BUT every now and then someone will find my web page and e-mail me and usually is looking for pictures and information I have about their "American" relatives, but they usually don't have pictures and information connected to the family here.
Finally someone from Germany contacted me who is able to help me with pictures and information I have questions about.
So over the next several weeks I hope to share more pictures and information between this fellow and hopefully anyone who is related
to this family will contact me so we can add even more information and pictures...here is the story.
This is the web page he found.
These pictures came from the Hoffmann, Claussen, and Vinke collections I've scanned.
Here are a few pictures he has confirmed and provided more information.
The old pix are from the Hoffmann/Claussen collection
Willi Buhmann - grandfather to my contact in Germany
Now owned by my contact in Wrohm, Germany, who is a Buhmann descendant.
Here
are pictures of the house today he just sent me after several rennovations.
earlier rennovation
earlier rennovation
2013 restoration
He told me this home is in Wrohm, Germany, the old home of Hermann Buhmann
Hermann was a son of Reimer and Katharina Buhmann.
Hermann's brother, Ernst, was the father of Willi and grandfather of my contact.
Hermann and Ernst's sister was Else (Buhmann) Gehlsen.
My contact thinks this was the home of Else (Buhmann) Gehlsen in Wrohm, but is not 100% sure.
I also asked my contact to confirm and connect Reimer Buhmann from the Hoffmann collection.
Reimer Buhmann - confirmed as the same person listed above in the Buhmann family tree.
back side of photo
If you are related to these Manning familes and have old pix and information and can help us, please e-mail me.
11:34 am
12:01 pm
12:02 pm
11:55 am
The bluejays were having a blast in the snow...
11:56 am
I haven't seen such a windless/calm snow event for many decades...
I'm clearing Dave Schroeder's yard 1980 with our snowblower and JD 4440.
Obits usually don't have much military information but give very basic information, so I'm still hoping that Veterans and family members of deceased Veterans will contact me and work with me to get more details and pictures.
Now fast forward to sometime in the late 1970s when one day a car drove up on our farmyard and a guy gets out. I immediately recognized him as
"Larry" but didn't know his last name.
I was surprised at how he didn't look as tall as I remembered, since I was now fully grown.
He knew me by name and introduced himself as Larry Owen from Carroll and told me he was tracking down teachers he remembered from his time here at Manning and for some reason I must have made a good impression on him all those years ago that he wanted to look me up too.
Unfortunately, some kids would tease and were mean to the Special Ed kids as I think back, so I must have NOT been one of them...I certainly don't remember being mean and actually didn't think of them any different than all the other kids we played with on the playground.
Larry sent me several of the pictures to scan that he took of school staff he had tracked down and were from his time here at Manning. I wish now I would have asked him if I could have scanned his notebook that he was keeping that had the list of people he wanted to meet up with and take their pictures...the list was long and he told me the names of the ones he was able to locate and close enough to drive to and meet...here are several of the people that treated him kindly as a student that he went to meet over a 5-year period.
I don't know if he was able to finish his quest but I know he had fun doing it.
Ruby (Struve) Edmunds - school nurse
Hugo Jahn - school janitor
Eileen Thompson - school teacher
Larry Rowedder - PE
Every year since that time Larry Owen came to visit me at our farm, he has sent me a Christmas card/note.
I kept every one of them and have scanned a couple from the later years to his last one this past Christmas.
I knew right away something was seriously wrong, as he repeated
his words several times.
Larry worked at the GE plant in Carroll for decades - I forget now how many until the plant closed. Then Larry worked at the Carroll School as a janitor.
Sadly, his life was full of difficulties with his siblings dying one by one from Cancer and now it got him in 2021. His mother is still living and I'm not sure how many of her children are alive...I'll find out more once his obituary is posted.
2007 card from Larry
2018 card from Larry
2018 Christmas card
Note how Larry visited people in the Carroll Nursing Homes - he obviously loved people.
He also enjoyed playing pool each afternoon with his 3 friends.
I'm not showing this last message for shock factor but to show how even fighting with reduced cognitive abilities, he still remembered me and thought of me as his "best friend."
I hope everyone has a friend like Larry...they are hard to find, especially life-long friendship.
The last time I spoke to Larry in person, was about 3 years ago when I was in Carroll going into a business when all of a sudden I saw this tall guy crossing the street and heading my way.
I stood there and as he came closer I said "Larry" and he looked at me and said "David," he was out for one of his walks he talked about in his 2018 card.
I know that this Christmas I'll sure deeply miss getting a Christmas card from "Larry."
Amazing Pioneer roots that provided the building blocks for this nation - like so many old-time Manning families!
Nishnabotna froze over.
City crew kept busy this winter
February 4, 2021
Live long enough and you see one extreme weather event after another.
While we haven't had anywhere
near record amounts of snow this winter in the Manning area...but this is definitely
the coldest extended spell of near zero to below zero temps we've had in decades.
This winter is more like I remember when I was a kid.
I forget the exact year and I didn't take pictures but it was during one winter before 1985, when one evening we had sustained winds of 50+ MPH out of the northwest, and the
actual temperature was minus 27, and as I recall the wind chill was minus 80 - if you remember the year or have pictures, please let me know.
We still had our old farm house that had no insulation like most old farm houses of the past. The bathroom was on the southeast part of the house and that
night the water in the toilet bowl froze solid.
I even had plastic fastened to the first story on the outside of the house, along with hay/straw bales stacked
up to cover the first story. At that time our new windbreak trees were less than 5 feet tall, so they did no good to block the wind.
Needless to say, I saw something I had never seen before when I went outside the next morning. The winds had subsided and as I walked around the yard, there were sparrows, starlings, and all kinds of song birds lying dead all over. Some of them must have tried to fly to find a warmer location near a building but probably died mid-flight.
I wish I had pictures to show, so people can realize how difficult our feathered creatures have it during some winters.
I've been feeding my song birds for decades. If you start feeding your area birds now, once you have started you MUST NOT stop feeding them until the winter is over.
Birds are creatures of habit and will get dependent on the food you give them, so if you stop all of a sudden once the weather warms up a little, some of them will not go back to searching on their own and will die.
I thought it would be interesting for people to hear sounds that they may not have heard before or realized how super cold temps affects things around us.
Take a look and listen to some sounds and sights that I recorded February 15, 2021, around 10:30 pm when it was MINUS 20 degrees Fahrenheit.
10:23 pm
Most of what you see venting into the air is steam.
A semi tanker loaded with soybean oil heading out to its destination.
"AGP supports and invests in Iowa biodiesel production," said Troy Alberts, AGP Senior Vice President for Refined Oils and Renewable Fuels. "The Company recognizes the impact that biodiesel has on the demand for soybean oil in Iowa as it accounts for 85% of the feedstock. Increased use of biodiesel translates into higher soybean prices for farmers, economic development in rural communities, and reductions in harmful fuel emissions. This legislation further protects the industry against federal policy and political uncertainty by increasing demand for this important advanced biofuel in Iowa."
The biofuels standard establishes a minimum level of biodiesel to be blended in the state's diesel fuel pool, gradually increasing over time. Beginning in 2022, the legislation ensures that biodiesel comprises 11% of the diesel pool and provides tax credits for higher blends. The program expands to 20% biodiesel blends, or B20, in future years. The legislation also establishes new retail income tax incentives for fuel marketers and provides funding for biodiesel projects through the Iowa Renewable Fuels Infrastructure Program. Financial support for renewable fuels would also be made available from the Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund.
AGP (agp.com) is a leading agribusiness with primary
operations as a major U.S. soybean processor/refiner producing and marketing
soybean meal, refined soybean oil, and biodiesel. AGP businesses also include
agricultural product trading in domestic and international markets and numerous
U.S. grain elevator operations. AGP is owned by 148 local and regional
cooperatives representing over 250,000 farmer-producers across the United
States. Corporate headquarters are located in Omaha, NE.
12700 West Dodge Road
PO Box 2047
Omaha, NE 68103-2047
(402) 496-7809
"An Equal Opportunity Employer"
12:30 am minus 22
One of the nurses at the hospital told me her car sensor registered minus 28 early this morning.
You know it's cold when the snow "squeaks" as you drive on it.
You know it's cold when the snow "squeaks" as you walk on it.
When we tore down the old house and built the new one in 1985, I wanted a wood burning stove for 3 main reasons.
