Festakt am Freitag, 8. Oktober 2010, 18 Uhr im Rathaus Paderborn

„Auf nach Amerika“ lautete das Motto vieler Tausender ostwestfälischer Auswanderer im 19. Jahr-hundert, auch aus dem Raum Paderborn. Besonders die Region um St. Louis in Missouri und Illinois auf der östlichen Seite des Mississippi zog sehr viele Ostwestfalen an.

Hier liegen auch die Stadt Belleville und nicht weit davon entfernt die Orte Paderborn und St. Libory.

Durch die Initiative der damaligen Ratsherrin Ellen Rost wurde Mitte der 80er Jahre die Aufmerksamkeit der Paderborner auf die Wiederbelebung der historischen Beziehungen zwischen dem Paderborner Raum und dem Gebiet um Belleville/Illinois gelenkt.

Nach Gründung des „Deutsch-Amerikanischen Freundeskreises Paderborn-Belleville e.V.“ (DAFK) am 23.09.1988 und ersten gegenseitigen Besuchen, fassten der Rat der Stadt Belleville am 18.04.1990 und der Rat der Stadt Paderborn am 07.06.1990 ein-stimmig den Beschluss, einen Freundschaftsvertrag zu schließen.

Am 02.09.1990 unterzeichneten der Paderborner Bürgermeister Wilhelm Lüke und der Mayor von Belleville, Richard Brauer, die Freundschaftsurkunde im Rathaus zu Paderborn. Aus diesem Anlass hielt sich auch eine 47 Personen umfassende Delegation aus Belleville und Umgebung in ihrer neuen „Sister City“ auf.

Im Rahmen des Empfangs hat Dr. Otmar Allendorf, der langjährige Geschäftsführer des DAFK, mit einem Bilderreigen an diese Begegnung in Paderborn erinnert.

Heute können beide Städte mit Stolz auf eine lebendig erfahrene Partnerschaft zurückblicken, geprägt vor allem durch einen jährlich stattfindenden Jugendaustausch und durch die gegenseitigen Besuche von Erwachsenen.

Einladung: Zur 20jährigen Jubiläumsveranstaltung (PDF-Datei)

Ankündigung: Westfälisches Volksblatt am 07.10.2010

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Bilder von der Feier

Bildwand mit Bildern vom Besuch der Delegation aus Belleville im September 1990

DAFK-Präsident Bernd Broer, Friedel Schuette (Löhne) Pate der sister city Verbindung,
Rich Berkel (Belleville), Altbürgermeister Willi Lüke , Bürgermeister Heinz Paus

Blick auf die Festversammlung

Erinnerungsgeschenk von Mayor Eckert an Bürgermeister Paus,
übereicht von BSC-Past-President Rich Berkel

von links:
Herr und Frau Lüke; Friedel Schuette, Ehrenmitglied des DAFK;
Maria Thomalla , langjährige DAFK-Vizepräsidentin
und Ehrenmitglied

Altbürgermeister Willi Lüke erinnert an Begegnungen mit der neuen sister city Belleville in den Jahren 1989 bis 1991

alle Fotos: Dr. Otmar Allendorf

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Berichte aus örtlichen Presse:

 

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Die Geschichte der Beziehungen zwischen Belleville und Paderborn

Larry Pearson von Belleville Sister Cities, Inc. hat aus Anlaß der 20. Wiederkehr der Unterzeichnung der Freundschaftsurkunden die Geschichte der Beziehungen zwischen Belleville und Paderborn aufgeschrieben.

Mit Genehmigung von BSC wird der Beitrag hier aufgeführt.

Download oder öffnen der PDF-Datei

Grußworte der Präsidenten

President’s Message

2010 International Convention Theme –
COMMUNITY DIPLOMACY:
EMPOWERING PARTNERSHIP AND PROGRAMS.

Summer goes by so quickly. I now understand my father’s words, “The older one gets – the faster time goes.” On the horizon is:

20th year anniversary will begin on Thursday, 2 September at 4PM, with a proclamation at Belleville City Hall by Mayor Mark Eckert and other dignitaries. Contact person is our President Elect Jerry Reilmann jreilmann@rsdo.net who has volunteered to take-on this momentous year-long celebration.

Oktoberfest Beer Tent Chair Ron Fritz rntfritz@sbcglobal.net and Food Booth Chair Doris Roach jodoroach@charter.net need your calls to volunteer.

I am hopeful you will attend the Taste of Germany Dinner and possibly join Gail and my- self by inviting someone who hasn’t been to this wonderful Belleville event. Chair is Rich Berkel.

