Saturday Afternoon: Letters Home from a German Immigrant

Oct. 6, 2012

From the book News from The Land of Freedom: German Immigrants Write Home, Carolyn reads the letters written by Johann Witten, a young farmer from northern Hanover who traveled “steerage” with his pregnant wife to America in 1882 with very little money and, through the thrift and hard work of both, became the owner of two thousand acres of fertile land in Douglas County, Washington.

Subjects of discussion include:

• Bishop Richard Williamson ordered to pay a fine or his case will go to trial again;
• A British auction house selling “Nazi” memorabilia on Yom Kippur brings out fury from Jews;
• The hard-working nature of John and Rebecka Witten; her bearing of 8 surviving children; her early death from consumption in 1902;
  
• How John Witten kept his children following good “German” ways and provided for each one of them;
• Interesting commentary on the events of pre-war, wartime and post-war America from a German nationalist;
• The fateful circumstances that led to Witten’s first trip back to Germany at age 67 to be one from which he did not return.