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POSTILLIONDer Rundbrief des Saskatchewan German Councils.

Volume 27, Issue 2

Summer2012

SGC Member Organizations

American Historical Society of Germans From Russia, ReginaAustrian Canadian Edelweiss Club, Regina

Austrian Edelweiss Dance Association, ReginaCommunity Radio Society of Saskatoon Inc.Concordia Alpenrose Schuhplattler Verein

Concordia Brass BandDas Schulhaus - Regina German Language School Inc.

Department of Internation Language, U of REstevan & District German Freundschaft Society

Folkart Co-op HumboldtGerman Canadian Club Concordia, SaskatoonGerman Canadian Society Harmonie, Regina

German Heritage Society of Humboldt & District Inc. German Junior Folk Dancers, SaskatoonGerman Language School Saskatoon Inc.

German Language School of ReginaGerman Russian Cultural Group, LeaderGerman Students’ Association - U of S

Hansel & Gretel Preschool Inc.Imhoff Heritage Society, St. Walburg

Jagd- und Fischverein “Waidmann’s Lust”, ReginaKarnevalsgesellschaft Harmonie, Regina

Kochlöffel & Nudelholz: German-Canadian Koch- und BackstudioLloydminster German Heritage Society Inc. Melville & District German Heritage ClubMennonite Heritag Village, Swift Current

Parents Association of German Language Schools, SaskatoonPrince Albert German Canadian Club Waldhorn

Regina German Film ClubSaskatchewan Association of Teachers of German, Saskatoon

Saskatchewan German Culture Assistance Fund Inc.Saskatoon German DaysSKAT Club Saskatoon

Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, ReginaVillage of Edenwold

Volksliederchor Concordia, SaskatoonVolksliederchor Harmonie Inc., ReginaZichydorf Village Association, Regina

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2012-2013SGC Board of Directors

PresidentIlona BeckRouleau

Vice PresidentJosephin DickSaskatoon

Past PresidentAndrew GrzesinaRegina

TreasurerRay FichterRegina

SecretaryDarrell DickSaskatoon

DirectorsFranziska Davies, SaskatoonRod Gellner, ReginaUlrike Hecker, SaskatoonAmanda Stehwien, SaskatoonKatharina Ulbrich, EstevanMichael Zimmermann, Regina

ConsultantBarbara Hoggard-Lulay, Saskatoon

StaffSabine Doebel-Atchison, M.A., Executive DirectorAndrea MacLeod, M.A., Office & Program AssistantHannelies Kuehnle, Immigrant Settlement Advisor & Pension AdvisorVicky Maurus, Project Coordinator

COnTenTSAus dem Büro/From the Office 4Grüße von der Präsidentin 5Greetings from the President 6Treffpunkt Weekend in Lloydminster 7Pictures from the Treffpunkt Weekend 8Rolling Calendar of Events 9SGC’S 2012/2013 Board of Directors 10History of the Germans from Russia, part 9 11Orhan Yilmaz, Recipient of the Scholar-ship in Memory of Dr. Brian McKinstry 12SGC’s Involvement in the Bicentennial Commemoration of the War of 1812 13SGC’s Beteiligung an der Zweihundertjahr Gedenkfeier des Krieges von 1812 13SGC Recipe Corner Kaltsaure Nudeln - Cold-Sour Noodles 15How and What in Canada? 16Walter Biberdorf from Estevan Club receives SGC Special Volunteer Award 17News from SGC Member Groups 18 Austrian Canadian Edelweiss Club 18 Community Radio Station Saskatoon 18 Concordia Alpenrose Schuhplattler Verein 19 Das Schulhaus - Regina German Language School Inc. 19 Estevan & District German “Freundschaft” Society 20 German-Canadian Society Harmonie 21 German Cultural Centre 22 German Heritage Society of Humboldt & District. Inc. 23 German Junior Folk Dancers 23 German Language School of Regina 26 German Language School Saskatoon 27 Hansel & Gretel Preschool Inc. 27 Karnevalsgesellschaft Harmonie 28 Kochlöffel & Nudelholz: German- Canadian Koch- und Backstudio 29 Prince Albert German Canadian Club “Waldhorn” 30 Regina Austrian Edelweiss Dancer 30 Saskatoon German Days 31 SKAT Club Saskatoon 32 Volksliederchor Concordia 32 Volksliederchor Harmonie 33 Jugendseite 34 Kinderseite inside cover Saskatchewan German Council Inc. 510 Cynthia Street, Saskatoon, SK S7L 7K7 phone: (306) 975-0845 fax: (306) 242-8007 e-mail: office@saskgermancouncil.org webseite: www.saskgermancouncil.org

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From the Office Aus dem BüroSabine Doebel-Atchison Sabine Doebel-Atchison

The SGC office had a busy spring, with a new addition to our staff, as reported in the last issue, a spring board meeting, the fiscal year-end preparations with an audit and, of course, our Treffpunkt Weekend in Lloydmin-ster in the beginning of June.Just recently we hired, once again, a Cultural Develop-ment Assistant. Daniel Schwab joined our team for the summer. SGC is thankful for the funding it receives for the position from Service Canada. It enables us to hire a student every summer. Among other things, Daniel will catalogue books for our library, establish a digital archive and research opportunities for online language training and meetings.Even though we had more rain than usual over the last few weeks, many outdoor festivals and events are tak-ing place in our province and the German community is part of it. Mosaic in Regina, Folkfest and the Com-memorations for the War of 1812 in Saskatoon are only a few examples.I encourage everyone to take part in the summer events in our province, because, as we all know, winter will ar-rive faster than we expect. If you are looking for some interesting reading for the summer, please visit our li-brary. Have a great summer!

Scherenschnitt illustrations in this issue are taken from the originals by

Waltraude Stehwien, courtesy of the artist.

Repoduction without permission is strictly prohibited.

W. Stehwien

Im SGC Büro war im Frühling wieder sehr viel los. Wie bereits in der letzten Ausgabe berichtet, haben wir eine neue Kollegin, wir hatten eine Sitzung des Vorstandes, das Ende des Haushaltsjahres mit der Wirtschaftsprü-fung, und selbstverständlich auch unser Treffpunkt Wochenende in Lloydminster Anfang Juni.Kürzlich haben wir auch, nun bereits zum wiederholten Mal, einen Cultural Development Assistant eingestellt. Daniel Schwab ist unserem Team für den Sommer beigetreten. SGC ist dankbar für die finanzielle Unter-stützung, die wir für diese Position von Service Canada erhalten. Jedes Jahr haben wir dadurch die Möglichkeit einen Sommenstudenten einzustellen. Neben anderen Dingen wird sich Daniel um die Katalogisierung der Bibliotheksbücher und die Einrichtung eines digitalen Archives kümmern, sowie Möglichkeiten für online Sprachtraining und Sitzungen erarbeiten.Obwohl wir über die letzten Wochen viel Regen hatten, hat die Zeit der Freiluftveranstaltungen begonnen und die deutsche Gemeinde macht mit. Mosaic in Regina, Folkfest und die Gedenkfeierlichkeiten zum Krieg von 1812 in Saskatoon sind nur einige Beispiele.Ich ermutige Sie alle dazu, an den Veranstaltungen in diesem Sommer teilzunehmen, denn, wie wir alle wis-sen, wird der Winter schneller kommen als uns lieb ist. Wenn Sie nach einem interessanten Buch für den Som-mer suchen, dann schauen Sie doch einfach mal in un-serer Bibliothek vorbei. Ich wünschen Ihnen einen tollen Sommer!

Do you know someone who has been in Canada for 3 years or longer and would benefit from becoming more involved in the commu-nity? Or families who feel as though they would like to learn more about how to become con-nected to others in Saskatoon? Family service Saskatoon, in partnership with Family Resource programs Canada, is hoping to work with such individuals and families to find resources within the city to foster a stronger sense of belonging. For more information about this project, includ-ing how to volunteer with individuals and fami-lies, please contact Bernie Holzer at 244-0127.

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Grüße von der PräsidentinIlona Beck

Was fuer ein Wochenende! Nach wochenlanger Vorbereitung war es endlich soweit. Der Council und seine Mitgliedsgruppen feierten “Treffpunkt” in Lloydminster. Tre-ffpunkt bedeutet dass man sich an einem Punkt trifft. Das gilt wo-ertlich oder auch im uebertragenen Sinne. Ueber 80 Menschen aus 18 Mitgliedsgruppen der deutsche Ge-meinde von Saskatchewan hatten sich in Lloydminster getroffen, wo viele Beruehrungspunkte auf ein harmonisches Zusammenkommen wiesen. Gemeinsam mit Ehren-gaesten Frau Barabara Hoggard-Lulay und 2. Buergermeister Herr Ron Saunders aus Lloydminster genossen wir typisch deutsches Essen und deutsche Lieder, vor-getragen von Cis Nakonechny & Verna McFarlane. Fuer weiter Un-terhaltung sorgte die “Little Ger-man Band” aus Humboldt, die mit traditionellen Taenzen und auch Bavarianrock die Tanzflaeche bis tief in den Abend fuellte. Die Stim-mung war gut und jeder schien sich in der herzlichen Atmosphere wohl zu fuehlen. Die allgemeine Stimmung trug dazu bei, ungez-wungen Kontakt aufzunehmen und

sich gegenseitig auszutauschen. Man spuerte die positive Energie, die derartige Zusammenkommen ausloesen und die uns als deutsche Gruppe verbindet und weiterfuehrt. Unsere Sprache und die Absicht, deutsche Kultur und Traditionen zu erhalten und weiterzugeben, verbin-det uns alle als Voluntaere fuer die deutsche Kultur. Ich bedanke mich bei der Lloydminster German Heri-tage Society fuer die herzliche Auf-nahme und Gastfreundschaft.Der Council zeichnet jaehrlich ver-schiedene Mitglieder mit dem SGC Special Volunteer Award aus. Die gemeinnuetzige und freiwillige Arbeit so vieler Mitglieder tragen unsere Vereine und Gruppen. Her-zlichen Glueckwunsch den Preis-traegern Irmgard und Alex Telidetz-ki, Gordon McWilliam und Walter Biberdorf!SGC Generalversammlung fand am 10. Juni statt. 44 Deligierte aus 18 Mitgliedsgruppen waren vertreten. Als neue Direktorin wurde Kathari-na Ulbrich aus Estevan in den SGC Vorsitz gewaehlt, Ulrike Hecker und Amanda Stehwein wurden im Amt bestaetigt. Ich verabschiede mich von Les Lauter, der sich nicht mehr zur Wahl stellte. Verblieben am SGC Vorstand sind Ray Fichter, Andrew Grzesina, Josephin Dick, Darrel Dick, Franzis-ka Davies, Michael Zimmermann und Rod Gellner. Die allgemeine Mitgliedschaft hatte meine Posi-tion als Praesidentin fuer einen drit-ten Turnus bestaetigt. Ich bin gerne bereit die Praesidentschaft des SGC und damit auch die Verantwortung fuer weitere zwei Jahre zu ueberne-hmen.Zu Beginn meiner Praesidentschaft 2008 hatte ich eine Vision, die sich kaum geaendert hatte. Auf Altes und