We grew up in a house with no insulation, and various
sources of heat that was warm right next to it such as a kitchen stove we stoked with wood and cobs, and several different radiant heat oil burners, and occasionally mother would turn on the electric oven and leave
the door open to help heat the kitchen.
For heat upstairs there was a vent in the floor you could open/close if you wanted heat to rise into your room.
So I wanted to make sure the new
house had plenty of heating options. One is the natural gas furnace and the other a wood burning stove with blower.
Another reason I wanted the stove was for supplemental heat when the electricity cuts off.
The last reason is I also spent time in Aspinwall with my grandparents, and Louie Ehrichs had a forced air stove that burned coal, wood, cobs, etc.
I remember hearing grandpa rocking the shaker early in the morning to remove the ash and then re-stoke the stove...so I would run down to help - I wanted to rock the shaker arm and I loved
the smell of cobs while stoking the stove.
It originally had a glass window, but as it aged it cracked, so I made a steel plate to replace it.
I heat the whole house without running the natural gas furnace
because of the way I have the basement set up. I have 2 intake vents in the cold air duct return that pulls off the heat and through the furnace fan central air ductwork.
Then I put in 2 exhaust fans in the basement ceiling, one of which is a small squirrel cage fan, and both of them
blow the air from the basement ceiling and up to the living room on the first floor.
This helps to keep the excess heat in the basement moving to the upper level.
The wood I burn is mostly from trees that die or blow down in our windbreak and then I replace them with new trees. The other source is from the city brush pile, where there is an endless source of wood of all kinds...while hardwood trees such as oak and ash are the best source of heat, I burn every type of tree and large branch shrubs.
Now for fun - see if you recognize this sound and what made it...most people have never heard this sound today, but if you are old enough you should recognize the sound -
especially if you grew up on a farm.
I'll post a video and tell what it is in a few days to see if anyone figures it out...
Mass of Christian Burial is pending for 90 year old Wes Nulle of Manning.
Wes died late Wednesday,
February 10, 2021 at Manning Regional Healthcare Center, Manning.
I write about what Peter told me and comment about how I had my eyes opened to details about WWII and the aftermath that you don't read about in most history books and definitely not about Peter's specific situations.
History is so intertwined and most people are completely oblivious to all of the connections and I think why our country is in the desperate shape it is in today...because of the ignorance of
the interconnection between our local, state, and national history and the ways it has been twisted and perverted into something far from the actual truth.
The movie I
remember Christopher the best in, is the "Sound of Music."
If you have never seen this movie I would recommend you take the time to watch it several times...let it sink in. I don't know how accurately it follows the true lives of the von Trapp family but
it will give you an idea of what life was like during the 1930s through early 1940s in war-torn Europe - specifically Austria where Adolf Hitler was born and then later immigrated
to Germany.
Sadly, some of the situations/scenes in that movie are now being reenacted here in the US in 2021.
Now you are going to ask - what connection does Manning have with the Sound of Music/Christopher Plummer...
It is a small connection but Virginia Struve (Mrs. Roy) actually stood on stage with the real Maria von Trapp...here is some information Virginia gave me during an interview in 2016.
The other time that Virginia got up on stage during an
assembly was when a violinist came to play his Stradivarius. Virginia also
played the violin but never expected she would actually be able to hold a
Stradivarius in her hands like she did that day on the stage.
Virginia came from a family of 11 children…2 died very young. She was born in Le Mars, Iowa.
Her parents took a trip to California and while there they decided to move from
Iowa to California. Her dad stayed behind and her mom came back to Iowa to sell
the house and move the children out to California.
This was during the prohibition days. Her mother always made wine so to sell
the wine it was "sold with the basement."
Roy met Virginia at a dance in Carroll. Roy and Lester Joens went to the dance.
Virginia was in nurses' training school at this time and since she lived in
Carroll she could drive the family car so she took several nurses with her to
the dance. While they were dancing, Roy came over and asked Virginia to dance and they did...the rest is history.
Then the intertwined connections, which are endless, continued between the Struve family and my Kusel family.
My mother and Roy Struve graduated
together from MHS in 1941. Then I went to school with Roy & Virginia's kids, and graduated with their daughter, Carol.
I am unable to determine the connections between my Kusel relatives in the northeast part of present day Germany, because of the aforementioned groups...
Please follow along below with the story about Peter Kusel who is a relative but many of the church records, official information, and other documentation had been destroyed which
prevents me from determining the exact genealogical connections by the aforementioned groups that over-powered the people of Europe during and after WWII.
In 1997, I went with my cousin to Germany to trace our common ancestors.
I had absolutely NO idea the amazing and life-altering history I would be told by someone who is my relative but there is no documentation or records that show our blood connection...Please follow along to learn the "Story of Peter Kusel."
Since my cousin can speak some German he called to talk to the Vicar at the Seedorf church to schedule a time when we could meet him at the parish and to see if he knew any Kusels in the area we could meet.
The Vicar didn't know any Kusels but spread the word that a Kusel was coming to the area from the US and wanted to meet with Kusels or anyone related.
Keep in mind that the towns on this map down below are between 1 and 10 miles apart...when Peter Kusel heard the rumor
of my visit he was very excited but did not know who was the contact person in the area so he drove to various towns to ask around and finally found out that I was coming and when.
We were eventually able to get in contact with Peter to make plans for when/where to meet.
1997 Peter Kusel & Dave Kusel just outside of Lenzen, Germany
Lenzen city hall 1713
A tributary of the Elbe River behind the Kusel home.
Back: Jürgen Kusel, Margaretha Meinke-Peters
Front: Jutta, Frieda von Bargen, Peter Kusel
Frieda is Jutta's mother.
Now we start getting into the life-altering Kusel family history.
It all begins around the time of WWII.
Frieda's husband, was forced to fight in the German Army on the Russian Front and was never seen or heard of after that.
Their daughter, Jutta would have been around 8 at the time of his death.
It is hard for me and I would assume most of us living today, to understand how terrible it was for the von Bargen family to never know the when/how/where their loved one died on the Russian Front, and what happened to his body. Maybe he was a prisoner of war and was tortured and starved to death by the Russian Army - I'm sure Frieda and her family had nightmares over their loss.
Peter Kusel was 4 years old when WWII started in Europe and 10 years old when it ended.
His family had survived the destruction caused by the Nazi Socialist Party, Adolf Hitler, and then when Soviet troops moved in from the East at the
end of the war.
Right after the war ended the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) started its censorship, indoctrination,
occupation, and control of Eastern European countries including the eastern half
of Germany, which split the city of Berlin in two.
Now the Kusel family had a new and just as evil regime to live under - the GDR (German Democratic Republic)
which sounds benign because of "Democratic" and "Republic" but the country and people were under dictatorial, Socialist/Communist rule...
In 1952, the Kusel family summoned the courage to leave their farm and fled East Germany to the safety and security of West Germany.
The Kusels were farmers and owned several farms - Peter was 17 when they left everything they knew, loved, and owned for generations and fled for freedom in the West.
Before they fled they thought about the consequences of their actions...How long before they could return? If/when they return will they be able to prove they owned their land?
Here is the amazing answer to that part of their life-altering past...
They knew that if they were stopped during their flight and they had valuables and documents, then the military and police would know they were trying to escape East Germany.
Peter told me that they would make the trek to the Elbe tributary each winter (so the leaves were off the trees) and look across the river and could watch the
new occupants of their farm and home walk around the yard...I cannot imagine the anger and
frustration it must have been for the Kusels to watch those strangers walk around on the Kusel land.
Then think of the anger and frustration when these "occupiers" had to leave what they thought was now their homes and land...for a while the reunificaation really tore apart the peoples of what was once East & West Germany to become a whole Germany again.
Linens stored in the cans.
Peter Kusel displaying the apron.
Lenzen
The "Iron Curtain" started out as a political boundary created by the USSR in 1945, and then in 1961 the GDR & Soviets built the wall in Berlin and much broader fence across Germany.
This wall/fencing was NOT built to keep people from the West out of Eastern Europe, BUT to keep the citizens of East Germany from fleeing socialism, communism, and the horrible
living conditions it created.
It was sometime right before or maybe during the construction of the wall/fencing that Peter and his family fled to West Germany.
Below is the gravesite where Peter Kusel's parents and other relatives were buried.
I asked Peter why there were not tombstones, headstones, or monuments.
He then shocked me and proceeded
to tell me that the GDR (German Democratic Republic) and USSR (Union of Soviet Socialists Republics) socialists removed the tombstones
and either buried them or crushed them and used them to gravel roads. Fortunately other gravesites of the area hidden farther in the forest
were not found so those tombstones were spared.
