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GERMAN IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR NEWSPAPERS
IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
By KLAUS G. WUST
The history of the German element in the District of Columbia has yet
to be written. Local life in the national capital as a subject for historio-
graphy has not provided the same attractions to professional and amateur
historians as have the events in cities, areas or states which have grown
naturally out of geographic and economic circumstances. Local events in
Washington, though colorful at times, have always been overshadowed by
the prominence of national affairs. The composition of its population has
been largely determined by the functions and requirement of the many
federal agencies. The District of Columbia as a political entity has under-
gone great population shifts several times during its history, the most sig-
nificant having taken place in the recent past. Furthermore, it would be
virtually impossible to describe the history of any segment of the Washing-
ton population without looking across the district line into the counties of
Northern Virginia and Maryland where many of the people reside who are
playing a part in its civic and social life. This is particularly true of the
German element which has shown a marked tendency towards locating in
the suburbs of the two neighboring states throughout the last 50 years.
The Washington area has always had a sizeable foreign-born population,
but immigration here was different from that found in other eastern cities.
The absence of large industries and a commercial life limited to the require-
ments of the capital and its immediate surroundings are the main reasons for
this difference in the social pattern of immigrant life. Germans, Austrians
and Swiss were to be found primarily in the small trades, as craftsmen of
many sorts, as hotel and restaurant owners, in liberal professions, and
somewhat later in the various branches of the federal government. Govern-
ment positions, however, were not available to newly arrived immigrats and
preliminary studies seem to indicate that most of the German born govern-
ment employees spent their waiting period for citizenship in other parts of
the United States.
For those reasons, the German element of the District of Columbia was
never a homogeneous group. On the other hand, no regional element from
the German-speaking countries, save the Swiss, was ever numerous enough
to develop its own group life. The only real common bond of the German
population in Washington was and is the common tongue. Here the need
for a German language newspaper appears clearly, but there too the German
press of the District of Columbia shows characteristics which are typical
for the composition and the prevailing mood of the largest foreign language
group in the national capital. Several attempts at establishing a German
newspaper in Washington prior to 1859 proved futile because the editors
[36]
were not able to adjust to the particular social, political and economic
conditions existing among the Washington Germans.
A brief descripition of the historical background of the Germans in the
District until the appearance of the first German newspaper is indispensable
since no other historical account is available.¹
While the main stream of immigrants arriving from Pennsylvania and
Maryland ports during the 18th century was directed toward Western
Maryland and the Valley of Virginia, some Germans located on both banks
of the Potomac. The occurrence of German names in the early records of
Georgetown indicates the presence of German inhabitants prior to 1765.
In 1766 Colonel Charles Beatty, one of the original founders of the town,
set apart a lot of ground for the sole use and benefit of the Lutheran Church
under the condition "that they would build on it within a reasonable time
a house of worship." The Lutherans took possession of the lot at once and
organized themselves into a congregation, and in 1769 the cornerstone was
laid for the first German church. The congregation, however, was unable
to secure a permanent pastor. Itinerant ministers from Virginia, Western
Maryland and Pennsylvania held occasionsal services.
Prominent among the German inhabitants of Georgetown were Henry
Yost and John Unselt who operated one of the largest gun factories in
Maryland,² and Charles Fiehrer, printer and publisher of the first newspaper
in the history of the District of Colmbia. Fiehrer, a former Hessian soldier
who had joined the Continental Army, set up his English and German print
shop in Georgetown in 1789.³ Nothing is known about the extent of his
German printing but his weekly The Times and The Patowmack Packet
was still being circulated in 1791. This German printer has also been
credited with having published the first book in this area, an almanac of
which no copy has been found so far.
4
A wealthy German, Jacob Funk of Washington County, bought a section
which is now bounded by 18th to 24th Streets and "H" Street, Northwest,
and the Potomac River and laid out a town which he called Hamburg.
It was also frequently referred to as "Funk's Town." Of its 287 lots, the
greater part was acquired by Germans living in Western Maryland, Penn-
sylvania, Alexandria and Bladensburg. In 1768, Funk sold two lots to the
German Lutherans and to the German Reformed for five pounds sterling
each. Neither lot appeared to have been used for church purposes prior to
1833 because the expected influx of German immigrants never took place.
When the Federal District was established in 1791, most of the lots were
still unoccupied.
In 1790 President George Washington requested a report on the owner-
ship situation in Hamburg which was sent to him on December 9th of the
same year: "We went up to Jacob Funk in Washington County for a
particular state of the situation of the Lotts in Hamburg and never till
yesterday received his answer. We find there are 287 Lotts laid out upon
1
An attempt was made to collect and publish records of the Germans in the District of Columbia
by the short-lived Deutsche Historische Gesellschaft für den Distrikt Columbia in 1905 and 1906. Five
issues of Berichte were actually published but unfortunately represent little of historical value. Main
contributors were Christian Strack and Gustav Bender. Strack had collected considerable data which he
is said to have destroyed during a mental illness prior to his death in 1914. Bender published his
"Skizzen aus dem deutschen Vereins- und Volksleben" in 22 instalments in the Washington Journal
from February 1, 1918 until July 26, 1918. Another series, entitled "Beiträge zur Geschichte der
Deutschen im Distrikt von Columbia" by Klaus G. Wust appeared in 32 instalments in the Washington
Journal between September 9th, 1957 and October 10th, 1958. The special centennial issue of the
Washington Journal of April 17th, 1959 also contained much historical material.
2
Dieter Cunz, The Maryland Germans (Princeton, 1948), 141-142.
3
The Times and The Patowmack Packet, April 23, 1789.
4
Lee Grove, "Washington Book Stores," Library Journal, LXXXIV (1959), 1984. Fiehrer also
operated a book and glass ware store. He was the Georgetown agent for John Frederick Amelung's glass
factory at New Bremen, Maryland. Cf. Cunz, op. cit., 163-166.
[37]
130 acres of land, and as far as we can Judge from the Book of Sales kept
by Funk which he sent us, the whole of the Lotts are in the hands of about
150 Proprietors, principally Dutchmen residing in Frederick and Washington
Counties, and in Pennsylvania who have heretofore held them in but little
estimation."
5
In 1792 both Washington and Jefferson suggested to the three Commis-
sioners for the Federal City to "import Germans and Scottish Highlanders
as tradesmen and laborers" for the construction of the first government
buildings and other public works in the new capital. An old farm building
between "E" and "F" Streets and 24th and 25th Streets was fitted as
rooming house for "emigrants" and reportedly housed many Germans until
1789.
6
In Alexandria (which belonged to the District of Columbia until 1844)
Germans had begun to settle during and after the Revolutionary War.
Notable among them were Peter Hoffman who established a sugar refinery
and Colonel Michael Swope who kept a well-known ship chandlery business
in the town which at that time was also a minor immigrant port. A promi-
nent Alexandrian, Richard Dinmore, wrote in 1807: "In Alexandria there
are now resident several of those Hessians whom the English paid for and
sent to conquer this country. They stayed here after the war and some of
them are now among the wealthiest men in this place."
7
When the total number of Germans in Washington City, Georgetown
and Alexandria was not sufficient to warrant even the establishment of a per-
manent church congregation during the first two decades of the 19th century.
a local German newspaper would certainly not have found enough support.
The German Westliche Correspondenz of Hagerstown had some subscribers
in Georgetown. The German printer, Jacob D. Dietrick of Staunton,
Virginia, listed Dr. John Ott of Georgetown as agent for his Deutsche Vir-
ginier Adler in 1807. James Kennedy and Sons in Alexandria offered
German almanacs for sale in 1816 and 1817.
8
The colonial Germans who were among the early settlers of Georgetown
and its vicinity were largely assimilated in language and customs, and due
to their inability to get pastoral care for their congregations from the
German Lutheran Ministerium of Pennsylvania, they had also joined the
churches of their Anglo-Saxon neighbors, when a new generation of immi-
grants began to arrive after 1815.
Many of the newcomers were "indentured servants" who were offered
for service against payment of their passage by captains of vessels arriving
in Annapolis and other ports. Advertisements announcing the arrival of
German redemptioners appeared frequently in Washington and Alexandria
newspapers in 1817.
9
One of the Germans who arrived at that time in
Washington, Andreas Schiebler, recorded that almost 800 Germans lived
then in the city and its vicinity, many of whom found only temporary
employment and moved west afterwards.
During the summer of 1832 a large number of laborers, principally
Germans and Irish, came to the city and were engaged for the most part
in macadamizing Pennsylvania Avenue, working on the canal and digging
5
Allen C. Clark, "Origin of the Federal City," Records of the Columbia Historical Society, XXXV-
XXXVI (1935), 27 ff. Facsimile of Funk's deed reproduced in Paul A. Menzel, History of Concordia
Lutheran Church (Washington, 1933), 4.
6
Gustav Bender, "Die ersten Deutschen im Distrikt Columbia," pp. 187-189 in Max Heinrici (ed.),
Das Buch der Deutschen in America (Philadelphia, 1909).
7
Quoted in Charles W. Janson, The Stranger in America (London, 1807). Cf. also Klaus G. Wust,
"Colonial Era German Settlers in Alexandria," Alexandria Gazette, March 5, 1954.
8
Stauton Eagle, December 18, 1807; Alexandria Gazette, October 18, 1816.
9
Cf. particularly National Intelligencer and Alexandria Gazette from February 25 to March 3, 1817.
[38]
trenches for water pipes. No provisions had been made to house these
workers whose number was estimated at 400. Most of them were lodged
in miserable hovels. In the middle of August an epidemic of cholera broke
out which claimed many lives among their ranks.
10
Resident Germans
helped their unfortunate fellow-countrymen. Through this sudden rein-
forcement of their numbers they were encouraged to found a German
church. A scholar from Germany, Dr. J. G. Büttner, who visited Wash-
ington in 1844, wrote about the founding of Concordia Lutheran Evangelical
Church: "Its first preacher was a Mr. Ungerer. He was elected in the fall
of 1832, in a year during which many Germans came to Washington to
work on Pennsylvania Avenue and who formed a congregation under the
leadership of several Germans who had lived in the country for a long
time. Services were held in the Court House which the Mayor let them
use for that purpose. Still during the fall of the same year the cornerstone
of the church was laid. The lot had been given by a German Pennsyl-
vanian."
11
According to the church records, the building was erected on
the original lot sold by Jacob Funk to the Lutherans and Reformed in 1768.
The first constitution of Concordia Church in 1833 was signed by sixty-
eight men, among them a number of members of German pioneer families
in Georgetown.
The founding of Concordia Church was an important event in the life of
the German element in Washington. From the beginning the church did
not stress denominational differences. It became the first center of German
community activities. Although many of the laborers moved on after the
Avenue was completed, a small but constant flow of new immigrants arrived.
They filled the need for artisans, machinists, engravers and other skilled
craftsmen, or set themselves up in small shops or taverns.
The German Catholics also began to organize a congregation in 1838
but their number was very small—probably not more than twenty families.
They met in the home of John George Eichhorn for devotions and extended
a call to the Redemptorists Fathers in Baltimore to hold mass once a
month. In 1845 a lot was acquired for the German Catholics and a Swiss-
born priest, Mathias Alig, was appointed to serve the new congregation
which became known as St. Mary's Church. The church building was com-
pleted in 1845.
12
The earliest German worldly organization in Washington was the German
Benevolent Society which was founded in the early forties. In October
1846 it built its own "German Hall" on the west side of 11th Street, a
short distance north of "F" Street. There was also a German band which
marched at the head of numerous parades which the Germans liked to
stage for various festive occasions. The dedication of St. Mary's Church
called for such a public manifestation and likewise the opening of the
German Hall which was preceded by a procession of some 250 members
of the German Benevolent Society.
13
There was little or no wealth among the District Germans in the forties.
The largest German congregation, Concordia Church, repeatedly had diffi-
culties in raising enough money to provide the bare minimum salary for
10
Wilhelmus B. Bryan, A History of the National Capital (New York, 1916), II, 239; Margaret B.
Smith, First Forty Years of Washington Society (New York, 1906), 336. Much information on early
German immigrants in Washington can be gathered from Vivian Holland Jewett, "Abstracts of Naturaliza-
tion Records, Circuit Court, District of Columbnia, 1802-1820," National Genealogical Society Quarterly,
June 1953 and succeeding issues.