Vertrautes bauen, aber gleichzeitig die Reichweite des Council auf neue Gebiete und Ebenen auszuweiten. Basierend auf dieser Grundlage soll sich der SGC zu einer Organisa-tion entwickeln, die zeitgerecht und relevant ist und alle Menschen in Saskatchewan anspricht. Wenn man auf die letzten vier Jahre zurueck-blickt, wird ersichtlich, dass sich der Council in vielen Bereichen weiterentwickelt hat: SGC hat seine Basis erweitert, Dienst-leistungen fuer die Mitgliedschaft verbessert, finanzielle Unterstuetzung erhoeht und neue Programme und Projekte entwickelt. Der Council ist mehr als eine wohltaetige Organisation: SGC ist ein Forum fuer Informa-tion, Programme und Projekte zur Foerderung der deutschen Kultur und Sprache. In den kommenden Jahren werden wir folgende Schw-erpunke legen: Wir werden zeit-gerechte Programme und Gruppen vermehrt integrieren. Weiterhin versuchen wir Sprachschulen und Bereiche zur Sprachvermittlung gezielt zu foerdern, denn Zugang zur Sprache oeffnet den Zugang zur deutschen Kultur und legt den Weg frei fuer juengere Generationen zur deutschen Gemeinde. Die Vernet-zung aller deutschen kulturellen Gruppen in Saskatchewan durch das SGC Buero ist ein Projekt, das uns alle in Saskatchewan verbinden soll. Weiterhin ist es wichtig, dass SGC sein neues Gesicht nicht nur inner-halb der deutschen Gemeinschaft in Saskatchewan zeigt, sondern sich in seiner Rolle innerhalb des multikul-turellen Potpourries bewusst wird. Der Council wird zum Foerderzen-trum fuer Sprache und Kultur, die sowohl traditionell Werte als auch den Zeitgeist reflektiert.

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Greetings from the PresidentIlona Beck

What an amazing weekend it has been! After weeks of preparation the Council and its member groups celebrated Treffpunkt in Lloymin-ster. Treffpunkt means “meeting place” and that’s what we did: we met. Over 80 people of 18 different member groups gathered on June 9 and 10th for the annual SGC Treff- punkt and AGM. With honored guests Mrs. Barbara Hoggard-Lulay and Deputy Major Rob Saunders we dined on delicious German food and listened to German songs and music provided by Cis Nakonechny & Verna McFarlane and the Little German Band. It turned out to be an amazing evening filled with laugh-ter, fun and dancing until late into the night where everybody felt the warm and welcoming atmosphere. Member delegates had the chance to mingle and to connect with each other in a most positive and relaxed way. The common spirit and the energy which radiated throughout the evening had been felt in many ways. It melts us together as Ger-man cultural community, who share the same language, culture and dedicate many volunteer hours to practice and further German cul-ture in Saskatchewan. Successful conventions such as Treffpunkt help us going as a cultural German com-munity. Thanks again to the Lloy-dminster German Heritage Society for the warm welcome and heartfelt hospitality. SGC presented three volunteers with the SGC special volunteer award: Irmgard and Alex Telidetz-ki, Gordon McWilliams and Walter Biberdorf. Congratulations again to those special volunteers who repre-sent this invisible force that keeps so many cultural organizations in

Saskatchewan alive and running. The Annual General Meeting was held on June 10th with 44 delegates attending. I am very pleased to pres-ent a renewed board of directors: I welcome newly elected Katharina Ulbrich from Estevan to the SGC board as new director and welcome back Ulrike Hecker and Amanda Stehwien for their second term. A fare well goes out to Les Lauter who decided to resign. Remaining directors are Ray Fichter, Andrew Grzesina, Josephin Dick, Darrel Dick, Franziska Davies, Michael Zimmermann and Rod Gellner. The general membership confirmed my position as president of the SGC. I am honored and privileged to take on the responsibility and role of president for a third term. In 2008, when I became President, I had a vision that has not changed: to build on the solid foundation of the Council but extend its reach to become a relevant and contempo-rary provincial organization for all people of Saskatchewan. During the last four years of my presidency SGC has moved forward in many ways: we built capacities, extend-ed services, increased funding and implemented new programs. SGC is more than a funding organization for its member groups. SGC became a forum for resources, information, education and projects. For the next two years my focus will continue to include more contemporary pro-grams and projects and attract new groups who focus on this area. We will work towards an increase of funding for language acquisition which is, in my opinion, the founda-tion and the key to rejuvenation and access to culture. Further, my idea is to network the entire German com-

munity in Saskatchewan to share re-sources, ideas and projects through the office of the SGC. At the same time SGC needs to present its image in a renewed way and become more visible, not only within the German community but also in all Saskatch-ewan to demonstrate that we play an important role within the multicul-tural picture of the province. SGC needs to be seen as a centre for Ger-man language, culture and traditions which reflects traditional values the same as Zeitgeist.

postillion@saskgermancouncil.org

POSTILLION

Fall 2012

DEADLINE:

21 September, 2012

articles

pictures

recipes

etc.

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German Cultural Tradition Books, Pins & Lanyards

Each books costs $10 or buy all four for $35.The set is already in its second edition and sells fast.

Don’t miss this opportunity.

Pins are $2.50 and lanyards are $3.50.

Shipping and handling start at $3.00, depending on location and weight.

2012 Treffpunkt Weekend in LloydminsterSabine Doebel-Atchison

This year’s Treffpunkt Weekend on June 9 and 10 took place in Lloyd-minster. The local German Heritage Society was host to Saskatchewan’s German community and did a won-derful job. They may be one of SGC’s smaller member groups, but their enthusiasm was remarkable and everyone felt very welcome. The weekend started off with some workshops and a tour of the local museum, which hosts paintings by Berthold Imhoff. Over Kaffee und Kuchen, Treffpunkt delegates had the opportunity to get to know each other or to catch up about all the interesting things that happened in their clubs and groups since the last Treffpunkt. As every year, the highlight was the Special Volunteer Awards Banquet. With just over 80 delegates and friends of SGC it was very well at-tended. The chef had prepared a de-licious dinner with Schnitzel, mush-room sauce, red cabbage, Spätzle, mashed potatoes and salad. For dessert everyone enjoyed a piece (or possibly two) of delicious Black Forest cake.This year’s volunteer award recipi-ents were Walter Biberdorf of the

Estevan and District German Heri-tage Society, Gordon McWilliams of the Austrian Canadian Edelweiss Club of Regina and Irmgard and Alex Telidezki of the Lloydmin-ster German Heritage Society. All award recipients were volunteers for their local clubs for many years and contributed to the preserva-tions and promotion of German and Austrian culture in Saskatchewan. Gordon McWilliams was unable to attend the banquet and will receive his award and gift basket at a later date. Katharina Ulbrich accepted the award on behalf of Walter Bib-erdorf. Present at the award cer-emony and accompanied by many family members, were Irmgard and Alex Telidezki, who were nomi-nated by the Lloydminster German Heritage Society. Congratulations to all award recipients. Alvin Knoll made a special pre-sentation on behalf of the German-Canadian Society Harmonie to Sas-katoon’s German Cultural Centre. Representing the Board of the Sas-katoon Club, Darrell Dick accepted a beautifully wood-carved scissor cut by Waltraude Stehwien. This piece of art will be a wonderful ad-

dition to the new club house in Sas-katoon.In past years the Council’s Board had noticed that members from the same group always sat together at the SGC banquet. To encourage more interaction, SGC President Ilona Beck decided to mix up the seating arrangements. All tables were mixed and most also included a Board member. This allowed for delegates to exchanges ideas, get to know each other and possibly even discuss future joint ventures. The idea was very well received and will likely be repeated next year.The Lloydminster club had ar-ranged for great entertainment by Cis Nakonechny and Verna McFar-lane, as well as Humboldt’s Little German Band, who played well into the evening. After a fun Saturday, it was back to business on Sunday morning with SGC’s Annual General Meeting. In total 18 member clubs were repre-sented at the meeting. Before everyone left for their home communities again, a delicious lunch was served. Thank you to the Lloydminster German Heritage So-ciety! Until next year!

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Pictures from the Treffpunkt Weekend Taken by Sabine Doebel-Atchison, Andreas Denz & Andrea MacLeod

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Rol

ling

Cal

enda

r of E

vent

sJuly

August

18-22: Bismark/North Dakota, Black Sea Germans convention

28: Concordia Brass Band will play in the Rostern Parade

Wed.: Skat at the German Cultural Centre in Saskatoon at 7 p.m.

Student Stammtisch at Amigos, starting at 7 p.m.

Fri.: Classical Connection on CFCR 90.5 FM from 1-2 p.m. with Sigrid Kirmse

Sun.: Treffpunkt Deutschland on CFCR 90.5 FM from 1 to 3 p.m.

Sunday Brunch, German Culrual Centre/Saskatoon, 1 a.m.-2 p.m. German Supper Buffet 5:30-9 p.m.

16-18: Saskatoon Folkfest - visit the German Pavillion

25: Concordia Brass Band will play at the Barn Play house, North of Saskatoon

Wed.: Skat at the German Cultural Centre in Saskatoon at 7 p.m.

Student Stammtisch at Amigos, starting at 7 p.m.

Fri.: Classical Panorama on CFCR 90.5 FM from 1-2 p.m. with Sigrid Kirmse

Sun.: Treffpunkt Deutschland on CFCR 90.5 FM from 1 to 3 p.m.

Sunday Brunch at the German Culrual Centre in Saskatoon from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and German Buffet from 5:30 to 9 p.m.

September

4: Kochlöffel & Nudelholz Cooking/ Baking Class11: Volksliederchor Harmonie choir practise starts again

24: Volksliederchor Concorida choir practise starts again

Mon.: The Classical Connection on CFCR 90.5 fm from 3 to 4 p.m. with Sigrid Kirmse

Wed.: Skat at the German Cultural Centre in Saskatoon at 7 p.m.

Student Stammtisch at Amigos, starting at 7 p.m.

Fri.: Classical Panorama on CFCR 90.5 fm from 1 to 2 p.m. with Sigrid Kirmse

Chef’s Special at the German Cultural Centre from 5:30 to 9 p.m.

Sun.: Treffpunkt Deutschland on CFCR 90.5 fm from 1 to 3 p.m.

Sunday Brunch at the German Culrual Centre in Saskatoon from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and German Buffet from 5:30 to 9 p.m.

Please refer to the SGC Events Calendar at www.saskgermancouncil.org for more events.

