Link to Gage County, Nebraska

Ostfriesische Nachrichten

OSTFRIESISCHE NACHRICHTEN NEWSPAPER SCANS WITH TRANSLATIONS

PREFACE

The following article from Matthew Lindaman’s, “Heimat in the Heartland; The significance of an Ethnic Newspaper,” aptly describes the importance of the Ostfriesische Nachrichten and its impact upon the East Frisian emigrants as well as those still living in the homeland. This Breda, Iowa, German language newspaper was printed from 1884 to 1971 and contains a wealth of information pertaining to those from northwest Germany, the United States, and specifically southeast Nebraska.

On the evening of 31 December 1881, Pastor Luepke Hündling tucked a modest stack of freshly printed newspapers under his arm, walking toward the post office in Dubuque, Iowa. Officially known as the Ostfriesische Nachrichten (East Frisian News), the newspaper was sent out after the holiday season had drawn to a conclusion. The launching of yet another ethnic newspaper was certainly not uncommon for the era. The German-American population alone supported hundreds of newspapers in the German language. Hündling's new enterprise, however, was neither religious nor labor oriented, thus distinguishing itself from the scope of dozens of other ethnic newspapers. Moreover, his paper focused on neither national events, nor coverage of one specific locality. Instead, his was the twin goal of joining dozens of growing East Frisian communities spread out across the prairie in an open discourse, not only amongst themselves, but also with the old homeland. By the turn of the century, the Ostfriesische Nachrichten found a welcome place in thousands of East Frisian homes, both in the Midwest and abroad. Analysis of the Ostfriesische Nachrichten reveals that the newspaper played an enabling factor in chain migration, while also holding the widespread rural communities together. By linking the isolated communities and inviting the East Frisian immigrants to participate in an open discourse, the paper allowed readers to reify old traditions while negotiating the new American culture. As a result, the Ostfriesische Nachrichten helped create and preserve a more specific East Frisian-American identity and not a more generalized German identity. Matthew Lindaman

Immigrants and many of their descendants living in the Hanover area of southeast Nebraska (Gage County) were frequent readers and contributors of the Ostfriesische Nachrichten. Recently, several anonymous Ostfriesen descendants from this area have allowed me to photocopy, scan, photo edit, and format many of these submissions to the Ostfriesische Nachrichten into the PDF document contained on the CD. In the early part of 2008, Jürgen Adams from Wiesmoor, Germany and Lewis Miller from New Mexico graciously consented to help with the enormous task of translating some of these newspaper articles into English. During the latter part of 2008, Frank Ollermann from Osnabrück, Germany also came on board as a translator. The PDF document that follows the four-page index is a compilation of 1 ½ years work by these three dedicated men and one very detailed female Ostfriesen descendant and former Nebraskan, now transplanted to northeast Mississippi.

The following are points you should be aware of when reading the document containing the 159 translated Ostfriesische Nachrichten newspaper submissions:

Click here for name index

Download PDF document here

It is the desire of the translators, contributors, and compiler to provide this PDF document of southeast Nebraska’s Ostfriesen history to as many interested individuals as possible. It is too large to send as an email attachment. Consequently, a CD is available to anyone for a donation of $6 to cover the cost of materials and postage. All inquiries can be addressed to Cheryl (Jurgens) Meints, 11 Turtle Creek Drive, Corinth, MS 38834 (662-415-6047) nebrrose1@yahoo.com (The index, preface, and one scan with translation can be sent as an email attachment upon request, though.)

If anyone is interested in specific translations, those scans and their translations related to southeast Nebraska will be added to the Gage County, Nebraska USGenWeb site in the near future. This ongoing project is dedicated to all those who left their legacy in print.

Ostfriesen LINKS and family CONNECTIONS,

Cheryl Meints, compiler
Jürgen Adams, translator
Lewis Miller, translator
Frank Ollermann, translator
Several Ostfriesen descendants

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