted Paderborn students last year for three months. Luke Eckert and a friend will accompany Jan Schulze when he returns to Germany after a great time in Belleville. In July the grandchildren of former Mayor Lueke of Pader- born, Moritz and Pauline, stayed with the Eckert family on a private basis.

On August 15th , five high school students will arrive in Belleville for a three months stay: Laureen Gertzen (hosted by Crystal Zimmermann), Amelie Kroeger (Jackie Bassler), Philipp Dueker (Family Youmanns), Michael Wilmsmann (Christopher Crawford) and Lukas Zimmermann (Kevin Schaefer). It will be a great experi- ence for them to attend an American high school. We are grateful to everybody involved. Again, these recent exchanges have been wonderful.

Looking back over 20 years, both cities as well as the BSC and DAFK can be proud of the achievement. Let’s hope that this wonderful project of building bridges over the Atlantic and especially between our two cities and regions will go on. We are indebted to everybody involved over the years. Many of them are named in a recently compiled history of our the sister city relationship (in English) from 1987 thru today. It can be found on our website, Geschichte DAFK,  www.dafk-paderborn.de/geschichte_dafk

Best wishes

Bernd Broer
President

Dr. Otmar Allendorf
Secretary

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Abenteuer Amerika:
Paderborner Schüler reisen für drei Monate nach Belleville

Landrat Manfred Müller und Deutsch-Amerikanischer Freundeskreis verabschieden fünf Paderborner Schüler in die USA

Kreis Paderborn
Pressemeldung vom 19.08.2009

„Ich habe mehr Erfahrungen gemacht, als ich zu träumen gewagt hatte und sehe die vergangene Zeit voll und ganz als ein Geschenk an“, schrieb Daniel im vergangenen Jahr in seinen Internetblock. Die fünf Paderborner Schülerinnen und Schüler, die jetzt nach Belleville fahren, haben das alles noch vor sich. Der Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundeskreis Paderborn-Belleville e.V. bietet auch in diesem Jahr wiederum fünf jungen Menschen aus Paderborn die Chance, die kommenden drei Monate in den USA zu verbringen und den „American way of live“ direkt vor Ort kennen zu lernen. Landrat Manfred Müller, der Vorsitzende Bernd Broer und Geschäftsführer Dr. Otmar Allendorf vom Deutsch-Amerikanischen Freundeskreis verabschiedeten die Jugendlichen vor ihrem Abflug in die USA. „Ich bin sehr froh, dass wir solche Kontakte und Erfahrungen auch und gerade jungen Menschen ermöglichen können. Die Zeit, die ihr dort verbringen werdet, ist von unschätzbarem Wert und eine Bereicherung für euer gesamtes Leben“, zeigte sich Landrat Manfred Müller überzeugt.

Jede Städtepartnerschaft ist auf Zukunft gerichtet, sie braucht deshalb die Zukunftsträger, also euch, die Jugendlichen von heute“, betonte der Vorsitzende des deutsch-amerikanischen Freundeskreises, Bernd Broer. In das Netz der vielfältigen Beziehungen, die der deutsch-amerikanische Freundeskreis im Lauf der Jahre geknüpft habe, seien junge Menschen deshalb von Beginn an einbezogen worden. „Jugendbegegnungen sind ein entscheidender Motor für eine aktive und gelebte Städtepartnerschaft“, so Dr. Otmar Allendorf.

Lukas Zimmermann und Michael Wilmsmann, beide vom Gymnasium Schloß Neuhaus, sowie Laureen Geertzen, Amelie Kröger und Philipp Düker vom Pelizaeus Gymnasium haben bereits den Atlantik überwunden. Jetzt heißt es landen und ankommen in einer amerikanischen Stadt, die für sie alle noch eine große Unbekannte ist. Doch das dürfte sich schnell ändern. In den drei Monaten nehmen sie am Unterricht an einer amerikanischen High-School in Paderborns Partnerstadt Belleville/Illinois teil. Untergebracht sein werden sie in Gastfamilien.