Remember that many of the people who came into
power in the GDR after WWII were the German citizens and neighbors who lived among those they were now oppressing.
We visited the Lenzen Museum.
One thing I'll never forget was the curator repeatedly telling us that the shelves in the businesses, especially grocery stores were barren
much of the time during the GDR era...commercial food items were scarce.
The pictures below show shelves full of food and other items but that was to show the various items that existed from 1946 through 1990.
Cobbler's bench and worksite
Phonograph & transportation - again what many of the East German people had up to 1990.
Memorabilia & transportation
Map of some type for the Lenzen area - I don't remember anymore from 1997
Living room
Reading books
Poster of woman operating a combine.
DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik)
"Socialistic state of the workers and farmers"
There were no individual farmers or land owners.
Workers were part of a communal farming operation, based on the Russian socialist version of agriculture.
Bathroom
Picture in the museum showing another view of the fencing and guard towers.
Picture in the museum showing the removal of the fencing after 1991.
We also visited the Berlin Museum.
Photos on display in the museum.
The East German who attempted to scale the wall was shot and left there to bleed to death.
This is what socialism gives you...
Harness used to lower people over the wall.
Radio console hollowed out of its components and used to smuggle people through check points.
Footage of Ronald Reagan looped over and over.
2 suitcases with ends cut out and then butted together so a person could be smuggled in the trunk of a car.
Homemade breathing apparatus to escape under water in the rivers and tributaries.
Mesh fencing with spikes to prevent swimmers from escaping underwater in the rivers and tributaries.
Hidden compartment in a Volkswagen Beetle.
Oskar Brüsewitz (May 30, 1929 - 22 August 1976) was an East German Lutheran pastor who committed public self-immolation to protest the repression of religion in the Communist state of East Germany.
Michaelis Church in Zeitz, Germany.
With the Second World War nearing its end, Brüsewitz joined the Wehrmacht in 1944 as a fifteen-year-old, was captured by the Red Army and became a prisoner of war. He worked as a shoemaker after the war and converted to Christianity in 1954 under the influence of his family then attended a Lutheran seminary from 1964 until 1969 in Erfurt. In 1970 he was ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church at Rippicha in the district of Zeitz. He was critical of the East German Communist regime imposed by the Soviet Union after the war and symbolic acts of protest, including the installation of a cross of neon lamps at his church, brought him to the attention of the authorities. The leadership of his church sided with the state, rather than its priest, and asked, in 1976, for Brüsewitz to be moved to another rectorate. This was the immediate trigger for his suicidal protest in a public market in front of the church in Zeitz. The fire was quickly doused by officials from the Ministry for State security, but Brüsewitz died four days later from his burns.
On the day of his protest he carried pamphlets accusing the communists of repression which read; "Funkspruch an alle: Die Kirche in der DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik) klagt den Kommunismus an! Wegen Unterdrückung in Schulen an Kindern und Jugendlichen" ("A Radio message to everyone: The church in the GDR accuses communism! Because of the suppression of children at school"). In his suicide note he wrote of a "feigned deep peace, which had also intruded Christianity" in East Germany while in truth there was "a mighty war between light and darkness"("zwischen Licht und Finsternis ein mächtiger Krieg").
Brüsewitz died of his severe burns on August 22, 1976 in a hospital in Halle Dölau. His self-sacrifice brought support from both his parishioners and figures in the church and led to a reappraisal within the church hierarchy of its relationship with the Communist dictatorship. The Protestant Church now sees Brüsewitz's protest as an early step towards the mass popular protests which led to the collapse of East Germany in 1989.
The Communist authorities initially attempted to suppress news of the event then, when news leaked and public support for his action grew, they branded him a psychopath. On August 31 Neues Deutschland, the official newspaper of the ruling Socialist Unity Party (SED), printed an article entitled "Du sollst nicht falsch Zeugnis reden" "You shall not bear false witness" which asserted that self-immolation was the action of a sick, crazy man. A similar article appeared in Neue Zeit, the newspaper of the East German Christian Democratic Union.
The Protestant church of the ecclesiastical province of Saxony commemorated his sacrifice twenty years later in 1996, six years after the reunification of Germany. Bishop Dehmke called his death an "act of desperation" in protest against the repressive nature of the communist regime and the collaboration of church members who had grown too close to the state.
On display in the Berlin Museum.
1948 Rumors of an
"X-Day" Putsch in Berlin
Unease in Berlin
Bill Downs CBS Berlin September 13, 1948
Berlin this morning is in that uneasy and uncertain condition that passes for
normal here. The expected fireworks from yesterday's Communist demonstration
did not develop. The shooting incidents during last week's mass meeting in the
Western zone are being pushed in the background. Right now everyone is waiting
for the next development in this lukewarm war of blockade, words, and threats between the East and West.
Any official action here-namely further meetings of the four military governors of the city-must await more conferences in Moscow. It is expected that another round of negotiations between General Clay and his opposite numbers in the British, French, and Russian zones will take place, but only after new instructions have been received. Those instructions will have to be agreed upon in the Kremlin meetings which may begin today or tomorrow.
However, rumor has replaced action in this besieged city. One of the Berlin papers this morning carries a big scare story outlining what it claims is the second phase of a German Communist plot to bring about a dictatorship of the proletariat for Berlin.
The story, which quotes no sources, speaks ominously of an "X-Day" for kicking the Western powers out; for abandoning parliamentary procedure. This is to follow a series of strikes, disruptions, and demonstrations designed to create such disorder of Berlin life that the so-called "people's government" will be able to seize power to preserve peace. The story speaks of the Communist training of "workers' commandos" and says that this second phase of a putsch will begin immediately. But the so-called "X-Day" will be sometime after the November elections in America.
We can expect more and more of these stories in the future. Meanwhile, in assessing the events of the past week, the East and West demonstrations and all, it is clear that the Western powers have a much greater popular support from the Berliners than even they expected-a fact that must give pause to the Soviet side.
But it will only be a pause. The Communist fight to
discredit the West-to drive us out of Berlin if possible-will continue unabated.
This is Bill Downs in Berlin. Now back to CBS in New York.
Henry Toluzzi Stars and Stripes
East Berlin, May, 1950: With an enthusiasm that may have been tested as they
spent the next two generations or so standing in line to buy soap, marchers at
a pro-Communist Freie Deutsche Jugend, or Free German Youth, rally urge fellow East Berliners to reject the
U.S.-funded Marshall Plan. Between 1948 and 1952, the Marshall Plan sent a
total of over $12 billion in goods and services to European nations recovering
from World War II.
By DWIGHT SCHEAR
STARS AND STRIPES
Published: May 21, 1950
GERMAN YOUTH IS marching again. On Sunday, May 28 - Whitsunday, normally in
Germany as elsewhere: a quiet religious holiday - historic Unter
den Linden and other broad avenues of Eastern Berlin will ring with the massed
tramp of tens of thousands of feet in militant step. The drums, the bugles, the
bright uniforms and flags will give Berlin, and indeed the world, cause to
wonder if the ghosts of a decade ago have not risen from the land between the Oder and the Elbe.
In a remodeled office on the third floor of a bomb-scarred building in East Berlin last week, a blond young man in a blue uniform dictated messages to a secretary, studied documents on his desk and in between the rush of business, answered the questions of a reporter from the Western side of town, where Guenther Schlesinger intends someday to establish his new office.
Schlesinger's phone rang constantly. As press chief and official spokesman for the "Free German Youth" (FDJ - Freie Deutsche Jugend), he is a very important young man.
"How could I say," Schlesinger said, "whether or not other youth organizations (than the FDJ) would be permitted in Eastern Germany? The question has never come up. No other youth organization has ever asked for permission to organize.
"After seeing the great success of our united organization, the German youth became certain that there is no need for any other."
According to Schlesinger, the FDJ now has 1,133,309 members in Eastern Germany, not including the "Young Pioneers," the junior FDJ organization for children aged 6 to 14. HICOG officials estimate that the combined FDJ and "Young Pioneers" number about 2,000,000.
A detailed HICOG report says the FDJ "has actually been expanded into the official 'mass organization' for youth in the Soviet Zone, with bold eyes cast in the direction of West German youth as well.
"Every means," the report also said, "ranging from direct and indirect pressure to exploitation of youth's natural love for pageantry and flag-waving, has been applied by Communist leaders to gather the Soviet Zone youth into a coherent hierarchic organization over which they exercise the control."