Thanks to all who took time to arrange preparations and clean-up for our annual membership appreciation event and to Theresa – for securing and not charging rent for a brief case I left behind. Games which Norma came prepared with added immensely to the joyous time shared by all. A special appreciation to those who invited guests to our event! Please inform them of our appreciation for the time they shared with us.

German Clubs of Belleville East and West and those members who performed the lion’s share of assistance for the June 4th Shiners‘ Parade float are to be applauded. At the risk of leaving key people out I wish to identify Keith Brauer, Theresa Fritz, Bill Jacobus, Norma Bergkoetter, as well as Marie and Wayne Reichling.

Please inform Jerry during the August 19th meeting or as soon as possible if you might attend the Thursday afternoon celebration at City Hall of our 20th anniversary mentioned above.

We have received tentative plans for a delegation from Paderborn to arrive on 12 May 2011.

Tom Heiting

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News from Paderborn

Dear Friends in Belleville and Around: At the time when this contribution to the Newsletter was written most of the events mentioned here are still to come, but by the time this newsletter will be published the youth group is back home, so are the four high school exchange students. We hope that all of them are full of great memories of their stay in the sister city and their travelling around Germany.

On July 18th DAFK-Vice-President Heiner Sprenkamp, Secretary Dr. Otmar Allendorf and Uta Hoischen, member of DAFK-Board, welcomed 14 young people from Belleville (and around) and their chaper-ones Andy Gaa and Jena Hollinshead with an open air all-you-can-eat dinner. They’ll stay thru August 6th (arrival July 16th) and will have an exciting program, arranged by the youth department of the City, chaperone Norman Hansmeyer. He is assisted by Andrea Hermes teaching at the school for vocational training in Paderborn. On July 19th, Mayor Heinz Paus gave a reception for all of them and their German peers at City Hall. Some of the host parents were also present. In a PowerPoint presentation, Mayor Paus showed the different economic and cultural aspects of Paderborn. He said that about 10% of the population had a migration background.

For their first tour, the youth group and the German students will go to Cuxhaven by the North Sea, the city of Bremen and the German Emigration Center in Bremerhaven focussing on emigration to the US
(http://www.dah-bremerhaven.de/english/english.html).

On the weekend of July 24th and 25th, the “Libori-Fest” will start and the young people will experience what it means for a whole region to pay tribute to the diocese’s patron saint, St. Liborius, as well as being in the center of one of Germany’s biggest fun fairs.

From July 26th thru 29th, they will be in Germany’s capital, Berlin, where they’ll do some sight-seeing and also attend lectures about political issues.

Before leaving for home, they’ll have a day tour to Essen, a big city in North-Rhine West- phalia, which is the European Capital of Culture in 2010 http://www.essen.de/english/Aktuell_E/PortalAktuell_E.asp?navibereich=eeutd

DAFK is happy to also be responsible for the farewell gathering for guests and hosts on Au- gust 5th.

Jackie Bassler, Crystal Zimmermann, Christopher Crawford and Kevin Schaefer from Belle- ville are here for four to six weeks. They hosted Paderborn students last year. They had a chance to look at school life here before the German school holidays started and they’ll take individual tours with their host families.

This summer three Paderborn students will come to Belleville: Pauline Kleinschloemer, staying with the Eckert family, Tim Sifrin (Peters family) and Josefine Hoischen (Zimmermann family). They are looking forward to experiencing American family hospital- ity, city life and culture. They’ll also get an impression of high school atmosphere and learn- ing. Many thanks for the hospitality of the host families and to everybody involved in this exchange.

This year, there’ll be the 20th anniversary of signing the friendship documents at the City Hall of Paderborn on September 2nd, 1990. Today we are fully aware and can be proud of what has been achieved: Mayor Brauer of Belleville and Mayor Lueke of Paderborn started a great era of friendship and respect between the sister cities, wonderful programs and ac- tivities have been initiated and were realized by Belleville Sister Cities Inc. and Deutsch- Amerikanischer Freundeskreis Paderborn-Belleville e.V. during the last 20 years. We grate- fully remember those in various functions who did a great job of building bridges across the Atlantic but we also encourage those who are still in office or are great supporters to go on with their activities furthering the friendship between our two cities and regions. DAFK is looking forward to a visit of a delegation to Belleville next May during Art on the Square to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the countersigning of these documents in Belle- ville which occurred on October 20th,1991.