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At the SGC’s 2012 Annual General Meeting on June 10 in Lloydminster Ilona Beck was acclaimed Presi-dent for a third term. SGC Treasurer Ray Fichter was also acclaimed for a further term to his position. Board member Les Lautner had decided not to let his name stand for another term. The Council is thankful for the service that Les has provided to the Board and the Council over the past four years. Katharina Ulbrich of the Estevan and District Heritage Society was newly elected to the Board by the SGC membership. Directors Ulrike Hecker and Amanda Stehwien, who both previ-ously served a one-year term on the SGC Board, were elected for a two-year term.

The SGC Board now consists of the following individuals: Ilona Beck, President Andrew Grzesina, Past President Josephin Dick, Vice President Ray Fichter, Treasurer Darrell Dick, Secretary Directors: Franziska Davies Rod Gellner Ulrike Hecker Amanda Stehwien Katharina Ulbrich Dr. Michael Zimmermann

SGC’s 2012/2013 Board of DirectorsSabine Doebel-Atchison

Back row, from left to right:Andrew Grzesina, Darrell Dick, Franziska Davies, Ulrike Hecker, Josephin Dick

Front row, from left to right:Barbara Hoggard-Lulay, Katharina Ulbrich, Ilona Beck, Amanada Stehwien.

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History of the Germans from Russia, part 9Alvin Knoll

In the last issue I touched on the Hauses Gebrüder Schmidt. This family had established themselves in the grain and flour markets. To-wards the late 1800’s, they had grown so large that they had ware-houses in many Russian cities and were well known as far west as Finland. The farmers had not only learned how to grow their prod-uct but they had also learned how to market it and the fact that it was more profitable to market their grains in the form of a refined flour than the actual grain. The by-prod-uct, bran, remained at home with the farmers and was used as animal fodder. Although they mainly trad-ed in grains, they also were a major manufacturer and distributor of sar-pinka, a special gingham cloth. By the end of the century the Schmidt enterprise had grown so large that it now operated cotton plantations in Central Asia. It would seem that the floodgates had been opened and the settlers now found markets for their crops and crafts. Although they did not invent grist-mills they improved on them and they adapted the Holland type wind-mill for their needs – I imagine it would seem odd to see a windmill on the Steppes, but they were quite common. Each colony had one or more mills and these varied from the windmill style to the conventional stream powered mills. They also built and exported Fanning Mills another important part of the grain harvesting sector. One of their major accomplishments was the manufac-ture of wagons. The German settlers had introduced wheels with metal lined hubs riding on iron sleeved axles. Their superior workmanship and quality made them a desired

item and they were shipped to cus-tomers from the Ural Mountains to Moscow. The lumber industry was also expanding. The firm Seelman Schilling and Laube found no lum-ber on the lower Volga but were able to establish themselves in the north. They floated trees down the Volga to their river port sawmills. The lumber business was alive and providing the much needed lumber to the expanding colonists. It must also be mentioned that it was not all big business. On a small-er scale, but just as important, was the family home. Each colonist’s home had either a spinning wheel or a loom. The wool gathered from the sheep was spun into yarn and the flax and hemp were spun into a linen type material. Each home was self-reliant in this matter. Also of mention must be the large flocks of geese that each settler owned. A housewife’s affluence and sta-tus were enhanced by the number of fluffy goose feather pillows dis-played or by the number of feather ticks she owned! Now, as the settlers were becoming wealthier and as the families grew larger, more land came under culti-vation and this created an unforeseen problem, how to heat their homes. The wood lots, what there were of them, were disappearing. The vil-lages that had access to wooded lots decided that some trees must be retained for the carriage and sleigh makers, the wheelwrights and the cabinetmakers. What to do? Well a settler by the name of Risch from the village of Messer came up with an idea – an idea that worked and spread throughout the entire Volga area and down to the tree strapped Black Sea Colonies. His solution

was Mistholz or manure wood. Ev-ery settler had an abundance in his or her own yards. This Mistholz was collected in the spring, dried and cut into small bricks. The Mistholz bricks were stacked like firewood and put into use during the winter months. They were odorless, slow burning and gave off tremendous heat, exactly what the settlers need-ed and they were used extensively in their cook stoves and heating stoves. These bricks were used into the twentieth century right up to the Bolshevik revolution. Unfortunate-ly, storm clouds were on the hori-zon and it would seem that the good times of the 19th Century were coming to an end. The Revolution would create many problems; even the lowly Mistholz would be affect-ed. More of this in a future article. Till next time,Alvin

Office of the Honorary Consul of Germany for

Saskatchewan

Barbara Hoggard-Lulay

823 Brookhurst BaySaskatoon, SK S7V 1G1Phone: (306) 979-4911

Fax: (306) 979-4912E-mail: hksask@shaw.ca

Office hours:Tuesdays & Thursdays

10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

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Orhan Yilmaz, Recipient of 2012 Saskatchewan German Council Scholarship in Memory of Dr. Brian McKinstryOrhan Yilmaz

As an undergraduate student at the University of Saskatchewan, I am pursuing a Bachelor of Science de-gree in Physiology and Pharmacol-ogy with a minor in German. I am excited and grateful to be this year’s recipient of Saskatchewan German Council Scholarship in Memory of Dr. Brian McKinstry.

At the age of 8, in 2002, I ranked 23rd among approximately 2000 candidates in the entrance exam and entered Darussafaka Primary School in Istanbul (a public school in Turkey that was established by Sultan Abdulaziz, an Ottoman Sul-tan, in 1873). Each admitted student directly receives a scholarship that covers full room and board, which is approximately $10,000 per year. After receiving the scholarship, I went to Istanbul, the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe that has almost 15 million residents. I lived in Istanbul by myself in a dormitory for 5 years away from my family.

As part of my elementary school curriculum in Istanbul, I was re-quired to take German courses (one hour every week). I was exposed to the German language; however ev-ery other subject was taught in Turk-ish. The instruction of the German classes was solely based on memo-rization. During my high school grades 9-11 in Eskisehir, Turkey, the majority of my courses were science-based. During those three years, I did not have a chance to practice my skills in German. When I came to Canada in 2010 to finish the last year of high school in On-tario, the only language I was learn-

ing and using was English. I began to quickly forget not only German, but also my native language, Turk-ish.

In 2009, I was elected as the First President of the Comenius Group in my high school in Eskisehir, Turkey and had the opportunity to travel to Lithuania and Latvia with the Comenius Project “Otium? Ne-gotium? Faulenzen oder Handeln? Schüleralltag in Europa erfolgreich meistern!” on government duty. The official language of the project was German. (Comenius is a European Union project which promotes the intercultural education initiatives and encourages the language learn-ing by establishing the cultural dia-logue). My duties were to coordi-nate the Comenius group, provide assistance to co-workers, and to accomplish all the tasks in relation to the project, which consisted of seven high schools from six Euro-pean countries.

When I came to the university in Saskatchewan I decided to take German courses to thoroughly learn the language. I noted how well-structured the curriculum for Ger-man courses at the University of Saskatchewan were in comparison to my experience in the elementary school. I have always been interest-ed in learning German, but the actu-al reason why I am learning the lan-guage is because of my future goals. I want to become a successful phy-sician in the future. I am currently pursuing a major in Physiology and Pharmacology, a minor in German and taking prerequisite courses at

the University of Saskatchewan in order to apply for the medical school in Saskatchewan. However, I am aware of the outstanding qual-ity of medicine education and health care system in Germany. In the near future, I am planning to apply for some medical schools in Germany (e.g. Universitätsmedizin Berlin). All of the medical programs in Ger-many are only offered in German, and foreign students are required to provide proof of proficiency in Ger-man. I am aware that I will need to take more courses to become more proficient in the language. Thus I am planning to take more German courses at the University of Sas-katchewan. This scholarship has en-hanced my enthusiasm towards the German language and culture, and will help me to cover the costs as-sociated with the tuition and course materials. I believe that the fund will provide opportunities for my future in the study of German and other subjects.

Orhan at the Trakai Island Castle, Trakai, Lithuania.

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SGC’s Involvement in the Bicentennial Commemoration of the War of 1812Viktoria Maurus

The Saskatchewan German Council Inc. participated at the War of 1812 Commemoration led by the White-cap Dakota First Nation in Saska-toon on Sunday June 17, 2012.

The War of 1812 is an important milestone of Canada’s Confedera-tion.Our historical research showed that the very first beginnings were in Europe, in 1793 when Great Britain was forced into a war with revo-lutionary France. The Napoleonic Wars also played a key role in the independence of the American col-onies from their European mother-lands, especially after the Battle of Trafalgar (1805) when the British Royal Navy dominated the seas and enforced a blockade of Europe. On June 18, 1812 U.S President J. Madison declared war against the British and the battle lasted until the ratification of the Treaty of Ghent (1814-1815).First Nations members of the Saul-teaux, Odawa, Potawatomi, Algon-quins, Sauk, Fox, Hochunk, Hurons and Dakota fought on the British side.

In addition Metis, Francophone and foreign troops on “contract”, like the De Meuron’s Swiss Regiment (formed 1781) and the De Wat-teville’s Swiss Regiment (formed 1801), were sent to North America in October 1813 to service for the British army. The Swiss regiments included also Germans, Italians, Dutch, Belgians, Greeks, French, Polish, Hungarians and Russians. In 1816, their contract expired and the regiments were disbanded. The sol-diers were given either land grants in Canada or transportation back to Europe. Many veterans from both regiments settled in Canada after the war.

The Commemoration event moved from River Landing to the Nutana School Gym due to continues rain, and the program as able to go ahead as planned. After the Opening Cere-monies with an opening prayer, flag ceremony and a moment of silence, representatives from the federal and provincial government, from the city of Saskatoon, and from the Whitecap Dakota First Nation held their speeches.

Most of the event focused on ab-original accomplishments but also other participating nationalities commemorated their contributions with cultural performances. The SGC Executive Director Sabine Doebel-Atchison brought greetings from the SGC President Ms. Ilona Beck and the German Junior Folk Dancers performed a variety of their dances. The SGC assembled a cultural display to promote its ser-vice and member groups activities. Volunteers looked after the informa-tion booth and visitors to the booth could take part in a SGC quiz to win book prizes. Sabine Doebel-Atchison had the honour to welcome the Consul Gen-eral of the Federal Republic of Ger-many in Vancouver Mr. Hermann Sitz with his wife and the Honorary Consul of Germany for Saskatch-ewan Ms. Barbara Hoggard-Lulay at the SGC booth.The event ended with music per-formance from the Saskatoon Sym-phony Orchestra and fireworks.

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SGC’s Beteiligung an der Zweihundertjahr-Gedenkfeier des Krieges von 1812Viktoria Maurus

Am Sonntag den 17. Juni 2012 nahm das Saskatchewan German Council Inc. an der Gedenkverans-taltung zum Krieg von 1812 teil. Die Gedächtnisfeier wurde von den Whitecap Dakota First Nations durchgeführt.

