The Carpathian Germans were a small German people living in the territory of today's Slovakia
from the 12th century to 1945, when they suffered genocide. This are the current doings, of the
people I come from. This page is provided as a private volunteer public service, and does not
represent the official opinions of the Carpathian German Landsmannschaft.
Dr. Thomas Reimer 
August 30, 2009
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If you are a descendant of Germans from the Northern Carpathians, or have an interest in Carpathian
German history, culture, or genealogy, come and join us. If you are interested, email me at
Thomas, or Herb Zaborsky at Herb.
CARPATHIAN GERMAN AMERICAN EVENTS
2003
2002
2000
2000
1999
Annual Meeting on October 17, 2009
The 2009 annual meeting will be on October 20, 2009, at the Holiday Inn, 80 Newton Road, Danbury, CT 06810,phone 1-203-792-4000. close to I-84. For directions, see
Danbury Holiday Inn. Room rates ($84 per double room) are reduced for KDL members. Lunch (Marinated Pork, Chicken or Sole), plus side
dishes, appetizer and dessert will cost $35 (which includes the right to use the room), Children's menu and Cash bar.
Program:
12:30 PM to 1 PM Hors D'oeuvres and cash bar
1 PM to 2 PM Welcome address and lunch
2 PM to 2:30 PM Business Meeting for KDL members, election of officers etc.
3 PM to Evening: Dancing to ethnic and traditional music, socializing, raffle, genealogy, I will speak on the new Eisdorf Heimatbuch, etc.
To know how many will come, please register as soon as possible. For a registration form (should be mailed with check by October 3), email me at
Thomas, or Herb Zaborsky at Herb, or call
Hilde Kahl at 203-775-2484.
Annual Meeting on October 20, 2007.
About 60 people attended the 2007 annual meeting on October 20, 2007, at the Holiday Inn, 80 Newton Road, Danbury, CT 06810. The officers were reelected, with Herb Zaborsky
president, there was a fun raffle,dancing and good discussions on genealogy.
Annual Meeting on August 13, 2005.
About 60 or 70 people came to the 2005 annual meeting on August 13, 2005, at Capellaro's Grove, 42 Vail Road, Bethel, Connecticut, near exit 8 on I-84 East. For the first
time, we picked a picnic facility so kids and grandkids could play. However, the weather was very, very hot. We had a non-denominational religious service at the KDL
Memorial, Immanuel Lutheran Cemetary, Tamarack Avenue, Danbury, CT.
The Art Gallery of the Manchester Community College has been named for Hans Weiss from Malthern. The article in May also described the many good deeds
our countryman has done for Manchester and its community college. The local press also reported on it, see
Hans Weiss Art MCC Gallery 1
Hans Weiss MCC Art Gallery 2
Saturday, Oct. 30, 2004, the Karpatendeutsche Landsmannschaft of North America held its annual reunion at the
United German Hungarians, 4666 Bristol Road, Oakford, PA 19053 near Philadelphia, from 3:30 PM
to midnight. At the membership meeting, the officers were reelected (plus 2 additional ones, John Hentschel and myself). The flyer presenting
our group (translated by Julius Loisch) was printed by Hans Weiss, and gives a good introduction of who we are. Also discussed were how to
create the branch structure (Northeast and Middle Atlantic first), so that more regional meetings can be held--right now, driving 500 miles
to go from Pennsylvania to Connecticut or vice-versa is a burden). Also, the increased interest created by genealogy was discussed, and
how we could accomodate it and gain new members. We had about 12 new guests here, all US born with Carpathian German ancestors, notably
Peggy Rose and her sister Rosemary Golick (who came all the way from Florida!)
whose ancestors were Alexy from Gross-Lomnitz.
After the business part, the social part began, with about 140 people. A moving prayer was said by Reverend Soenke Schmidt-Lange, then we
sang the American and Zipser anthems, followed by a hearty social with dinner, dance, music, a raffle and an exhibit of Carpathian German items.
The band Heimatklaenge played, which includes Wilhelm and Mandred Gedeon, with ancestors from Bierbrunn. The Monique Legare International
Dance Company (Legare)
Group gave a ravishing show of Hungarian folk-dances, which fit well since Carpathian Germans were German-Hungarians before 1918. The
ladies danced with grace, and the men jumped so energetically, one would have believed them straight from the Puszta.
2003/10/25-26. On Saturday, Oct. 25, the Karpatendeutsche Landsmannschaft of North America held its annual reunion at the Colony
Conference Center in Vernon, CT, from 3:30 PM to midnight. Before the meeting, from 1 to 2:30 pm, Zipser artist Hans Weiss showed his
art gallery and "Zipser Stube," a reproduction of a typical room in a Zipser peasant home. The English translation of the Leidensweg der
Karpatendeutschen , published last year, was presented, followed by a hearty social with dinner, dance, music by the Franken Musikanten
band, a raffle and an exhibit of Carpathian German items, all that, incl. dinner, for $29 per adult or $10 for children (with children's meal of
chicken fingers & fries) for those under 12.