11
J. G. Büttner, Briefe aus und über Amerika (Dresden, 1845), II, 156-158.
12
The Catholic Mirror, July 4, 1891; Washington Journal, October 24, 1896; Charles L. Boehmer,
History of St. Mary's Church (Washington, 1945), 13-18.
13
National Intelligencer, October 12 and 14, 1846.
[39]
its ministers. In 1843 the Rev. Heinrich Borchers left the church because
lack of funds to pay his salary made his stay in Washington impossible.
His successor, the Rev. A. T. Biewend did not fare much better and could
not live on the salary of his two congregations, i.e. Concordia in Wash-
ington and the old Lutheran church in Georgetown which he tried to revive
between 1845 and 1847. He earned part of his livelihood by giving lessons
in five languages. J. G. Büttner observed during his visit in 1844 that
"the high living costs in Washington may be the reason why, compared
to the other cities, so few Germans settle here."
A number of strict Lutherans voiced dissatisfaction with the union of
Lutheran and Calvinistic principles at Concordia Church. In 1851 they
appealed to the Rev. E. G. Keyl of Baltimore to preach to them and
organize them into a congregation. Thus Trinity Lutheran came into being.
Already in 1852 a small building on "E" Street was fitted as a place of
worship and the Rev. A. Nordmann secured as permanent pastor.
14
Besides the churches and the Benevolent Society, there was only one
other significant German institution in the city: a German school which
was organized about 1842 by the Benevolent Society. The few local
Germans who read newspapers in their vernacular subscribed to the New
York Staats-Zeitung which was sold in Washington as early as 1838 or to
the Baltimore Correspondent founded in 1841 by Friedrich Raine. The
latter had a long list of Washington subscribers until the advent of a
permanent local newspapers in Washington in 1859.
THE BEGINNING
: POLITICAL PRESS OF THE LIBERALS
During the fourth decade of the 19th century a number of German
liberals came to Washington who were less interested in the church and
benevolent activities of the German burghers than in the lofty ideals of
liberty and democracy which were being suppressed by the princes in the
German States. These men were the forerunners of the Forty-Eighters who
were to come to the United States in considerable numbers after the
unsuccessful German revolutions of 1848 and 1849. While retaining a vivid
interest in the events of the fatherland, they also embraced American
politics wholeheartedly and gradually aroused also a limited response among
the politically passive local German population.
Foremost among them was Alfred Schücking, a brother of the German
novelist Levin Schücking.
15
The former came to Washington via New
Orleans where he edited the semi-weekly Der deutsche Courier in 1842.
16
Early in the following year Alfred Schücking arrived in Washington
to assume the editorship of a large monthly called Der Deutsche in
Amerika which had been started in 1842 by Otto Hoffmann in Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania.
17
Whatever the real reasons behind this transfer, it brought the first
German print shop into the National Capital. The "German and English
Printing Office" of P. Augustus Sage was located on "E" Street near 10th
Street, N. W. With it came the first German language periodical in
Washington. It was a far cry from a local newspaper of the type that
14
Der Lutheraner, January 18, 1853.
15
Alfred Schücking was a contributor to numerous German newspapers in America and Europe.
After several attempts at establishing newspapers of his own, he wrote for the Washington Journal and
its forerunners. He earned his livelihood as an insurance broker and by representing German consular
and shipping interests in Washington until his death in 1901.
16
Carl Wittke, The German Language Press in America (Lexington, Ky., 1957), 42.
17
H. A. Rattermann, "Deutsche Bilder aus der Geschichte der Stadt Cincinnati," Der Deutsche
Pionier IX (1877-78), 479-80. P. J. Egenter, Amerika ohne Schminke (Zurich, 1857), 264-67.
[40]
was established during the same period in most other American cities with
a sizeable German population. From its beginning it was meant to be
more than a national monthly and its editor intended for it to be sent in
large numbers to Germany where censorship interfered greatly with liberal
publications. Copies must have found their way across the ocean because
the Allgemeine Presszeitung
in Leipzig applauded Schücking's magazine
editorially: "This publication does not rank behind any English one of
similar purpose and already after less than four months of publication
counts over 5000 subscribers. It is the mouthpiece of all German scholarly
forces. It is incredible what this publication has already achieved in such
a short time without having vast funds for buying able pens."
Schücking himself asserted that Der Deutsche in Amerika was "of
mammoth size, and now the largest paper in the Union." In fact, the
sheets of this paper measured 60 inches by 25 inches. Furthermore, the
editor announced in April 1843 that it had "already a circulation over the
whole Union, the contiguous south, Canada and Germany."
18
With financial backing from the supporters of Tyler, the controversial
Whig president, Schücking added a weekly newspaper to his mammoth
publication. On April 20, 1843 the first issue of Deutsche National Zeitung
appeared. Aimed at nation-wide distribution it embarked vigorously on
the campaign for John Tyler, the Volkskandidat. In his first editorial
Schücking left no doubt as to the political overtones of his paper when
he wrote: "Our feelings are enthusiastically democratic. Hence single-
minded readers will know to what party we belong."
In his editorial on October 11, 1843 Schücking explained a change in the
name of the newspaper which was effected at that time: "When this news-
paper was first published, we called it the "Deutsche National Zeitung."
However, we now recognize our mistake and feel too strongly how unsuit-
able the word German is not to suppress it at once. Inasmuch as there is
no German nation in Germany (let us rather say—in the German states),
there is much less such a thing in America." He continues with the following
statement of policy: "As an integrated part of the great American people,
however, German Americans have a claim to the consideration of their
fellow citizens and equal rights in every respect. Wherever these are denied,
the Americans par excellence, alias the "natives," have themselves to blame
if the Germans take up an opposing and separate position."
The National Zeitung furnishes the report of the earliest recorded German
gathering of a political nature in Washington. On October 9, 1843 a meeting
was held in protest against the arrest by the Hessian authoritiss of Pro-
fessor Sylvester Jordan of Marburg University.
19
A local committee was
elected by those in attendance to organize the collection of funds to aid
the Marburg Professor and other German liberals. It included Charles
Fenderich as president, Alfred Schücking as secretary and W. Creutzfeld,
Washington correspondent of the New York Deutsche Schnellpost, as
treasurer. This local news item is characteristic of the attitude of the liberal
newcomers to the German scene in Washington.
Schücking's journalistic brilliance which was widely recognized could not
save the two publications from ending in failure when the ncessary support
was not obtained. The colossal Der Deutsche in Amerika disappeared first.
Tyler's withdrawal from nomination in 1844 and the reorientation of his
18
National Intelligencer, April 7, May 5, 1843; National Zeitung, October 11, 1843.
19
National Zeitung, October 11, 1843; Sylvester Jordan (1792-1861), Austrian-born jurist was a
professor at Marburg University from 1821 until 1838 when he was arrested for his liberal views.
Jordan remained imprisoned until 1845. In 1848 be became a Hessian deputy of the Bundestag and a
member of the German National Assembly.
[41]
Whig backers probably dried up the source of political funds. Early in
1846 the National Zeitung and its publisher Augustus Sage faced bank-
ruptcy. On July 7, 1846 the contents of the office of the National Zeitung
were sold at an auction "to secure a debt due to Alfred Schücking."
20
Goodwill and printing equipment of the paper were acquired by Karl
Joseph Koch, a former theologian who had turned newspaperman. Koch
revived the National Zeitung and published it for about ten months.
21
In 1848 he appeared in Baltimore where he edited the Maryland Demokrat,
a Democratic party organ. In Washington, Dr. Friedrich Schmidt rallied
some more political funds and launched his short-lived Der Nationale
Demokrat on May 6th, 1847. Evidently, Schmidt lent his name to several
ephemeral ventures in the course of a few years. Unlike Schücking, Schmidt
represented the conservative faction of the pre-forty-eighters. In his Whig-
backed, bi-lingual Der Zuschauer am Potomac which was initiated on
January 10, 1850, Schmidt condemned the radical and anti-clerical attitude
of the recently arrived Forty-eighters and seemed deeply disturbed by the
fear that the extreme, intolerant agitation of these radicals could damage
the reputation of the entire German element in America. The Zuschauer
which was printed by Augustus Sage warmly supported Zachary Taylor's
administration. In its English section, The Spectator on the Potomac, the
editor tried to interpret the attitudes of his German fellow-citizens toward
the Anglo-Saxon public. While the Zuschauer lasted not much longer than
one year, Schmidt resurrected the National Demokrat for a brief spell in
1852.
Undaunted and in no way discouraged by his repeated failures to estab-
lish a lasting newspaper, Schmidt looked for an other publisher and for
renewed support from the party treasury. Both were found in the following
year. This time he featured "a political and literary family newspaper"
without choosing a new name. On July 9th, 1853 the third National Demo-
krat left the presses of Buell and Blanchard in Washington. The editor
emphasized "Christian and Free Democratic principles." The leading,
orthodox Lutheran journal Der Lutheraner hailed Schmidt's new paper as
a well edited and informative newspaper but criticized its editor for
choosing the word "Christian" to attract wide circulation. He would do
better to concentrate on political affairs and leave the defense of Christian
principles to religious publications. The Davenport, Iowa, Demokrat
reported that Schmidt's National Demokrat was the organ of the Free
Democratic Party and received a subsidy of $3000.- for the first year. The
radical German press attacked the newcomer to the political scene even
before the first issue went to press. The Anzeiger des Nordwestens in
Oshkosh (Wisconsin) was particularly outspoken: "We recognize by no
means in this sheet a representative of German culture, all the less since
it will indulge in the American mania for bigotry. We consider it rather a
bigotted newspaper written in German letters but not with German spirit."
The first issues of Der National Demokrat were distributed free of charge
throughout the country but despite all advance publicity and criticism the
paper shared the fate of its predecessors. It did not live to the beginning
of the year 1854.
22
20
National Intelligencer, July 1, 1846.
21
Koch was born at Castell near Mainz in 1809. In Germany he had made a name for himself as
the author of numerous devotional books. In 1839 he came to America where he settled in Philadelphia
earning his living by giving religious lectures. Later he edited the Philadelphia Demokrat. After his
brief sojourn in Washington, Koch removed to Baltimore as editor of the Maryland Demokrat. He also
founded Minerva, an unsuccessful scholarly magazine. A short journalistic career in Illinois was followed
by his return to Baltimore where Koch joined the staff of Raine's Correspondent. He left Maryland
in 1862 to edit German papers in Allentown, Pa.
22
National Demokrat, July 9, 1853.
[42]
Alfred Schücking entered the scene again in the fall of 1854 when the
first issue of a monthly appeared which Julius Ende, a German printer with
some journalistic ambitions of his own, set up for him in his print shop.
The impressive title, Schücking's Washingtoner Intelligenzblatt für die
Vereinigten Staaten und Deutschland, expressed the editor's aim to reach
readers all over the country as well as in Germany. Business and inter-
national trade news dominate the material contained in the first issue, dated
October 1, 1854 which has been preserved. It is doubtful, however, that
many more issues were ever published.
From 1843 until the middle of the fifties not a single one of the German
language newspapers published in Washington aimed specifically at the
local German population. Neither the high-flung projects of Schücking
for a national and even international periodical nor the numerous political
campaign sheets of this period found much response among the middle class
and laboring class Germans in the District who accounted for the majority
of the prospective readers. An American political consciousness was hardly
developed among these immigrants. A day-to-day economic struggle
dominated their interests. During their leisure time, they sought social
contact with people of their own background and language. The develop-
ment of distinct German organizations in Washington followed the same
pattern which can be traced in all other American cities with a noteworthy
German population during the 19th century. The first step was always the
forming of separate religious organisations. Next came their own society
for the relief of the sick. The Verein devoted to social, cultural or recrea-
tional fellowship followed suit as soon as a certain economic security was
achieved by the majority of the immigrant community. Foremost among
such societies ranked the Gesangverein (singing society), the Turnverein
(gymnastic society) and the Schützenkompanie (rifle company). Not until
such organizations were firmly established could a local German-language
newspaper count on much support. Once the societies were in existence,
their announcements and a full coverage of their activities would represent
the best incentive to a sufficient readership within the German community.
WASHINGTON
'S "LITTLE GERMANY" AND THE KNOW-NOTHING
During the fifth decade of the 19th century Washington's "little Ger-
many" took shape. The 1850 Census for the city (not including George-
town or the Alexandria area relinquished by the District in 1844) listed
4,282 citizens of foreign birth of whom 1,246 were born in the German
Confederation. By 1860 Washington numbered 3,222 German-born inhabi-
tants.