Der Krieg von 1812 ist ein wich-tiger Meilenstein zum kanadischen Bündnis.Unsere geschichtlichen Nachforsc-hungen zeigten, dass die Anfänge der kriegerischen Auseinanderset-zung in Europa lagen. Im Jahr 1793 wurde England in einen Krieg mit dem revolutionären Frankreich gezwungen. Die Napoleonischen Kriege spielten eine Schlüsselrolle zur Unabhängigkeit der Kolonien in Amerika von deren europäischen Mutterländer, insbesondere nach der Schlacht von Trafalgar (1805) als die Britischen Seestreitkräfte die Meere beherrschten und Europa eine Seeblockade auferlegten.Am 18. Juni 1812 erklärte der da-malige U.S. Präsident J. Madison Krieg gegen die Briten und die Au-seinandersetzung dauerte bis zur Ratifizierung des Ghenter Vertrages (1814-1815).Auf der britischen Seite kämpften Indianer verschiedener Stam-

meszugehörigkeit wie zum Beispiel der Saulteaux, Odawa, Potawatomi, Al-gonquins, Sauk, Fox, Hochunk, Hu-rons and Dakotas.Zusätzlich waren Metis, Franko-phone und ausländische Truppen wie das De Meuron’s Swiss Regi-ment (gegründet 1781) und das De Watteville’s Swiss Regiment (gegründet 1801) unter Vertrag um die Britische Armee zu unterstüt-zen. Den Schweizer Regimentern gehörten auch Deutsche, Italiener, Holländer, Belgier, Griechen, Fran-zosen, Polen, Ungarn und Russen an. Im Jahre 1816 endeten die Ver-träge und die Regimente wurden entlassen. Die Soldaten konnten wählen zwischen einer Landschen-kung in Kanada oder Rückführung nach Europa. Viele Veteranen beider Regimenter ließen sich in Kanada nieder.Die Feierlichkeiten wurden wegen Dauerregens von den River Land-ings in die Nutana Schulturnhalle verlegt, trotzdem konnte der Pro-grammablauf weitgehend einge-halten werden. Nach dem Eröff-nungsakt mit einem Gebet, eine Flaggenzeremonie und einer Sch-weigeminute hielten dann die Ver-treter von Regierung, Provinz, Stadt

und den Whitecap Dakota First Na-tions ihre Grußworte und Reden.Die Festlichkeit richtete sich ver-stärkt auf die Leistungen der Ein-heimischen aber auch andere Teil-nehmer unterschiedlicher Herkunft leisteten ihren Beitrag mit einem kulturellem Auftritt zu dieser Gedenkfeier. SGC Executive Direc-tor Sabine Doebel-Atchison über-brachte Grußworte von der SGC Präsidentin Frau Ilona Beck und die German Junior Folk Dancers füh-rten verschiedene Tänze aus ihrem Repertoire auf. Mit einer kleinen Ausstellung warb das SGC für seine Dienste und informierte über Ak-tivitäten seiner Mitgliedsgruppen. Freiwillige Helfer betreuten den In-formationsstand und Besucher des Standes konnten eine Quiz ausfül-len um Buchpreise zu gewinnen.Sabine Doebel-Atchison hatte die Ehre den Deutschen Generalkonsul in Vancouver Herrn Hermann Sitz mit seiner Gattin und die Deutsche Honorarkonsulin für Saskatchewan Frau Barbara Hoggard-Lulay am SGC Informationsstand begrüßen zu dürfen.Die Feierlichkeiten gingen mit ein-er Musikdarbietung des Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra und einem Feuerwerk zu Ende.

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SGC Recipe Corner

Kaltsaure nudeln - Cold-Sour noodlesVicky Maurus

With the help of the Kochlöffel & Nudelholz Club, located in Saska-toon, we bring new, fresh, German, Swiss and Austrian recipes to you. This year we will focus and various salads.

Eine kulinarische Kindheitserin-nerung sind die Kaltsaure Nudeln die es an heißen Sommertagen zum Mittagessen gegeben hat. Meine Mutter hat die Nudeln immer selber gemacht aber man kann auch fertige Nudeln dazu verwenden.

Zutaten Teig:

- 200g Mehl- 1 Ei- etwas Salz- 1 EL Wasser

Zubereitung:

Aus Mehl, Ei, Salz und Wasser ein-en Nudelteig bereiten. Dann dünn ausrollen und den Teig in Streifen (8 – 10 cm lang und ca. 3mm breit) schneiden. Wenn Sie eine Nudel-maschine haben, dann benutzen sie diese um den Teig gleichmäßig aus-zurollen. Wahlweise kann man auch gekaufte Nudeln nehmen. Die selbstgemachten Nudeln werden im Salzwasser für ca. 10 – 15 Minuten gekocht, fertige Nudeln nach Packungsangabe zubereiten. Unter kaltem Wasser abspühlen.

Zutaten Marinade:

- würziger Weinessig - etwas Öl- Salz und Pfeffer- Schnittlauch

The last edition of the Postillion had a Swiss Sausage Salad printed for you. We hope you enjoyed it. We will continue with a Cold-Sour Noodle Salad, for those hot days during the summer.

If you would like to submit a reci-pe for the Postillion or SGC web-site, please send an email with the recipe and picture (if possible) to office@saskgermancouncil.org.

Zubereitung:

Essig, Öl, Salz und Peffer mischen und etwas ziehen lassen. Dann die kalten Nudeln hinzu geben, gut ver-mischen und mit Schnittlauch be-streuen.

A culinary memory from my child-hood is the Cold Sour Noodles Dish we had on hot summer days. My mother always made it with home-made noodles but you can also use purchased pasta products.

Ingredients dough:

- 200 gram flour- little bit salt- 1 egg- 1 tablespoon water

Preparation:

Prepare a pasta dough, roll it out and cut it in stripes (8 – 10 cm long and 3mm width). If you have a pas-ta machine, use it to make an even rolled out dough. You can also use store bought pasta. Cook the homemade pasta in salt-water for about 10 – 15 minutes. Prepare store bought pasta accord-ing to package instructions. Strain under cold water.

Ingredients marinade:

- aromatic vinegar- oil- salt and pepper- chopped chives

Preparation:

Mix vinegar, oil, salt and pepper and let it sit for a bit. Then add the cold noodles and combine well and sprinkle with chopped chives.

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Advertise in the Postillion

full page (18.8 x 24.8 cm)$130

1/2 page horiz. (18.8 x 12.4 cm)$ 90

1 column (6- 24.8 cm)$ 70

1/2 column (6 x 12.4 cm)$ 40

1/4 column (6 x 6.2 cm)$ 20

SGC member receive a 15% discount.

postillion@saskgermancouncil.org(306) 975-0845

How and What in Canada?Hannelies Kuehnle

Permanent Resident Card direct-mail-out project

Citizenship and Immigration (CIC) is launching the following pilot project that will be evaluated after one year:Since April 30th, 2012 most of the permanent residents who apply for Permanent Resident Cards will re-ceive the cards by mail. In former times applicants had to visit a CIC office. Only a select number of PR Cards will still need to be picked up at local CIC offices. Newly landed permanent residents will get their PR Cards by mail automatically so that they don’t need to apply for PR Cards any longer.Permanent Resident Cards still have to be renewed every 5 years.

Source: www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/notices/notice-prcard-mail.asp

SIn cards are going to be a thing of the past

Starting in 2014 individuals still will get a Social Insurance Num-ber but they won’t be getting a card anymore. This procedure will save the federal government a large amount of money annually because the production of the SIN Cards is very expensive.Hint: Individuals shouldn’t have their SIN Cards with them. There is a significant risk of the card being lost or stolen. A SIN Card should always be kept private; otherwise it could be a source of identity theft or fraud.

Source: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s in-cards-headed-scrap-heap-211605868.html

Visa Office Closures

As of June 1st, 2012 a total of 19 Citizenship and Immigration Can-ada (CIC) local offices are closed Furthermore front counter services will disappear at the remaining open offices. In Saskatchewan the CIC office in Regina has been closed. New applications in regards of PR Cards, Investigation Referrals, CPC-V Referral Files and Citizen-ship Files will be transferred to the CIC office in Saskatoon.To receive services from the remain-ing open offices individuals have to book appointments. Individuals can also access CIC services by contact-ing CIC’s call center (1-888-242-2100) or through the CIC website (www.cic.gc.ca).

Source: www.canadavisa.com/news/entry/additional-visa-office

Minimum language requirements for immigrants under the Provin-cial nominee Program

“As of July 1st, 2012 most Provin-cial Nominee Program (PNP) appli-cants for semi-and low-skilled occu-pations that fall under the National Occupational Classification (NOC) Skill Levels C and D will have to undergo mandatory language test-ing and achieve a minimum stan-dard of Canadian Language Bench-mark (CLB) 4 in English or Niveaux de competence linguistique ca-nadiens (NCLC) level 4 in French across all four categories (listening, speaking, reading and writing).”

Source: www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/background-ers/2012

For further information please get in contact with the Immigrant Settle-ment Advisor Hannelies Kuehnle by phone: (306) 974-1087 or by e-mail: i m m i g r a t i o n @ s a s k -g e r m a n c o u n c i l . o r g

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Walter Biberdorf from Estevan Club received SGC Special Volunteer AwardKatharina Ulbrich

Past President and long time mem-ber of the Estevan & Distract Ger-man “Freundschaft” Society Walter Biberdorf of Frobisher was present-ed with the Saskatchewan German Council Special Volunteer Award honouring his giving spirit, talents, gifts and his readiness to help out whenever needed. The Award was handed out at the Special Volunteer Awards Banquet during the annual Treffpunkt week-end in Lloydminster on June 9, 2012. Since it was not possible for Walter to travel across the Province to receive the Award in person the President of the Club, Katharina Ul-brich, accepted the Award on his be-half. On June 21, 2012 the Estevan German Club held their last meet-ing before the summer break and at presence of most of the members of the Club the Award and gift basket was presented to Walter Biberdorf.Walter has served the Estevan Ger-

man Club for over 19 years, holding various executive positions includ-ing presidency from 2008 to 2012. As current Past President and Coir Conductor he is still actively in-volved in the Club’s activities.Known as a very generous and warm hearted person Walter continuously shares his gifts and talent with oth-ers. He not only dedicates his time and knowledge to the German Club he also is active in his community as well as the St. John’s Luther-an Church of Frobisher. With the words of Reverend Schultz: “Walter exemplifies the qualities of an out-standing and devoted volunteer who possesses personal integrity and the respect of all his peers”. For many years Walter and his family served as missionary and humanitarian aid workers in Papa New Guinea.The SGC Special Volunteer Awards have been presented to outstand-ing volunteers in Saskatchewan’s

German-Canadian community since 2000. The Estevan German Club proudly celebrates another club member to be recognized for his dedication and great volunteer work.

