November 2009 - Nr. 11
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German Image in Canada |
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The German Pioneers Day (one day after Thanksgiving Day) in Ontario saw its 10th anniversary this year and gave again a spectacular presentation in the Rotunda of the Kitchener City Hall.
Ten high ranking politicians and diplomats are represented in the program booklet and many more showed up and more were present in the evening at an appreciation dinner in the Danube Swabian Club, where honours were handed out to the organizers of this successful event that affords our community a high profile.
Part of the celebration commemorating the early German pioneers in Ontario is the honouring of contributors to the lives of many during their time. Sometimes it is a living person, sometimes it is a whole family tree with all its past and present members that is being honoured.
This year, appropriately, Wayne Wettlaufer, was at hand to speak
about the Private Members Bill he introduced to the Ontario
Legislature (Bill 28-1999) that affords us today the official
recognition the German pioneers so richly deserve:
Helene Schramek introduced the Huber Family, whose roots lie in Yugoslavia, came to Canada via Austria and forged with George Piller, who they met in Montreal, the now famous company. Pillers sausages and meat products are a staple in Canadian kitchens for 52 years, employing 750 people in Ontario.
Equally outstanding is the contribution Paul Tuerr made to the
community, which Werner Schlüter spoke about in his introduction
of this local entrepreneur. He too hails from Yugoslavia,
studied in Stuttgart, Germany, to be a structural and
architectural engineer. He arrived in Canada in 1948, worked as
a bricklayer and started his own construction company after only
7 month with the help of a loan. And the rest is history. He
truly built communities and his generosity towards activities
that further studies at the Waterloo Centre for German Studies
and towards activities that further German culture, literature
and language is well known. He is also the founder of the
Remembrance Society, which commemorates all innocent victims of
genocide, racism, torture and expulsion.
A community without spiritual guidance is lost, thus it is important to acknowledge those that gave the community members their moral and spiritual strength and guidelines, as Harry Drung pointed out in his introduction of the church representative. Just over 60 years ago the Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church formed its congregation and still supports a strong part of the local community.
The same can be said for St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, as Judy Pentaker mentioned when she introduced this recipient of the Pioneers award. The beginnings of this church date back to 1859 and in the early days services all were held in the German language, and added English in the late 1880s. Many good deeds were performed in the past by this congregation and to this day missionary activities are a main activity of this church. The church is a mainstay of the community for 175 years and has very strong support in the now mixed community, especially the German one.
Throughout the proceedings the Bethel Choirs performed, as did the children’s choir of the Concordia Language School.
We add our thanks and congratulations to all past and present who contribute so much to our cultural heritage.
German Pioneers Day at Queen's Park, Toronto
Deputy Consul General Mrs. Stefanie von Oppenkowski was the first to acknowledge the history of Germans in Ontario. She was followed by Gerry Meinzer, Founder of the German Canadian Congress, now representing the Schiller Foundation. Lorne Smith, Markham’s official historian made a few educated points on the subject at hand, Christian Klein also had interesting data about this city and our ancestors involvement, as did Rev., Pastor Schweter, of the First Lutheran Church on Bond Street, Toronto, was built in 1898, the congregation existed since 1851.
The German Canadian Congress had sent Klaus Walkau, the German
Language Schools were represented by Mrs. Hildegard Schieweck,
Anton Baumann represented the Danube Swabians, Rainer Walter the
Hansa Haus, Karl Ruppert the German World Congress and other
speakers that came forward impromptu added to the list.
FRANKFURT-TORONTOHard to believe that 20 years have gone by since Toronto and
Frankfurt became sister cities. We were in our first year of
publication and I distinctly recall that the big folk fest on
Philip Nathan Square included a German jazz band that had
represented its country many times before on other such
missions. Here in Toronto however the general German Canadian
public that had come had turned its nose up because jazz was not
German. We all know where that short sighted point of view comes
from.
Then Dr. Petra Roth, Lord Mayor of Frankfurt (Oberbürgermeister
in German) walked on the stage in a perfectly fitted suit and
high heels. She too reiterated all the wonderful things the 2
cities had done together and are going to do in the future where
they would later sit back, retired from
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