23
These figures do not include the American born second generation
which then was still largely adhering to the immigrant environment in
which it had grown up.
However small this figure might seem, the Germans developed a very
active social life which was characterized by a variety of organizations.
The first recorded existence of a singing society dates back to October 1849,
when the Rev. Samuel Finkel organized a choir for his Concordia Church.
The male members of this choir eventually drew up a charter for their
group and on April 21, 1851 the Sängerbund formally became the first
choral society in the history of the city. Under the direction of Charles
Walter, this group met in the old German Hall. Its first public appearance
occurred in 1852 when its members sang at a reception for the Hungarian
patriot Lajos Kossuth.
23
The total population of Washington amounted to 40,000 in 1850, and 61,122 in 1860.
[43]
At the same time the Sozialdemokratische Turnverein, a gymnastic
society composed of liberal and partly radical elements, was organized.
A second gymnastic organization, the Turngemeinde, united the more con-
servative men among the Turner enthusiasts. While the Turnverein had its
headquarters and Turnhalle in Mathias Pabst's restaurant on New Jersey
Avenue near the Baltimore depot, the Turngemeinde held its weekly
Freisschule every Sunday night in a place called "Alt Capitol." Prominent
among the early Turners were R. Schellhaas, Louis Waldecker, Conrad
Dieterich and Carl Steinmetz.
In 1851 or 1852 German citizens founded the Washington Jäger Com-
panie, a militia organization which soon became known all over the city
for its colorful uniforms, its martial display and the conviviality which
reigned at its annual festivals in Becker's Eichenwald, a German beer
garden in the city. The Jägerfest of May 1856 was a particularly note-
worthy highlight of German social activities and was covered by several
out-of-town German-language newspapers.
Several other singing societies originated in the fifties: the Turner
Liedertafel (Prof. Christian), Männerchor (Prof. Bukert), Sängerrunde
(Director Raudenberg) and in Georgetown the Concordia Gesangverein.
On April 18, 1859 these five German societies decided to hold common
concerts under the leadership of Professor F. Kley, director of the Sänger-
bund. This was the first step towards their merger into the Washington
Sängerbund. In Alexandria the German Musikverein was founded.
From the existence of these many German societies we may deduce that
German life was flourishing at that time despite an increasing anti-foreigner
agitation during the mid-fifties. The Know-Nothing movement also held
sway in Washington. In 1855 an attempt was made to require naturalized
citizens to reside in the District for an additional year after naturalization
before they could vote although they might have spent their entire waiting
period of five years in the District. An opinion of the District Court was
obtained against this interpretation but the Commissioners of Elections
being Know Nothings disregarded the court opinion and rejected numerous
naturalized citizens at the polls. The situation became grave after the
Know Nothing party became very strong and almost carried the mayoralty
election of 1856. When a city election took place in the following year a
gang of Plug Uglies from Baltimore came to Washington to lend a hand
to the Know Nothing candidates. They attacked German and Irish voters
and tried to keep them away from the polls. The situation got rapidly
out of hand when they directed cannons loaded with cobble-stones against
the foreign-born voters. Mayor William B. Magruder appealed to President
Buchanan for help. A battalion of Marines was alerted, marched to the
polls near the old Northern Liberties Market and attacked the rioters.
The First of June 1857 was long remembered by the foreign-born citizens
of Washington. Six people were killed, the police chief and several police-
men and District officials were injured. The Germans were mindful of the
fact that the federal and local authorities had acted swiftly and forcefully
to protect the rights of the foreign-born in Washington, but the violent
attacks against their rights had one immediate effect: the average German
immigrant became aware of his own political duties in his new country.
Germans in Washington reacted to the threats of the Know Nothings by
banding together even more than they had in the quiescent past.
The decided to stage a patriotic political demonstration of their own by
directing the attention of their native fellow citizens to the share the
German element had had in the building of the American Republic. The
[44]
figure of the drillmaster of the Revolutionary Army, General Friedrich
Wilhelm von Steuben was chosen as a symbol for this peaceful manifes-
tation. From July 26 to July 29 a Steuben festival was held in the city in
which all German societies, clubs and churches participated. During these
three days the city was virtually dominated by the Germans. The practical
consequences of this celebration were manifold. Newspapers carried favor-
able comments on the festivities. The German organizations decided to
form a Steuben Association which would co-ordinate future activities of the
same sort and also collect funds for a national Steuben monument to be
erected at a prominent site in Washington.
24
During these eventful years the first German newspapers for local readers
appeared on the scene. Established with the financial aid of the Republican
Party, the Union und Washington Correspondent came out under the
editorship of Karl Burgthal. It was printed half in German and half in
English and was a vigorous defender of the immigrant's position in American
politics. It appeared at a moment when such a defense was most needed
and welcomed by the Germans. No less outspoken than Burgthal was
Louis Schade, a Douglas-Democrat who held minor government positions
in Washington from 1853 to 1856.
25
The printing office of the Union pub-
lished his treatise on immigration in 1856 in which Schade proved with
statistics the benefit of immigration to America.
26
Next appeared in 1856 the Washington Wochenblatt edited and pub-
lished by Julius Ende whose moderate views were violently attacked by
the Republicans, both locally and in neighbording Baltimore. The National
Era of Washington which had a German contributor, William Beschke,
called Ende an "instrument of the present administration," and wrote:
"the Washington Wochenblatt has so limited a circulation that it might
be deemed by many unworthy of notice" while Beschke wrote an entire
column refuting one of Ende's editorials.
The radical German daily Wecker in Baltimore frequently heaped insults
on Ende's paper.
27
The Wecker carried regular news columns about German
affairs in Washington, especially items concerning the Turners, from the
pen of its able Washington correspondent, Carl Steinmetz. Evidently, the
Wecker had many readers in Washington.
28
While the Union und Washington Correspondent seems to have been dis-
continued in 1856, Ende's Wochenblatt was still publishing in 1858 when
Alfred Schücking made his next appearance on the Washington newspaper
24
Information on the German societies was gathered from the files of the Baltimore Wecker and other
contemporary newspapers as well as from commemorative pamphlets issued by various organizations.
25
Louis Schade (1829-1903) was a native of Berlin. He participated in the 1848 uprising and
subsequently decided to emigrate to America where he arrived in 1851. From 1853 until 1856 he was
a statistician for the Federal Government. Senator Douglas installed Schade as the editor of the
National Demokrat in Chicago in 1856. Two years later Schade moved to Burlington, Iowa, where he
was admitted to the bar. He returned to Washington in 1859 to establish a law practice. He also
edited the Intelligengenzblatt
and in 1861 the Militär-Gazette for Werner Koch. His defense in 1865 of
Captain Henry Wirz, Swiss-born ex-superintendent of the notorious Confederate prison camp at
Andersonville, brought him national attention. Schade did all in his power to obtain a fair trial for
Wirz amidst an atmosphere of revenge. The Wirz trial won him thousands of friends in the South while
most fellow Forty-Eighters considered Schade's defense of Wirz a betrayal of the Union cause. In 1878
Schade published the weekly Sentinel in English in which he defended particularly the interests of the
immigrants. Until his death he remained a frequent contributor to the Washington Journal. (Cf.
Alexander J. Schem (ed.), Deutsch-Amerikanisches Conversations-Lexicon (New York, 1869-74), IX, 723;
X, 419).
26
Louis Schade, The Immigration into the United States of America from a Statistical and National
Economical Point of View (Washington, 1856). Schade tried to prove with the help of statistical methods
that without immigration after 1790, the population of the U. S. in 1850 would have amounted to
7,555,423 people while the actual figure for 1850 was 19,987,573 inhabitants.
27
National Era, April 3, 1856; Baltimore Wecker, March 18 and 26, 1856.
28
Steinmetz, a social-democratic refugee from Baden, was active in German radical circles in
Cincinnati and Richmond before coming to Washington as a correspondent for the Wecker. Before the
outbreak of the Civil War, Steinmetz moved to New York. Cf. Wittke, op. cit., 86; Klaus G. Wust,
"German Immigrants and Nativism in Virginia, 1840-1860," Society for the History of the Germans in
Maryland, Reports XXIX (1956), 40-43
[45]
scene. This time Schücking launched a modest weekly, the Washingtoner
Anzeiger. It lasted exactly thirteen weeks until April 1859 when its list
of subscribers was acquired by a young German immigrant printer, Werner
Koch.
Before turning to the successful publishing career of Koch, a glance at
the German life in 1859 might serve to illustrate the manner in which the
German element in Washington had reached a climax of activity. Four
major celebrations were staged on the Potomac meadows in Arlington
during the year 1859. On May 9th the Turner societies held their May
Festival there. Three weeks later the Washington Jäger Companie invited
all Germans to its rally. On June 16 the Sängerbund and other societies
were hosts to their sister organizations from New York, Baltimore, Rich-
mond, Alexandria and Petersburg for a two days' celebration. After a
torchlight parade through downtown Washington to City Hall where the
Mayor addressed the Germans, the festivities continued the next morning
at eight with a march past the White House to Georgetown, thence across
the river on canal boats to Arlington where the official program lasted until
late at night. In September another Steuben Festival was held. This time
official Washington joined the Germans in a massive demonstration which
was climaxed by a rally on the Arlington banks of the Potomac. Detailed
reports on these festivities and all other notemorthy events of the German
element in Washington since April 1859 have appeared in the volumes of
the newspapers established by Werner Koch at that time. Although it
underwent several changes in name, it has remained for a century now the
chronicle and the lasting bond of several generations of German immigrants.
WERNER KOCH: PIONEER OF THE LOCAL GERMAN PRESS
Werner Koch was born on April 13th, 1834 in Alsfeld in Hesse. While
he was still in school he lost his father and the burden of providing for
the family fell partly upon him. He left school and apprenticed himself
to the Ehrenclau publishing company which published the Alsfelder
Kreisblatt. Besides learning the printing trade from the bottom up, he
soon became familiar with the editing, composing and distribution of the
small local newspaper. In 1853 he left for America and came to Washington
for the first time. Friedrich Schmidt engaged him as a printer for his
National Demokrat. The failure of this weekly left Koch without a job
in a country still strange to him. He made his way to New York where
he signed up on a whaler. Several months of hardship in the South Atlantic
hunting grounds followed. On the return trip he jumped ship in the West
Indies and found a job as a hand on a freighter bound for Baltimore.
Once again he went out on a ship sailing for Rio de Janeiro. By 1856 he
had saved enough money to return to Washington where he opened a cigar
store. Keeping a store, however, did not satisfy him. Early in 1857 Koch
went to Richmond where he found employment as a printer in the shop
of Hoyer and Ludwig. Together with Pastor John C. Hoyer he edited and
printed the small weekly Das Auge in the capital of Virginia. A year later
he came to Washington for the third time, now determined to stay and
realize his long cherished dream: to found a newspaper of his own. When
he acquired Sage's print shop on the corner of 7th Street and Louisiana
Avenue he had just reached his 25th year. After a few weeks of job printing,
he proudly announced the publication of his Washingtoner Intelligenz-
Blatt.
29
29
Washington Journal, March 11, 1911. For Koch see also "Das Washingtoner Journal und sein
Herausgeber," in Max Heinrici, op. cit., 553-554.
[46]
Koch did not hesitate to establish his editorial principles immediately.
The first issue carried his own editorial which became a guiding star to all
succeeding editors of the newspaper except for a few deviations, notably
during the editorship of Max Conheim which will be dealt with later.
Under the headline "Our Viewpoint," Koch wrote:
Although the purpose of our newspaper will hardly go beyond that of a useful, impartial,
local sheet, nevertheless we would like to declare right at the outset that we do not intend to
avoid any timely question. In covering social events as well as political conditions we shall
proceed independently as well as dispassionately.
We have little to do with political parties as such, but we are all the more interested in
their real or alleged purposes. Nothing prevents us in this respect from combining the strictest
impartiality with great frankness. The peculiar character of the German element in this place
which differs considerably from the composition of German groups in other localities, makes
it easy for us to maintain such a position of public criticism which could not be upheld in a
city where one's own personality would willingly or unwillingly be drawn into the struggle
between opposing parties.
We are convinced that we do not exaggerate in stating that political hatred is non-existent
among the Germans of Washington. Political fanaticism has fallen on infertile ground here.
Impartial criticism, on the other hand, is at home with us. In the whirlpool of party politics
we are spectators rather than actors.