Walter Biberdorf with the SGC basket.

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News from SGC Member Groups

The Austrian Canadian Edelweiss Club in Regina was one of 19 pavil-ions that took part in Mosaic 2012. This year marked the 45th year that Regina Multicultural Council has been involved in Mosaic. The Austrian Club has been a part of this event for the past 34 years as we proudly showcase our Austrian heritage. Visitors to the Austrian pa-vilion had the opportunity to taste Wiener Schnitzel, Bratwurst, potato salad, homemade applestrudel and cream puffs while being entertained. The Austrian Club was alive with the sounds of music. The Alpine Express Band from Brandon, Mani-toba played traditional Austrian tunes and Adi from Kimberley, Brit-ish Columbia welcomed all with his yodeling, accordion playing and his famous cow bells. A new dis-play was created to showcase the four famous Austrian composers:

Mozart, Haydn, Strauss and Schubert. The Austrian Edelweiss Dancers lead the entertainment by perform-ing traditional folk dances as well as schuhplattering. Our youngest danc-ers, starting at the age of five, stole the show looking adorable in their custom clothing. The intermediate dancers performed nightly bringing their dance skills to the stage. Our very talented senior dance group had the crowds’ attention as they performed specialty Schuhplattler dances and dance selections that re-quired audience participation. It is evident that those attending our pavilion enjoy our entertainment and displays as we had an increase in attendance and in revenue this year. As well as a wonderful oppor-tunity to share our culture with oth-ers, Mosaic is also a very success-ful fundraiser for the Austrian Club.

Thanks to our dedicated volunteers, people from Regina and area had the opportunity to be immersed in Austrian traditions while attending our pavilion.

Regina Austrian Canadian Edelweiss Club participates in RMC 45th MosaicJanet Jost

Community Radio Station Saskatoon

CFCR ReportSigird Kirmse

Community Radio Saskatoon, bet-ter known under its call letters CFCR, is very much involved in community events. Besides broad-casting programs, which are loved by young and old, the more than 100 volunteers take pride to take part in festivals, which are sponsored by the radio station. There was the Jazz Festival in late June and the Ness Creek Festival July 19th to 22nd.

For the second time the station sponsors the Sled-Island Festival in Calgary. Four Bands from Saska-toon will take part in this event.The annual FM-PHASIS will be held from September 15th -28th. All hosts have to ask their listeners for pledges. The money will be used for the continuation of the programs and the upgrading of the equipment. Membership to CFCR is important

und also rewarding. As a member you are eligible to win prizes and to get a discount at selected businesses in Saskatoon. The German program is one of about 17 ethnic programs which are aired every Saturday and Sunday. Add three classical programs, old-timers and lots of music for the young lis-teners and those young at heart and you have alternative programming.

Austrian Canadian Edelweiss Club

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The German program Treffpunkt Deutschland can be heard every Sunday from 1-3 p.m. Hosts Sig-rid Kirmse, who has taken some time off, Andrea MacLeod with music for the younger generation, and Helge Struthers, our helper in need, are busy in finding something good and interesting for their listen-

We recently celebrated our 30th an-niversary at the 6th Western Cana-dian Schuhplattlers Workshop and Dance held at the German Cultural Centre in Saskatoon. Many of our club members, as well as our friends from the Calgary, Edmonton and Regina dance groups attended the event. It was wonderful to see all of the different costumes and to have each group perform. The highlight of the night was when the dancers from each group performed a Grup-penplattler together. Everybody had a great time. We have entered three teams of dancers in our club golf tournament on July 29th. We look forward to a day of fun in the sun and a great steak supper, following the day’s activities.

news from the VereinAmanda Marien

Our outdoor stage is due for an up-grade and we are pleased that our club has agreed to take this project on before Folkfest. The dancers will be doing the majority of the work, along with other club members who are willing to help out.We are looking forward to two wed-dings and a fiftieth birthday cel-ebration in our dance group over the next few months. Congratulations to Joan and Bryan on their upcom-ing nuptials. If you or someone you know is in-terested in learning how to German dance please contact us. We prac-tice weekly at the GCC, there are no fees and no experience is necessary. Call Amanda for further details: 249-0108

ers. For the Austrian listeners, Ein Gruss aus Wien is broadcast during the last Sunday of the month at 2 p.m. Right now we are looking for a person who would take over Sig-rid’s program for some time. CD’s and cassettes are available.Community Radio is broadcast on the FM 90.5 scale. It can also be

received via the internet at www.cfcr.ca and on the TV ra-dio channel. The address is 267-3rd Ave. South, Saskatoon, phone 306-664-6678. Community Radio thanks the Sas-katchewan German Council for its ongoing financial support.

Der Sommer ist inzwischen da und die Sommerferien stehen vor der Türe. Da finden die letzten Klas-sen statt, Zeugnisse werden verteilt und Pläne für das neue Schuljahr geschmiedet, der Grill wird ange-feuert und man kann sich in guter Gesellschaft entspannen und das

Was gibt es neues im Schulhaus?Sabine Zagoricnik-Wecker/Linda Froh

Schuljahr beschliessen.Was also hat sich in den letzten Monaten im Schulhaus ereignet?

Summer has come and summer holidays are around the corner. The last few classes have finished, report cards are being handed out,

and plans for the new school year are being forged. The BBQ/grill will be lit and we will find ourselves relaxing among good company to celebrate the end of the school year.So, what happend over the last months at the Schulhaus?

Concordia Alpenrose Schuhplattler Verein

Das Schulhaus - Regina German Language School Inc.

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We gathered at the Estevan Art Gal-lery & Museum, where we boarded the “Rent-a-Van” and shortly after 11 AM we, with Katharina at the wheel, struck out for Regina. Hav-ing dinner at the Weyburn Tim Hor-ton’s and a short break, we contin-ued on to Regina.

ant outing to the Volksliederchor Harmonie in Regina for their spring concert. Those accompanying Kath-arina were: Ewald & Phylllis Arndt, Otto & Christiane Michaelsen, Mike & Ruth Bartolf, Isabel Baril and Ann Welch, Mary Martin and Doreen Dirks.

On Sunday May 6, 2012, 11 mem-bers of the Estevan & District Ger-man “Freundschaft” Society took an enjoyable trip to Regina. Under the leadership of our Presi-dent and driver Katharina Ulbrich, members of the Estevan German Club and friends enjoyed a pleas-

Estevan German Club Trip to ReginaMichael Bartolf

Spring came and we welcomed Eas-ter. Traditions around Easter came alive in the classroom. The Play and Learn Circle (Spiel- und Lernkreis) decorated an Easter Table including Osterstrauch, Ostereier, Ostern-ester, Osterfladen and participated in an Easter egg hunt.The Spiel- und Lernkreis / Play and Learn Circle, together with the teen beginner class, enjoyed some Easter crafts.Before the Easter holidays Das Schulhaus offered our more ad-vanced students as well as other German students from Regina the opportunity to participate in SATG’s Sprachwettbewerb (language com-petition).The advanced teenage class also finished the German Language Di-ploma A2 (Deutsches Sprachdip-lom) in April! All 4 students passed! Herzlichen Glückwunsch!Thanks go to the teacher, Travis Ziegler, who did an excellent job preparing them!At the beginning of May, Das Schul-haus drove two students, invited as

finalists to the second round (speak-ing and listening comprehension) of the SATG’s Sprachwettbewerb, to the Aden Bowman Collegiate in Saskatoon! Both students from Regina, Marina Martin (Das Schulhaus) and Jesse Lyon, won the first prize. Marina in the German background and Jesse in the non-German background cat-egory. Congratulations again!The adult class had their last class May 9th! A big thank you goes to our teacher Ulrike Veith! The teen classes finished May 30th. Another big thank you to Andrea Nillson and Travis Ziegler!Our booth at the annual Mosaic Festival at the German Pavillion was a successful event! We adver-tised ourselves using a ‘Schulhaus’- display, ‘Schulhaus’- buttons and ‘Schulhaus’ T-shirts. We also of-fered German books and Märchen-guckerl (fairytale picture toy) as a fundraiser.The Teenage classes presented a lovely skit for this event!The Spiel- und Lernkreis’ last day

was June 13th with a nice summer topic and an abundance of children!The Sommerfest or year-end picnic took place on Saturday, June 16th at the South Kinsmen Park to celebrate the end of our first school year (with Bratwurst, Kartoffelsalat, other sal-ads and Kuchen) and a variety of well known summer games, like Sackhüpfen, Tauziehen etc. Report cards and certificates were handed out that day as well!Das Schulhaus - Regina German Language School will continue its vision of a respectful, transparent and collaborative school culture with quality education based on a fresh and lively approach, to teach and promote the German language and culture in a contemporary, ef-ficient and non-political environ-ment.Thank you directors and teachers for your hard work and dedication!For registrations please contact DasSchulhaus@gmail.com

Estevan & District German “Freundschaft” Society

Das Schulhaus contribution to the cel-ebration of 60 years of German Language Instruction in Regina.

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Through our visiting along the way and not having the need to drive our-selves, it seemed that in a short time the Regina skyline was seen on the horizon. We were so amazed at how Katharina knew her way through the streets of Regina and shortly there-after we arrived at the German Club. We got off the van and she found a parking place for it. Meeting us in-side the Club members were able to have a short rest break, she then di-rected us to different tables to visit with members from other German Clubs across Saskatchewan. Intro-ducing ourselves and where “home” was, along with the part of German Europe we were from, it didn’t take long until we were carrying on conversations with our new found

so much, to make this event such a wonderful and entertaining after-noon for us. As all good things must come to an end, in a short time we were back to Estevan, thankful that Katharina had done so much to make this a wonderful and entertaining day for us and saying that we need to do this more often. With smiling faces and many memories we happily re-turned to our homes.

friends. Our visiting came to an end as the entertainers in full costume and big smiling faces walked out on the stage, introducing themselves and then the entertainment began. It truly was a great afternoon of great entertainment of both old and new German songs. At the close of the entertainment we had Kaffee & Kuchen along with more visiting and also with the choir members who circulated around the tables. With the enter-tainment having drawn to a close, two gift baskets were raffled off and to our happy surprise our Katharina was one of the winners. We Estevan members felt that it was fitting for Katharina to win it, as she had done