Schlesinger says: "Our organization of course developed its strength independent of the occupation power. But it has received financial assistance from the Soviet Union and other democratic powers."
How does one join the FDJ? A boy "joins" by playing football (soccer). His team is automatically an FDJ sport club. A young factory worker "joins" because the trade union to which he must belong is, for its younger members, interwoven with and indistinguishable from the FDJ. A student "joins" because by refusing to do so he cannot qualify for a university scholarship. (Schlesinger says 108,000 FDJ members have received scholarships.) A first-grader "joins" because his teacher tells him that every good little boy is a "Young Pioneer."
Little choice is left, and with the consolidation of the Communist hold on all phases of Soviet Zone life, the choice is growing less every day. The church remains almost the sole field of organized activity outside the all-embracing FDJ open to East German youth. Schlesinger dismisses the church groups as "strictly religious" and "not actually youth organizations."
ACCORDING TO THE comprehensive HICOG report on the FDJ, an intensified campaign is now under way "to recruit by fair or foul means every last Soviet Zone child into the 'state' youth movement."
Spring brought new splashes of color to the drab but heavily crowded streets of downtown East Berlin, the most dazzling of which were the bright blue shirts of young FDJ street orators.
To display the ardor of its youthful political zealots - and perhaps in the hope that sparks of their enthusiasm would take hold with the passing sidewalk crowds - the FDJ Central Committee ordered blue shirt enthusiasts to hold public street corner "discussions" on "vital topics" such as the unemployment crisis to West Berlin, the "warmongering" of the Western Powers and the future of the "German democratic republic."
A few bold blue shirts tested their slogans on West-sector street corners. West Berlin police, under orders to ban Communist demonstrations in the West sectors as long as a similar ban prevails on democratic demonstrations in the Soviet Sector, acted swiftly. Seventy FDJ members were arrested in West Berlin within a single week. It was without doubt fortunate for the intruders that the police were able to move in a hurry. Many of the arrests were in effect protective custody. West Berliners have little patience with their fellow countrymen who speak for the Soviets, and in rubble-strewn Berlin, missiles are always at hand.
Those FDJers who deliberately court martyrdom in the Western sectors, as well as those who make the speeches and wave the banners in East Berlin, are not considered typical of the organization's rank-and-file. Western observers are convinced that the vast majority of the members have little enthusiasm for the political aims of the FDJ. They follow the blue banners because there are no other banners to follow.
"It is estimated," the HICOG report stated, "that only about five per cent of FDJ members are convinced and zealous workers for the cause."
That five percent, however - that hard core of burning fanatics - have proved themselves as trusted and hard-working components of the overall Communist machine. They have made the FDJ without doubt the most successful of the Soviet Zone "mass organizations" and can guarantee communism a continuing cadre of leaders in Germany, regardless of the future, above ground or underground.
Although the official age limit of the FDJ is 25, most of its top functionaries are older: These are classified as "friends of the youth." Ask Schlesinger what sort of "graduates" the FDJ seeks to turn out and he will answer with such stock Kremlin slogans as, "fighters for the peace" and "those who know they are a part of a great community."
In addition to "sports evenings," "literature evenings" and the like, every FDJ member, according to Schlesinger, is supposed to attend at least one evening of political discussion a week.
Perhaps the most shocking aspect of the training now being given hundreds of thousands of young East Germans is the relationship of the FDJ and those parts of the "people's police" which are in effect military organizations.
Political activity of both organizations is closely coordinated, and, according to U.S. officials, there are indications that all eligible male FDJ members will soon undergo two months of basic training with the "police" units.
"There is evidence," the HICOG report said, "that FDJ leaders, who have already given proof of their street-brawling capabilities in the Berlin S-bahn strike of May and June, 1949, are being instructed in guerrilla warfare."
The FDJ grew out of so-called youth committees established by Soviet officers on the heels of the German capitulation. Central control is maintained through a tight chain of command and there has been no evidence of any independent discussion or any deviation from the line laid down by the central committee. The organization's constitution provides for expulsion for any breach of discipline.
U.S. officials estimate that the FDJ has recruited perhaps 50,000 members in Western Germany. Schlesinger predicts that this same number will come from Western zones to the Berlin Whitsunday meeting. However, he claims that many of these will represent organizations other than the FDJ.
"The FDJ," he said, "will work continuously on the development of our organization in Western Germany. However it is very difficult over there because the Adenauer government interferes with our work."
For months, the FDJ has devoted its main efforts to preparing for its gigantic May 28 show in Berlin. Sharp reaction by Allied leaders and the West Berlin population to FDJ threats to storm the Western sectors on that date has resulted in repeated assurances that only a peaceful demonstration is planned.
The assurances may be valid this time. But those who remember the assurances of the last regime which organized a marching German youth believe that in Berlin, most especially, vigilance is the price of freedom.
On display in the Berlin Museum.
Manning has at least one connection to this event...read below.
After World War II ended, Germany was in ruins, and the situation in its capital, Berlin, was dire. About 2.5 million Berliners were still living in the war-ravaged city, but food was scarce and shelter was hard to find amid all the rubble. The economy was mostly black market goods at that point.
To begin rebuilding, the Allies split Germany between the U.S., Great Britain and Russia. Berlin was also divided into occupation zones; the Soviets controlled the eastern portion while the west went to the U.S., UK and France.
Unfortunately, the Soviet-Allied alliance deteriorated quickly, and tensions fully erupted by 1948.
On June 24, 1948, Soviet forces blockaded all road, rail and water routes into Berlin's Allied-controlled areas, stifling the vital flow of food, coal and other supplies. Soviet troop numbers dwarfed those of the Allies, which had drawn down after the war, so there was little the Allies could do about it militarily. But the Soviets couldn't block Allied airspace, so U.S. and UK forces took to the skies to get supplies to the Allied sectors. On June 26, the U.S. launched Operation Vittles, which the U.K. later joined. It was the biggest aerial resupply mission ever embarked upon. The Allies also imposed their own counter-blockade, restricting trade with East Germany and East Berlin.
More than 2 million Berliners were relying on the aid, which included much-needed food, fuel and medicine. Over time, though, it became more efficient, and the number of airdrops increased. At one point, Air Force and Navy planes were landing at Tempelhof Airport every 45 seconds. On Easter Sunday, April 17, 1949, the constant procession of planes managed to deliver 13,000 tons of cargo, including the equivalent of 600 railroad cars of coal - all in one day! Things weren't going well for the Soviets. The airlift had been going on for 10 months, and the Allies had proven they could keep it up indefinitely.
The Russians had gained a reputation as bullies because of their blockade. On top of that, an Allied counter-blockade was causing severe shortages in the Russian sectors, leading to fears of an uprising.
The Soviet Union gave in and lifted the blockade on May 11, 1949; however, the airlift itself didn't end until Sept. 30, just in case the Soviets decided to change their minds.
During his Air Force career, Charles served in the "Berlin Air Lift", also known as "The Berlin Blockade" and "Operation Vittles" from 1948 to 1949. He also served from 1953 to 1954 in Korea at K-9 Air Force Base near Pusan. Charles retired from the USAF in April 1968 with the rank of Technical Sergeant. During his twenty-year career he received the following decorations and service ribbons: National Defense Service Ribbon, AF Good Conduct Medal, AF Longevity Ribbon, Medal for Humane Action with BAD, United Nations Service Ribbon, Korean Service Ribbon, Air Force Commendation Medal, and Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon.
I also remember Peter telling me that while they hated Hitler and the Nazis, they despised just as much if not more for what Socialism/Communism did to the people of East Germany after the Nazi reign of terror.
As we continued to drive around the area we saw skycranes everywhere in East Germany.
While West Germany was able to rebuild after WWII with help
from the Marshall Plan and military defense from the US, the socialist government of East Germany basically "fed" itself and left the citizens to their own means.
After East Germany rejoined West Germany, the West spent a lot of money to help rebuild the East part.
Check Point Charley
Probably hundreds of millions of pictures have been taken of the Brandenburg gate but I can lay claim to this one I took in 1997.
While the United States was helping to rebuild Germany and Europe after WWII, the socialist/communist USSR built statues in Berlin and occupied/controlled many countries
of what became part of the Eastern bloc of nations.
I wish now I had taken a lot more pictures of the Berlin Wall in 1997. Not until recently scanning the prints I have, did I realize some of the more historically important images I had
unknowingly captured and what they actually depicted.
