Milwaukee's 'German' papers would surely have reported on the similarities between the 1930s & 2026 ... and the treason.

 

Niemand zum Leid, Gerechtigkeit für Alle. (Harm to none. Justice for all.)

 

The USA failed miserably in allowing a religious minority to elect a weak and malicious bully to undermine Democracy at their direction. 

Will the next election years produce intelligent voting for the public good, or will it be ignorant voting for a minority of selfish, seditious, interests? Any sort of Secular Democratic Republic of the USA hangs in the balance. Was this was the quandary for US citizens in the 1920s?

This was published in Milwaukee's last daily German newspaper by The Inter-Racial Council ©.

Chain & caravan migration stories are a part of Milwaukee's Germanic history ... just as similar stories are today.

Mr. Peter Schmidt, together with his sister, Mrs. Dorothea Meuser, picked up his 86-year-old father from Germany, and went fishing here last night in his father's company. Twelve more members of the family from Germany will be arriving here in the next few days.

European immigration in 1874 ... they just waltzed right in?

Immigration. During the month of May, 2,661 immigrants arrived in Milwaukee, of whom 730 were Germans, 5 English, 5 Austrians, 6 French, 24 Danes, 6 Dutch, 100 Bohemians, 259 Norwegians, 2 Swedes and 27 Poles, settling in Wisconsin. 626 Germans, 30 English, 5 Austrians, 5 French, 98 Danes, 63 Bohemians, 536 Norwegians, 58 Swedes, 56 Poles, and 12 Hungarians, went to other states.

Milwaukee's German papers would have reported on ICE murders in July 2026 ...

 Milwaukee's German newspapers would have reported on the murders of immigrants Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero (Maine) and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo (Texas) by US christian nationalist troops. That would include 3rd victim Juan Jairo Coronilla Duran, frightened enough to run to his death, who had plans to return to his home.

The first 2 victims were misidentified as immigration targets by the murder squads. The stories follow the pattern of the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and no doubt, countless other deaths attributed to ICE.

No US government employees have been inconvenienced or detained.

Researching German family in Milwaukee? You'll have to create the resources yourself ...

Updated: I made a rare find in the German papers: an authentic, but unlikely obituary for a poor, old, insignificant German immigrant named Agnes Schumacher (née Hamacher). She died in the County Asylum in 1884, and is officially recorded as buried there ... but she's not!

Agnes' step-son, Peter Schumacher, my ancestor, claimed her remains, and had an obituary published for her in the Seebote. She was buried from St. Anthony Catholic Church, at Holy Trinity Cemetery, recorded in the parish register, but where? Burial records were destroyed in a fire in 1910.

In winter 2024, I flipped over a toppled marker at Holy Trinity Cemetery & experienced a thrill: here was my step-3rd-great-grandmother Agnes! She wasn't buried with her daughter's Esser family in Block 3 as I presumed, but in Section 1, which is single adult graves.

This month, Aug 2026, I stumbled across Agnes' grand-daughter's family plot in Block 3, marked in the 4 corners with the name N. Huwer, carved on the property markers, but no grave stones.

Sad to say, this is how we have to research Milwaukee's "working class" families: need a resource? You might have to create it yourself. I wouldn't have known anything about Agnes without randomly browsing the German papers. I created a huge index to help others.

I've done that twice for German Milwaukee: first with the German-American papers, now with lost burials at Dreifaltigkeits Friedhof.

Collecting secondary resources for 20 years, I've used that data as a substitute for records lost by this cemetery. Many were used to create Memorials at Find-a-Grave but I've been blocked from creating new memorials or editing my work because of including "historical information" in the bios of my entries. You can't make this up.

Joseph Schlitz' final farewell to Milwaukee! A poignant moment in the brewer's story.

Farewell. A heartfelt farewell to my friends and acquaintances whom I did not have the opportunity to see before my trip to Germany. Jos. Schlitz 

In spring 1875, Joseph Schlitz notified the Milwaukee community that he was traveling to Germany; he didn't know it would be his last trip. These paid announcements were an occasional practice by Milwaukeeans, and I've indexed them in my project.

His Lebewohl (literally, Live well!) is one of the more poignant items I've found, even more so than the tributes that followed from his, and other Milwaukeeans' loss during their return voyage, 7 May 1875.