Die fünf betrachten ihre Reise ebenfalls als großes Glück. Zuvor mussten sie sich zudem bewerben, um in die Auswahl zu gelangen. Vorbedingung waren gute Englischkenntnisse und die Bereitschaft, sich auf das „Abenteuer Amerika“ einzulassen und als Botschafter für die Region einzubringen. Mitte November endet ihr Aufenthalt. Im kommenden Jahr werden dann Schüler aus Belleville in den Genuss der Paderborner Gastfreundschaft kommen.

Die Jugendbegegnungen sind ein fester Bestandteil des Deutsch-amerikanischen Freundeskreises, der es sich seit seiner Gründung im September 1988 zur Aufgabe macht, die Städtepartnerschaft zwischen Paderborn und Belleville mit Leben zu füllen. Seit 1989 entwickelte sich zwischen beiden Städten ein reger Austausch von Jugendlichen und Erwachsenen. Zahlreiche private Besuche von Bürgern und Bürgerinnen beider Städte und Regionen halfen außerdem mit, Begegnungen zu ermöglichen und die Freundschaft zwischen den Menschen zu vertiefen.
Weitere Infos im Internet zum Deutsch- amerikanischen Freundeskreis: http://www.dafk-paderborn.de/.

Bildunterzeile:
Motor für die Städtepartnerschaft: Landrat Manfred Müller (zweiter von links) sowie Dr. Otmar Allendorf (ganz links) und Bernd Broer (ganz rechts) vom Deutsch-amerkanischen Freundeskreis verabschiedeten – von links nach rechts – Michael Wilmsmann, Amelie Kröger und Lukas Zimmermann in die USA

Es fehlen (auf dem Foto, nicht in Belleville): Laureen Gertzen und Philipp Düker

Kreis Paderborn – Amt für Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit
Michaela Pitz

Auf zur Jubiläumstour

Artikel und Foto erschienen auf www.paderborn.de
@ Jens Reinhardt, Presseamt, Stadt Paderborn

Paderborn (IP). Auf zur Jubiläumstour heißt es für 14 Paderborner Jugendliche am 3. Juli. Dann brechen sie in Richtung Amerika auf, um Paderborns Partnerstadt Belleville und im Anschluss daran Boston zu besuchen. Die Teilnehmer dieser internationalen Jugendbegegnung hatten der stellvertretende Bürgermeister Dietrich Honervogt, der Vorsitzende Bernd Broer und der Geschäftsführer Dr. Otmar Allendorf vom Deutsch-Amerikanischen Freundeskreis im Rathaus verabschiedet. Die Gruppe, die Norman Hansmeyer vom Jugendamt der Stadt leitet, wird bis zum 26. Juli unterwegs sein. ‚Ich wünsche Euch tolle Erlebnisse, viel Spaß in den Gastfamilien und eine gute Reise‘, so Dietrich Honervogt.

Der Jugendaustausch zwischen Paderborn und Belleville besteht seit 1990. In diesem Jahr steht mit dem 20. Austausch ein besonderes Jubiläum an. Dafür laufen in Belleville auch schon Vorbereitungen. Am 6. Juli wird eine Feierstunde mit Bürgermeister Mark Eckert im Rathaus der 45.000 Einwohner zählenden Stadt stattfinden. Belleville liegt im Bundesstaat Illinois 26 km südöstlich von St. Louis (Missouri).

Der Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundeskreis (DAFK) unterstützt den Jugendaustausch von Beginn an. Im jährlichen Wechsel besuchen jeweils 14 Jugendliche (im Alter von 16 bis 18 Jahren) sowie zwei Betreuer aus Paderborn bzw. Belleville die Partnerstadt für jeweils drei Wochen. Fester Bestandteil im Austauschkonzept ist die Unterbringung der Jugendlichen in den Gastfamilien, um den Jugendlichen einen Einblick in die jeweils andere Lebenswelt zu ermöglichen.

Am historischen Pfauenstuhl im Paderborner Rathaus wurden die Paderborner Jugendlichen nach Belleville verabschiedet. Der Stuhl stammt aus der Liborius-Kirche von St. Louis, Missouri, aus den USA.

Well, maybe I don’t look forward to mowing the grass just having green grass.

At the April 15th Board Meeting, Melissa Shreve and Lacey Levin, represen- tatives of Lindenwood University, spoke of the university’s interest in starting an international student exchange program. Information has been forwarded to Paderborn.