At that time, I would have never dreamt in a million years that socialism/communism would rear its ugly head in the United States like it is today and around the world.
I checked the Internet and there are still sections of the Berlin Wall that were preserved and now are historically protected.
Unlike what is happening to our historical statues and structures here in the US.
In 1990, after the Berlin Wall had ceased to be functional, the eastern side of the wall was painted by 118 artists from 21 countries, resulting in the longest open air gallery in the world.
Star of David
Painted November 9, 1989
1997 - Soli Deo Gloria (Glory to God Alone)
Image from the internet that shows graffiti on this section years after
I took my picture.
Painted August 1990
My own personal experiences here in Manning.
During the 1990s through early 2000s we hosted farmers from around the world to come see how agriculture is done here in Iowa.
Many of them had technology shock when they saw the equipment we used and how a lot was controlled by computer technology.
One group of farmers was from the Ukraine, a former satellite state of the USSR.
I'll never forget the response from these farmers when I showed them the horse-drawn cultivator and plow on display in our Quonset, that my dad used.
Without missing a beat, they told me that this was the type of equipment they used up until the
break-up of the Soviet Union - eastern bloc in 1991.
One of the most eye-opening group of farmers was from China.
They were very polite and only the interpreter spoke English, so I did not have any one-on-one conversations with any of the Chinese farmers.
I noticed one of the Chinese farmers moving the handle of the water hydrant up and down. I realized right away, having had experience with the old cistern hand pumps, that he thought he had to "pump" the handle to get water.
I went over and raised my hand in a motion to stop. Then I put the handle in the up position and then motioned again
to wait. Then the water started coming out of the spigot.
He gave me a big smile and realized we had water pressure.
Because of the language barrier, I wasn't able to explain to him that the water pressure was because of gravity from a cistern higher up on the yard.
After they left, we found out later that there was one armed Chinese man (not a farmer), who was there to make sure no one defected.
While writing about these Chinese farmers, I remembered how Jim Mork of Manning was stationed in China during WWII.
The US used bases in China to resupply and refuel allied offenses against Japan.
It is hard to believe that the TINY island nation of Japan had captured Nanking, China, in 1937 (capital at that time) which was called the "Rape of Nanking."
If you aren't familiar with this aspect of history you can search the Internet.
Now what is infuriating to me today is that the people of China have completely forgotten how the US basically saved their butts from Japan during WWII and now they are stealing our technology, and becoming aggressive to the world.
To make matters worse, the current administration appears to be going back to the appeasement strategies of the past.
So anyone in this country who thinks socialism/communism is a good thing and better than democratic capitalism, needs to go to Berlin to see the wall, and then they need to speak to
other peoples from around the world who live/d under the boot of those types of governments.
Once people are riding in the "socialist cart" they expect to be pulled by the rest of us in front of the cart...eventually there won't be enough people pulling the cart to keep our society going.
James Mork, 17070130, enlisted in the Army in October of 1942. He reported to Camp Dodge, in Des Moines, Iowa. Minimal basic training took place in Victoria, Texas, followed by three months of schooling on B-25s and B-26s in Wichita Falls, Texas, and then a month of schooling on B-24s and B-32s in San Diego, California. After schooling, James was assigned to the 16th Airway Detachment. They boarded a ship and sailed, unescorted (one of the first since the beginning of WWII), across the Atlantic Ocean, to join World War II. He served in the Pacific Theater, primarily in China. James returned to the States on New Year's Day of 1946 and received his honorable discharge on January 6 of the same year.
One day we were working on the planes (P-40s Flying Tigers) and trucks - we noticed a Japanese plane land on the road we all ran over to see what was happening. When we got to the plane the pilot was a kamikaze pilot. He was chained to his seat with 3/8 inch log chain - we had to get a torch and bolt cutters to get him out.
Before entering the military I worked as a mechanic and along the training I received I was able to work with parts from different vehicles to keep everything. Our group realized that the rain-gear we received was made of a material that we used to repair the diaphragms in the fuel pumps for the planes and other vehicles we worked on. Our group of mechanics realized that the when the fuel arrived at our base in 55 gallon drums water would condense in the drums. When the planes would be refueled and took off - they would spit and sputter - we knew that you had to let the fuel separate for 30 minutes you could drain off the water. We also had to be careful when we had to buy parts from the Chinese - sometimes we ended up buying our parts back. There were some guys who would strip parts from our vehicles and sell them to the Chinese for whatever they needed.
I continue to beg and plead for Manning connected Veterans and family members of deceased Manning connected Veterans to get their military pictures, documents, and information
to me so I can scan those items and include that information in the Manning Veterans' history book project database...sadly my requests mostly fall on deaf ears. BUT I'm not deterred and
continue to plug away.
I've had pressure by some Veterans who have already submitted their military stories to publish the book - arguing that I'll never get everyone...BUT I'm so glad I have resisted
publishing the Manning Veterans' book because I keep finding more Veteran names and more information and every now and then my historical helpers keep
digging up more names and information.
This last batch of information one of my helpers found really grabbed my attention. I knew I didn't have all of Manning's Civil War Veterans in my
database but to find this many new names or the spouses/wives names of Manning's Civil War Veterans is amazing and so great to have.
Here are the new names of Manning's Civil War Veterans: Isaac Sherman, John Phillips, widow Debard Patsey, Edward Pardle, mother Margaret Mayberry, widow Priscilla Lieurance,
Henry Hanchett, widow Parthena Chapman, and Charles Brown.
Now I need to find out the first names of the husbands/son of the Civil War Veterans whose wives/mother's name I have listed above.
This new list of names increases the number of Manning Civil War Veterans to 69.
I've written about and shown in various feature stories on my web page in the past about Iowa/Manning's involvement in the Civil War, but it needs repeating, especially during the times we live in where very few people appear to fully understand and appreciate what Abraham Lincoln and the Northern military did to save the Union and free the slaves.
First listen to this short video to understand how amazing Iowa's involvement and sacrifices by its citizens were during the Civil War.
Recently, while working on the Frank/Meggers collection, I discovered that Joseph Moore, another Manning Civil War Veteran, had brothers, John & Jacob, who also serve in the Civil War...with the ultimate price paid for by their father, Gilbert, who died at Andersonville Prison. Even though Gilbert, John, & Jacob are not directly connected to Manning I will include them with Joseph Moore's military write-up in the Manning Veterans' book. One of my goals with the Veterans' book is to connect and show all of that intertwining military history that also shows the family members who were Veterans.
I asked Tom MacDonald-Williams to use a photo taken from the water tower of north Main Street that showed the back side of the GAR hall and below is his artist's rendition of what the front would have looked like.
Note: The National Woman's Relief Corps, Auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic, Inc., is a patriotic organization whose express purpose is to perpetuate the memory of the Grand Army of the Republic, as their auxiliary organized at their request on July 25 and 26, 1883 in Denver, Colorado, and incorporated by Public Act of the 87th Congress on September 7, 1962
Recently a number of politicians (along with many in the media) questioned the National Guard as to their loyalty to the constitution,
and demanded the defense secretary vet the troops before the presidential inauguration...the secretary acquiesced even though he stated there was no intelligence to indicate
such a threat.
Such despicable comments by politicians and others to question the men and women in our military are inexcusable.
These and other politicians are even suggesting that tens of millions of Americans need to be deprogrammed.
No one on the receiving end of these un-American and unconstitutional attacks should be surprised...this type of socialist/communist/Marxist/Nazi thinking has been slowly infiltrating every aspect of our American culture and society for decades.
This next section is something I posted in 2017.
I'm showing these comments twice about the 2006 move of the Trinity Lutheran Church to Manning...right here and you will see it later with more commentary...just to show
that racist and anti-Christian people can't resist attacking those of us who live in rural America.
Pay special attention to the first comment below about the color of people in Manning - then remember all of the Civil War Veterans connected to Manning who fought and died
to save the Union and free the slaves.
Special note: I'm glad I captured these comments from Youtube several years ago, that were posted
for at least 10 years...BECAUSE now some of those more extreme comments have been removed.
I disagree with that move by Youtube to purge some comments - Youtube should have left them there for all to read - removing the posts does NOT change the minds of such close-minded, inconsiderate, and even evil people. We need to hear and read their hateful comments which will hopefully cause more people of good conscience to speak up and refute those terrible thoughts.