Bernd Broer
President

Dr. Otmar Allendorf
Secretary

Mit diesen Worten begrüßte Bürgermeister Heinz Paus junge Leute aus Paderborn und der amerikanischen Partnerstadt Belleville im Rathaus. Den Teilnehmern der internationalen Jugendbegegnung stellte der Bürgermeister Paderborn und seine Geschichte vor. Am Empfang nahmen außerdem auch die Paderborner Gasteltern teil, anwesend waren außerdem Austauschschüler, die derzeit auf Einladung des Deutsch-Amerikanischen Freundeskreises in Paderborn weilen. Für den herzlichen Empfang bedankte sich im Namen der Gäste Kurt Heiner Sprenkamp, Vize-Präsident des Deutsch-Amerikanischen Freundeskreises Paderborn.

Die jungen Amerikaner, die an der vom städtischen Jugendamt gemeinsam mit dem Deutsch-Amerikanischen Freundeskreis veranstalteten Jugendbegegnung teilnehmen, werden noch bis Anfang August in Deutschland weilen. Auf dem Programm stehen unter anderem ein Besuch im Pader-Kletterpark, eine Wanderung durch den Nationalpark Wattenmeer Duhnen-Neuwerk, eine Tagesfahrt nach Bremen, ein Berlin-Besuch mit einer Führung durch den Deutschen Bundestag sowie ein Tagesausflug in die Europäische Kulturhauptstadt nach Essen.

Amt für Öffentlichkeitsarbeit und Stadtmarketing
Jens Reinhardt
Stadt Paderborn
Internet:www.paderborn.de

Am 18.7.2010 lud der DAFK die Jugendlichen aus Belleville, die zurzeit in Paderborn weilen, in den Haxtergrund zu Weyher zu einem Empfang ein.

Eingeladen waren sowohl die Jugendlichen des dreiwöchigen Sommeraustauschs (siehe dort) als auch die 4 Jugendlichen, die im Gegenbesuch zum 3-Monate Austausch im vorigen Jahr in Belleville waren.

Auf dem Foto von rechts die Gäste und ihre Gastgeber und die Vertreter des DAFK:
Chris Crawford (Belleville), Dr. Otmar Allendorf, Kevin Schaefer (Belleville), Jackie Bassler (Belleville), Philipp Dueker, Amelie Kroeger, Laureen Gertzen, Chrystal Zimmermann (Belleville), Michael Wilmsmann, DAFK-Vizepräsident Heiner Sprenkamp, Lukas Zimmermann.

Am 15.7.2010 flogen 14 Jugendliche und ihre zwei Betreuer aus Belleville vom Flughafen St. Louis nach Frankfurt, wo sie von Norman Hansmeyer und Andrea Hermes zu ihrem 3-wöchigen Aufenthalt in Paderborn abgeholt wurden.

Grußworte der Präsidenten

President’s Message

Recent remark by Patrick Madden, CEO, Sister Cities International,

“I think of all the remarkable work done by average people every day to bridge the gap of cultural understanding world- wide. People like sister cities members in small towns and big cities who have opened their homes, wallets and minds to cre- ating long-lasting peace through partnerships.”
We all need to consider how the small part we each play as members of Belleville Sister Cities is key to the Sister Cities purpose.

Although our busy time of year appears to be months away – the preparation for September and October begins NOW:

On the horizon is 20th year anniversary to begin on Thursday, September 2nd with proclamation by Mayor Mark Eckert with additional information to be distributed as we near that date. President Elect Jerry Reilmann has volunteered to take-on this momentous year-long celebration. He is ea- gerly looking forward to support from you.

Oktoberfest sign-up for numerous duties will move into full swing by the publication of the August edition of this newsletter. Immediate Past President Ron Fritz rntfritz@sbcglobal.net has volunteered to manage the Beer Tent and Doris Roach jodoroach@charter.net volunteered to manage the food booth.

Rich Berkel is preparing for Taste of Germany on 3 Oct. Contact him at reb31@att.net For our immediate future I look forward to our membership appreciation event to be held at St Luke Catholic Church in Belleville. Please contact Theresa Fritz rntfritz@sbcglobal.net with your desire to assist.
German Clubs from Belleville Schools will enter a float in the Shriner’s Parade to be held on Friday evening of 4 June. Come out and support the students who will be representing Belle- ville Sister Cities and German Clubs. Those adults wishing to lend a hand but not knowing who to contact feel free to contact me.

On March 23rd members of your board met with members of surrounding boards of Columbia, Millstadt and Waterloo for a very cordial meet and greet event. We took the opportunity to chat over the events offered by each club which reaffirmed the commitments members have within each of our clubs.

