March 6, 2019
The Big Pond #18: German-Texan Heritage Societies

Wurstfest in New Braunfels
© Wurstfest Association of New Braunfels

Between 1820 and World War I, nearly six million Germans immigrated to the US – in 2017, only about 5,000 made the trip. If Germans aren’t coming to the US anymore, what will happen to the German-American heritage societies that try to keep German culture alive in the US? Our producer Berit Mason investigates in Texas.

 
In the mid-1800s, Germans were the third largest ethnic group in Texas, alongside Anglos and Hispanics, and German was the second dominant language, after Spanish. Back then, German immigrants established early public schools, Lutheran churches, and German-language newspapers. But today, Texan German-American heritage societies are struggling to attract new members.
 
For The Big Pond, producer Berit Mason visits several places where German culture is being promoted in Texas – like Schilo’s Deli and the Beethoven Hall in San Antonio, the Wurstfest in New Braunfels, and the Texas German Society in Houston. She observes that some of them are dwindling and some of them are growing – and she discovers some peculiarities, like an old bond between Germans and Hispanics; or the fact that some of these organizations are almost more German than their counterparts in Germany.
 
Music and sounds provided via Epidemic Sound
 

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