Attendance at the business meeting was lighter than usual. The Vorstand (Board of Officers) was reelected, our president John Gally presented
his plan to have younger people (below 65) join Dan Behl and the others in three years to lead the Society, and nominated three alternates
(incl. John Hentschel) for that purpose. There was a discussion about the memorial, how to set up the foundation and insurance for the next
decades. Copies of the book Road of Suffering (Leidensweg) is still available. Also, we will revive the old administrative regional structure,
to draw in more people who cannot make it to the East Coast, and have a youth/family swimming pool picnic in Philadelphia in August, probably
at the German Hungarian Club. Then, we really need to do more with the INTERNET. Any interested people should send their email to receive
announcements etc.
The social part was well attended, with 171 people, incl. 16 under 12 (from the number of children's meals). More people came in ethnic costume
than before. Mrs Belliveau and her daughters dressed up beautifully in the costume of Hollumtz. The grandniece of Hans Weiss, only 5, played
a rousing piece of Dvorak on the fiddle. And all kids sang "Auf der Mauer, auf der Lauer,"a fun children's song about a Wanze, those
fun little insects waiting to have a bit of your blood. Evelyn Bartmann, born Hentschel, led the girls and women in rousing dances. It was fun!
My two boys (12 and 7) had fun, too, Erich enjoying talking with his 4th degree cousin Kathy, whom he saw the first time.
All descendants and friends of the Germans from Slovakia are welcome. To register and for information, call Mr. Koch at 215-379-8192.
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2002/10/19. Carpathian German meeting, was this year again at the United German-Hungarian Club, 4666 Bristol Road (c. Bristol & Spruce) in
Oakford, PA 19053 near Philadelphia. I was unable to attend this year. The members reelected the board of trustees, then socialized,
watched folk-dancing, had dinner, a raffle and an exhibit. The English translation (by our Landsmann Julius Loisch) of the book Leidensweg
der Karpatendeutschen, which relates the ethnic cleansing of the Carpathian Germans 1944-46, was presented.
To order this interesting and useful book, send a check or money order of $24 (includes postage) to:
Carpathian Germans in USA and Canada, John E. Scholtz, Secretary, 14100 Worthington Road, Philadelphia, PA 19116
2002/06. The KDL-USA has also begun a letter campaign to alert president Bush to the past and present human rights violations created
by the Benes-decrees. While we will not have millions of petitioners, it never hurts to have such letters on file.
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2001/10/20-21. The annual convention of the Carpathian German Association of the USA & Canada took place in the ballroom of the
Sheraton, 18 Old Ridgebury Rd, in Danbury, CT. But first, at 1 pm, the Memorial to the estimated 23,000 to 32,000 Carpathian Germans who died of
war-related causes between 1941 and 1947, was inaugurated at the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Danbury, Tamarack Road, near the
Motor Vehicles Building. A memorial booklet was published. The photos below show the board of trustees before the monument and two
boys with Carpathian German roots laying a wreath.
The meeting began around 4pm. The board of officers (Vorstand) was reelected. Then, the progress of the history book to be written by
Anthony X. Sutherland (who is also chief editor of the Slovak-American periodical Jednota and, in the tradition of Filip Hrobak, a friend
of his German countrymen), and of the cookbook was discussed. Then followed a debate about how to struggle for the voiding of the
Benes-decrees, which, in the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic, still make second-class citizens out of the German ethnics still living
there. The meeting agreed to support the Institute for German-American Relations of Dr. Marianne Bouvier because of its work to make
Americans aware of the horror of the "Vertreibung" (ethnic cleansing) of ethnic Germans after World War II. For instance, IGAR sponsored,
together with Duquesne University, from November 16-18, 2000, a symposium on ethnic cleansing in Europe during which the fate of the
most numerous group of victims received commensurate coverage. Dr. Sutherland and our landsmann Dr. Andreas Wesserle, University of
Wisconsin at Milwaukee, participated, and Dr. Wesserle spoke on the ethnic cleansing of Carpathian Germans. The meeting also nominated
Dan Behl, a member of the board of directors, to explore how to get more American-born members through promoting awareness of
Carpathian German culture and genealogy. We need your cooperation as volunteer. If you are interested, contact him at
[email protected] or contact J. Scholtz at Scholtz
Then followed the social part, with music from the "Heimatklaenge" Band, a good dinner (it was US style, roast pork with apple brandy sauce and
oven-roasted potatoes, or chicken marsala on rice. For children 5-12, Chicken fingers with french fries), a raffle and much socializing. All that for
only $36 per adult and $17 per kid, with the surplus having to pay all the bills from one year to the other. About 160 people were there, since the
children and spouses of members, who do not attend the general meeting, now had joined us. Many couples went to the dance floor. Their
greying bodies swayed in Danbury, but from the expression of their faces one could feel how their souls were dancing back home again, where
they had met a long time ago, before a cruel fate struck them and uprooted them. A beautiful note where the young children in the room. A
particularly pretty sight were Mrs Belliveau and her daughters, who showed that to wear ethnic costume and be proud of one's Carpathian
German roots could be the "coolest" thing to do. Let us hope more young people will follow their example. Below are photos from the social part,
showing the Hentschel-Alexy-Reimer family (all with roots to the Alexy-family from Eisdorf/Zips) at one table, and then the coolest gals on earth.
