The Fredericksburg-Montabaur Verein and My Local Childhood

Last evening, December 5, 2016,  I was honored to be the guest of Pit Vins and his wife, Mary Hickok  at the annual Christmas party of the Fredericksburg-VG Montabaur Verein.

 Pit my host is the gentleman in the Santa hat.

This is a society in partnership with our sister city of Montabaur, Germany to forge continued relationships between the German settlers in Texas and their heritage areas of Germany. They help sponsor student exchanges between the countries and other social and official visits in order to preserve the cultural heritage of the German settlers here and foster good relationships with their counter parts in Germany.

The partnership between Fredericksburg and Montabaur was approved by the Montabaur council on June 29, 1995. I was unable to procure the actual date of the establishment of the current Verein here other than that it was in 1994,  but it was around the same time frame as the Deutsch-Texanische Gesellschaft Montabaur-Fredericksburg or in English the German-Texan Association which was established in Montabaur, Germany, April 12, 1994. Local history does state that then Mayor Linda Langerhans signed a “twinning agreement” between Fredericksburg and Verbands Gemeinde Montabaur  on September 21, 1997 and this included surrounding towns around Montabaur such as Niederelbert. This partnership sought to find individuals interested in furthering the relationships between people of German decent from Fredericksburg and other German Texas communities and the borough of Montabaur and help with the exchange of schools and clubs .

This all came about from a trip to Germany by Nelda and George Vogel in order to find George’s family lineage. The trip fostered such warm welcome and friendships, and resulted in many subsequent trips, and eventually the FBG-Montabaur Sister City Verein was established here and the Deutsch-Texanische Gesellschaft in VG Montabaur.

Verein president, Rosemarie Mazanke states the following about current relationships, “There have been numerous visits of students and adults over the years,  most recently a group of 16 High School students and 2 teachers this past October from Mons Tabor Gymnasium in VG Montabaur. Our Fredericksburg high school teacher will take a group of 15 to Montabaur in June 2017. 

  German Students during their October visit.

 We support the local high school  students in their UIL Sprachfest competition, the German Club for Zweite Weihnachten, and hosted German author Ursula Hatzfeld for a book signing in the Nimitz ballroom last May.“

The Verein’s current mission statement reads as follows and was provided by a member:

Mission
To support and promote visits between citizens of Fredericksburg, Texas and the surrounding communities and Verbandsgemeinde (VG) Montabaur, Germany in order to:
Encourage the establishment of friendly affiliations between individuals, schools, and organizations;
Encourage all types of cultural exchanges and to help create links between entities such as but not limited to respective clubs, social groups, religious communities, and sport groups; and,
Foster awareness and preservation in Fredericksburg and the surrounding area of the German-Texas history, heritage, and language by supporting, encouraging, and recognizing individuals and organizations which help perpetuate the societal benefits of this rich cultural heritage within our communities.

To open the evening we all shared in fellowship, wine, beer, and Gluwein, which my friend, Pit says that, “In Germany people drink that by the tons because since it is kept boiling hot, as the evening goes on, all the alcohol cooks away and has no more effect. ”

 Members visiting before dinner.

Afterwards announcements about upcoming society events as well as events around the community for the Christmas season were shared.  Examples were The Christmas Journey at Bethany Church this weekend, December 9th and 10th, the Church to Church Walk on December 13th starting at Zion Lutheran Church and ending at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, and the  The Singing Christmas Tree on December 16th and 17th at the Pioneer Museum Complex.

Next we shared a wonderful meal of roast pork, scalloped potatoes, squash casserole, mixed greens salad, tea and water catered by Linda and Danny Pfiester. An array of desserts were also available donated by members.

Once dinner was complete, the group joined in singing old German Christmas Carols as well as a few in English. For me, this was actually the high light of the evening. I felt much like a child again, many of these songs with the exception of “Stille Nacht” are songs I haven’t sung since I was very young. Back then we used to memorize and sing these songs for the Christmas programs at church. It was part of what Christmas used to be. Now very few still know the language, except for the rapidly fading older congregation members and we no longer host our annual German service since Pastor Arhelger passed away many years ago. The German influence on the Christmas program doesn’t exist anymore so the children aren’t taught these songs.  Therefore for me, many old pictures though fading, danced quite happily in the halls of my memory last evening, that alone made this encounter with the Montabaur Verein well worth my time.

 Dinner and singing around the tables.

The celebration was hosted at the beautifully, Christmas decorated Golden Hub Senior Center.

If you are interested in the society, their annual meeting is January 23, 2017 at the Nimitz Museum Ballroom at 5:30. Memberships are $20 per year.  The groups meets  four times annually for a picnic or party. They can be contacted through the current president, Rosemarie Mazanke at 830-997-4967. Unfortunately their webpage is members only at this time, but they are working on a way to update that in the future.