[In May 2026 Pabst Brewery announced they will no longer be producing a 'Schlitz Beer'.]

The murders of Renee Good, Alex Pretti & Nurul Amin Shah Alam would have been reported in Milwaukee's German Newspapers ...

“That's fine dude, I'm not mad at you.”  Were the final words of Renee Nicole Good, mother of 3, before she was murdered, shot in the face, by a government employee of the USA.

Her murderer spoke a benediction over her body: "F...ing b^tch".

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  

“Are you okay?” were Alex's final words to a woman he was protecting who had been pushed down by government agents. He was then tear-gassed, shoved down, and then 10 bullets were pumped into him by the US government agent.

The 'rump Administration's ICE freaks were not harmed, injured, or inconvenienced, after murdering Renee Good & Alex Pretti.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

The intentionally negligent treatment of Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a Rohingya refugee, leading to his death would have been reported in Milwaukee's German newspapers. It's a story illustrating the takeover of the USA by repulsive christian nationalists, a repeat of the "Know Nothing" movement of the 19th c.

These papers were sensitive to the problems of ALL immigrants. I've debunked the WASP church-lady mythology that these papers focused on church communities and "obituaries".

Milwaukee's German newspapers were about local, national, and world NEWS. The HORRORS of the emigrant / immigrant experience are also told, missing from the old Milwaukee Journal & Sentinel.

A family's Memorial for Anna Heinl

 

 

 

Two death notices for Anna Heinl: one from a German language paper, it's reminiscent of Catholic funeral card Memorials. The other is from an English language 'daily', a helpful but perfunctory notice about funeral arrangements, and adequate for data collectors.

There was no separate obituary in either paper.

The information is similar, but not identical. One is clearly a family memorial to a loved one, published by the family.

Milwaukee's English or German language clippings? it's your choice.

Mrs. Catherine Dorothy Zach's death notice found in the Milwaukee Journal has been digitized into TOTAL illegibility, but legible on library microfilm. The notice provides information about the arrangements, but only makes limited mention of the family: her daughters are identified by their husbands' names.

The German language death notice is not only more comprehensive, but progressive too. It sets the scene for us: during her long illness she was provided with the Last Rights. It includes Mrs. Zach's maiden name (Golner); provides her daughters' given names separately from their husbands' names; names her daughter-in-law; and even references Mrs. Zach's siblings. It's a research and German-American cultural gem!

This is the family's paid death notice for Mrs. Zach; there was no separate obituary article written by the newspaper.

This difference between competing papers isn't always the case but it needs be understood by the family researcher looking through Milwaukee's German, English, or Polish language newspapers.

Mysterious bones found in 2024 explained by the "Milwaukee Herold" in April 1887 ...

"Where the Prospect and Maryland Avenues meet in Ward 1, a new school building under the direction of Contractor Danischefski is being built. It is not a flat surface, but a large, grassy place in which an infinite number of depressions can be seen; namely graves, which were once raised above the surface, but now have sunk down.
The site was used for more than twenty years as a burial ground, and funerals were held there in 1863. Twenty-five years ago, it was covered with gravestones and monuments.
Although a sanctified place, it was always neglected, as most of the bodies entrusted to the earth were those of "paupers"* and dying homeless, upon whom the tears of a loving mother had earlier fallen." [*The cemetery served the 2 orphanages across the street.]

Die Verlobung von Fräulein Nettie Lederer von hier ...

It's that time of year! Engagements and wedding announcements are just a small sample of what's found in Milwaukee's German-American press. A part of the genealogy community is obsessed with the social columns that might include engagement or wedding notices; yet they ignore wedding anniversary clippings (that requires more work!).

Spread between Milwaukee's multiple German language newspapers, reportage of nuptials is not as representative of the diverse German immigrant community as it is in smaller towns.

In 1893, while at art school in Philadelphia, Milwaukeean Nettie Lederer (daughter of Abraham and Dorett Lederer from Forchheim, Bavaria) was engaged to artist A. Stirling Calder. The couple married in 1895 in New York. Family or friends may have called in this news accounting for misspellings. Son Alexander Calder was the result of their marriage.