German Canadian Society Harmonie

news from the Club Kerri Van Loosen

In the ‘Spring Edition’ I advised all of our readers that Spargelfest was approaching and they should purchase their tickets right away to ensure a spot. That proved to be an understatement. We had a re-cord attendance of 80 guests and turned away enough people that we are considering hosting a two night event next year. Amongst the sev-eral new faces that enjoyed our 4 course meal was our guest of hon-or, CJ Katz. CJ is known in Regina for her culinary TV show, Wheat-land Cafe, her online review, Savor Life, and newspaper articles in The Leader Post. Not only did she at-tend and enjoy the festival with us, she also wrote up a fantastic review and posted some great photos in her online article. Next year can only promise greater things.It’s hard to believe that Regina’s multicultural event, Mosaic, has

come and gone already. Our com-mittee started planning in January for the festival that began on May 31 which delivered another record breaking weekend. Our guest per-former, Devyn Neufeld, came in from Winnipeg, Manitoba again to sing and entertain for the entire weekend. Whether you were sing-ing along with the choir, clapping along to the dance performances, enjoying homemade Torten in the Kaffeestube or trying some of our new menu items, everyone seemed to indulge in a piece of German culture. On Friday night we had an unexpected 2 hour power outage. Most people expected us to close down our pavilion, but they got a pleasant surprise. Our volunteers stepped up and carried on the ex-perience as best they could outside in the courtyard and beer tent. The Corner Stone Band had the crowd

dancing the polka, our pig roaster, bratshack workers, pretzel sellers and Jägermeister shooter girls kept all attendees very happy. Luckily there was no damage to our build-ing and SaskPower resolved the situation as fast as they could. Once the power came back on, everyone went back inside and the program continued as if it never stopped. A HUGE thank you to everyone who helped achieve another successful year!May marked the end of this year’s German Movie afternoons. Start-ing up again in September through May will be the Kaffee and a Mov-ie. During the afternoon of every second and fourth Wednesday of the month Alvin and Berbel Knoll show a German speaking movie in the German Club’s basement. Sip-ping on hot Kaffee and nibbling on scrumptious treats while watching

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crew are busy with the two front rooms which are open Tuesday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., on Sundays for brunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Every Friday a spe-cial buffet will surprise the guests. Mothers’ Day was a sell-out suc-cess. Some grown-up children had come from other provinces to take their mother to the Centre for a delicious Brunch. The next event is a Golf Tournament sched-uled for July 29th. More infor-mation and registration are avail-able at the Centre at 244-6869.Preparations for Folkfest – August 16.-18. are in high gear. The theme this year for the display are three more federal states/provinces of Germany – Berlin, Brandenburg and Saxony, as well as needlework. Volunteers are needed for all three days. Who knows that this year two great events are celebrated in Ger-

many? 300 years after the birth of Frederick the Great and 800 years after the founding of the Thomaner-chor in Leipzig. Both events will be featured at the display at Folkfest.We hope to see you there, even if it rains!

an entertaining movie is a great way to spend a chilly afternoon. Once September arrives, please feel free to call the German Club to confirm dates, times and movie titles.Lassen Sie sich Zeit, den Sommer zu genießen.Please check out the Club’s updated website: www.reginagermanclub.ca or become a fan on our Facebook page: Regina German Club.

German Cultural Centre

Neues vom German Cultural Centre in Saskatoon Sigrid Kirmse

Es tut sich Einiges! Die freiwil-ligen Helfer sind sehr fleissig.Die Landeswappen (crests) of all 16 Länder (federal states/province) of Germany are done and can be admired at the outside wall of the lounge. We also made a map with the explanation of the crests with the capital cities, population and size of each country. The windows received a bit of decoration and other donated items can be found in the front rooms. The dining room had to have an extra wall installed so the food for the Culture room does not have to be carried through the dining room. All are regula-tions by Saskatchewan Health. Now we can go ahead with more beau-tifying of the Culture room. Sev-eral prints of old cities of Germany have been donated, we just have to find the right frames for them.Our manager Jon Tyson and his

Alvin Knoll from the German Canadian Society Harmonie presented a wood carving to Darrell Dick from the Ger-man Cultural Centre. Original scissor

cut by Waltraude Stehwien.

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A small group of us attended the 200th anniversary celebration of the 1812 war in Saskatoon on June 17, 2012. It was great to see aboriginal nations celebrating with Swiss, Ger-man, and Dutch nationalities and honouring the multicultural group of soldiers who fought to keep Canada a free land. Speeches were many and meaningful and the enter-tainment spectacular. Only Mother Nature failed to co-operate so the River Landing venue was moved to Nutuana High School Gym. Our multicultural mural project is complete and the ribbon-cutting cer-emony took place on June 5, 2012. There again the venue for the BBQ and entertainment was moved from

Civic Park to the Library build-ing where the mural is displayed on the north wall for all to see. The GHS Annual General Meeting was held on June 12, 2012, attended by 45 members, was held at the Bella Vista Inn. Everyone enjoyed a Ger-man meal and President John Sax-inger welcomed all and thanked them for attending. He thanked the executive and board of directors for their dedication to the club. Further-more, he mentioned that an article will appear in the Humboldt Journal written by Katie Knorr, a member, expressing the importance of pre-serving the our heritage, appealing to younger people to come forward and get involved.

Kaffeestunde was again a success this year. A tastefully decorated hall invited the crowd to participate in the good food provided. Two mem-bers of the German Heritage Soci-ety and two from the Folkart Co-op attended Treffpunkt at Lloydmin-ster. Although the weekend was met with rain, Lloydminster put on a ter-rific weekend with their small group of 35 members. The food was in-credible with a large assortment of scrumptious cakes and tortes. The meeting was well attended and very informative. Well Done!!Until the next edition of the Postil-lion!!!

Was ist los in Humboldt?Ruth Wilson

Best Minifest ever – this was a common reaction from the groups involved.Most dancers - the event attracted more dancers than ever, even with one group having to cancel.Best teach and learn sessions – even our radio personality MC was drawn into the dancing fun!Best prizes – our prizes were big-ger and better, thanks to our gener-ous sponsors.Best time of year – seems that we have finally found a date that works for many?Most displays – more groups than before brought items for display, the photowall was also fun to look at.

The Best, the Most, and the not-so-greatBarbara Stehwien

Best facility - the bright, friendly and large Terrace Room at Prairi-eland Park was very popular.Best parking – free parking and lots of room for more.Most sponsors – the event is start-ing to get more support from well known sponsors.Most advertising – even though it brought relatively few ‘walk-ins’ Minifest was advertised through the Prairieland Park event package.Most expensive – tough on the bud-get, but worth it to see ‘our name in lights’?not-so-great food – the downside to this great facility was the food service, no outside food allowed and

only an expensive menu to choose from. We ended up with only simple donated snacks and drinks.not-so-great T-shirts – due to time constraints and poor communica-tion, the T-shirts were printed with the wrong color.

German Junior Folk Dancers

German Heritage Society of Humboldt & District

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The 2011/2012 school year marked a significant milestone for the school, given that the school was founded in 1951, so the celebrations of 60 years of German language educa-tion and activities by the German Language School of Regina contin-ued until the end of the school year!In February we celebrated our Fas-chingsfeier and of course, indulged in some delicious Berliner Fasch-ingskrapfen! The costumes that the students and teachers wore were fantastic and everyone enjoyed the games and activities.The Level 5 class began extra eve-ning classes after the first semester exams were completed for regular school, to prepare themselves for the ZDP-A2 Sprachdiplom (German language proficiency exam) offered through the German government. Congratulations to the four students who participated in the exam!The Osterfest celebration was a very colorful event with the won-derful eggs and crafts that the stu-dents and some family members decorated and created. There were many smiles as the students left the school with their Easter bags filled with the chocolate eggs that they found in the egg hunt as well as the items they had created.In celebration of the 60th Anni-versary of the German Language School of Regina, we decided to mark the occasion with an activity that the school hosted in the past. We organized a Lantern Parade at Wascana Lake and invited any-one in the community at large to participate. Although the weather was not overly cooperative due to

news from the SchoolSandra Morin

rain, the 50 people who came were hearty and enthusiastic and wanted to forge ahead! We walked with our lanterns through the rain while cars honked or stopped to ask what we were celebrating! Everyone was happy when we arrived back at the Legislature to the welcoming steam of hot chocolate and cookies!We also hosted our annual Open House where we displayed older books from our school resources, from which people could take what they liked and make a donation, if they so chose. Students in all the grade levels prepared wonderful posters using German words or phrases, to put on display for the visitors and parents that joined us on that day. Our guests were im-pressed by the fact that we were cel-ebrating the 60th anniversary of the school providing German language instruction!To bring the school year to a close, we again hosted our annual Som-merfest and feasted on bratwurst and buns from Oskar’s Sausage House as well as a variety of sal-ads and desserts donated by all of the families in attendance. This year we also had a special cake made to mark the occasion of the 60th anni-versary school year! Students par-ticipated in numerous activities but the most popular activity was the ‘fishing pond’! There were presen-tations to the teachers and Julia Lac-ey, the school Registrar/Secretary, for their volunteer work and team work. Special presentations were made to Ingeborg Schlichtmann and Linda Daver for their unprece-dented dedication and service to the

school’s success given that both of them served the German language community for well over a quarter century each!The Mosaic festival provided us with the opportunity to showcase the 60th anniversary of the German Language School of Regina as well as to connect with many individu-als who attended the school at some point over the 60 years! Many of our students’ posters were on display as well as pictures of the school activi-ties.Although the school year has come to a close, planning is already un-derway for the next year. We are in the process of ordering new text-books and workbooks for the fall as well as investigating some options of incorporating laptops and projec-tors for classroom instruction. Our Level 5 class has already exchanged correspondence with German sum-mer immersion programs for 2013 and is initiating their fundraising ef-forts.We are so grateful for any and all support that we receive, be it mone-tary, labour, good ‘word-of-mouth’, etc. and we want to thank all of those individuals and organizations for making a difference through their kindness.

German Language School of Regina

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An Update from the SchoolGabi Harrison

Our school year has come to an end and we can look back at lots of language learning, working with fairy tale themes in class, celebrat-ing several cultural events, the adult classes having a nice Christmas din-ner as well as a beer tasting evening (beginners). Congratulations to all students for attending and finishing a year of German language courses!In spring, we offered a class for the linguistic qualification level A2 fol-lowed by the German Language Exam level A2. This is a first step towards the DSD I (Deutsches Sprachdiplom I) which qualifies for studying in German. The class fo-cused on reading comprehension, listening comprehension, written communication and oral commu-nication. All four students did very well and passed the exam!We also had some of our language students participate in SATG’s Pro-vincial Language Contest in May. Every year, high school students in Saskatchewan who study Ger-man are able to compete in two cat-

egories (German background / non-German background) for different prizes. Students first participate in a written exam. The best students are then being invited to take part in an oral exam. Congratulations to the following students of our school for taking home some prizes: Prakriti Pratijit, German 20: 2nd prize, category non-German backgroundFlorian Goetz, German 30: 2nd prize, category German Back-groundThalya Joorisity, adult advanced: 3rd prize, category German Back-ground

On May 10th was the last day of school for our children’s classes. That night we held our Immersion Evening Camp – Theme Fairy Tales. The evening started with pizza sup-per and was followed by some won-derful homemade desserts baked by our teacher Andrea. The different classes worked on crafts, projects,

and activities regarding Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten or Der Frosch-könig. They also had a camp booklet to work on which included German writing, reading as well as drawing and coloring. At the end of the eve-ning, the parents joined in and were able to share the result of the camp in form of performances. The small children recited a poem Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten and did a beauti-ful dance. Level 2 acted out a play with self-made masks about the story of Die Bremer Stadtmusikant-en. Level 3 told Grimm’s fairy tale Der Froschkönig in form of a pup-pet play with crafted paper puppets. And the credit class recited a poem about Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten as well. What a great way to end the school year by seeing the students perform on stage!If you are interested in learning German, refreshing your language skills or work towards a linguistic certification, please contact Gabi Harrison, p.382-8158 or email germanschoolsaskatoon@sasktel.net

German Language School Saskatoon Inc.