On April 9th and 10th the Illinois convention was at Carbondale. People attending the confer- ence shared much information with regard to the various programs and how our societies work with partner cities from around the globe. There was a great ice breaker session with snacks during registration at mid-day on Friday and a very nice welcome dinner that evening. On Saturday we had options of 2 sessions for sharing information, however I stayed only with the youth exchange and learned how each society has different programs suitable in their partnership. It was educational to learn how one school communicates electronically, that some have no student exchanges, and to learn what extent some go to plan activities for stu- dents and adults. From my perspective I was surprised that Josephine from Columbia and I were the only participants from Southern Illinois, other than our gracious hosts from Carbon- dale and the folks of the Southern Illinois Tourism bureau. The Illinois Sister Cities Conven- tion for 2011 will be held in Tinley Park, a short distance south of Chicago.

Stammtisch events for March and April were Very Nice – Thank You to all who planned the events and participated.

Tom Heiting

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News from Paderborn

Dear Friends in Belleville and around:

Travelling to and from Europe was not so easy at the end of April. Fortu- nately the air traffic has become normal again. People living thru the hardship of being stranded somewhere in the world started to make jokes around the problems the volcano had caused – just as a comic relief:
Dear Icelanders: You misunderstood. We said: Give us cash. Not: Give us ash.

DAFK had the pleasure to welcome the two brothers Schuyler and Damian Sandheinrich and Damian’s daughter Sahra on March 29th and 30th. Schuyler lives in Cooper City, Florida, Damian in O’Fallon.

It was Norma Bergkoetter who had asked our member Marieluise Hoyle to show them Paderborn. Marieluise was supported by Wilhelm Boekamp and Robert Voss.

Marieluise wrote in a report about their visit: “Whilst touring Germany it was on their agenda to visit their ancestors, namely the Sandheinrichs at Delbrueck near Paderborn. I guided them to the location the German family resides at. The German Sandheinrich family had already been informed about their visit and expected them. What a lovely afternoon. Shortly after our arrival a hectic conversation about their ancestors started. Both parties produced written evidence and photographs about their ancestors. From the very beginning of their meeting there appeared to be close links between the relatives.”

Looking back at their visit to Paderborn and Germany Schuyler wrote to Norma appreciating the hospitality and friendship of the people they had met: “They will remain in my fond memories for the rest of my days.”

In 1989 Josef Sandheinrich had visited Belleville with the DAFK group. And Otmar remembers him saying, “Here I have found more Sandheinrichs than I have at home.”

Another highlight in recent weeks was Wolfgang Stueken’s lecture in Powerpoint about “Paderborn Traces in Midwest USA” on April 16th. He talked about Cardinal Mundelein of Chicago (1872-1939) whose ancestors had come from the Paderborn region. Wolfgang had travelled to the town of Mundelein, Illinois where the Archbishop had founded the “University of St Mary of the Lake”, the seminary for the formation of priests in the Archdiocese of Chicago. He also fol- lowed the traces of the Flying Priest, Father Paul Schulte (1895-1974), the co-founder of the “National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows”. He could even use material from the archives of the CIA in Washington. Schulte was not allowed to return to Germany during the war but had to stay under observation in the monastery of the Oblates in Belleville. After the war having the American citizenship he had lived in Paderborn for several years.

In summer a group of youths from Belleville and their chaperones Andy Gaa and Jena Hollin- shead will come to Paderborn for three weeks. Norman Hansmeyer who has been responsible on the Paderborn side for the exchange program for several years has organized a wonderful pro- gram with visits to Berlin, Bremen, German Emigration Center in Bremerhaven (web site: www.dah-bremerhaven.de/english/english.html), etc. They’ll also be here during the Libori Fest. From Belleville we’ll also expect the students: Jackie Bassler, Crystal Zimmermann, Chris Crawford and Kevin Schaefer in response to last year’s High School Exchange. Tim Sifrin and Pauline Kleinschloemer will come to Belleville in August.

DAFK has started to work on a group trip to the US and Belleville in May 2011. We are looking forward to the stay.

Bernd Broer
President

Dr. Otmar Allendorf
Secretary

Grußworte der Präsidenten

President’s Message

WOW – 2009 was another exciting year for Belleville Sister Cities.

A big THANK YOU is extended to Immediate Past President Ron Fritz who led our
Society over the past two years. Much was accomplished including exchanges,
hosting, Oktoberfest and Taste of Germany.