After this statement of policy, Koch emphasized that the Intelligenz-
Blatt was not to be a German newspaper, but an American newspaper in
the German language. "We consider it our foremost duty to assist the
Germans of Washington in protecting and promoting their rights and
interests, and to make them more respected among the native citizens as
a national group and as individuals. Furthermore, we consider it our duty
to oppose any attempt which seems hostile and dangerous to the free
institutions of our adopted country."
During the first months Koch's multifarious duties drove him almost
to despair. Louis Schade who had meanwhile arrived was busy estab-
lishing his law practice and seemingly did not keep his earlier promise of
help until almost a year had elapsed. Thus Werner Koch wrote most of
his own copy, set and printed the entire paper, was his own paper-boy,
and also collected the subscription fees. The few night hours that remained
for his sleep were spent on an old, hard table in the print shop. The number
of subscribers increased but slowly. "Why is it so difficult to publish a
German newspaper in Washington?," he asked in one of his editorials,
"There should be enough support considering the number of Germans and
their intellectual standing." He supplied part of the answer:
"1. The competition of the two German dailies in Baltimore which many Washington
readers find on their breakfast table earlier than subscribers in outlying districts of
Baltimore.
2. We need a capable journalist to provide a good, readable newspaper lest the people
prefer one of the many papers which are being imported from Germany."
The two Baltimore papers, the Correspondent and the Wecker both tried
to hold their ground in Washington but Koch encountered this competition
by giving more space to reports on local events than Baltimore could
afford to do without slighting their home town readers. It was with much
pride that he wrote in the issue of March 17, 1860: "The next issue will
complete the first yearly volume which means that for the first time in the
Nation's Capital a German newspaper has survived the probation period."
The increasing radicalism of the Republicans greatly disturbed many
Germans in Washington who felt that it would eventually lead to civil war.
"The Republicans seem to esteem the Negro seven times higher than the
white Europeans and will finally ruin all our business by moving the
[47]
Capital away from Washington as Senator Grinnes suggested," was the
statement voiced in a May 1860 editorial. During the Lincoln campaign of
the same year, Koch united his Intelligenz-Blatt with Die Metropole, a
weekly founded by R. Schellhaas in August 1860. From October 1, 1860 on,
the daily newspaper was called Tägliche Metropole, published by W. Koch
and R. Schellhaas. The latter, an instrument builder for the coast survey
service, was an ardent Turner. A month later H. Wernich joined the two
partners and the firm was thenceforth called W. Koch & Co. This merger
fulfilled Werner Koch's dream of a daily newspaper in Washington. A
promotion campaign was launched to get support from the many German
businessmen in the city which was not quite as successful as Koch and
his associates had hoped it would be. In the issue of November 17, 1860,
they complained: "A large part of our local German population is com-
posed of Jews who are generally well off. It is very regrettable that
especially this group of citizens lends little support to the German press."
The daily edition made it possible to keep the readers well informed on
the crucial events leading to the Civil War. On December 6, 1860 a dra-
matic editorial was published in support of saving the Union at all cost and
preventing the imminent war. One month later the Metropole was forced
to relinquish its daily edition and resume weekly publication. "The present
crisis which has completely surprised us greenhorns in the business, and
the indifference on the part of many citizens force us to give up our daily
edition." The brief dream of a daily paper had come to an end. On
January 11, 1861 the Metropole reverted to weekly publication under Koch's
sole management. While much editorial attention during the preceding
year had still been given to the anti-immigration policies advocated by
many politicians and the Metropole had joined the rest of the German
press in the United States in its fight against the encroachments of
prohibition and proposed blue laws, these controversial matters were now
overshadowed by the dangers of an imminent civil war. Although some
comment regarding the Republican attitudes was critical, there was no
doubt as to where both Schade and Koch stood: "The Union must be
preserved" was the tenor of their cautious writings on the eve of the war.
Already on January 19, 1861 the Metropole reported that the two German
militia organizations, the Washington Rifles and Turner Rifles (a hastily
founded military company of the Washington Turners) were holding fre-
quent exercises to be prepared for all eventualities. Readers were called
upon to be ready to "protect the Union, the Constitution and the property
of the Nation." When the first shells hit Fort Sumter, the Turner Rifles
announced the formation of a second company. A few days later, Colonel
C. M. Smith, Commander of the D. C. Volunteers formally created the
Eighth Battalion consisting of the Washington Rifles and Companies A
and B of the Turner Rifles. Among the volunteers was Werner Koch.
While the German Battalion was still practicing in the Washington area,
Koch continued publication of his newspaper. "Our readers may forgive
us if our reading matter this week is not very copious. Editing, type-setting
and spending the night on sentinel duty is too much for one man alone.
Yet we want to assure you that our newspaper will come out regularly
so long as we have not been killed, even though the type-cases might have
to be brought out to the guard house." But he could not keep his promise.
On June 10, 1861 the Eighth Battalion, D. C. Volunteers, left Washington
and went into the field. The Metropole suspended publication. Werner
Koch transferred later to the 59th Regiment, New York Volunteers.
During Koch's absence of more than one year no civilian German news-
[48]
paper appeared in Washington. Several German news sheets were published
by members of German Union troops stationed in the Washington area.
The Armee-Courier edited by Bullinger is reported to have come out for a
while but it was not possible to ascertain whether it was printed in the
Capital. The Pennsylvania Fifth carried a German section, edited by
Sergeant Christian Zinn. Its type was set in the office of the Alexandria
Gazette and the steam press of the Sentinel was used to do the printing.
30
The title of another paper, Der Spassvogel, printed in Alexandria shortly
after the outbreak of the war, has been recorded but nothing is known
about its publisher.
31
During the winter of 1862 Koch contracted a disease and was discharged
after he had been commisioned as a Second Lieutenant. He hurried home
in order to restore his newspaper. The presence of large contingents of the
Union army composed of German immigrants caused him to give his paper
a new name, the Militärgazette. Louis Schade served again as editor.
Although its appearance was enthusiastically welcomed by the soldiers, it
was far from being a financial success. Furthermore, in May, 1863 a weekly
German newspaper called the Alexandria Beobachter was established in
neighboring, Union-held Alexandria.
32
Koch was almost ready to give up
when unexpected financial support became available.
Max Cohnheim, a former contributor of the well-known humorous journal
Kladderadatsch in Berlin and author of one of the first plays written
specifically for the German American stage (Herz und Dollar) had arrived
in Washington where friends had helped him to obtain a position with the
Treasury Department. Before the war Cohnheim edited a flourishing
humorous magazine, the New York Humorist, which he had established
in 1858 with the aid of Otto Bretthauer. The outbreak of the Civil War
forced him to discontinue it.
33
In Washington he looked for a printer and
for financial supporters. The printer he found in Werner Koch. The money
was furnished by Nicholas Weygand whose wine and liquor business was
thriving during the war years and by Ferdinand Kasche, a prosperous
hotel owner.
Koch agreed to let Cohnheim assume all editorial responsibilities, a con-
cession which he was forced into by his precarious financial situation. Cohn-
heim also chose a new name, and Columbia as the weekly was called, made
its first appearance on October 17, 1863. It had a very successful start under
its new name and editorship. Cohnheim began with 200 subscribers, four
months later he reported 800 and by 1865 this number had doubled.
German newspapers all over the country reprinted some of his editorials,
many of which were written with vinegar rather than ink. He attacked
everything that seemed conventional to him. As time went on, he em-
barked on an anti-clerical course which finally included assaults against
all religious groups from orthodox Jewry to liberal Lutheranism. Columbia
bcame without doubt the most colorful German language paper ever pub-
lished in Washington.
The following "Genesis of Columbia" which Cohnheim wrote for his
issue of January 2 ,1864 is typical of the style that he relished:
1. In the beginning Schade created the Militärgazette, and Bullinger the Armee-Courier;
2. And Washington was without form and void; and darkness was in the heads of certain
old Washingtonians: and the spirit of Burgeler moved upon the waters of the Potomac.
30
We owe thanks to Mr. Earl Lutz of Richmond who placed his findings on German war newspapers
at our disposal.
31
Hermann Schuricht, History of the German Element in Virginia (Baltimore, 1900), II, 103.
32
Alexandria Gazette, June 5, 1863.
33
Wittke, op. cit., 186.
[49]
3. And Weygand and Kasche and other comfortable people spoke: Let there be a new
newspaper: and there was a new newspaper.
4. And the public saw that the newspaper was good: and the public divided the light from
the darkness;
5. And called the light Columbia, and the darkness was called Katholische Kirchenzeitung.
34
And from the evening to the morning Columbia received its first 100 subscribers."
For a while, the German public enjoyed Cohnheim's tirades. His editorials
were lucid manifestations of criticism which spared nobody and nothing.
Occasionally he opened his columns for retorts from those whom he had
attacked. Louis Schade was his ablest contender and the Cohnheim-Schade
controversy, a fight between the ultra-radical and the moderate liberal,
was followed with much interest by the Germans in other cities. Much
space was devoted to the issues and events of the war. Cohnheim uncon-
ditionally supported the Lincoln administration and its backers among the
German Americans in the North and Midwest. Particularly moving are
the issues of Columbia dealing with the assassination of President Lincoln.
On April 22, 1865 all pages of Columbia were bordered in black in order
to express the profound sorrow of German Americans everywhere. The
Saengerbund rendered a last farewell to the beloved great man at the side
of his body when he was lying in state at the Capitol. All German societies
of Washington, Georgetown and Alexandria participated in the Lincoln
funeral procession.
As early as August 14, 1865 Columbia published an appeal of the German
societies in the city to raise funds for a Lincoln statue. Numerous picnics
were held and entertainments were given to contribute a substantial sum
to the fund which was used in 1868 to erect the statue of Lincoln in front
of City Hall.
During the last two years of the war business in Washington was booming.
Businessmen of every faith supported the Columbia through liberal adver-
tising. Cohnheim felt so much encouraged by his success that he resigned
from his government position on April 1, 1866. He moved his editorial
office out of Koch's print shop and established the Columbia bureau on
Pennsylvania Avenue. These steps were unwise. Not only did many Ger-
mans leave Washington soon after the war to join the renewed migration
to the West but also local business experienced a recession which was
reflected in a sharp reduction of the Columbia revenue. Soon Cohnheim
was considerably in arrears with his payments to Koch. After a few months
of hesitation, Cohnheim had to inform his readers on January 12, 1867:
"Family considerations force us to resign," which was definitely a euphem-
ism. Heavily loaded down with debts, Max Cohnheim virtually left
Washington by night and headed for San Francisco. He was never again
seen in the District.
Werner Koch had anticipated this development for some time. He took
over what assets were left and the masthead of the issue of Columbia
published on January 19, 1867 bore his name as publisher and editor again.
After the interlude of Cohnheim's radical editorship, the newspaper now
returned to the policy which Koch had outlined in 1859. Faithfully the
Columbia recorded the events of the following years. The establishment of
the Territorial Government in Washington on February 21, 1871 brought
about a sudden interest in local politics.
While Koch's newspaper hailed the creation of self-government for the
District in several editorials, another German resident of Washington,
34
Ibid., 178-179. The Kirchenzeitung was published by Maximilian Oertel in Baltimore.
[50]
Nehemiah H. Miller, used his personal contacts among the inner circle of
the Grant administration to secure nomination to the newly created
Legislative Council. The Georgetown Courier characterized the nominations
as follows: "Not one old resident, nor a Democrat, nor a Catholic, nor an
Irishman nor a man of Irish descent among the nominees, and yet we have
three darkies—Douglass, Gray and Hall, a German (Miller), two natives
of Maine and one of Massachusetts.
35
N. H. Miller obtained funds from
party friends to establish a Republican German newspaper because Koch's
Columbia tried to avoid party politics and was not available for the ensuing
campaign in March and April 1871.
Early in March 1871 Miller began publication of a daily newspaper,
Täglicher Washingtoner Anzeiger. It was printed by Philip L. Schrift-
giesser, a Polish-born printer who had settled in Alexandria during the
Civil War. He had emigrated from Poland because of political reasons.
In 1863 he had published the first Polish language periodical in America,
Echo z Polski, and moved to Washington after the war. There he had
established a printshop for publications in English, Polish and German.
