German-Texan Heritage Society Newsletter, Volume 9, Number 1, Spring 1987 Page: 32
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Vol. 30, No. 2 May 1985
OUR HERITAGE-LANGUAGE, GERMAN
At Concordia Historical Institute we are surrounded by the Germanness of our
past: thousands of German books, certificates, and letters. Nevertheless,
many of our people, even those' who speak German, seem unaware of the great
value of German and, do not realize what our children will lose if they lose
all acquaintance with the language of their forebears. Such acquaintance is
crucial for an understanding of our heritage and for the study of family and
church .history. And in general, we Americans need to know languages in to-
day's small world. One way of coping with this problem is for each of our
varied ethnic groups to foster the knowledge of its own heritage-language
among the young. Not all of us can learn 'Polish, for example, but if those
among us of Polish ancestry learn it, they will not only help themselves
understand their heritage, they will perform a valuable national service. If
each ethnic group does the same, we will have a great pool of knowledge of
other languages and other peoples--a critical resource for international un-
derstanding and the preservation of peace'.
Of course, .German is not the only heritage-language of our Synod: Slavs and
others joined us, sometimes-taking on the German language in the process,
sometimes continuing their own language. But the synod continued to be
overwhelmingly German, and German is our main heritage-language. Moreover,
beyond its heritage value, German continues to be one of the most important
languages of the world, in which much of the world's knowledge is stored.
To be well-educated one should know German as well.
Acquaintance with our heritage can broaden our lives in many other ways,
also. We will be-reminded, for example, that the dream of freedom offered
by America included not only the priceless freedom of religion, guaranteed
by the. separation of church and state, but it also offered another freedom,
which some people today seem to haive/forgotten: the freedom to speak-one's
language. English was accepted as the language of the government and of
the majority, but this did not mean at everyone, had to use it. Most im-
migrants came and settled in group/ intent on continuing their native
language, their religion, and thW t customs. America was a colorful quilt
of.different peoples and different languages--but all loyal Americans.
Sometimes when we hear mutte-ings against the use .of Spanish or Vietnamese
by our current immigrant groups, we should remember that our own:.group
used German for over a hundred years. America is bigger than the Englishlanguage.
We have an obligation to see to it that our young people understand the
importance of their heritage-language and have an opportunity to study it.
If they then stand uncomprehending before an inscription in stone, and it
is in Greek, they may be forgiven--but not if it is their grandmother's
German gravestone.
Joseph Wilson, Member
Board of Governors
Copyright 1987 German-Texan Heritage Society
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German-Texan Heritage Society. German-Texan Heritage Society Newsletter, Volume 9, Number 1, Spring 1987, periodical, Spring 1987; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1507400/m1/36/?rotate=270: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting German-Texan Heritage Society.