It was truly wonderful that Renate and her staff hosted our Christmas get together at Roemer Topf Restaurant in Mascoutah. The dinner with a few songs by Doris accompanied by musician Charley Weyhaupt was especially great in an ole’ world environment. My special appreciation goes out to those from Belleville Sister Cities who created and contributed to all aspects of the program including Hilda and Theresa who made arrangements for attendance prizes. Wine was donated by Steve and Hilda. I think everyone had a great time as I know Gail and I did.

It was a treat to receive and meet Wolfgang and Renate Stueken from Paderborn at our November General Membership Meeting. Danke to Wolfgang who presented his detailed research on Gustave Koerner. Congratulations are in order to DAFK member Kurt-Heiner Sprenkamp who became vice-president in 2010 and we wish the very best to Maria Thomalla who served honorably as vice-president for 15 years.

20th Anniversary 1990-2010. Many of you wonderful people helped Belleville Sister Cities get off the ground towards the end of 1980s, as well as in 1990 and we THANK YOU!.

It is my belief that we, your board members, were elected to maintain our past heritage and lead Belleville Sister Cities toward another 20 years of service. On behalf of your Board, I can say we are eager to work with and learn from members of Belleville Sister Cities, DAFK and other Sister City organizations including those in our neighboring communities. I see my primary role as leading Belleville Sister Cities based on listening to the membership and understanding the group’s needs.

The schedule for 2010 provides additional challenges and opportunities for which some planning has already begun. Support from all our members is required to continually make our projects successful. Volunteers are welcome and if you are not sure who to contact for any event feel free to call me at (618) 394-1852 or send an e-mail to tomgail@sbcglobal.net

Mark your calendars for April 16th for a 20th anniversary bus excursion to and through parts of Indiana with potential opportunity for a Stammtisch with Jasper Sister City. Please consider joining us on this trip which will be discussed more during General Meeting on Feb 18th.

Gail and I will attend the 2010 Illinois State Convention being held in Carbondale in April and I am hopeful others will join us. More information from the host committee of the conference will be available soon. Please contact me if you are interested in receiving the information.

Membership chairman Herm Schoener needs your application along with updates of your current address, phone number and e-mail address in order to ensure our membership roster is correct. You can download it from the website and send it to Herm by e-mail at poph103040@aol.com. .Applications will also be available during meeting of 18 Feb. Join me by inviting a friend to our events to show off Belleville Sister Cities.

Many thanks to Doris Roach who has begun meetings and plans for the July student exchange to Paderborn. More information will be printed in the May publication of Das Mitteilungsblatt.

In closing, we need to remind ourselves of our primary purpose, which is to promote and expand understanding and friendship with Paderborn, so that citizens of each city better understand each other.

Tom Heiting

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News from Paderborn

Dear Friends in Belleville and Around:

Again as in January 2009, the first half of January this year was rather cold in Germany with much snow – similar to the weather in Belleville as we were informed in reports from our sister city.

Looking back on 2009, we want to thank Ron Fritz and also the members on the board of BSC for what they did to work for a successful relationship between our two sister-city organizations. Ron now is past president, many warm thanks to him for his two years of presidency!

We welcome Tom Heiting as new President of BSC and Jerry Reilmann as president-elect. Best wishes to both of them. We are sure that we’ll cooperate with Tom as smoothly as we did with Ron and his predecessors. We are looking forward to strengthening the bonds of friendship between our two cities and regions. Again, our Thanksgiving Dinner was a great success. Bernd could welcome about 130 members. The five students who had returned from Belleville on Nov. 8 th gave a short report of their wonderful time in Belleville and thanked everybody involved in this great project on both sides of the Atlantic. Maria Thomalla, who was made honorary member of DAFK, deliv ered a wonderful speech appreciating what she had experienced in her 15 years of being vice-president.

Wolfgang and Renate Stueken were happy to be in Belleville on Thanksgiving. Wolfgang also attended the celebration of Gustave Koerner’s 200th birthday. He had a chance to present some of his findings about Koerner who was a native of Frankfurt, Germany.

We are proud of Wolfgang who led a toast to Koerner’s 200th birthday. See the report with pictures about the celebration in the Newsletter of St Clair County Historical Society which is published on our homepage http://www.dafk-paderborn.de/archiv/2010/100115koerner_feier.html.

Barbara Broer has organized a tour for BSC to Dortmund to visit a concert with the famous violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, more about Mutter in English http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne-Sophie_Mutter

We are looking forward to welcoming the students from Belleville who hosted the Paderborn high school students in 2009, also the group of youths who will come in July.

We will also start working on a tour for an official visit of DAFK to Belleville in May 2011.

On behalf of all our members best wishes to all of you.

Bernd Broer
President

Dr. Otmar Allendorf
Secretary