36
Although Miller's Anzeiger was enabled to distribute many free copies by
virtue of substantial subsidies, the majority of the Washington Germans
remained faithful to Koch's Columbia. Miller who had been made Assis-
tant District Attorney for the District Government figured in the inves-
tigations of the activities of the Board of Public Works conducted by the
House District Committee. During these hearings in March 1872 Miller
revealed that Captain Albert Grant had approached him with an offer of
$20,000 to buy the Anzeiger and turn it into an opposition organ of the
District government, a proposal which he had refused. On that occasion
Miller also asserted that there were about 15,000 people of German descent
residing in the District, many of whom were ignorant of the English
language, and that one-third of the taxes of the area were paid by the
German population.
37
The number of German Americans cited by Miller
seems exaggerated in view of the 1870 census returns which reveal only
4133 born in Germany plus 146 Swiss-born and 35 Austrian-born residents,
even if a liberal allowance is made for those who were second generation
Germans among the native born population.
Nehemiah Miller nevertheless ran into financial difficulties soon after the
first Republican enthusiasm about German support had subsided. Werner
Koch whose Columbia had held its own during the two years when it had
a daily competitor in the city, agreed to Miller's terms to sell his Anzeiger
to him and to merge the two German papers. On March 31, 1873 the
subscribers of Columbia and Täglicher Anzeiger held the first issue of the
Washingtoner Journal in their hands. Proudly Koch announced: "The
weekly Columbia and the daily Anzeiger have ceased publication last
Saturday and the Journal has taken their place."
THE JOURNAL HAD COME TO STAY
The new Washingtoner Journal combined the best features and services
of its two predecessors. While news items from the German-speaking
countries in Europe appeared daily, much space was devoted to American
politics, especially to the events in Washington, Maryland and Virginia.
In order to encounter successfully the continued competition of the Balti-
more Corespondent, Koch introduced home delivery through paper boys
35
James H. Whyte, The Uncivil War: Washington During Reconstruction (New York, 1958), 106.
36
Stanislaw Osada, Prasa i Publicystyka Polska w Ameryce (Pittsburgh, 1930), 17.
37
Whyte, op. cit., 133, 285.
[51]
which in turn caused the Correspondent to provide the same service in
Washington. But the Journal had come to stay.
While not aligning himself with one political party Koch never remained
unpolitical. During the time when the District still had its territorial form
of government, he repeatedly urged his readers to take an active part in
local politics. In one editorial in May 1873 he stated reproachfully: "What
a pitiful part the German-American element has played in this District!
Negroes are in our assembly, Negroes are in prominent positions in our
health department and in the city administration. And you, Germans, what
are you? You have degraded yourselves!" He continued to point out that
more than 12000 German-speaking citizens lived in the greater Washington
area. "Governor Shepherd has made 230 appointments. Only the very
important job of the street lamp lighter has been given to a German,
Mr. G. Schlegel!," he remarked sarcastically after the appointments for
the territorial administration became known in November, 1873.
In the October 1873 elections the newly formed Temperance Party
endorsed for the first time a large number of candidates. The Journal
bitterly opposed the Temperenzler
and organized an active campaign
against them, claiming after the election that the German vote had been
responsible for defeating the Temperance candidates in the 13th and 14th
Districts. An increased number of advertisements from breweries, bars
and beer gardens provided the financial stimulus for a constant campaign
against all attempts at introducing blue laws which Koch editorially called
"an infringement upon our personal liberty."
When in the following year the present form of commission government
was introduced for the District of Columbia, the hope for effective political
participation had to be buried. The inhabitants of Washington became
again "spectators rather than actors" on the political stage as Koch had
expressed it so aptly in 1859. The Journal thenceforth concentrated its
efforts on promoting the social and cultural activities of the Germans.
German life in Washington had reached its zenith. The old established
societies had been joined by many new ones since the end of the Civil
War. The
Schützenverein which had fought in the war as Washington
Rifles became the most popular organization. In 1866 it had opened its
large Schuetzenpark on the east side of Georgia Avenue between Kenyon
and Hobart Streets and this was to become for two decades the most
popular recreation place for Washington Germans. The Washington Sänger-
bund grew to a membership of several hundred and proudly counted
among them national figures such as Carl Schurz (during his residence as
Senator from Missouri in Washington) and Labor leader Samuel Gompers.
It was soon joined by the Arion singing society which was to last some
forty years. Turners organized the Columbia Turngemeinde after the war.
Two German "tribes" of the Improved Order of Red Men and one German
lodge of the Ancient Order of Druids existed in Washington in 1872. Four
years later the German-speaking Masonic Lodge Arminius (F. A. A. M.)
was chartered. Several new beneficial organizations were founded by
Germans, notably the German Society which was to assist indigent immi-
grants and other Germans who needed temporary relief. As early as 1860
a German cemetery association was founded which acquired Prospect Hill
Cemetery, where many German Americans of Washington have been buried
during the past century. The German Catholics acquired an adjacent area
which became St. Mary's Cemetery. Since the 1860's Concordia Church
maintained an orphan home on 14th Street. In 1879 the present German
Orphan Home in Anacostia was founded. By 1872 Washington had two
[52]
German Catholic churches (St. Joseph's was established as a second
German parish in 1868 and remained German until 1886) and six German
Protestant churches. Several of these churces supported their own German
schools. In 1867 the German Lutheran Church of Georgetown was re-
opened and a German school was operated in conjunction with it. In 1886
Appleton Prentiss Clark, then a member of the city council had succeeded
in making the German language a part of the instruction given in the
public grammar schools. By 1873 German was taught in six public schools.
Even Alexandria received its share of German social life. Besides the old
Musikverein, the Alexandria Männerchor and a Turnverein sprang up.
A social club for Germans, Die Eintracht was founded which owned its
club building and restaurant. German free masons received a charter for
their own Teutonia Lodge. A
non-sectarian German school was established
by Rabbi Loewensohn. In 1868 Germans Lutherans organized their own
church in Alexandria.
The great diversity of German social and cultural activities in the
Washington area was further increased by the great annual festivals and
gay parades which were staged throughout the city at frequent intervals.
One such occasion was the news of the German victory over France in 1871
when even liberal refugees who had fled from persecution by the very
powers who were now ruling the newly-created German Empire made their
peace with their old foes and joined in the jubilant celebrations. Through-
out the Franco-German War Koch had warmly supported the German
cause and former Forty-Eighter Louis Schade was instrumental in bringing
the illegal arms shipment to France to the attention of Congress.
Werner Koch had little to worry about for a number of years. The
Journal retained a steady though small circulation which consisted of some
1300 paid subscriptions. Advertising seemed to be sufficient for the modest
budget of the Washingtoner Journal. Much of the time Koch did his own
writing for the local page. His articles were not brilliant in style or con-
ception but they did not make unpleasant reading. National and inter-
national news were extracted from other newspapers both American and
European, a practice which has remained quite common among German
American newspapers to this day. Certain editorials and longer features
were contributed by local talent. Familiar names like those of Louis Schade
and Alfred Schücking appeared frequently again as well as several new
names among them L. Kronheimer, Gustav Rietz, Ernst Faehtz and Gallus
Thomann.
The establishment of a second German newspaper, the weekly Volks-
Tribun in the early summer of 1875 did not significantly influence the
circulation of the Journal. First of all, the Volks-Tribun was a political
newspaper with an outspoken Republican trend and secondly it aimed at
national distribution. It was launched by Carl Roeser, a Forty-Eighter,
who had been active in Midwestern politics before the Civil War. During
the Lincoln administration Roeser had been appointed clerk in the Treasury
Department.
38
After the war he settled permanently in Washington. His
son-in-law, Emmanuel Waldecker, became the publisher of the Volks-Tribun.
From 1887 until 1892 Christian Strack assisted Roeser in the editorial work.
After Roeser's death in 1897 the Volks-Tribun was continued by Waldecker
alone for several years until it ceased publication in 1902.
Only one serious local competitor for the Journal arose during the next
few years: it was the weekly Washington Revue published from September
38
For further information on Roeser see A. E. Zucker (ed.), The Forty-Eighters (New York, 1950),
331.
[53]
1895 onward for at least two years if not more. The Revue was edited by a
local lawyer, William L. Elterich who was a leader in German organizations
of the city. Previously, from 1893 to 1894, Elterich had launched another
weekly, Deutsche Presse, which could not muster enough support. In his
Revue, Elterich gave a full coverage to local German events. The few
extant issues of this paper show that the Revue in 1894 carried more local
news items and more advertising than did its older counterpart. Neither
the time nor the reasons for its demise are known.
There were probably several other German language newspapers in
Washington prior to 1900 which do not seem to have lasted long or to have
exerted any noteworthy influence on the local German population.
39
Whatever competition the Volks-Tribun, the Deutsche Presse and the
Revue represented during this decade, did not hurt Koch too much because
he had exercised extreme caution earlier when he decided to discontinue
daily publication in 1882 and to have his paper appear three times a week;
soon afterwards he converted his newspaper into the weekly Washington
Journal. Koch did not want to be confronted once more with a situation
which might have forced him out of business. He expanded his job
printing department at the same time and promised his readers to
make the weekly Journal even more a truly local newspaper than it had
been during the previous years. In 1892, Christian Strack left the Volks-
Tribun and entered into a contract with Koch. For the first time since
1873 the Journal had again a regular and well versed editor. H. Christian
Strack was born at Reiskirchen near Giessen in Hesse on April 23, 1848 as
the son of a Lutheran pastor. After military service during the Franco-
German War, he earned a doctorate in philosophy at Giessen University
and entered the teaching profession. In December 1883 he emigrated to
the United States. In New York Strack taught in private schools and at
the same time edited the Wissenschaftliches Wochenblatt. Two years later
he removed to Washington where at first he worked as a correspondent
and language teacher before he joined Roeser's Volks-Tribun in 1887.
Strack kept the Washington Journal on a relatively high journalistic level.
Much emphasis was placed on reports from the American scene. Popular
conservative novels were published serially and many short stories, poems
and jingles, some of them produced by local talent, provided much variety.
The print shop was moved to 710 Sixth Street, N. W., where it was to
remain until 1955. The volumes of the Journal of these years form a rich
storehouse of Washington lore and history. The outstanding events of the
first decade of the new century were the first official visit of a member of
the ruling family in Germany, Prince Henry of Prussia, the brother of the
Kaiser, in February 1901, the German Day of November 1903, which was
officially opened by President Roosevelt, and the reception given to the
Viennese Choral Society by the German population of Washington in 1908.
The unveiling of the Steuben Monument on Lafayette Square in 1910 was
hailed as "an act of belated official recognition of the German contribu-
tions to the building of the American Nation." Never before (and never
since) has the German element of Washington stood as much in the spot-
light of public attention as during the days of the Steuben Festival of
December 1910. President William Howard Taft presided at the unveiling
ceremony and spoke words which evoked loud cheers from the many
thousands of German Americans present:
39
A complete volume of Die Tafelrunde, a weird, spiritualistic journal edited and published by P. L.
Schücking in Washington from July 1870 until June 1872 has been preserved. In 1889 The German
American, a national weekly, was being published by Richard Guenther, L. W. Habercom and Paul Wolff.
[54]
When Baron Steuben came to this country he found Germans who had preceded him and
who, like him, had elected to make this their permanent home. Since his day millions of his
countrymen have come to be Americans, and it adds great interest to our celebration and
emphasizes the propriety of the action of Congress in erecting this statue to know that the
German race since the Revolution has made so large a part of our population and played so
prominent a part in the growth and development of our country.
The roster of German societies in the parade of almost 10 000 men and
women which lasted for several hours reads like a list of all major organiza-
tions of German Americans in the Eastern States. A chorus of a thousand
voices composed of the Washington Sängerbund and its sister societies from
eight states sang at the official ceremonies. The Washington Kriegerbund
composed of veterans of the Civil War and of the German Wars was host
to similar veteran clubs from many other cities. The Columbia Turnverein
had rented the National Rifle's Armory for a great German kommers.
Special mention was made in the Washington Journal as well as in the daily
press of the large number of German societies of Washington which took
part in the parade under the command of Charles Gerner and Frank
Wiegand. The Butchers Benevolent Association No. 1 of Washington,
mounted and in uniform, commanded by Chris Rammling, made a special
impression on the public. Most local German organizations were members
of the United German Societies of the District of Columbia which in turn
formed the local branch of the National German-American Alliance.
40
These Steuben festivities during the cold winter days of 1910 warmed the
hearts of Washington's German Americans. As the Journal put it so aptly
in one of its reports: "Forgotten are the days of the Know Nothing. We
are no longer stepchildren of America. We may gratefully remember our
mother Germania and love faithfully our bride Columbia." The "hyphen"
between German and American seemed acceptable. The official represen-
tation of imperial Germany at the festival and the many kind things said
by the official speakers about Germany and Emperor William seemed to
substantiate the security which German Americans felt amidst this general
good will and friendship between their old and their new country.