By the time you receive your newsletter, Steve and Hilda Koluch will have returned from the 2009 Illinois State Sister City Convention held on April 17 & 18th in Schaumburg, IL. Steve and Hilda were our representatives this year and we are looking forward to their report.

The eighth Annual Art on the Square event will be held May 15th to 17th. We wish much success to Patty Gregory and the planning committee for another award winning year.

The next general meeting will be held Thursday, May 21st, at Fischer’s Restaurant. Please plan to attend and bring a guest if you wish.

Our annual Membership Appreciation Dinner will be held Thursday, June 18th, at St. Michael’s Parish Center in Paderborn, IL. Call Hilda Koluch for reservations. Come join us for a fun and exciting evening.

We are looking forward to the Youth Exchange this year as we welcome 14 students traveling from Pad- erborn to Belleville to share and experience life in United States and our city of Belleville. We hope all members will make the students feel welcome during their stay from July 3rd thru July 17th. The support of the summer exchange program and the 90 day program are important to the organization in strengthening our ties between Germany and the USA.

Norma Bergkoetter is making plans for the youth exchange alumni to attend a reunion with our visiting Paderborn students and hosts.

This year’s Sister Cities International Convention will be held in Belfast, Northern Ireland from July 29 thru August 1st. At this time, we have no plans to send a representative.

Ron Fritz President

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News from Paderborn

Dear Friends in Belleville and Around:

Just now we are remembering our first visit to Belleville 20 years ago – from May 4th thru May 9th, 1989. A large group from Paderborn experienced the wonderful hospitality in our future sister city – as the picture at the Shrine shows.

At this time last year we all were very busy with preparations for our 20th anniversary, so in 2009 there will be less stressful weeks without such an event ahead. Nevertheless we have been working on various exchanges. Amanda Reichling and Jonathan Crawford will fly to Paderborn airport on July 1st and will stay here thru July 31st. Their hosts will be two students who were in Belleville for three months in 2008 — Maren Ruerup and Simon Potthast.

Norman Hansmeyer will take a youth group to Belleville from July 3rd thru July 17th. They are looking forward to their stay. We are grateful to those working on the program at your side and to the host families.

Three high school students from Paderborn will come to Belleville in August for a three-month stay, they’ll attend the high schools West and East. Here in Paderborn, the final interviews as to who will go will be finished soon.

In February, Doris and John Roach stayed in Paderborn. We had talks with Doris about the upcoming exchanges. Stammtisch president Willi Boekamp arranged a special “Stammtisch” for our Belleville friends. Also some of the policemen attended who were in Belleville last September.

On May 19th, we’ll have our traditional “Dogwood Fest.” Members and friends will be invited to explore a nature reserve in the county of Paderborn. Afterwards we’ll have an all-you-can-eat buffet dinner with delicatessen of asparagus that is grown in the region. We hope that many members will come.

We are sorry to report that our member Johannes Buschmeyer passed away on January 31st. He was 85. Many in the St. Libory area will remember him for his interest in the relations between the “low German prairie” and Paderborn county. In 1995, he arranged a meeting for Wally Braucks (St. Louis) and the delegation from Belleville to visit the place near Paderborn where Wally’s plane had been shot down in 1944.

Last not least we want to congratulate Mayor Eckert on his being re-elected as Mayor of Belleville. We know that he is a great supporter of the sister city relationship between Belleville and Paderborn.

Best wishes to everybody.

Bernd Broer
President

Dr. Otmar Allendorf
Secretary

Grußworte der Präsidenten

President’s Message
It’s awfully cold lately but that didn’t stop members from attending our Christmas party at the Roemer Topf Restaurant on Dec. 18th in Mascoutah.

We had a nice crowd in spite of the weather and even had a couple of new members join us. Renate and her staff prepared a tasty dinner. Hilda and Theresa had a nice selection of attendance prizes and Doris arranged the entertainment. I think everyone had a great time.

