Texas has a rich and varied history and I find it fascinating. Texas is the one state that lives up to the advertising hype. It really is "like a whole other country".
Posted on 08/26/2007 2:04:22 PM PDT by Dysart
Well up to WWII, there was still background animosity between some German communities in Texas, and their English speaking neighbors, over the Civil War. Germans in Texas, as in Missouri, were largely pro-Union, and opposed to secession. Texas held a plebicite on the question of secession, and a number of Counties, often largely German, voted to remain in the Union.
The pro-Union residents of those counties, easily identifiable by looking at the vote returns, were looked on with suspicion by the (new) Confederate governemnt of Texas, and some communities were actually placed under martial law to curtail recruiting of troops for the Union.
The troops sent to perform those duties, not infrequently REMFS bent on proving to themselves that they were just as tough as the real combat troops off doing the fighting, behaved about like the Union occupation troops did in conquered Confederate communities, and caused the same lingering resentments.
This thread made me think of Marta, and I hadn’t thought of her in years. She was from one of these little German communities. She had an apartment next to mine her freshman year at A&M. Boy, was she eager to make up for lost time! It seems that adventurous young ladies could get a bad reputation if they were too friendly with boys. But once removed from the threat of gossipy neighbors....
The real conflict came with WWI. That’s when the”English” took over San Antonio for sure. Until the war. there was a lot of emphasis on “Kultur” and all that/ The war ended that. German was bannedfrom the schools and every German’s patriotism was suspect. Such was the situation that my grandmother, who was about ffity at the time. who had come a small German farm town, and had spoken English only when she had to, thereafter refused to speak German in public. It was pretty bad and it didn’t end with the war. Anyway, the German institutions just began to wither away. Where we have Hemisphere now, used to be a large chunk of the German community down town. By the end of WWII, that area was already pretty run down, which is the reason why in the ‘60s it was bull-dozed to make room for the fairgrounds.
Beethoven Hall is still there!
Yeah, that they saved. It is even fixed up now. You should have seen it in 1947. though. What I am talking about is the row of businesses right across the Street from St.Joseph’s Church (where my Dad was baptized in 1893.) Even after WWII there was still a German language paper there. The whole block was cleared for Hemisfair in 1967.
Very solid folks. I hunted the area great deal in the 70’s
One farmer/rancher was in his 90’s and would talk about running cattle from Mezicoo to St Looie as kid and dem durn peskie Komanchies and apachies down Mezicoo.
He alway carried a 10 gauge in his pickup as he was sure some would show up but this time with the Russians.
Texas has a rich and varied history and I find it fascinating. Texas is the one state that lives up to the advertising hype. It really is "like a whole other country".
My husband's great great grandfather Jacoby helped settle Fredericksburg. His name is on some kind of paper there in Fredericksburg. My husband, who was born at home at Hye, couldn't speak english when we went into the first grade and had to be held back because of that. He was born in 1944. Boy howdy, do I know about Tex/German! My husband told his parents to speak english when I was around so I would know what was being said. I did learn some of it. Oma (his mom) finally passed away two years ago at 96. She and Opa ate some crap that, according to todays experts, will kill ya. He ate that slimy/gooey fat in a roast. They all ate loads of "cholestral causing" lard, fats etc. Opa died at age 89 of emphysema from smoking so many years. Oma died from a fall in a nursing home and subsequent pneumonia.
Yes, they're potato dumplings, but the only recipes I can find online are wierd variations, including bread and stuff. I will try this evening and put into words what I learned by hand from a lovely Frau in Bonn many years ago.
Re: spaetzle -- I made it last night -- tossed it with caramelized onions and mushrooms, and served it alongside sliced steak. It was heaven!
Thank you - I would appreciate it and I want to make them!
Mmm, yumm! Love caramelized onions. Even keep some in the freezer, “just in case” I need them, lol. Looking forward to your knodel directions!
ping
Ebonics is what needs to die out, no whut ah'm say'n?
Texas Czech is probably in a lot more trouble.
Hey, I’m finally having my spaetzle, after thinking about them all week, lol.
We’ve had thunderstorms and power outages every day, including one that left me without A/C for 30 hours or so - and I didn’t want to stand over a pot of boiling water!
I’m having them with meat loaf gravy and just sampled, yum! Had to get busy replacing my hurricane meat loaf, because I’d eaten it all. I always keep a sliced one frozen, in case of hurricane or no power - because it tastes good without heating and can be used cold in a sandwich.
Made extra gravy just for the spaetzle and glad I did. Happy Labor Day weekend to you!
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