Hansel & Gretel Preschool Inc.

Another Year has PassedUlrike Hecker

It is hard to believe another year of preschool has passed by and time seems to fly!Raising awareness through various activities and advertising has helped our Hansel & Gretel Preschool grow; we are proud and happy to announce that we are looking at the highest number of enrolment in the history of our German-English Bilingual Preschool. Children and

their families are becoming more and more excited about the unique chance to learn about the German language and culture. We had a number of new students joining our program during the last few months. Some of them have emigrated from Europe (England, Germany) and have chosen our preschool to make the transition into a new country easier for their children.

Like every year, the Easter Bunny (Osterhase) made its way to our school and left some Ostereier (Easter eggs) for our little ones. We served typical German Easter bak-ing, made of yeast dough. In March we introduced our chil-dren to some famous German fairy tales, such as Rotkäppchen (Little Red Riding Hood), Schneewittch-en (Snow White) etc. The story of

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Hänsel and Gretel was another clas-sic fairytale on our ‘top ten list’. The children really enjoyed acting out the stories, using our hand puppets and other props that were had pro-vided for them. In addition to our fairy tales we learned many classic English nursery rhymes. In June we took our children to a day camp at the zoo. The year-end field trip was the highlight for many of our students. Riding on the big yellow school bus was an adventure in itself! As we were riding on the little train through the zoo we taught our students all the names of the an-imals in German. Our students were surprised how many animals have similar names, sometimes even the

same pronunciation in German e.g. Bear – Bär, Fish – Fisch, Bison – Bison, Tiger – Tiger, Owl – Eule, etc. On our bus ride home we sang Der Bär in dem Bus ruft ARGH ARGH ARGH! in the same melody as ‘The wheels on the bus go round and round’.One of the most rewarding experi-ences of being a preschool teacher at Hansel and Gretel Preschool is to see how quickly children pick up new German words. Not only have children learned German this year, but by the end of the year all our parents knew our German good bye song and joined in for 1-2-3, die Schule ist vorbei.Many of our children will be grad-

uating this year and we hope that they will continue to be involved with German language and culture, either through the Language School in Saskatoon or our German Junior Folk Dancers.We greatly appreciate all the sup-port that our Preschool has received from the Saskatchewan German Council and SaskLotteries this year and wish all of you a wonderful summer! Schönen Sommer!

Greeting from the Karnevalsgesellschaft HarmonieAngelica Barth

Our Karneval group has been a bee hive of activity of celebrations, dance performances and fund rais-ing activities while planning ahead for upcoming events. Elected into the Elferat are a few new mem-bers among many familiar and long standing dedicated members includ-ing Erika DuMont, President; Dyan DuMont, Secretary; Les Francis, VP Karneval; Darlene Rubrecht, Treasurer; Leslie Ottenbreit, Social/Events Coordinator; Jean Schlecter and Annette Clute, Phone Com-mittee; Sheila and Cheryl Aldous, Dance Instructors. Other Elferat members include Rod Eberle, An-gelica Barth, Deidre Drews, and Karen Francis. The Elferat held its first meeting May 1 with much to do as this year will prove to be bursting with excitement and activity as any other year. Spring Free from Racism took place on March 25th and went well, giv-

ing our dancers great exposure at this as always well attended event, sparking a return to regular dance practices in preparation for both “Bring a Little Mosaic to You” and “Mosaic.” “Bring a Little Mosaic to You” opened at Cornwall Center on April 29th, continued at vari-ous locations throughout May and will have its last performance at the Wascana Rehabilitation Centre on June 28th - ending a series of many dance performances for citizens and seniors that find it difficult to travel to “Mosaic” venues. May ended and June began with Mosaic which was once again a resounding success. Record num-bers of visitors attended our venue. Demonstrated by the consistently full seating indoors, busy displays as well as capacity crowds outdoors coupled by fantastic sales of menu food items, tortes, pretzels, souve-nirs, beer and shooters. Our visitors

continued to enjoy our venue de-spite a power outage that lasted over two hours, beginning early Friday evening. This success is a testament to a job well done by the musicians and our many volunteers who kept our visitors entertained in wall-to-wall standing room only beer gar-dens, during the power pole repair that had sparked the power outage. Just as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened the previ-ously planned Mosaic dance per-formances by the Karneval groups once again resumed indoors. A huge thank you goes out to all the volun-teers, dancers and singers. Without you Mosaic could not be successful. A special thank you goes out to Dar-lene and Eckard Rubrecht who were our German Club’s Ambassadors.Upcoming events include the an-nual summer picnic – details pend-ing. And of course one cannot for-get Crowning. Prince Jason Kelln

Karnevalsgesellschaft Harmonie

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and Princess Lia Husli-Kelln will be crowned at Karneval celebra-tions on Friday, November 9, 2012. Rockapulco will be providing music following the main program. Mardi Gras will be taking place January 25, 26, 27, 2013 in Edmonton – fur-ther details will follow as planning proceeds.

When our many Karneval members are not dancing or planning events you will find them participating in various fundraising activities. Up-coming are football games through-out the summer and fall, a Hot Dog Sale fundraiser July 7, 2012, and 50/50’s at the Big Valley Jamboree. There has also been a Dirndl sale

earlier this month. If you missed this sale contact our high energy dance instructors Sheila and Cheryl. The Karneval groups’ much anticipated Dirndls ordered from Germany may yet arrive – hopefully soon!

First Steps are takenViktoria Maurus

Die ersten Schritte sind getan. Kurz vor unserem ersten Kochkurs fan-den wir für unseren Zweck eine Küche zum Mieten und dann stand auch schon unser erster Kochabend vor der Tür. Der Jahreszeit entspre-chend unser erstes Thema: Rund um das Osterfest. Die Teilnehmer bekamen ein vorbereitetes Rez-ept und allein oder zu zweit wurde dann gekocht und gebacken. Das Ergebnis konnte sich sehen lassen und wurde anschließend von den Hobbyköchen genussvoll verspeist.Unser zweiter geplanter Kochkurs für Kinder zum Muttertag musste mangels Teilnehmer leider abgesagt werden.Für den Kochkurs Anfang Juni mit dem Thema Sommerfrische drehte sich dann alles um Salate. Der lauwarme Kartoffelsalat fand genauso viel Zuspruch wie der Obstsalat, als sich die Teilnehm-er das Essen schmecken ließen.

Nach der Sommerpause soll im September das Thema Kuchen und Torten einen Abend füllen. Nähere Hinweise finden sie ab Mitte Au-gust auf unserem Werbeposter auf der SGC Webseite.Das Kochlöffel und Nudelholz Team wünscht einen Sommer mit Genuss.

The first steps are taken. Shortly before our first cooking class we found a suitable kitchen to rent. According to the season the theme was All about Easter. Recipes were handed out to the participants and alone or in a group of two they got busy with cooking and baking. The results were great and eaten with pleasure by the hobby cooks.Our second planed class kids cook-ing for Mother’s Day sadly had to be cancelled because of not enough registrations.In June the theme was Summer

freshness and all about salads. The lukewarm potato salad was every-body’s favour as well as the fruit sal-ad as the cooks came together to eat.In September, after the summer break, we will do an evening about Cakes and Torts. For more informa-tion please check the SGC website mid August.The Kochlöffel und Nudelholz Team wishes an enjoyable summer.

Kochlöffel & Nudelholz: German-Canadian Koch- und Backstudio

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We ended 2011 with our annual Christmas party. A summary of the evenings events was printed in the Spring Postillion. Santa, (Orest Zel-ensky), delivered presents to all the children in attendance. His beard grew a little bit over his nose and up to his eyes this year, but we all knew it was him. The entertainment for the evening was the Trudel family. On March 9 of this year, Club members Linda Fornal and Shei-la Baessler presented two $50.00 scholarships at the Prince Albert Music Festival. The Prince Albert German Club donated these two scholarships to vocal performers who sang in the German language. Congratulations to Megan McCo-nechy and Jody Jordan Johnson who were this year’s recipients.Our Club held a Kaffeeklatsch on March 17 at the Messiah Lu-theran Church. Fourteen people attended and enjoyed visiting, coffee and wonderful dessert.

news from the ClubLouise Fornal

Well deserved special presentations were made to long time members of our Club. Linda Fornal received an Honorary Membership certificate as well as this year’s Special Volunteer Award. Don Goller was presented with an Honorary Membership cer-tificate. Lee Gisi and Dave Buettner also received an Honorary Member-ship certificate, but were not in at-tendance. Photos were taken of the recipients as well as a group picture. Linda, Don, Lee and Dave have been valuable members for many years and have contributed greatly and have volunteered many hours. Congratulations and thank you very much for all that you have done for our Club!On April 22, we held our Annual General Meeting at the Messiah Lutheran Church. There was a turn-out of 12 people. A new executive board was elected and are as fol-lows: President - Les Lautner, Vice President - Willi Baessler, Secretary

- Laurie Fabrick, Treasurer - Don Cody, Directors - Sheila Baessler, Don Fabrick, Henry Buller, Don Goller, and Doris Lautner. A big and grateful thank you to the new executive for making a commit-ment to our Club and volunteering your valuable time. We now have a full board with a maximum of nine people! Another big thank you to Joyce Zelensky, who served on the executive for over 6 years, and Lou-ise Fornal for being secretary for 6 years. They both have stepped down from their positions.Our spring session of beginner Ger-man classes has come to an end. Katharina Kroecker taught her les-sons at Messiah Lutheran Church, the last one being on June 7. We are hopeful to run more classes again in the fall. We’ll keep you posted. Thank you Katharina for taking on the job of teaching.Best wishes for an enjoyable and warm summer.