It was the golden era of German-Americanism. For the first time a
national organization existed which tried to unite all German Americans,
the National German-American Alliance. Its local branch, the "United
German Societies of the District of Columbia," consisting of 23 organiza-
tions, had been founded in 1890, i. e. ten years before the Alliance came into
being. It grew out of the first "German Day" on October 6, 1890 in
commemoration of the arrival of the first German immigrants in 1690 in
Pennsylvania, an event which was celebrated annually for many years
until World War I.
41
Although the Journal reported regularly on the events organized by this
federation of German organizations, neither Werner Koch nor Christian
Strack showed too much enthusiasm over this mammoth body. They must
somehow have sensed the imprudence of its activities which often turned
into German patriotic excesses. Both Koch and Strack loved their German
heritage but they were imbued with a realistic sense of moderation. Koch
especially, who had lived in Washington for more than a half a century
at that time, felt uncomfortable in the face of the exuberance of the German
National Alliance.
40
The United States Government published a 234 page public document on this event, entitled
Proceedings Upon the Unveiling of the Statue of Baron von Steuben, compiled by George H. Carter
(Washington, 1912).
41
Cf. "Der Deutsch-Amerikanische Zentral-Verein im District von Columbia," in Heinrici, op. cit.,
824-827. Prominent men in the Zentral-Verein included Paul Schulze, L. W. Habercom, John Hockemeyer,
Rudolph Saur, Wm. L. Elterich, Kurt Völckner, Simon Wofl, Martin Wiegand, F. A. Rockar und Gustav
Bender.
[55]
But his days were numbered. Early in 1909 it became more and more
evident that Werner Koch was afflicted with a lung tumor which slowly
reduced his physical strength. With the iron will-power typical of his long
career, he dragged himself to the office every morning. For two years the
mortally ill septuagenarian punctually and faithfully observed all his chores
until one morning in February, 1911, when he had to be taken home by
his friends. A few days later, on March 8, 1911, Werner Koch died.
Christian Strack wrote a moving tribute to his deceased publisher and
friend in the issue of March 11, 1911 and messages from numerous friends
and organizations poured in lamenting the death of Koch. But in the same
issue the Washington Journal also carried an advertisement which read:
"For sale: the Washington Journal and job printing equipment belonging
to this company. Edward W. Koch, Census Bureau."
42
It was suddenly
revealed that the Journal had not proved profitable for many years.
Werner Koch and his faithful scribe, Christian Strack, had carried on the
only German newspaper in Washington at a continuous loss. Everybody
was appalled, but only a few of the enthusiastic Germans in the city were
willing to do something about it. Nobody knew that Christian Strack had
worked without a regular salary for several months while German-American-
ism had had its heydays. The Journal appeared until March 25, 1911 when
there was no more money to pay the type-setters. It was symptomatic of
all the hurrah-crying of that period that nobody ever seriously inquired
about the financial situation of the Journal which had been so greatly
praised by the National German-American Alliance.
Suddenly when there was no longer a German newspaper in Washington
to announce the forthcoming meetings of some 30 societies, to list the
German services of the churches and to report on the many little and big
events among the local German population the readers realized what this
weekly paper had actually meant to them. Several emergency meetings
were held by leading German American citizens to discuss the fate of the
Washington Journal. Martin Weigand, Charles T. Schwengler, Simon Wolf,
Christian Heurich and Gustav Bender were instrumental in raising the
funds that were necessary to save the Journal. Immediately thereafter, the
"Washington Journal Co." was founded under the management of Schwen-
gler. On May 27, 1911, the Journal reappeared after only two months of
interruption. The print shop was entrusted to Ernst Welker, a printing
foreman from Roanoke, Virginia, while Dr. Strack continued to be the
editor.
The new head of the Journal, Capt. Charles Theodore Schwengler (1862-
1940) was born at Werdenberg near St. Gallen in Switzerland and came
to America as a young man to study geology in Kansas City. After
graduating from a mining school he entered the government service.
During the Spanish-American War Schwengler had received a commission
as captain of the army reserve.
Capt. Schwengler's management of the Journal was complicated by an
unexpected event: the loss of its editor, Christian Strack, whose health
was so much impaired that through the intervention of friends he had to
be committed to the Ruppert Home for the Aged in December 1912. He
died there on November 29, 1914. Strack's life had never been blessed
with earthly possessions. The meager salary which he had drawn from the
42
Edward W. Koch, son of Werner Koch, was born in Washington in 1864. Although he was an
apprentice in his father's print shop, he decided in favor of a statistician's career. In 1880 he entered
federal service and became later chief of the Population Division of the Bureau of Census. He was
instrumental in introducing the punch card system for census tabulations. Edward Koch died in
Washington in 1958 at the age of 94.
[56]
publisher of the Washington Journal was but an insufficient reward for a
man of his calibre. Throughout his career he compensated for his financial
circumstances by an unexcelled idealism. The Hon. Simon Wolf who had
himself often contributed of his talent and money to the German paper
said at the grave of his departed friend: "Christian Strack was a man of
outstanding gifts. He was a poet, a historian, an able journalist, and a
great patriot."
E. Max Hesselbach took over Strack's place for several months and was
then followed as editor by Kurt Völkner, a prominent spokesman of the
German American National Alliance and president of its D. C. branch, who
was an official of the Library of Congress. He did his best to bring the
Journal in line with the principles of the Alliance.
To the Washington branch fell a particularly prominent task. The
Alliance was centering its political activities on the fight against prohibition,
and in December 1913 it appointed "a number of prominent residents,
who are members of our District of Columbia branch, to form a standing
legislative committee in Washington." The chairman of this committee
was the Hon. Simon Wolf. The Alliance did not conceal its reason for
choosing him as chairman when it cynically stated that Wolf "is—which
is very important for our purpose—one of, if not the most influential of
Jews in the United States," and would therefore "bring in a vigorous and
persistent element of our population to work for us." This German lobbying
committee was to be maintained at the expense of liquor and brewing
companies among them William Muehleisen, Jr., a Washington liquor
dealer, Edward F. Abner, of the Abner-Drury Brewing Co., Albert Carey
and Christian Heurich, both local brewers. The activities of the Alliance
against prohibition legislation and in the field of German cultural endeavors
hitherto not perturbed the public at large, but the outbreak of the war in
Europe suddenly changed the situation. The Alliance then considered it
its primary task to defend Germany's position in that war.
43
The Washing-
ton Journal was drawn into the propaganda campaign which the Alliance
waged on behalf of the German cause. From August 1914 onward, reports
from the European war theater featuring the victories of the German armies
occupied most of that space in the Journal which was not reserved for local
news. Soon after the beginning of the hostilities in Europe, articles in the
English language were inserted which were clipped for the most part from
The Fatherland, the official mouthpiece of the Alliance and from The
Crucible, a
state-wide Alliance news bulletin for Virginia.
44
A statement
addressed to "Our advertisers," also in English, explained the policy of
the editor during the first war year: "In duty bound this newspaper
extends its sympathies, its influence and aid to Germany and Austria, now
struggling in war against a powerful alliance. These efforts have been duly
apreciated by our German-American citizens who have come forward with
subscriptions, giving us an enlarged circulation." Circulation figures indi-
cate that paid subscriptions actually increased from 1060 in 1914 to 2610
in early 1915. Almost simultaneously, however, a word of caution was
addressed to the Germans in Washington: "We have to listen to much
nonsense and many accusations directed against the German Reich during
43
Clifton J. Child, The German-Americans in Politics 1914-1917 (Madison, Wis., 1939), 14-15.
Simon Wolf (1836-1923) was a native of Bavaria. He came to America in 1848 at the age of 12.
After 18 years in Ohio he moved to Washington in 1862. In 1869 he was appointed recorder for the
District of Columbia and from 1878 to 1881 he was a civil judge. His law practice was well renowned.
Cf. Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. 20, 449; Deutsch-Amerikanische Geschichtsblätter, xiv
(1915), 386.
44
The Fatherland was published in New York 1914-17. The Crucible was the organ of the German-
American Alliance of Virginia published from December 1914 until May 1915 in Richmond.
[57]
these days. Remain cool, do not get excited, and defend the Fatherland
by spreading the true facts." There is no evidence that the Journal or for
that matter any other German-language newspaper which embraced the
German cause in 1914-15 solds its favors for German gold. No investiga-
tion, private or official, has found any ties between the German Embassy
on Massachusetts Avenue and the little German American weekly on Sixth
Street. Certainly, much propaganda coming from sources in Germany found
its way onto the desk of the Journal's editor but the attitude of this and
most of the other German-language newspapers would have been pro-
German in any case. Despite a doubled circulation and some gains in
advertising, the Journal faced bankruptcy by 1915. Martin Wiegand who
had already put out a considerable sum in 1911 to save the paper, again
stepped in, but in August 1915 he was joined by a young man who had no
fortune to speak of but brought with him an indefatigable determination
to save the only German newspaper in Washington: Hermann G. Winkler.
TWO WORLD WARS AND THEIR AFTERMATHS
Since 1913 a young German immigrant had been the manager of the
Washington Journal's printshop. Hermann G. Winkler was born in Bunz-
lau, Silesia on January 12, 1888. When he was still a child his family moved
to Westphalia where he served his printer's apprenticeship in the little
town of Halver. At the age of twenty-three, Hermann Winkler emigrated
to the United States and settled in Washington. Soon after his arrival
he found employment as a printer with the Journal. In 1915 he used all
his savings to acquire the rights and assets of the Journal, and suddenly
found himself following in the footsteps of Werner Koch as its sole pub-
lisher and editor. He assumed these responsibilities at a time when all
over the country men in more fortunate circumstances gladly rid them-
selves of the tasks involved in putting out a newspaper in German. From
the very beginning all odds were against the young publisher, but he went
to work relentlessly. He restored a sense of moderation to the paper.
Gustav Bender was entrusted with the editorial work during this critical
phase when it became evident that the United States was heading towards
a war against Germany, a fact that would have been completely unthink-
able in 1911 and even in 1914. The Journal suddenly found itself denounced
as "un-American" and "pro-Kaiser." Winkler whose own personality
represented the best in the German tradition that immigrants brought to
this country was neither too cautious nor rash during this trying period.
So long as the United States was neutral, he felt that it was no disgrace
to side with the old country, but once the new country was at war, he left
no doubt as to his loyalty though he and his newspaper had to take a course
which he would not have chosen of his own free will. The Journal's conduct
was above suspicion and it was permitted in November 1917 to continue
publication and distribution "under permit No. 167 authorized by the act
of October 6, 1917."
Before this permit had been issued, the Journal like all other German-
language newspapers in the country, had to provide exact translations of
all news and editorial matters related to the war to the local postmaster.
The first months from April to November 1917, therefore, put an additional
burden on the publisher. The process of filing these translations was
cumbersome and expensive and resulted in a sharp reduction of news items
in the Journal. Yet of all the experiences and trials of 1917, censorship
was the least painful. The war had brought in its wake the most violent
[58]
and hysterical effort to eradicate everything of German origin in the United
States. The Nation's Capital vied wit the most notorious localities in the
country in proving its superpatriotism. The "drive against Teutonism"
was the most sorrowful chapter in the history of the German immigrants
in Washington. Its effects on individuals and institutions were disastrous.
Within a few months Washington's "Little Germany" was wiped out either
through pressure from without or through fear and desperation among its
own ranks.
Alone the Washington Journal held out. Hermann Winkler and Gustav
Bender (who assumed the pseudonym of Germanicus)
tried to instill in
their readers encouragement and faith in the future. The Journal supported
the Liberty Bond Drives and called for loyalty but in early 1918 it resumed
a bolder editorial stand. The "infamy of the Allied blockade of Germany"
was severely attacked and letters from dislocated former Washington resi-
dents were printed. In December 1917 over 1300 Germans who were not
yet American citizens or had shown no intention of becoming naturalized
had been forced to leave the District of Columbia. Exactly one year later,
however, most of them were permitted to return.
The financial situation of the Journal was once again critical. Most
advertisers had withdrawn their support in 1917 for fear of being identified
with the enemy cause by advertising in a German-language newspaper.