If you are interested in coming next year to Philadelphia, or in joining in the meantime, notify Erwin Koch, 347 Rockledge Ave., Huntington
Valley, PA 19006, (Phone 215-379-8192).
Also, Danke schoen to the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung, this 167-year old paper,
for publishing our meeting announcement and then on November 3, p. 32 a report of our meeting. No other newspaper in the East Coast
would have cared! Support your German-American press, even though you might not agree with every article that paper writes!
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2000/10/28-29. Carpathian German meeting, this year at the United German-Hungarian Club, 4666 Bristol Road (c. Bristol & Spruce) in
Oakford near Philadelphia. Elections of the board of trustees, then socializing, folk-dancing, dinner, prayers by Rev. Schweitzer
from St Immanuel's, (whose father is from Eisdorf/Zips, like my Opa), a raffle and an exhibit. On Sunday, common breakfast, and more socializing.
A very nice atmosphere, even for teenagers.
2000/06/17. The Carpathian German Cultural Museum in Karlsruhe/Germany opened an exhibit focusing on two
Carpathian German artists, Hans Weiss and Andreas Antony. Weiss, born in 1931 in Malthern/Zips,
was deported in 1945 and ended in Manchester, CT. He created a company making specialized electronic parts,
including for NASA, the Dynamic Metals Product Company. After retiring in 1989, he focuses on painting, often
dwelling on memories from home. Antony was born 1947 in Goellnitz. His family remained, and in 1994 he was able
to receive the abandonned plant of the furniture metal-parts manufacture founded by his great-grandfather in 1868.
It had been confiscated in 1945 and closed in 1975. Production has resumed. The exhibit of 60 paintings of was a success.
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On the week-end of October 9th to 10th, the Carpathian German Association in the USA & Canada met in Vernon, Connecticut, (near
Manchester), at the Colony Center. It was a beautiful meeting. Exactly 161 people came for photos, food and fellowship. At the business
meeting, we reelected our board of officers, discussed then the forthcoming English-language history book prepared by Dr. Anthony
Sutherland, the success of the website, and voted not to have a quarterly newsletter yet. An important and urgent task is to
create a Perpetual Care fund for the monument to our dead, which is in Danbury, CT. At the dinner there were not only grizzled Carpathian
German immigrants and survivors of the Vertreibung--the genocide of the Germans of the East--but also a fair number of US-born children
and grandchildren, together with their non-Carpathian German spouses. Very pretty were the young dancers from the
Belliveau family, in Zipser costume. Among the youngsters fascinated by their ethnic heritage were Jasmine Chiang, from
Connecticut, whose father is from China and whose mother comes from Malthern in the Zips, and Erich and Friedrich Reimer, from
Albany--my kids--whose mother is from Red China. As the old generation increasinly ascends to a better world, the Landsmannschaft
will change towards a more America-style cultural club, focusing on genealogy and culture. For
this, we need more young and middle-aged people to join, and to do it soon. The next meeting
will be in Philadelphia. For information, call or FAX Mr. Gally at 1-860-868-2660.
Below is the Carpathian German Memorial Cross in Danbury. In the next years, a new, larger sign and other items will identify it more
explicitly as our cross. Mr. Weiss has borne most of the costs so far--let's share the burden. Also, a heartfelt thanks to the American
Legion of Danbury, which put in the two little American flags at Decoration Day.
The weather was gorgeous on Saturday. On Sunday, it rained, as if the sky was crying for the memory of these Carpathian German
civilians slain after the war on the orders of the Beneschist Czech government, and the double standard of a world that does not
denounce genocide in principle. Because of the weather, a much smaller group went to the cemetary. The man in blue, 2nd to the right,
is our president for North-America, Mr. Gally.
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