2008 was an exciting year for Belleville Sister Cities and its membership with the many events that took place. Thanks to all that made this possible. We accomplished quite a lot with our students and an adult delegation visiting Paderborn, a police exchange in September, and our fundraisers – the Oktoberfest and Taste of Germany. But 2009 is a new year and we need to get busy. This summer in July, Belleville Sister Cities will host the Paderborn students and chaperones. A committee is already making plans for the student’s two week stay. Always keep in mind that we need everyone’s help to make our projects successful. Volunteers are welcome.

Congratulations are in order for the Deutsch-Amerikanischer Freundeskreis which received the Ambassa- dor’s Certificate of Appreciation by former US Ambassador William Timken, Jr. The award was given for its commitment to promoting relations between Germany and the US via means of the Paderborn-Belleville Sister City partnership. Secretary Dr. Otmar Allendorf traveled to Duesseldorf to receive the certificate on behalf of the DAFK.

We were sorry to hear of the passing of Ludwig Schmidt. He was a long time member of the DAFK and will be fondly remembered by many. Our sincerest condolences go to Bruni and Ludwig’s family.

The 2009 Illinois State Convention will be held in April in Schaumburg, IL. More information from the host committee of the conference will be coming out soon.

A membership annual dues notice was in the last newsletter. Please submit your dues now so that our new membership chairman, Herm Schoener does not need to send a reminder. Please check with Herm to confirm your current address, phone number and e-mail address so our roster will be up-to-date.

Our next general membership meeting is on Feb.19th at Fischer’s Restaurant with dinner at 5:30pm and meeting at 7:00pm. We look forward to seeing you there.

Ron Fritz
President

News from Paderborn
In January 2008 we began our part to the newsletter with: “This year has begun with increased turbulence on the American and International Money Market. Let’s hope that the situation will calm down….” We all know that this hasn’t been the case, even worse: a financial and economic crisis is affecting the whole world. Nevertheless, let’s hope that there will come better times…

Nearly everybody here watched TV when President Obama was inaugurated some days ago.

At present there is cold winter weather in your area, and even here in Paderborn we have had a January with much snow and temperatures below zero Celsius throughout the month that we haven’t experienced for a long time.

Our Thanksgiving “all you can eat dinner” was a great event; about 160 people attended. The chef had to cook 18 turkeys that were enjoyed by everybody. Again the desert buffet was wonderful. The members are asked to bring their favourite desserts. This year Kate Eckert, the Mayor’s daughter, who happened to attend since she was on a University course in Regensburg, had made two pumpkin pies, real American style. They were a hit!

At a January 14, 2009 reception at his residence in Duesseldorf, US-Consul General Matt Boyse honoured representatives from 23 sister-city partnerships, 16 German-American organizations, and 9 individuals in- volved in the bilateral relationship from across North Rhine-Westphalia. The event was an occasion to present Certificates of Appreciation signed by former Ambassador Timken and the Consul General, to in- tensify the cooperation between the Consulate and partner organizations, as well as foster communication and exchange between the organizations themselves and their leaders. This event also launched a series of workshops that will involve all institutions active in promoting German-American relations, to be held at regular intervals in order to support their activities and generate synergies.

Dr. Otmar Allendorf, Secretary of German-American Friendship Society Paderborn-Belleville, travelled to Duesseldorf to receive the document.

We think that this also is a recognition of the activities of Belleville Sister Cities. So both organizations can be proud of this “Certificate of Appreciation”.

On January 29th Dr. Peter Freese, a retired professor of American studies from Paderborn University and member of DAFK, gave a lecture on the American South. He presented a lot of historical facts and showed pictures of the places of historical interest. On our homepage www.dafk-paderborn.de we will publish a list of books he used for his talk (in English).

As we have heard from Doris Roach, she has contacted Belleville West and East High Schools to find host families interested in the three month-exchange, starting in August. We hope that she will be successful. In June we’ll welcome the students from Belleville who hosted last year.

Norman Hansmeyer has started to organize this year’s youth exchange in July. As every second year we will send about 14 young people in their summer break to visit Belleville and around. Last July 14 Belle- ville youths and their chaperons had a good time here..

Welcome to Paderborn.!

Best wishes for 2009 to our friends in Belleville and around.

Bernd Broer
President

Dr. Otmar Allendorf
Secretary