The Triumph of Will

“Six men from the crowd were then appointed to retrieve Henry to see if some arrangement might be made to do away with the printing of the paper. The appointees may not have been carrying a rope as they headed off to Henry’s house, but Henry’s daughter Norma had heard that a lynching was certainly an option in their minds. A friend of Henry’s, however, had already called to say that he ought to get over to the office.

If anyone was well acquainted with the stories of public humiliation, vandalism, and beatings of German-Americans, it was newspaperman Henry Finnern. Knowing full well the danger and explosiveness of the situation, Henry courageously and resolvedly chose to directly confront the mob.”

Henry Finnern had emigrated to America at the age of only thirteen, and despite a myriad of challenges and obstacles including the rampant anti-German hysteria of World War I, had become a noted newspaper editor, state politician, and civic and church leader.

Stuart Gorman was born in Minneapolis, MN, in 1978. He designs educational card and board games. Working with Joachim “Yogi” Reppmann, his former German professor, he helped write the tri-lingual book Low German: Platt in America, for which the authors received the Fritz Reuter and Johannes Gillhoff awards.

Joachim Reppmann was born in 1957 in Flensburg, State of Schleswig- Holstein, Germany. He has taught at both St. Olaf and Carleton College, Northfield,

Finnern Book Excerpts (PDF)

Full Book

ISBN 0-941947-09-2 Contact: To place a book order, contact Joachim (Yogi) Reppmann, 103 Orchard St. N. Northfield, MN, 55057 USA Tel: (507)-645-2584 yogireppmann@gmail.com $12.80