What possibly, by moving the historical country church to Manning,
would be offensive to anyone who does not live here and has absolutely no
connections to the "one color" folks who lived/live here and cherish Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, and the Right to Keep and Bear Arms?
There
is/was NO political statement in the church moving video - nothing that attacked another race, creed, person, etc...It is just a video of moving a church by a small community which was
documented for the "Monster Moves" series.
I won't get into a "tit for tat" with people who agree with these negative comments below, so don't bother sending me your comments.
If you DO NOT like or agree with my analysis - then spend your own money and time and create your own web pages and have at it - I won't protest your right to do so but I also
won't be visiting your site - I choose to "turn the channel" rather than try to infringe on your rights - have the same respect for me!!!
Freedom of Speech needs to get back to the way its original intent has been - no matter how offensive, it has to be protected...more speech, not less is what we need.
WHO is going to "sit on high" and decide who/what is offensive - there is NO perfect person so then everyone needs to be "cancelled."
Please don't give me the false comparison "yelling fire in a crowded theater" example...
2017 feature begins just below
Normally I wouldn't give the Entitlement generation space on my web page for their venom but in this
case I think it is necessary to show the extent of how low some people will go because they think it is necessary for them to voice their opinions about everything - even
when it has absolutely nothing to do with them and doesn't affect them one way or the other - referring to the video of moving the Trinity Church to Manning...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfXm2eJxXII
Comments left below the Trinity Church moving video on Youtube...
NOTE: Youtube removed a number of these comments recently but what you see below
is what I copied 4 years ago.
Tangogonzo 5 years ago
@OakPark11MileRd
There is only one color in Manning.
David 5 years ago
Ridiculous.
Michael Lee 5 years ago
I wish it would of toppled :(. Depressing it didn't.
Hippotoast 7 years ago
They found a shit load of alter boys buried underneath it.
Moose Kay 7 years ago
They couldent smell jesus
CreatorAdriaan 8 years ago
lol thats no church thats a chapel. Those crazy americans with there cheap
prefab buildings.
Why moving somthing that was only there for 100 years? Make it 300 and it would have some value.
Hippotoast 8 years ago
I detest religion and
truly appreciate it for what it really is a disgusting fallacy, but i just love this freaking song.
Ignacius Avetus 9 years ago
Why do they use a tractor to move the church and not God´s special powers?
Green Silver 9 years ago
Rednecks are weird, I
seen the movies. Incestious homo's... right strange bunch if you ask me. So what did ya do wiv the graves then, did ya dig em up and take em wiv ya?
normalnorman41 9 years ago
i would have blown the f##ker to bits
asdf 9 years ago
god only exists int he minds of human beings. he imaginary,
lets move on as humans and drop this shit its silly---- press thumbs down lol sry for thinking
John Doe 9 years ago
yeah how much money
from that churches patrons did the church suck out of them to get it moved?
GueroMuerto 9 years ago
FAKE!!! The religion, that is.
Lee Mason 9 years ago
Why go to all the trouble. All they
had to do was to ask Benny Hinn, Pat Robertson, Billy Graham, Paul Crouch. George Bush,. etc. to ask god to move it!
Roysito 9 years ago
first of all...
why did they move that church???
i mean!!! it's like if you spend 2000 dollars on something useless just cuz you have the money...
Now some people would say to just ignore these individuals...they are just the fringe.
Normally I would agree but I think it is time for the majority of people in the US who have been silent for decades and who love their country to stand up and peacefully speak up -
against this type of destructive narrative that is so intertwined in society today.
Here is the complete feature story I posted in 2017
What is the truth?
Whose "facts" do you believe?
Everyone has opinions on everything - just ask them.
Everyone's rights are being infringed upon - just watch the news.
In response to local accusations against the Lutheran Church, whose members were of German ancestry or direct German immigrants, the local pastor provided these facts.
August 22, 1918 -
letter to the editor by Pastor Johann Ansorge, Lutheran pastor in Manning
The American Lutheran Church Is A Loyal Church
Some have looked askance at our Church
because a good portion of her members are of German descent. But German blood does not make for disloyalty.
Do you know that during the Civil War 48 generals, who were Germans by birth, fought on the side of the Union? They include some of the most distinguished Generals of the great Civil War. Had it not been for the Germans, both Missouri and Maryland would have been lost to the Union." These are the words of General Sherman, spoken in the House lately.
The writer is proud of the fact that his grandfather, under a German general, fought to retain Missouri for the Union.
Why Roosevelt said the other day in the Kansas City Star: "I also have German blood in my veins." And you will not say that Roosevelt has a drop of disloyal blood in his veins. Why should he, who has English or Irish or French blood in his veins, love this country more? The Lutheran Church has no interest whatever in any language; her business is to preach the Gospel according to the Master's commission. "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." She is preaching the Gospel in 17 different languages in this country. Language has nothing to do with loyalty.
If the Lutheran Church were disloyal, do you believe that the Government would open to us her army camps and forts? Pastors of our own Lutheran Synod are working in over 260 army camps, and are in the service of the government overseas as chaplains.
The 35,000 of Lutheran boys who have gone into the service of their country are being spiritually cared for by our own Lutheran ministers, our congregations cheerfully and willingly have taken upon themselves the enormous expense which this work entails. We are erecting chapels and comfort huts in the various camps. And the government is rendering us every aid and encouragement, because it recognizes that our boys need the spiritual aid of the Church. Would the government do this if the Lutheran Church were disloyal? No, the Lutheran Church is loyal and is rendering her country a real service.
Can the same be said
of those who slander the Lutheran Church?
Johann Ansorge
Ill feeling developed between those who either immigrated from Germany or were American born citizens of German ancestry and those residents of Manning who were
of non-German ancestry.
Threats were made, and at one point, it was rumored that Manning's German Savings Bank was to be painted yellow. The bank directors held a hasty meeting and
changed the name to the Iowa State Savings Bank.
Peter Rix, owner/publisher of the German newspaper Der Manning Herold, bought the Manning Monitor, combined the two plants, and discontinued the German paper.
Some families changed their surnames to "less German" sounding, such as Anton to Antone.
The German singing group Der Manning Liederkranz, stopped singing and meeting during both WWI & WWII.
The U.S. declared war against Germany April 6, 1917, and by June, over 175,000 American troops were in France for training.
It was a gala day in Manning April 20, 1917, when ten young men left Manning to enlist in the service of their country in the World War. Patriotism ran high
and the men were escorted to the depot by the band and an enthusiastic crowd of fellow townsmen carrying flags. They left amidst the cheers and tears of the people.
The youngest of these men, 17 year old Albert Dethlefs, did not return alive.
When the United States entered the war, there was no draft but May 18, 1917, Congress passed a selective
service act, and within days all men between the ages of 21 and 31 had to register.
The effects of the draft were felt in many homes; in one call alone, 98 men from Carroll County - nearly half with Manning addresses - were put into uniform.
Before the peace agreements were signed in July 1921, the "War to End War" had taken the lives of 3578 young Iowa men; eight were from the Manning area.
Over 330 men from the Manning area served during WWI.
PROUD OF RECORD - Carroll Herald 1918
Citizens of Manning can feel proud of the number of volunteer young men who have joined the colors. Should other towns furnish a number in proposition there would be no
need of drafting or conscription. The young men go to all parts of the world, and perhaps in a few months they will be scattered thousands of miles apart. Here's
hoping that a year from now all will be able to return to Manning feeling that the year had been a profitable and pleasant one by them.
You'll give it to Manning, yes, Manning with its heavy percent of German population, when it comes to showing the best phase of loyalty to this government. Manning several days ago had sent 29 boys to the country's army. That's better evidence of patriotism than putting up the flag or engaging in heated debate. Manning, you may stand at the head of the class. published by the Carroll Herald 1918.
Some Manning men of German ancestry would have potentially fought against some of their relatives in Germany during WWI and WWII...no specific cases are known where actual direct fighting between relatives occurred where a Manning soldier was shooting at a German soldier from the same family line, but this would have been on the minds of those who fought for both sides - that they could kill an uncle, cousin, or brother who was fighting for the "other side."
Today, there is only one person living in Manning with both a German relative and American relative who served in the military during WWI. They were uncles of Gerhardt Theodore Voge who will be 95 in 2017.
Ironically, Gerhardt Theodore Voge is named after those two uncles - Gerhardt Lamp, who served for the U.S. Army and Theodore Voge, who served for the German Army during WWI.
