The Fatherland

Very first issue of The Fatherland weekly dated August 10, 1914 appeared immediately after war "broke out" on July 28th following the assasination of the Austrian Crown Prince exactly one month earlier.

By Carolyn Yeager

SINCE GEORGE SYLVESTER VIERECK CAME TO MY ATTENTION, I haven't been able to get enough of him. Being especially intrigued by his publication THE FATHERLAND, you can imagine my delight upon finding a website with every issue available for reading. Credit for this goes to Pensylvania's Villanova University and the 'digital library' project of its Falvey Memorial Library. Pennsylvania has thankfully not forgotten to recognize its large ethnic German population—the 2000 US Census reports it at over 3 million, the highest total number of any U.S. state outside of California. [The highest in percent of population is North Dakota. My home state of Illinois is way down in 17th place, yet because of greater overall population still numbered almost 2.5 million Germans in the 2000 census, higher than Wisconsin's 2.2 million, though Wisconsin stands in 2nd place on the list.]