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Crossing the Ocean: German-American Friendships

Ever since they first set foot in the United States, Gitta and Joachim „Yogi“ Reppmann have been a living ­example of the furthering of German-American friendship. Cultural ­exchanges between Germany and the American Midwest (the „Heartland“), formerly an important destination for German emigrants, have been a major focus of their lives. Drawing on his experiences of four decades spent in two continents, Yogi Reppmann describes differences in mentality and offers his ­research on the legacy for America of the German democratic revolutionaries of 1848.

Dieter E. Wilhelmy, a journalist with the Flensburg Journal, discusses German-American relations with this historian, who spends equal lengths of time in Northfield, Minnesota and in Flensburg, Germany. They analyze typical German images of America, the „soul“ of the country, and what lies hidden behind these various notions.

Click the PDF below to download a copy of the book as a PDF.

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The question that confronts us today is the same as in 1931-32: Do our leaders have the capacity to reach beyond their grasp, to challenge us to seek the higher angels of nature, to choose "Be informed! Be informed!" rather than "Be afraid! Be afraid!" In the end, however, we know that world peace is too important to be left in the hands of our leaders. Peace starts in our own back yards when we speak our for understanding when their is disharmony, food security where there is hunger, health care where there is disease, education where there is illiteracy, conservation where there is environmental harm, sustainable development where there is poverty ... and when we write letters across border to build goodwill and better friendships. - William Tubbs (2019)

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