The art work one of at least one these now world famous Calders is found in a Milwaukee Art Museum collection, and around the world.

Hints of integration within Milwaukee's 19th c. German community ...

 

Miss Celia Kantorowitz and Mr. Samuel Shulskin were married at Tempel Beth Hamidrosh Hagodel on N. 5th Street, followed by a reception at the Deutschen Männervereins-Hall on N. 8th St. and W. State St.

Ein Ueberbleibsel aus Milwaukees Jugendzeit.

This folksy wood-craft summer house is a lost feature on the grounds of the Alexander Mitchell estate that fills the W. 900 block on Wisconsin Ave. The property became the Deutscher Club, then renamed the Wisconsin Club. This summer house photo is not found in any public collection that I've found, but you can see just a little bit of it in this 1870s illustration insert. The cruciform footprint of the structure is indicated on the Sanborn Fire Atlas map (1894). A windmill shows in the left hand side of the newspaper photo. There was a photo of the windmill in the mpl.org Digital Collection ... at least, until I brought these lost features up to them. But shortly after, the windmill photo was removed (?!?).

Keine Herren, keine Knechte - Gleiche Pflichten, gleiche Rechte! (Milwaukee, WI 1878)

No masters, no servants - same work, equal rights!

The concept of the "servant leader" was bandied around in the 1990s by an academic, and it continues to be talked about today.

https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/kwo/win05/departments/book3.htm

Socialisticher Maennerchor celebrated 50 years in 1926!

When Milwaukee's Socialists weren't busy cleaning up the corruption of previous decades (after the 1910 Mayoral election), they were celebrating their history ... dating back to 1876?
The article includes their full concert program and names additional choral and orchestral groups from near and far that participated in the event.

More politically enlightening history can be found by clicking here:

Milwaukee's history of Socialist Mayors

Mrs. A. Sweckle shares a postcard ... Das Brautpaar in Potsdam.

Mrs. A. Sweckle, 1216 24 St. shared her postcard of German royal newlyweds with the local newspaper. For that gesture, Louise, (Mrs. Albert Sweckle) gets an entry in the index of Milwaukee's German language newspapers.

The wedding of Prince Ernst August of Cumberland and Princess Victoria Luise, only daughter of the Kaiser, is remarkable as it "ended the decades-long rift between the Houses of Hohenzollern and Hanover. The wedding of Prince Ernest Augustus and Princess Victoria Louise was also the last great gathering of European sovereigns before the outbreak of the Great War.".

The complicated story of the long rift between the Houses of Hohenzollern and Hanover is told here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Augustus,_Duke_of_Brunswick

Der neue israelische Tempel an der 5 Strasse ... Temple Beth Hazodol

Important new buildings and construction projects were featured in Milwaukee's German papers in the 19th century just as they are today in the digital news media. The new Temple Beth Hamedrosch Hazodol was located on the east side of N. 5th Street alongside the alley between W. Vliet and W. Cherry Streets.
There were at least 4 Jewish congregations in the downtown area in the 19th century.

Oesterreich-Ungarischer Gesangvereins, 1915-1925

The Austrian-Hungarian Chorus celebrated 10 years: 1915-1925. Members' names are included with the photo: Aschenbrenner, Braunscheck, Brill, Butschli, Feisthamel, Fillinger, Fink, Firle, Franz, Glass, Grimm, Heim, Henedahl, Herrenbroth, Katzenmeier, Kipper, Kleinmaus, Knebl, Koch, Kraft, Lorenz, Lotze, Lunova, Melter, Mulitsch, Ness, Rittner, Ruppert, Schasler, Schillhansl, Schmidt, Stark, Steiner, Uhlein, Uttenthaler, Witushek, Ziliz, Zolk

Milwaukee's Bock Bier festivals; a lost tradition?

You don't hear about an annual Bock Beer season in Milwaukee, although one celebration has apparently taken place for 38 years on the last Saturday of April for ... 38 years! (I'm not a beer drinker, so've never followed the event.)
It used to be that every tavern in town placed advertisements in the local German papers for their brew in late winter and into early spring. This advertisement for Best's Bierhalle special goat-brew dates from the 1850s.

More information can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bock
https://shepherdexpress.com/events/bockbierfest-2018-38th-annual/