German-Pennsylvanian Association

The German - Pennsylvanian Working Group eV, DPAK abbreviated, Eng. German Pennsylvanian Association, was founded on May 31, 2003 in Rhine-Hesse municipality Ober-Olm, where his office is located. Seat of the association is the Rhineland Palatinate town of Mainz.

Purpose of the Association

Purpose of the Association is primarily to promote

• Cultural exchanges between the German -born residents of Pennsylvania, called Pennsylvania Dutch as an ethnic group, as well as the inhabitants of the main countries of origin of their ancestors in southwest Germany
• The pennsylvaniadeutschen dialect, culture and historical research
• Of German - Pennsylvanian initiatives and twinning

Members

Members of the association are primarily linguists, dialectologists, the spoken or written dialect committed writers, historians and cultural or genealogical enthusiasts from Germany and the United States.

Board of Directors

The Board of the Association shall be composed of five persons who are elected by the General Assembly for three years. 1st Chairman from 2003 to 2010, the linguist Michael Werner, who has built up in Ober-Olm the private archive pennsylvaniadeutscher literature. Since the late 1990s, he publishes a semi-annual writing that dialect " Hiwwe as Driwwe " calls itself and is thus aimed at Here and There, that both the descendants of this at heart as well as to those of the emigrants. Since April 2010, the Association of Frank Kessler led from Brussels, who was previously vice chairman and has swapped with Michael Werner the office. the office of the Association is located further in Ober-Olm.

Traditionally, comes a board member of the pennsylvaniadeutschen speaking world. Currently, there is Edward Quinter, Lecturer in Modern Languages ​​at the Kutztown University of Pennsylvania.

Projects

When his currently most important project of the club considers the action "En Friehyaahr fer the Mother Tongue ", which since 2010 every year between February 2 ( Groundhog Day ) and the Kutztown Pennsylvania German Festival is carried out in early July. Events related to language and culture of the Pennsylvaniadeutschen are collected and presented under the action label of the public. Since 2013, the association awards under this project an "Award for Outstanding Pennsylvania German Activities":

German - Pennsylvanischer day

Since 2006, the club held annually in the fall at different locations in West Germany a German - Pennsylvanian day. This important places, for example in the history of emigration presented, museums and libraries visited and dialect lyrics and songs presented. 2011 joined the pennsylvaniadeutsche humorist Donald Breininger, president of Weisenberg Township ( Fogelsville, PA) on.