Friday, March 19, 2010, marked a major milestone for not only the German-American Community in our nation’s capitol, Washington D.C., but also for all German-Americans. We celebrated the opening of the German-American Cultural Center and the German American Heritage Museum of the USA at the newly renovated Hockemeyer Hall.
In the 1980’s DANK along with the The German-American Heritage Foundation of the USA and the Steuben Society of America formed an organization for the purpose of having a congressional and presidential proclamation for an annual German-American Day in the US. Under the German American Joint Action Committee (GAJAC) we were successful in having President Reagan sign the first proclamation in 1987 and lead us to celebrate German American day on October 6 in every year since.
The German-American Heritage Foundation of the USA spearheaded the purchase and renovation to make this museum possible. As an important part of the GAJAC alliance I and my wife Darlene represented DANK in this milestone event as special guests to the GA Heritage Foundation.
The opening ceremony with the ribbon cutting and the follow on Gala celebration for major donors was a wonderful opportunity to meet and mingle with important partners of the German-American Community not only from the East coast but also from the Midwest and the West Coast.
Official Ribbon Cutting with Bern Deichmann, Senator Lugar and German Ambassador Klaus Scharioth
I had some good conversations with Senator Richard Lugar, who was the keynote speaker for the opening ceremony, and Ruediger Lentz, past Washington Bureau Chief and Senior Diplomatic Correspondent for Deutsche Welle USA, and now the Executive Director of the Heritage Museum.
Senator Richard Lugar with Bern Deichmann on the left and Bill Fuchs on the right
More importantly I finally met personally with Randall Ratje, the National Chairman of the Steuben Society America and Bern Deichmann, President of the German American Heritage Foundation of the USA, my counterparts in the GAJAC Alliance.
Bern Deichmann, Lars Halter, Bill Fuchs and Randall Ratje on opening day
We committed to establishing a much closer working relationship not only for our three organizations but also to explore our role in providing a conduit to unite German- Americans in the United States and channel our energy for common causes. Lars Halter, a director of the Foundation and chairman of the Steuben Parade in New York and Ruediger Lentz are also very dedicated to this cause. I am planning to meet with Lars next month on one of my layovers in New York and confer with Randy Ratje and Bern Deichmann along with Mr. Lentz to explore how we can make not only this year’s German-American Day more relevant but also tie this celebration in with other events, such as this year’s 100 year anniversary of the dedication of the Von Steuben statue in Lafayette Park, just north of the White House.
Randall Ratje, Ruediger Lentz, Bayard Johnson (administrative assistant to the museum), Darlene and Bill Fuchs in the lobby of the museum
At the Gala dinner celebration we were delighted to be seated not only with Randy and Lars but also with Horst Stabenow, of the Chicago Schwaben Society and a US Rep to Schwaben International, and, to my surprise, with Petra Schuermann of German World magazine.
The personal contacts that Darlene and I made with these fine people and many others should prove to be very helpful for DANK’s involvement in our cooperation with other German-American organizations of the US. Because of that I feel that this trip to Washington will serve us well as a primer to a much closer relationship with many other German American societies.
One point that I would like to add is that from our visit we found that we have some very interested youthful allies that have the zest and energy to further German-American causes & education in this country.
I have been very busy with work since this event and finally got a chance to put a post on the blog with pictures, while on a layover in Amsterdam. Springtime is finally arriving here after a cold European winter and flowers are popping up everywhere. By the way, one of the most incredible flower shows in the world occurs every year in the Keukenhof gardens, just a few miles south-west of Amsterdam. It’s in full swing right now and I can see the entire splendor from the air since we fly over it on our departure from Amsterdam. Definitely worth the visit if you ever come to the Netherlands in the spring.
Tulips at Keukenhof
Best wishes,
Captain Bill
Find more like this: Captain Bill's Travels
Wonderful news! I cannot wait to travel to Washington DC to see this new museum! Thanks Bill and Darlene Fuchs!
What a wonderful opportunity for us to share, and it’s great to see DANK coming back to the forefront, where it belongs :0)
I am delighted to see a German*American museum in our capitol city , congratulations to all !!! Margit