Hi Joel and everyone else interested in German history: For the most
painless and interesting yet very accurate way of learining German history,
esp. the history of Hannover, read my novels THE SAXON CHRONICLE (by Jane
Ellen Swan). You will love them and learn a lot at the same time. It is
in 3 volumes. If your library doesn't have them, let me know. I still
have a few copies - I'll even autograph them for you. Jane
I would like to read that, but my library in this small town does not have a
copy. Could I request one please?
Eugene M. Wiese
838 Linlawn Drive
Wabash, IN 46992-3903
emwiese1@comcast.net
Hi Jane, Joel and other list members,
I'd like to confirm what Jane has said - THE SAXON CHRONICLE (by Jane Ellen
Swan) was a most enjoyable read and wonderful way to gain an insight into
the history and life of people in Northern Germany in particular, over the
past 700 hundred years. I have shared the books with my family who have
also enjoyed them immensely and will get them back and read them again some
day. I enjoyed the history so much that next month when holidaying in
Europe, I am going to Celle, Bremen, Luneburg and the Luneburger Heide which
are some of the places that featured in Jane's books.
Kind Regard
Marlene
Brisbane, Australia
Hi Marlene,
When you go to Germany also try to visit Bremerhaven. They have a wonderful
emmigrant museum. While there you can get a "feel" for the experience our
ancestors went through.
Bobbi
Thank you Bobbi,
I will be visiting Bremerhaven, but it will be on a Sunday. I will make
enquiries before I go to see if the emmigrant museum is open of a Sunday.
My husband and I were going to visit the Ships Museum at Bremerhaven on our
way to Bederkesa where my father was from. My father and family travelled
to England via Holland and then to Australia.
Kind Regards
Marlene
Marlene,
I'm not sure what the scoop is in Australia but if one wishes to watch
"Windstärke 8" here in the US you need a code to override the European
DVD production or a region-free DVD player. There are companies which
sell decoders and others sell region free DVD players. Neither is
particularly expensive but many people have been disappointed upon
buying foreign DVDs which won't play on here in the US.
See http://www.dvdcodes.net/
That said, the documentary is well worth watching even though it does
get a little boring at times. I mean a 69 day trip on a small boat is
boring and even reducing it to 4 hours one gets the full effect. To
add a few words to the making of the film: 5500 applicants volunteered
for this 1855 trip re-enactment. Other then some modern communications
equipment everything down to the underwear and toothpaste was a
replica of earlier times. 18 experienced sailors, 14 adults an 5
children along with a camera crew of 6 made the trip. The total of 43
people was small and not really comparable to the typical actual
number of passengers on such a trip but
they went through the same routine and ran into the same problems
earliers passenger ships encountered including terrible weather.
Fred
Dear Marlene,
the emmigrant museum is opened every day also on Sunday.
Kind regards from Bremerhaven
Susanne
Hello Marlene,
I agree with Bobbi you should visit the German
Emigration Center, Bremerhaven,
webpage http://www.dah-bremerhaven.de/english/hauptseite_e.html
However if you can obtain a copy of 'Windstärke
8' a four hour documentary on two DVDs you will
understand how difficult these voyages from
Germany to America and Australia were in the 1850s.
This interesting saga was filmed in 2005 and
shown as a special documentary series on German
TV. It is the story of a voyage from Bremen to
America, re enacted strictly as conditions would
have been in 1855. A schooner was restored
especially for this voyage, however you would
need someone to narrate in English as the film
was shown in German, without English subtitles. I
have a set of the DVDs, bought for me by friends
from Amazon in Germany. I am not sure if they are
still available for sale but you could make
inquiries in Bremerhaven. This film is well worth
watching and everyone with German ancestry should
look at it, especially if you can arrange to have
some German friends with you and can translate
for you while the DVD is running.
However, if you were unaware of this film do have
a look at their Internet site
www.windstaerke8.com/ there are a few pictures
and a summary about making of this documentary
during the 13 weeks of filming their journey.
Don't forget to go to tourist offices in the
areas where your ancestors came from, they often
have DVDs for sale, they are wonderful to look at
when you come home. Many have English subtitles
and explain the district as it is today and its
past history, making special features of historical buildings and churches etc.
Have a wonderful trip to Germany, when overseas
in 2006 we spent over a month in Germany and
can't wait until I can visit again.
Elizabeth
Sydney, Australia
Thank you very much Susanne. Another kind Lister has sent me a sight for the
museum. It looks very impressive.
Kind regards
Marlene
Thank you for your email Fred and information on the DVD player and codes.
I have read some accounts of the trips to Australia from England in the
1800's - some were horrific.
My father and his family came to Australia in the 1920's. My grandfather in
1926 and my grandmother, father, uncle and aunt in 1929. They travelled
overland via Holland then down the Thames to London, travelled by train to
Southampton and then via the Mediterranean, Suez Canel and Ceylon to
Brisbane. My father and aunt really enjoyed the trip, except for a time
when my father became very sick with diphtheria and was almost put off the
ship in Bombay (which could have been disastrous).
Kind regards
Marlene
Dear Elizabeth,
Thank you very much for your most informative email and for the tips on the
DVD's available at the tourist offices. I have not heard of the Windstärke
8' film previously so I will check out the website. My husband is
interested in visiting the Ships Museum in Bremerhaven and the Maritime
Museum in Laboe after seeing the movie U-boat, so both of those places are
on the agenda too! There is so much to see in a short time. We will just
have to plan to go again.
Kind regards
Marlene
It would appear that Australia is not as hyper about the regional
coding system as here in the US were the requests for regions came
from in the first place.