Throughout the 1800s and intensifying in the latter half of the 19th century, ensuing political instability, restrictive religious laws and deteriorating economic conditions in
Europe began to fuel the largest mass human migration in the history of the world, with 1907 being the record for this era with 1.25 million immigrants.
From 1855 to 1890 approximately eight million immigrants, mostly from Northern and Western Europe, came to the United States.
All but two of these Civil War Veterans lived in Manning/area.
Sawtell & G. Moore never lived in Manning but have direct Manning connections.
Gladys (Sawtell) Schmidt is the great-granddaughter of Joseph Sawtell.
Gilbert Moore died at Andersonville prison. He was the father of Joseph Moore and great-grandfather of Charles Moore who both lived in the Manning area.
Union statistics - which vary more or less among historians and military officials
2.2 million served for the Union - 360,000 death toll - around 330,000 were caucasion and 30,000 were black
Joseph Moore 1914
Donald Sutherland
John Parker
Silas Priest
Martin Tate
Henry Peters - Medal of Honor
Joseph Sawtell - Civil War diary
Civil War members in newspaper article June 5, 1913
1920 Joe Herbers, cross-cultivating corn that was planted using the wire-check method.
Loading manure by hand
Picking corn by hand
Threshing oats
John Kienast plowing with horses
1938 Roy Struve working with his FFA steer
1938 Amos Kusel working with his FFA sow
Loading loose hay
Hugo Ahrendsen on top of hay
Amos Kusel top of ladder then Melvin Kusel then Alice Ahrendsen
August Kusel leaning against hayrack
1942 filling loose hay in the barn on a 400 acre farm about 2 miles southwest of Botna
July 1942 Jasper "Jap" Ward trucker
Billy Meggers in door
Eddie Meggers holding the horse
Bill Gruhn holding the hay rope
Lester Gruhn and Elmer Fischer on truck
Andy Jansen heading toward the barn
Russell unknown - little boy
Horse's name is Charlie
Andy Jansen is brother to Alma Jansen Gruhn - Alma's husband was William Gruhn
"Plowing bee" from the Handlos collection.
When a farmer died or was injured, the neighbors pitched in and helped.
August 1948 bailing hay on the Kusel farm - Gene Ehrichs on the hayrack.
1963 "recycling" tearing down a barn on the Parker farm, that was built using wooden pegs in the timbers.
Using the large timbers and salvaged lumber from the original barn to build the new one.
Building another barn, all by hand.
Unloading ear corn into the corn crib
Ernest Kuhn with a full load of ear corn - hand picked
Milking the cow
Radeleff family shelling corn
Shelling corn
Claus Nielsen, Sr. harness shop in Manning...one among several harness shops.
Radeleff ice business
Lou Ohm with Bob Radeleff driving
Radeleff ice business
Outhouse at a country school
If you are 70 and older and were rural you probably used one of these.
No heat, no air conditioning, no air fresheners - just the air slots at the top of the structure.
They were generally on the north side of the house which made for very quick trips during the winter.
Many times they had to
scoop through deep drifts of snow to get there...
The days of square hay bales.
1949 Melvin Kusel, August Kusel, Amos Kusel, Hugo Ahrendsen
Amos & Melvin Kusel getting ready to paint the barn September 1951
June 1950 next to the Kusel farm - RR workers repairing the Great Western track after a major flood
Martin Benischek & Dewey Schilling after loading hay on the truck by hand.
Dale Vollstedt & Paul Vollstedt after loading hay on the cart pulled by "Cutie" on the Emil Opperman farm.
A common scene on farms June 1950
Dorothy Kusel feeding her chickens
A common scene in homes during the 1960s and before
A common mode of transportation during the early 1900s
Louie Ehrichs with his horse & buggy.
1921 Zion Lutheran - second structure on Second Street
1963 Zion Lutheran - third structure South Center Street
Calvary Baptist Church today
Roof burned off the Calvary Baptist Church
First Christian Church on the corner of Second and May Streets 1887 to 1920
United Methodist Church on Second Street 1883
United Methodist Church on Second Street
First Presbyterian Church on Second Street 1883
First Presbyterian Church 2005
First Presbyterian Church 2005
The first Catholic Church facing Third Street 1889
Taken in 1969 Sacred Heart Church built in 1916
Sacred Heart Church built in 1956
Sacred Heart Church 2005
The first Trinity Lutheran Church in Lincoln Township 1894
The second Trinity Lutheran Church was built in 1901
It was destroyed on March 24, 1913 by a tornado and the same structure was rebuilt by the fall of 1913.
These WWI soldiers who attended Trinity posed on the steps in 1918.
On June 6, 2006, the church was moved to the Manning Heritage Park
1895 census of Manning
Total number of inhabitants .................. 1144
Males ....................................................... 582
Persons over 18 years of age................. 653
Persons 5 to 18 years of age ................. 347
Persons under 5 years of age ................ 156
Single....................................................... 654
Married.................................................... 490
Widowed.................................................... 48
Divorced...................................................... 7
Born in Iowa ..........................................588
Born in Germany .................................. 246
Born in Canada ....................................... 15
Born in Ireland ......................................... 9
Born in England ..................................... 10
Born in Denmark ..................................... 7
Born in Norway ........................................ 3
Born in Austria ........................................ 4
Lutheran ............................................... 451
Christian ............................................... 115
Presbyterian ........................................... 96
Methodist .............................................. 135
Catholic .................................................. 73
Congregational ....................................... 14
Universalist .............................................. 5
Episcopal .................................................. 2
Baptist ...................................................... 5
Evangelical................................................ 3
United Brethern ....................................... 7
Church of England .................................... 2
No religious belief ................................. 242
Old soldiers ............................................. 24
Births ....................................................... 32
Deaths ..................................................... 13
Subject to military duty ........................... 176
Voters ..................................................... 288
Not naturalized ..........................................16
Foreign born between the ages of 6 and 17 ........... 7
kneeling during the National Anthem
Foreign flags flying during a protest in the United States
Stomping on the US flag during a protest
"Brave" photographers taking pictures of a burning US flag
Destroying property on a college campus while protesting other people's Freedom of Speech -
people who happen to have a different viewpoint than they have.
Freedom of Expression and Speech???
Freedom of Expression and Speech by wiping the flag with your butt???
"Goose-stepping" by some modern day foreign armies
"Goose-stepping" by some modern day foreign armies
"Goose-stepping" by Nazi Germany
Remember the era #5 above showing the Churches of Manning.
Normally I wouldn't give the Entitlement generation space on my web page for their venom but in this
case I think it is necessary to show the extent of how low some people will go because they think they have the right to voice their opinions about everything - even
when it has absolutely nothing to do with them or affects them one way or the other - referring to the video of moving the Trinity Church to Manning...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfXm2eJxXII
Tangogonzo 5 years ago
@OakPark11MileRd
There is only one color in Manning.
David 5 years ago
Ridiculous.
Michael Lee 5 years ago
I wish it would of toppled :(. Depressing it didn't.
Hippotoast 7 years ago
They found a shit load of alter boys buried underneath it.
Moose Kay 7 years ago
They couldent smell jesus
CreatorAdriaan 8 years ago
lol thats no church thats a chapel. Those crazy americans with there cheap
prefab buildings.
Why moving somthing that was only there for 100 years? Make it 300 and it would have some value.
Hippotoast 8 years ago
I detest religion and
truly appreciate it for what it really is a disgusting fallacy, but i just love this freaking song.
Green Silver9 years ago
Rednecks are weird, I
seen the movies. Incestious homo's... right strange bunch if you ask me. So what did ya do wiv the graves then, did ya dig em up and take em wiv ya?
normalnorman41 9 years ago
i would have blown the f##ker to bits
asdf 9 years ago
god only exists int he minds of human beings. he imaginary,
lets move on as humans and drop this shit its silly---- press thumbs down lol sry for thinking
John Doe 9 years ago
yeah how much money
from that churches patrons did the church suck out of them to get it moved?
GueroMuerto 9 years ago
FAKE!!! The religion, that is.
Lee Mason 9 years ago
Why go to all the trouble. All they
had to do was to ask Benny Hinn, Pat Robertson, Billy Graham, Paul Crouch. George Bush,. etc. to ask god to move it!
Roysito 9 years ago
first of all...
why did they move that church???
i mean!!! it's like if you spend 2000 dollars on something useless just cuz you have the money...
Now some people would say to just ignore these individuals...they are just the fringe.