Winkler tried to save expenses by using the stereotypes which were supplied
by the German Press and Plate Co. of Cleveland but this did not always
prove satisfactory since frequently shipments were held up by the author-
ities and the harrassed editor had to substitute at the last minute old
plates of the early war years which glorified German victories and therefore
brought renewed criticism from the authorities. The Bureau of Publicity
of the Treasury Department recognized this plight of German editors and
began to supply a patriotic plate service which extolled the virtues of
German American citizens and called on them to contribute liberally to the
Liberty Loan drives. By June 1918 the situation of the Journal became
so precarious that its publisher had to appeal to the local citizenry for
immediate help. F. L. J. Boettcher wrote several enthusiastic articles on
why the German newspaper in Washington should be preserved. Paul
Gleis, a recent immigrant, wrote his memorable plea Worte der Ermunter-
ung. The requested help came and once again Martin Weigand stepped
in and signed as co-owner. The crisis was overcome. When the end of the
war and the allied victory became facts, the Journal raised its voice in
favor of merciful peace terms for Germany based on President Wilson's
Fourteen Points. Few German newspapers in America had survived the
years of trial. When the war hatred subsided and German Americans began
to recover from the great psychological shock, the scene was disastrous.
Many societies had disbanded. Their property had been confiscated. But
Hermann Winkler felt that the stagnation after the war was only temporary.
He rallied his fellow citizens for a new great task when he founded the
Central Committee for the Relief of Distress in Germany and in German
Austria. The first appeal of this committee appeared in the Journal on
August 8, 1919. Due to this effort a sum of almost $50,000 was raised in
Washington.
Locally also Winkler and his Journal became the point of crystallization
or renewed German-American activities. When the last remaining German
clubhouse, the Sängerbund Hall, was to be sold because the members of
this once large organization were unable to retain it, Hermann Winkler
called a meeting in the office of the Washington Journal. Among those
[59]
present were Martin Weigand, Kurt Voelckner, Gustav Bender and Daniel
von Boettiger. These men worked out the plan on the basis of which the
Concord Club was founded. They thus maintained successfully the last
German club house as a meeting place for the other organizations until
the United States Government purchased the building for Government
purposes, for the price of $42,000. The club continued to exist, however,
meeting privately and endeavoring to build or rent a central German Club
House. It was not successful until after World War II but in the meantime
it found another worthy purpose, namely the establishment of a German
Language School for children which it financed. Several other groups,
among them the Sängerbund, were reorganized. The Journal grew again
in readership and importance. Winkler was able to install modern printing
equipment which enabled him to print and publish books.
In enumerating all these facts we should keep in mind that, although
the war hatred was supplanted by a more sympathetic attitude toward
things German, new obstacles were presented by economic difficulties.
Prohibition had a detrimental effect on the recently revived German
organizations. The temporary decline of German-American social life neces-
sarily entailed a decline of the German-language press. Finally the
depression of the thirties dealt heavy blows to the Journal and its intrepid
publisher.
Not a single weekly issue was missed, however, during the years since
World War I. While many of the old faithful contributors and readers
had passed away, new immigrants filled the ranks. From 1923 until 1954
most of the local news items and a regular column called Randglossen were
the work of Paul Gleis.
Professor Gleis was born on January 5, 1887 at Rheine, Westphalia.
After graduation from the public and secondary schools of his native city,
he studied at the Universities of Munich, Berlin, Leipzig and Münster.
In 1911 the University of Münster conferred upon him a doctor's degree.
Immediately upon graduation Dr. Gleis received a call from the Catholic
University of America at Washington, D. C. as professor and head of
the Department of German Philology and Literature and Comparative
Philology. His association with this institution lasted for forty-four years
until his death. During his thirty years as contributor to the Journal
he advocated the best of Christian-German traditions. Several of the other
contributors to the Journal between the two World Wars deserve mention.
Waldemar Kloss of the Library of Congress wrote a series of literary articles
on Goethe in 1932 which earned international attention. Dr. Othmer was
the author of critical observations on political subjects which appeared soon
after the first World War under the pseudonym "Lynkeus." Other con-
tributors were Julius Hofmann, Clemens H. Leineweber, Henry J. Brühl,
W. F. König, Paul Menzel and Georg Timpe.
By 1933 there were again twenty-three active German societies in Wash-
ington. Hermann Winkler and other members of the Concord Club were
instrumental in federating most of them as Deutsch-Amerikanische Gesell-
schaft, a union which, however, did not survive World War II. It succeeded
for several years in organizing "German Days" again, noteworthy among
which the one in 1934 when Congressman H. C. Luckey (Nebraska) and
Pastor Fritz O. Evers (Baltimore) spoke. Two organizations were exclu-
sively devoted to cultural endeavors: The German Literary Society (1901-
1941) which was led throughout its existence by Anita Schade, the Washing-
ton-born daughter of Louis Schade, held monthly literary and musical soirées,
and the German Theatre Club founded in 1925 by post-war immigrants,
[60]
among them Walter Camp and Henry Heller, staged many German dramas
and comedies. By 1934 the Sängerbund had again reached a peak of
excellence under the direction of Max Grundlach and the presidency of
Karl Stober. That year it won honors in national competition and went
the following year to expand its activities to include a women's choir.
The momentum continued throughout the remainder of the thirties with
Paul Otterbach assuming the presidency in 1937. Under his guidance, the
Sängerbund celebrated its ninetieth anniversary with a concert at the
Willard Hotel on April 27, 1941.
Although the thirties were years of great activity among the German
Americans of Washington, they were overcast by the shadows of the events
in Germany. Viewing the apparent rebirth of a strong Germany from the
far and safe shores of America, some German Americans tended to rejoice
at every gain Nazi Germany made. Small Nazi cells were even founded
in the District of Columbia. They remained, however, isolated from the
great majority of the residents of German descent. With great tact and
constant discrimination, Hermann Winkler steered his Journal clear of any
involvement. At times, it became necessary to stand up against attempts
of Nazi elements and their interference. When the Washington Journal
published a directory of German organizations and churches in Washington
in 1937, the brief historical survey included the contribution of German
immigrants of Jewish faith such as Simon Wolf and Emil Berliner, and the
masonic lodge and "Schlaraffia," whose sister organizations were both
banned and persecuted in Nazi Germany received their rightful place with-
out the slightest hesitation.
45
When World War II broke out, the tenor of the articles in the Journal
expressed sadness about the new trials which had come for Germany and
a determination to uphold the best in German traditions. As early as 1939
the stand of the publisher was unmistakably expressed: "We are more
interested in the welfare of America than in the fate of Europe. Our first
concern is America." In December 1941, when German Americans for the
second time in one generation were faced with the fact that a state of war
existed between their country of origin and their adopted country, the
decision was clear and much more spontaneous than in 1917. The editorial
on December 12, 1941 was simply entitled: "We are all Americans!"
Throughout the war a comprehensive covering of the events in Europe
and in the Pacific was secured by pooling news resources with one of the
larger German dailies, the Rochester Abendpost. Occasionally the Office
of War Information used the Journal for disseminating material of special
concern to foreign-born citizens. In a few instances the attempts of the
Journal to draw a line between the German people and its heritage and the
Nazi regime were misinterpreted by overly eager censors but the conduct
of the owner and publisher as an American citizen and the respect he
enjoyed everywhere in the city proved such criticism baseless.
46
Few German-language publications survived the Second World War,
others collapsed immediately after the conflict. Hermann G. Winkler never
thought of discontinuing the Washington Journal. Once peace was restored,
the task of organizing the relief for Germany became still more exigent
than after 1919. Once again the Journal's office on Sixth Street became
the bustling center of the fund drive for German relief.
Most German societies had remained inactive during the war years.
45
Hermann G. Winkler, Directory of German Organizations and Churches in the Nation's Capital
(Washington, 1937).
46
From oral statements made to the author by one of the former censors, Mr. Henry Rutz of
Washington.
[61]
Some did not have the strength to reorganize after the war. The Concord
Club and the Sängerbund were the first to gather again. Until the present
time the Concord Club has annually contributed to the relief for refugees in
Germany. Ten years ago it acquired its own club house, at 2434 Wisconsin
Avenue which serves as headquarters for several German clubs. A great
deal of credit for the continuation of the Sängerbund goes to its war time
president, Alfred Kopf. As soon as it was possible, Kopf reconvened the
Sängerbund in the spring of 1946 and gave concerts for the benefit of War
Relief in Germany. Under the leadership of Jacob Schwalb and H. Joseph
Moeller, and its musical directors Frederick Fall (1948-1951) and Max
Seeboth (since 1951), the singing society has regained a stature comparable
to that of pre-World War I days. The Arminius Lodge and the Arminius
Social Club (founded in 1933) have renewed their activities. Among other
groups which are once again active are the Schlaraffia Washingtonia and
several benevolent societies. A number of new organizations were founded
since 1945.
47
The Swiss Club of Washington (founded in 1923) showed an
understandable tendency to remain aloof from other German-speaking
groups during the years of trial. Since the last war, German social and
cultural life in Washington has shown a noticeable change. All endeavors
have become more genuinely American although in most instances the
German language and background still form the basis of their activities.
Annual participation in such events as the Folk Festival of Nations spon-
sored by the D. C. Recreation Department and the Christmas Pageant of
Peace have put German Americans in the midst of the community at large.
On the other hand, numerous American-born people, many not of German
background, have joined some of the societies to sing European songs, to
listen to lectures on German literature or to play a good match of soccer
with their German-born friends.
The Washington Journal has not only followed this trend but often times
had indeed been the leader in this direction. Both its editor-publisher,
Hermann G. Winkler, and his faithful editorial writer and chronicler, Paul
Gleis, lived to see this new development take shape. They helped bring
about what can be termed, after all the years of hardship, misunderstanding
and distrust, the better days.
In the fall of 1953, Hermann Winkler relinquished the management of
his newspaper to his American-born son, Carl H. Winkler who had grown
up in the old print shop on Sixth Street and witnessed at the side of his
father the difficult years and their aftermaths. On October 5, 1954, Hermann
Winkler died after several months of illness. During the very last months
of his life he still held the editorship until he became convinced that his
lifetime work would pass into hands that would not only continue what he
and Koch had created but would place it firmly into a new age with the
requirements and tasks it entailed. May we quote here from the obituary
written by the eminent historian of German Americans, Dieter Cunz:
"From a strict business point of view the Journal was never a lucrative
venture. Only an editor-owner who considered the sentimental and idealistic
elements of such an undertaking could carry on with so much perseverance,
patience and enthusiasm. ... A word remains to be said about what
counts more than all facts and figures, that he was one of the kindest,
friendliest and most warm-hearted men we have known. His balance and
47
The Goethe Society of America, Washington Chapter, was constituted in 1949. (Cf. Augustus J.
Prahl, "The Goethe Societies of Baltimore and Washington," SHGM, XXIX (1956), 58-63). German
Jewish refugees residing in Washington organized their Chevrah Achduth in 1948. The Washington Sport-
club was started in 1956. The Steuben Society of America chartered its "Christian Heurich Unit No.
85" in 1957. A local chapter of the Austrian-American Society and the lively Schuhplattler-Verein
Washingtonia are among the newcomers.
[62]
poise, his soft spoken voice and his disarming smile will long be remem-
bered."
48
History seemed to repeat itself. Just as Christian Strack had
followed his publisher Werner Koch, Paul Gleis died on July 11, 1955, only
eight months after Hermann Winckler had passed away.
A new generation has taken over one of the oldest German-language
newspapers in the United States. It is not premature to state that the
Journal has been an important factor in the revival of many German
endeavors in the Nation's Capital. Its local coverage has been greatly
expanded. In 1955 a regular Virginia section was added which has found
an enthusiastic response among Virginians of German origin. Circulation
figures have shown a constant rise. On important issues of local interest
the Journal has taken a stand which has found an echo outside the German
community, particularly on the question of establishing a cultural center
in Washington.
49
Editorials have been frequently reprinted here and in
Europe. Recently, a drive initiated by the Journal for the creation of a
German language school has met with wide publicity.
50
The National
Convention of the Steuben Society of America held in Washington in
August 1956 provided an occasion for a special issue. While all worthy
endeavors in the field of German affairs find wholehearted support in the
columns of the Journal, the latter spares neither criticism nor reproach
when there is any evidence of activities among German Americans or
outsiders which are violating the basic American principles of freedom and
equality. One of the first indictments of the racist activities of rabble-
rouser John Kasper, a former Georgetown bookseller, appeared in the
Journal. While a sympathetic attitude toward the democratic, new Ger-
many is natural and found its expression in a series of articles on the
ocacsion of the visit of German President Theodor Heuss in Washington
in June 1958, articles on events in Germany in the Journal have often
reflected American views which are not always pleasant reading matter
to some politicians in Germany.