As another poster said, it's easy to get around but I simply bought a
region free DVD player on line from NY were they sell as if the crazy
rules never even existed.
Any time an industry attempts to place borders around digital data,
another industry will form to get around such restrictions. It's a
game we have to play.
While discussing DVDs I can also recommend more contemporary
historical productions which have to do with the aftermath of WWII.
The ones I list here treat the subject which is mostly an unknown
event here in the US and that is the ethnic cleansing of about a third
of Germany which resulted from our agreements. with Stalin to move
the East hundreds of miles to the West. Land that had been German
since the early middle ages (1200) all of a sudden was declared the
native lands of Slavic peoples. The transfer of 16 million people
caused the death of the old and the young while others were simply
shipped off to slave labor camps in Siberia as part of the agreed upon
reparations. The subject is pretty much a historical taboo and is
buried where no one will find it.
Anyway, time had to pass before films could be made, not by Hollywood,
but by German TV. Topics such as largest loss of human life caused by
the sinking of a ship (the Güstlow) and the terrible loss of the
refugee trecks can now be seen on German TV. There is no accurate
count of the loss of life but estimates start at 1.2 million and go up
to 2 million. I have a few DVDs from these productions:
Die Grosse Flucht (Guido Knopp) - a series of 5 broadcasts plus 90
minutes of bonus material on two DVDs
Flucht und Vertreibung (Berthold & von Moss) - 3 part broadcast with
90 minutes of interviews of survivors on two DVDs
Sturm über Ostpreussen - two films documenting the tragedy of the
invasion of East Prussia w/bonus material from Soviet films on two
DVDs
Die Flucht - a movie made for TV about the flight from East Prussia
also on two DVDs.
There are many more but with the cost of DVDs in Euros being way up
there (the dollar is not what it used to be) one has to restrict his
purchases. Most of these films can be purchased via Amazon.de.
Fred
Hello Fred,
Thank you for your advice however we have no
trouble viewing "Windstärke 8" in Australia, or
any other DVDs purchased from most countries, if
viewed through the TV, we have an one older TV
and another TV about three years old.
I purchased an inexpensive DVD player from ALDI
several years ago after having purchased several
CDs and DVDs from Germany and other European and
American cities and I have never had any trouble,
neither have my friends who have purchased this DVD or have borrowed it.
However if you wish to play"Windstärke 8" on your
PC or laptop using some older versions of
Windows, it may necessary to download a FREE
software program that over rides the European
zone. I did this when showing the film on my old
laptop at a meeting of our German Interest Group
when this DVD first came out three years ago.
Australia is a very modern country and has superb
resources for German research especially the
library in the Society of Australian Genealogists
(SAG) and many State and National Archives,
Libraries, Museums and the Lutheran archives in
South Australia. The LDS films are available for
hire through the SAG library and Mormon Family History Centres.
Our problem is finding experienced people who can
read then transcribe/translate old German script
once we have obtained records from Germany or printouts from the LDS films.
I think it is a great pity that the makers of
"Windstärke 8" did not include English subtitles
as I feel they would have sold thousands of
copies throughout America and in Australia.
Elizabeth
Sydney Australia
On a side note-
True,
Australia is Region 6, but we do have the same TV norm that Germany has...
PAL B/G, and :o) if you bought your DVD player a while back or in fact at
Aldi's - true. They're region free down here, kind of a very nice loop hole.
Your problem is your TV norm - which is NTSC, and your DVD region (1).
If you obtain the DVD - Elizabeth is correct, you can play it back on your
PC, but be careful - since the DVD drive in the PC is also region locked.
You can switch 5 times - that's it.
Your stand alone DVD player is region locked, correct. Talk to some
specialist, not necessarily Walmart :o) - MOST DVD players can be
unlocked... sometimes it's a key combination on the remote, some other times
it's more subtle, and would require that a technician unlocks it. I am 100%
sure that there are guys in the US who can and will do that for a couple of
bucks.
You need to "convert" the DVD to a region free DVD, which is against
copyright, but it's possible with nearly no effort at all.
You could also - which is also against copyright, but equally easy - install
a small programme on your PC which will unlock the DVD region lock, so you
can watch the DVD on the PC - and burn it region free for "archving
purposes" which is also illegal, but then again.... easy and possible.
I can read Suetterlin, Elizabeth, and I might be around for some more
years... I'm based in West Pymble.... just in case...
Ta,
\Lars
Hello Marlene,
Have a wonderful trip to Germany, I have a
collection of DVDs and CDs from Germany some of
which I also bought at museums and in larger
department stores as well, depending on where you
visit and your interests, and always ask what is
available with English sub titles.
My friends in Germany always send me the German
telephone book on CD each year, I use it all the
time, look for it on special in the Aldi stores throughout Germany.
There is never enough time when I visit Germany so much to see and do.
Kindest regards,
Elizabeth
Hello Lars,
Thank you for your technology advice, I am sure everyone will refer
to it if any problems arise.
Yes what you say is true, that is why I used my old lap top in case
anything went wrong.
Thanks also for the offer to translate Suetterlin, I will contact you
off line when needed it is great to share information which may help others.
Kindest regards,
Elizabeth
If anyone is interested in learning how to read German script to do their own translations, I purchased a book entitled "If I Can, You Can Decipher Germanic Records", by Tamara J. Bentz for about $20 USD. It has been a great resource for me. I've been using it to translate our original church books as they are written in German.
Janice Thiele Seiler
I've used this book for many many years with
great success. The author is actually Edna
Bentz, but I believe copies are available through Tamara Bentz.
Joel