Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen (30 March 1818 – 11 March 1888) and his Raiffeisenbank in the German Banking System Remembering the man who witnessed famine and suffering and established a banking system to serve the working class. By Robert A. Selig In May of 1817, one year before Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen was born, Carl Bames of Reutlingen jus... Read More...
“Seeing” What Can’t Be Seen—The Discoveries of Austrian Archaeology Using technology to “unearth” archaeological treasures without moving a single shovelful of dirt. By Crispin Andrews Austrian scientists have developed technology, which (in 2014) was used to uncover previously unheard of monuments at Stoneheng... Read More...
Regensburg—A Kaleidoscope of History on the Danube This beautiful city’s existence and history are forever entwined with the Danube. By Alevetina Altenhof Donau in German, Dunai in Russian, Dunav in Bulgarian and Duna in Hungarian—the Danube River which connects ten European countries between t... Read More...
How much bread and meat will I be able to buy tomorrow? Food Rationing in Germany from 1915 to 1950 Supply, the combined impact of Allied blockades and weather-related crop failure left its war-ravaged citizens sick and starving. By Robert A. Selig For most Germans today, the answer to the question “How much bread and meat will I be able to b... Read More...
Australia’s Historic Hermannsburg Mission Lutheran missionaries settled in the far reaches of central Australia where daily life was a challenge and they left a lasting legacy. By Maggie Kielpinski / Photographs courtesy Maggie Kielpinski I was watching the landscape as we drove into t... Read More...
Of Skulls, Skeletons and Headless Horsemen: What to do with a dead Hessian or a Brunswicker, as the case may be? Yes it was war but Hessians, Brunswickers and Ansbachers killed in battle were often left unburied in a foreign land. By Robert A. Selig Washington Irving’s 1820 story about The Legend of Sleepy Hollow forms an integral part of American culture. A fusion... Read More...
Surviving the “Hängerbande” Times: The Murder of the German Unionists in Fredericksburg These German immigrants remained true to their first oath to the United States and also stood against slavery. It cost them their lives. By AnnElise Makin In Fredericksburg, Texas, many old-timers still speak German. This pretty Hill Country town, named... Read More...
31 October 2017: The 500th Anniversary of Martin Luther’s Denouncement of the Sale of Indulgences His public actions challenged the Catholic Church and started the movement that became the Protestant Reformation. By Robert A. Selig On 31 October 2017, millions of Lutherans the world over will commemorate, others will celebrate and some will just re... Read More...
St. Gallen—A Swiss Treasure From a monk’s hermit cell to UNESCO World Heritage site, the St. Gallen’s Abbey Library fascinates on many levels. By Phyllis Meras In 612 A.D., an Irish missionary monk named Gallus built himself a hermit’s cell and a prayer house in the quiet Steinach ... Read More...