The Washington Journal, modest in its scale and limited in its means
as it is, has once again become the outspoken leader of those inhabitants
of Washington, Virginia, Maryland and several other southern states who
cherish and maintain the heritage of their native country while they
wholeheartedly embrace the new world to which they have come either as
refugees from persecution to find freedom and peace, or to better their
economic circumstances and thus contribute to the life of a nation that
has been nourished by a never-ending stream of immigrants from many
parts of the world.
51
Germans, Swiss and Austrians have contributed much
to the building of America, and also of the area which is now being served
by the Journal. The new masthead of the Washington Journal since 1955
carries no longer the legend "An American Newspaper in the German
Language." It is no longer necessary because a newspaper which has
reached its 100th year of publication in the Capital of the United States
cannot be anything but an American newspaper.
48
By Dieter Cunz in the 29th Report of the SHGM, p. 83.
49
Congressional Record, May 16, 1957, A 3764-65.
50
Transatlantische Austausch-Nachrichten, January 1959, p. 21. An interesting sketch of the func-
tions of the Washington Journal was carried by the foreign news service of the Deutsche Presse Agentur
on April 20, 1959.
51
The 1950 Census reported the following figures for foreign-born residents from the three German-
speaking countries:
Germans
Austrians
Swiss
District of Columbia
Virginia
Maryland
3,010
3,916
12,563
1,141
794
2,609
390
254
509
[63]
GERMAN NEWSPAPERS IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
A Check List, 1843-1959
Washingtoner Anzeiger, 1858-59. Weekly.
Editor: Alfred Schücking. Subscribers'
list sold to Intelligenzblatt in April 1859.
No copy found. (Cf. Intelligenzblatt,
April 9, 1859).
Täglicher Washingtoner Anzeiger, 1871-73.
Daily except Sunday. Publ.: Philip L.
Schriftgiesser and Nehemiah Miller.
Editors: 1871 August S. Börnstein, 1872-
73 Nehemiah Miller. Bought by Werner
Koch in April 1873 to form Washing-
toner Journal with Columbia. Circula-
tion in 1872: 1500.
DLC—1872, Jan. 8; 1873, Jan. 1-March
28 (some issues missing).
Columbia, 1863-73. Published by Max Cohn-
heim and Werner Koch, 1863-67, Werner
Koch, 1867-73. Editors: 1863-67 Max
Cohnheim, 1867-73 Louis Schade. Cir-
culation in 1872: 1200. United with
Anzeiger in April 1873 to form Washing-
toner Journal.
DLC—Oct. 17, 1863-March 20, 1869
(some issues missing).
DWJ—1871, May 6.
Der Deutsche in Amerika, 1843-44(?).
Monthly. Founded by Otto W. Hoffmann
in Harrisburg, Pa. in 1842. Removed
to Washington in Spring 1843. Publ.:
P. Augustus Sage. Editor: Alfred
Schücking.
No copy found. (Cf. National Zeitung,
Oct. 11, 1843; Wittke, 42; Olson).
Deutsche National Zeitung—see National
Zeitung.
Deutsche Presse, 1893-94 (?). Weekly.
Publ.: Perls, Brandes, Bauer & Co.
Editor: W. L. Elterich.
No copy found. (Cf. Olson, Rowell, 1893-
94).
The German-American, 1889. "A National
Weekly, devoted to the Interests of the
German-Americans." Publ. & Editors:
Richard Guenther, L. W. Habercom, Paul
Wolff. Might have been published in
English. Existence surmised from letter
by Paul Wolff, The German-American,
P. O. Box 32, Washington, D. C., dated
May 1, 1889.
No copy found.
Washingtoner Intelligenzblatt, 1859-60.
Weekly. (Direct forerunner of Washing-
ton Journal, continued as Die Metropole,
1860-61, Militärgazette, 1862, Columbia,
1863-73). First issue April 2, 1959.
Publ.: Werner Koch. Editors: Werner
Koch, Louis Schade, Alfred Schücking.
DLC—April 2, 1859-Aug. 11, 1860 (com-
plete file).
Washington Journal, 1873-present. Daily
except Sunday, March 31, 1873-March 31,
1885; Three times a week April 2, 1885-
March 1,1888; Weekly since March 1888.
Formed by union of Columbia and An-
zeiger in 1873. Washingtoner Journal
1873-1911, since 1911 Washington Jour-
nal. Circulation: 1875 (1300),
1890
(800),1910 (1000), 1915 (2610). Publ.:
Werner Koch, 1873-1911, Charles T.
Schwegler, 1912-15, Hermann G. Wink-
ler, 1915-53, Carl Winkler, 1953-present.
Editors: 1873-92 Werner Koch (also for
brief periods Alfred Schücking, Louis
Schade, G. Tomann, L. Kronheimer),
1892-1912 Christian Strack, 1912-15
Gustav Bender, 1915-53 Hermann G.
Winkler, assisted at first by Gustav
Bender and from 1923-53 by Paul Gleis,
1954-present Klaus G. Wust.
DLC—1873 complete; 1874 to June 30;
1876, Oct. 10; 1877, July 9-Dec.; 1878
complete; again complete file from
Apr. 7, 1888-Dec. 15, 1894; Complete
from Jan. 1, 1898 to present.
DWJ—complete file 1915-present.
GLDB—complete file 1926—Oct. 19,1939.
GSIA—complete file 1953-present.
ICHi—1876, Oct. 12.
MWA—1876, Aug. 24.
Die Metropole, 1860-61. Weekly, Aug.-
Sept., 1860; Daily except Sunday, Oct.,
1860-April 20, 1861. Publ. & Editors:
Werner Koch and R. Schellhaas, Oct.-
Nov., 1860; Werner Koch and H. Wer-
nich, Nov. 1860-April 1861.
DLC—complete file 1860-April 20, 1861.
Militärgazette, 1862. Weekly for German
Americans in Union Army stationed in
and near Washington. Publ.: Werner
Koch. Editor: Louis Schade.
No copy found. (Cf.
Washington Jour-
nal, March 11, 1911).
Der Nationale Demokrat, 1847. Political
campaign sheet. Editor: Friedrich
Schmidt.
DLC—1847, May 6.
Der National Demokrat, 1852. Listed in
American Newspapers.
MiGR—1852, July 21. (reported missing
since 1945) (Cf. Olson).
[64]
Der National Demokrat, 1853. National
weekly. First issue July 9, 1953. Publ.:
Buell & Blanchard. Editor: Friedrich
Schmidt.
DLC—1853, July 9.
MWA—1853, July 9.
National Zeitung, 1843-47. National weekly.
Started as Deutsche National Zeitung
April 20, 1843. Title changed to National
Zeitung Oct. 11, 1843. Publ.: P. Augus-
tus Sage, 1843-46; Carl J. Koch, 1846-
47. Editors: 1843-46 Alfred Schücking;
1846-47 Carl J. Koch. Publication sus-
pended for several months in 1846.
DLC—1843, Oct. 11.
PaPeS—1847, Feb. 26-April 1.
(Cf. National Intelligencer, April 7, May
5, 1843; July 1, 1846).
Washington Revue, 1895-98(?). Weekly.
"Illustriertes Wochenblatt für Litera-
tur, Kunst, Wissenschaft, Politik und
Unterhaltung." Publisher and Editor:
William L. Eltermich. First issue publ.
Sept. 13, 1895.
DStM—1896, Oct. 24; Dec. 5.
DWJ—1896, Oct. 24.
Schücking's Washingtoner Intelligenzblatt
für die Vereinigten Staaten und Deutsch-
land, 1854. Monthly. Mainly business
and international trade news. Publ. &
Editor: Alfred Schücking. Printer:
Julius Ende.
DLC—1854, Oct. 1.
Die Tafelrunde, 1870-72. Bi-weekly. Spiri-
tualistic organ. First issued in July
1870, last issue June 15, 1872. Publ. &
Editor: P. L. Schücking.
DWJ—complete set.
Union und Washington Correspondent, 1855-
56(?).
Weekly. Established by Repub-
lican Party. In English and German.
Editor: Karl Burgthal.
No copy found. (Cf. Baltimore Wecker,
March 26, 1856, Wittke, 142).
Der Volks-Tribun, 1875-1902( ?). Weekly.
Publ.: Emanuel Waldecker & Co.; Edi-
tors: 1875-87 Carl Roeser; 1887-92
Christian Strack. Circulation: 1880
(1620), 1900 (3360).
DLC—1876, July 29; 1880, July 10;
1881, June 18.
ICHi—1876, Aug. 5.
MWA—1876, Aug. 26.
(Cf. Olson; Ayer, 1880-1902).
Washington Wochenblatt, 1856-58. Weekly.
Publ.: A. & M. Gross. Editor: Julius
Ende.
No copy found. (Cf. Baltimore Wecker,
March 18, 1856; National Era, Apr.
3, 1856; Washington Star, Jan. 28,
1858; Emery, 66).
Der Zuschauer am Potomac, 1850-51. Whig
campaign sheet, partly in English. Publ.:
& Editor: Friedrich Schmidt. Printer:
P. Augustus Sage.
DLC—1850, Jan. 10.
MWA—1850, Jan. 10.
NHHaD—1850, Jan. 28, March 23, July
17, Aug. 18, Sept. 29, Nov. 21, Dec.
19; 1851, Jan. 2.
SYMBOLS FOR LOCATIONS
DLC
Library of Congress, Washington, D. C.
DStM
St. Mary's Church Rectory, Washington, D. C.
DWJ
Washington Journal, Inc., Washington, D. C.
GLDB
Deutsche Bücherei, Leipzig, Germany.
GSIA
Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, Stuttgart, Germany.
ICHi
Chicago Historical Society, Chicago, Ill.
MiGR
Grand Rapids Public Library, Grand Rapids, Mich.
MWA
American Antiquarian Society. Worcester, Mass.
NHHaD
Dartmouth College, Hanover, N. H.
PaPeS
Schwenkfelder Library, Pennsburg, Pa.
REFERENCES
American Newspapers: Winifred Gregory (ed.), American Newspapers, 1821-1936. (A Union List of Files
Available in the U. S. and Canada), (New York, 1937).
Ayers: N. W. Ayers & Sons Directory of Newspapers and Periodicals publ. annually since 1868.
Emery. Fred A. Emery, "Washington Newspapers," Records of the Columbia Historical Society, XXXVII
(1937), 41-72.
Olson: May Olson and Karl Arndt, A List of Journals and Newspapers Published in German in the USA
between 1732 and 1954. To be published in Germany as volume 2 of Deutsche Presseforschung.
Rowell: Geo. P. Rowell & Co.'s American Newspaper Directory publ. annually from 1869-1908.
Wittke: Carl Wittke, The German Language Press in America (Lexington, Ky., 1957).
[65]
A NOTE OF THANKS
In the Spring of 1954, the late Mr. Hermann G. Winkler asked the author
to compile a brief history of the Washington Journal and of its direct
forerunners. The result of that first study was an account based exclusively
on the extant files of the German newspapers in Washington which Mr.
Winkler had deposited with the Library of Congress several years ago.
Mr. Winkler, however, supplemented the research notes by numerous
reminiscences of the four decades during which he was the publisher and
editor of the Washington Journal. This assistance proved invaluable
because Mr. Winkler was to be felled by a serious illness during the month
of October of the same year. It is, therefore, with a feeling of deep gratitude
that this commemorative booklet is dedicated to the memory of the man
whose indefatigable labors and sacrifices alone had saved the German news-
paper in Washington from an early demise.
During the past two years the original study was extended in its scope
in order to include much indispensable background information on the
German immigration in the District of Columbia. Numerous individuals
have assisted the author in locating material in libraries and in private
hands. To all of them go cordial thanks.
The Society for the History of the Germans in Maryland has not only
made possible the publication of this study in its forthcoming Thirtieth
Report but has also readily given its permission for an advance release of
this reprint on the occasion of the centennial of Washington's German-
language newspaper.
Finally, the author's thanks are due to the present publisher of the
Washington Journal, Mr. Carl H. Winkler, whose friendship and whose
understanding have made it a happy experience for the author to continue
the long tradition of editing this "useful local sheet."
KLAUS G. WUST
Washington, D. C.
July 4, 1959
[66]
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