Prince Albert German-Canadian Club “Waldhorn”

Regina Austrian Edelweiss Dancer

news from the DancersSarah Shoulak

The Austrian Edelweiss Dancers had a very successful dance year in 2011-2012. Along with perform-ing at various retirement homes throughout the year, we also had the opportunity to perform in Brandon, Manitoba for their annual Winter-

fest. We also had the pleasure of participating in Maifest 2012, held in Saskatoon. To round out our year we participate in Regina’s an-nual Multicultural festival, Mosaic. With the help from members and volunteers, we were able to host a

successful mosaic at our home at the Austrian Club of Regina. We are excited to continue our suc-cess in the 2012-2013 dance year.

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“egg Money” Book LaunchBarbara Hoggard-Lulay

The Saskatoon German Days Com-mittee successfully launched its “Egg Money” book on Sunday, June 3 in Saskatoon.The book launch to honour the pio-neer women of Saskatchewan, was held at the Western Development Museum. Similar to the unveil-ing ceremony of the “Egg Money” sculpture in September 2009, the committee hosted a dinner before the book presentation. The dinner was well attended by 75 guests, many of them family members of the 24 pioneer women whose sto-ries are related in the book. These family members came from all parts of Saskatchewan, and one couple even drove from Winnipeg, Mani-toba to Saskatoon to attend the book launch. In addition to the families, Saska-toon’s Mayor Don Atchison, Ellen Remai, the major sponsor of the “Egg Money” sculpture, the artists Shirley and Don Begg from Co-chrane, Alberta, were welcomed by the committee’s chair Barbara Hog-gard-Lulay, as well as SGC Presi-dent Ilona Beck, and editors and publishers, Deana and Al Driver from DriverWorks Ink Regina. The committee once again had asked German chef Andreas Gewers to be a guest-chef in the kitchen of the Western Development Museum,

and he prepared another very tasty German dinner. The pork roast with bread dumplings, sauerkraut and carrots and an extremely delicious Mousse au Chocolate for dessert re-ceived numerous compliments and accolade from the attendees. Some nice musical entertainment was provided by the “Dave Nelson Group” with German community member Ben Christa, playing jazzy background music during the re-ception. The “German Junior Folk Dancers” showed their latest dances during the dinner, and “Spectrum” played some of their classical music repertoire before the book presenta-tion started on Museum Street. During the book presentation artist Shirley Begg shared with the audi-ence her story how the “Egg Mon-ey” idea came up in a conversation with her 102 year old grandmother who had been concerned that or-dinary pioneer women were being forgotten.And Stephen Gebhardt of the Anna Maria Gebhardt family read ex-cerpts of the story of his special pio-neer woman.After the presentation pre-ordered books were given out and addition-al books were sold to book launch attendees, and the book publishing committee members Barbara Hog-gard-Lulay, Rosa Gebhardt, Bar-

Saskatoon German Days

bara Stehwien and Brigitte Boldt-Leppin were asked by a number of book buyers to sign their copies in recognition of the committee’s work and commitment to the “Egg Money” project. “Egg Money” recognizes the strength and resourcefulness of women who helped families and communities survive from the late 1800s onward. The compelling sto-ries of the 24 amazing women from different ethnic backgrounds and whose names are engraved around the sculpture, were provided by their respective families. They re-late lives of courage, hardship and perseverance of these remarkable pioneer women. The book has been published to honour and commemo-rate all the brave pioneer women of Saskatchewan.The “Egg Money” book is avail-able in major book stores around the province or it can be ordered at www.driverworks.ca.

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Our 2012 tournament weekend started off on May 24th with a 2 round pre-tournament followed on May 25th by the 19th Challenge cup and the 21st Saskatchewan tournament. We also hosted this year the 23rd North American Skat Championship.Players from all over North America (Bahamas, California, Texas, Wis-consin, Minnesota, Montreal, Otta-wa, Newmarket, Kitchener, Winni-peg, Calgary, Red Deer, Edmonton, Vancouver, Nanaimo and Kelowna) participated in these tournaments and enjoyed the hospitality of the Saskatoon Skat Cub and the German Cultural Centre which also accom-modated the Skat friends showing up with campers and motor homes.We had 68 players and 3 beginners showing their card skills playing for valuable trophies and prizes.For the opening ceremony of the North American Skat Champion-ship we had also invited the honor-able major Don Atchison of Saska-toon who welcomed all players to the city of Saskatoon. Werner Schoenberger, the CEO of “Select Wines & Spirits”, had ar-

ranged a wine tasting during the lunch hour on Saturday, May 26th which was much appreciated by our fellow Skat players. During the trophy presentation on Sunday he handed a gift basket to the tourna-ment director Martina Steinmetz and thanked her for all the work she did for organizing and running the tournaments flawless.The 21st Saskatchewan tournament was won by Dieter Thiem from Van-couver. Second was Michael Som-mer (Vancouver) and third Horst Hagen (Montreal). Best player from Saskatoon was Sigi Fahr (5th) and Marie Eckl (10th).The 19th Challenge cup was won by Horst Hagen from Montréal. Second was Gerhard Schmidt (Ed-monton) and third Werner Schoen-berger (Vancouver). Sigi Fahr was 8th and H.-J. Steinmetz 12th, both from Saskatoon.23rd North American Champi-onship: winner and champion is Danny Ridder from Edmonton. Horst Gonschorek from Kelowna was second and Hans Weirich from Vancouver was 3rd. Best Saskatoon players were Jens Roewekamp (7th)

and Werner Roewekamp (8th).North American Ladies Champion is Dinah Kunst from Winnipeg. The North American Team Champions came from Kelowna with the fol-lowing team members, Horst Gon-schorek, Manfred Grossmueller, Marta Krajnz and Alfred Steppuhn.In the beginner group we had Paul Weber, Hugo Kappel, and Anja Weiner playing for the first place in their league. Paul was winning this event.On Monday, May 28th, we had a referee course for referees with an international and some begin-ners obtaining the license for North America. All together we had 17 players participating. The seminar was held at the German Canadian Centre.

An Update from the Volksliederchor ConcordiaMargot Hasner

Volksliederchor Concordia

What a WeekendHans-Jürgen Steinmetz

Skat Club Saskatoon

After many practices for our annual Spring concert the day had finally arrived. Our Spring concert was held at the German Cultural Centre on May 6. When I opened the cur-tains in the morning if your concert and saw the rain outside I did not think anybody would venture out to

hear us sing. It rained and kept on raining till Monday morning.Some streets were impassible. To my surprise and delight, our concert was well attended. The rain did not deter people from coming to our concert.Following the concert we had cof-

fee and cake, visited with friends and met new ones. Our club man-ager, Jon, and his staff were a great help in setting up the hall and pre-paring coffee for our Kaffeeklatsch. Thank you very much Jon.

On June 9th to 10th I attended the

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Volksliederchor Harmonie cele-brated spring in style at our annual Spring Concert on May 6 at the Ger-man-Canadian Society Harmonie. The hall was beautifully decorated – it felt as though spring was in the air – thanks to Annette Volman and ev-eryone who helped set up. The choir was honoured to perform in front of an incredible audience, some of whom traveled from their home towns outside of Regina to spend the afternoon with us. We were ex-tremely grateful to have them in at-tendance and we hope to see them again at our future concerts. Many thanks go out to our director, Ken Holzer, and our accompanist, Ber-nadette Kutarna, for all of their hard work. Thanks also to everyone who attended the concert – we truly ap-preciate your continued support.Volksliederchor Harmonie was de-lighted to be invited to perform at the William Booth Special Care Home in Regina on May 17. Sever-al members of the choir were able to attend and we all enjoyed perform-ing for the residents.The choir took part in Mosaic on

May 31, June 1 and 2. We were happy to sing songs and spread Gemütlichkeit.Those members of the choir who were able got together on June 19 for a wind-up. We enjoyed good food and drinks, spent time catch-ing up and finding out what every-one has planned for the summer, and celebrated a very successful year. Choir members are now ready for a well deserved break over the summer.Volksliederchor Harmonie looks forward to hosting Prärie Sänger-fest in May 2013. Sängerfest is a bi-ennial gathering of German choirs from across the prairies. It provides an opportunity to recognize and honour long time singers at a ban-quet as well as an opportunity for great fellowship. The event high-light of course is the public concert which features selections from each choir attending and several pieces by a mass choir of about 300 sing-ers. We are all anticipating a whole lot of fun, fellowship and song!If you are interested in joining our choir, Volksliederchor Harmonie in-

vites you to come and sing with us! We rehearse at the German-Canadi-an Society Harmonie, 1727 St. John Street, every Tuesday from 7 to 9 p.m. Rehearsals start on September 11. Email volksliederchor@gmail.com if you would like to contact us!

Volksliederchor Harmonie

news from the Volksliederchor HarmonieDarla McKellar

AGM of the Saskatchewan Ger-man Council in Lloydminster. It was wonderful to meet old friend, exchange ideas and find out how all the other different member groups of the German Council are doing. It was very interesting and informa-tive.

Our annual get together was held at the Berry Barn, here in Saskatoon on June 11th. It was a great time with good food and excellent com-pany.

Our long time choir member Renate Niedermair suddenly lost her hus-band Karl. We sang at Karl’s funeral on June 18th. Our heartfelt condo-lence and best wishes to Renate and her family.

The choir will be taking a break from singing until Folkfest in Au-gust.

I like to take this opportunity to thank the German Council for their financial support and the friendly

help I always receive from the staff at the office.

Choir practise for the Christmas concert will begin Monday, Sep-tember 24. If you like to sing, come and join us. Everyone is welcome.

We wish everyone a wonderful sum-mer. See you at the Folkfest, August 16, 17, 18.

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A Short Story: Peter und die Katze

Auf dem Stuhl liegt eine Katze, die ist schwarz und grau.

Da kommt Peter, malt die Katze

einfach rot und blau.

Kratzt die Katze mit der Tatze Peter ins Gesicht.

Schreit der Peter, weint der Peter.

Aus ist die Geschicht.

Vocabulary:

Stuhl - chair Katze - cat

kratzen - to scratch Tatze - paw

Gesicht - face schreien - to scream

weinen - to cry Geschicht - story

Find the animal names in German.

Solution:

Wir lernen Deutsch

Wir sind hier. Hier sind wir.Wir lernen Deutsch. Deutsch lernen wir.

1, 2, 3 und 4 - Deutsch lernen wir.1, 2, 3 - nur zu! Deutsch lernst du im Nu!

Wir sind hier. Hier sind wir.Wir lernen Deutsch. Deutsch lernen wir.

Vocabulary:

Deutsch - German hier - here

lernen - to learn wir - we

Die Farben:

1 - rot2 - gelb3 - grün4 - blau

5 - braun6 - schwarz

Publication Mail Agreement # 42086521

Please return unclaimed copies to:Saskatchewan German Council Inc.John V. Remai Center510 Cynthia StreeSaskatoon, SK S7L 7K7

Supported by: