German Interest Group - Wisconsin
(known as GIG)

February 1, 2010 - "Passenger Lists - How to Use Them and What Can be Found."

Linda Schiesser presented her program on  shipboard passengers and passenger lists.  Look for a report of her presentation  in the May 2010 issue of the GIG newsletter.

March 1, 2010 - Luanne Von Schneidemesser  has her PhD in German linguistics and is part of the Wisconsin Englishes project, headquartered at the UW-Madison.  She will speak on German Words in American English.  Since Germans compose the  largest ancestry group in the U.S., a large number of German words have become part of American English, either in their German form (angst, bratwurst)  or translated into English (sheepshead).  Von Schneidemesser, senior editor for the Dictionary of American Regional English  (DARE), will discuss words and phrases from German in the DARE, both written and oral. 

 April 5, 2010 - Sue Braden, a reference librarian, will give a tour of Hedberg Public Library, pointing out the computer lab and location of reference books, the Janesville Room, and the stacks that have materials of use to genealogists.  She will also demonstrate the use of two genealogy online programs available at Hedberg Library, on  Ancestry and Heritage Quest. Please note that this meeting will be held at  the Program Room at the Hedberg Public Library, 316 S. Main Street, Janesville, Wisconsin.

May 3, 2010 - Arlene Brackensick will speak again at the May meeting.  Her topic is the Passion Play in Oberammergau, Bavaria.  Brackensick will share her experience in attending the production the last time it was presented and will talk about the background for the townspeople vowing to present this play after being saved from the plague in the seventeenth century.  She will include slides from the 2000 Passion Play and will bring a booklet which she purchased in Oberammergau.  

June 7, 2010 - Linda Meyer will talk about touring Pomerania in 2009 with the Pomeranian Heritage Tour to Germany and Poland.   This tour was promoted by  the Pommerscher Verein Freistadt group which holds its meetings in Mequon, Wisconsin.  Meyer  prepared this  digital photo power point  presentation originally for the members of that Pomeranian group,  and she  presented it in November 2009.  Places covered include the BallinStadt Museum in Hamburg; cities of Schwerin, Wismar, Rostock, Greifswald, Stralsund, and Berlin; and the Isle of Ruegen.  Cities which were part of Germany prior to the end of WWII, such as Gdansk (Danzig), Szczecin (Stettin), and Malbork (Marienburg) are also part of this power point program.