Normally I would agree but I think it is time for the majority of people in the US who have been silent for decades and who love their country to stand up and peacefully speak up -
against this type of destructive narrative that is so intertwined in society today.
John F. Kennedy "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country." January 20, 1961
WWII was a nation-wide effort - EVERYONE, including kids did their part for the war effort -
here you see them collecting metal scraps for the war effort.
Students proudly raised the US flag every morning during the school week at the old Manning High School.
Something you don't see any more on school property.
1973 Gun saftey, cleaning and refinishing class at Manning High School
Maybe, we as a society need to reflect back through history and reconsider some, if not all, of those so-called culturally positive and politically correct changes that have occurred over the last 40 years.
Let me educate that ignorant person...
During the 1870s through the early 1900s, the largest wave of immigrants came to the United States - predominantly from Europe.
Between 1850 and 1930, about 5 million Germans immigrated to the United States, peaking between 1881 and 1885 when a million Germans settled primarily in the Midwest, with
Iowa receiving the largest percentage of these immigrants of all the states in the US.
At first immigrants of English descent started moving west across the Prairie during the 1860s and 1870s to where Manning is now located. Manning was incorporated in 1881 and
this is when German immigrants started moving in. They did not move to the southern parts of the US or stay in the Northeastern parts of the US that were already populated
and had existing businesses...
These early Manning residents wanted to start their own trades here in the US. By the fall of 1881, Manning grew from a few buildings
on Main Street to businesses on both sides of the street, from north to south.
Farmers were already here, too, with more moving in to build the community into an
agricultural force never seen before (the Midwest breadbasket of the world).
In less than a decade - Manning (like so many other small Midwest towns) became a self-supporting community.
Yes, "Manning was WHITE" - but not because the citizens thought they were better than other people...they did not have time for petty beliefs...they had to work hard every day of their lives
just to survive. There were no government safety nets, no programs to help the helpless, just the Pioneer Spirit to survive.
Nearly 70 Civil War Veterans had moved to Manning during this time - they were part of that early generation of Americans who helped save the Union and free the slaves.
The other citizens of German ancestry immigrated to US and then to Manning after the Civil War was over, and long after the slave trade era during early US history.
During WWI & WWII around 1000 Manning area citizens (many of whom were of German ancestry) served their country - 24 who paid the ultimate price with their lives defending this country.
So anyone who accuses the people of Manning in the past of being prejudice needs to consider all of the sacrifices they made as Pioneers who built up the Midwest and who fought and died to help preserve the rights for everyone.
Did/does prejudice exist in the Manning community - YES - but no different than any other community or race or creed, who are all part of the imperfect human existence and has just as much evil and untoward tendencies against other people who are different from them.
So, even with all of the faults the Manning community and the US community as a whole has, I'm proud of what our ancestors and the Pioneers gave us, and because
of the sacrifices they made - everyone living in the US today has a privileged life.
We ALL have no clue as to how good we have it today!!!
Looking South on Ann Street February 2021
If you had the right snow pack and good sled you could make it down to the Julia Street intersection.
I was reminded that in the 1950s, the kids used South Main Street and rode their sleds down that huge hill toward the Willow Creek bridge.
If anyone has pictures of sledding at either one of these sites, please let me know.
I have pictures of thousands of different types of activities/events from Manning's past but
I don't have one picture of sleigh riding on the weekends in Manning.
More pix coming when I find time...
In January of 2018, I created this historical perspective linked below about recreation in Manning and also information and graphics for the current proposed project for the Rec Center.
It shows how projects don't get done overnight and also how very important volunteers and donations are to every project.
Update on the Hillside Splash project
On May 15, 2018, the city council approved $400,000 in matching funds for the proposed Hillside Splash project.
JEO Consulting has been working on design ideas and a proposal to complete this project in 3 phases.
Phase 1 will begin in 2019-20 with construction beginning in 2020-21, or as soon as funds are raised.
A zero-depth pool with some play features are planned in phase 1, with the slide aspects in phase 2, and a spray pad for phase 3.
Click on the link below to see some very interesting history on how Manning achieves so many amazing things and is now working on another unique project.
Oh the Fun of playing in the Sun (1968)
1909 cartoon about 2 boys nabbing their friends' clothes while "skinny dippin.'"
I'm working on a list of names of Manning citizens (now deceased) whose vision made it possible for Manning to have a Recreational facility.
They made it possible for the continued expansion into an outdoor pool addition in 2020 - sadly they'll never get to see this new addition, but we will forever be grateful
for their efforts that began over 40 years ago.
List of citizens no longer with us who made the Rec Center possible.
Jean & Gene Wiese - Gene secured the $50,000 LR Nelson grant, MCF member - use of their soil mover - Jean was a Rec Board member
William F. Ohde - Manning Community Foundation member - countless hours with various aspects of construction.
Willis Puck - countless hours with various aspects of renovation - drove the Puck skid loader.
Curt Struve - various aspects - co-rec center board member.
Barry Kusel - various construction aspects - rec center board member.
I'll add more names as I think about this topic and do some research in my database.
Korean War Veterans continues
For those of you who are occasional visitors to the Manning Exchange - please make sure to click on the "archived articles" section where previous featured stories are kept.
"Let it be known that he who wears the military order of the purple heart has given of his blood in the defense of his homeland and
shall forever be revered by his fellow countrymen."
George Washington, August 7, 1782
Just as a reminder: the Manning History book committee continues to work on a Manning area Veterans' history book
project.
For those of you who are Veterans or have/had Veterans in your family - will you come forward?
The history book committee will do their best to get as many pictures and information about the 1000+ Manning Veterans
but we can't do it all by ourselves.
How many small communities do you know have published 5 history books? The first one was the History of Manning 1898, then the 1981 Manning Centennial book, next the 2006 Manning Quasqui book, and most recently the 2009 Manning School history book. Probably the last book to be published will be the upcoming Manning Veterans' book - unless someone comes forward in the next generation to take over these projects after I'm gone. Will you help with the Veterans' history book project? If you are a Manning connected Veteran or are presently serving and do not submit your military connected pictures and infomation you probably won't be in this once-in-a-life-time Manning Veterans' history book. With a limited number of volunteers we can only do so much on our own but will try to get pictures of as many Veterans as we can. There are over 1000 Manning Veterans so we have a long ways to go before the book can be published.
Manning Veterans are slowly coming forward and below is another example. We hope to eventually get more pictures and information for Mike to put in the book but for now this is what I have to show to you.
One thing that many Veterans and people who are submitting information have not fully understood is that this next
Manning history book is specifically a Veterans' only book. It won't be like the Centennial or Quasqui history books were,
where there is a Veterans' section along with other community aspects. We are aiming for a 2-volume book (around 1090 total pages) which will really be unique!!!
This book will be ALL Veterans' information (and the post auxiliaries) - hence it
won't be a "Name, Rank, and Serial Number" only history but we want a complete history for each Veteran.
For instance - below is Louis Boell's picture and the information
that was published in the Veteran section of the 1982 Aspinwall Centennial history book. It has the basic
information but we are looking for more and I spoke to Louie by phone and he sent more pictures
and information - also for his brothers.
To see what Louis submitted click on the link underneath "Are you a Manning Veteran" shown below.
Note: we also want some family background such as parents and grandparents. All too often you will only see just the Veteran's name with their basic military information but without the family connections it will be difficult for future historians and genealogists to know for sure who this person belongs to.
Please e-mail me about your Veteran questions manningveterans@davidkusel.com
1 Manning citizen served in the War of 1812
60+ served in the Civil War
1 served in the Indian War
5 served in the Spanish American War
350+ served during WWI
600+ served during WWII
87+ served in the Korean war era
65+ (more names need to be found) served in the Vietnam era
55+ (many more names need to be found) served from 1975 to present
28 paid the ultimate price with their lives defending the U.S. Flag
We are starting the Manning Veterans' history book project
Don't wait until you see "Deadline" or it WILL be too late!!!
Click to read promos for the Veteran book
If you simply don't want those old family pictures you inherited please don't throw them - send them my way.
A lot of times I can recognize a face or location in those old pix.
One thing to keep in mind while you are looking for pictures - if they are glued in old scrap books please do NOT try to pull them out or cut them out. I can scan the whole page of the scrapbook and crop out the pictures you want to use in the book. If you attempt to forcibly remove the pictures you will probably damage them and when I scan them that damage will probably show up. This means I'll either have to use my graphics program to touch up the damage which can take a lot of time, or if they are badly damaged I just may not even take the time to scan them.