Use of German in Bethel Song Books
At the State Historical Society Of Missouri, there is a beautifully written songbook from Bethel Colony made between 1859 and 1863. The books are written by an unknown author, but their use of German tells us a lot about the community. The use of German shows they wanted to retain their culture and that it was a defining part of their life. Language is linked to identity and because they used their native language to write this book they cared about their native land.
The book is small, less than the size of my hand, and is unlabeled but has a brown cover on the outside. The book looks sewn in by hand and is very worn due to it being over 150 years old. The writing is black and is handwritten in an elegant cursive type of German. The book reads right to left, however, towards the end the pages are upside down. Unfortunately, I could not read the actual writing in the books, however, the description says they are a collection of folk songs and hymns. There are over 50 songs in the collection.
I believe this book was originally used as a hymnal for a church, due to how cleanly it was written as well as the fact that the verses were clearly labeled. This shows it was meant to be read and sung by a group and was not just for personal use. As, when writing for oneself, you would not go to such effort as to make sure any reader can understand and sing it.
Bethel colony, where this book was from was created by German immigrants who embraced their heritage and had close ties to their native land. They believed in communal objects and shared property, so nothing exclusively belonged to one person. They had a leader, but everyone would get a share of anything and any building was free to use. They did not believe in sharing wives, as most colonists were married to a single wife. These communist ideas were not representative of their German roots, but they could have been influenced by Karl Marx, a native of Germany. The original colony was abandoned before the twentieth century due to the leader wanting to move further west, but its German past remains, and the community still has some of its German roots
I believe this book shows us the significance of the German language at the time in Missouri. It tells us that into the 1860s, German was still being used over English by this point by some populations and many people still wrote and spoke the language, even when in a new land where it was not the primary language. There were many German newspapers like Täglicher Anzeiger des Westens that were written in German and that showed many German Americans still spoke German. The German Americans at the time embraced their culture and were proud to present it in the Americas. Although this could have just been for convenience reasons as St. Louis had a large immigrant population, they did not assimilate by writing in English which shows they were embracing their heritage.
However, if German was frequently used at the time, then why do we not see it used now? This is because of the anti-German sentiment due to World War I. After the world war, hatred from non-German Americans caused the ban of the language in many places, and in places where it was not banned, it was heavily shunned, and many Germans were forced to use English or be seen as anti-American. Germans did not feel safe using their native language anymore. This included changing the names of everything that had German in the title and banning German in schools. This caused many Germans to be upset as they felt like their culture was being destroyed.
An example of this is in an article from The Clarence Courier in 1918, which states many German Americans were disheartened to find out that their language was banned from being taught in schools. The writer mentions that Germans were integral to the community and there were many people who used German as their primary language and felt they were no longer accepted in the community.
I believe that the use of a common language can unify a population as it did for the people of the Bethel colony. Because the songbook was not written in English, it shows us the population had intended on keeping their German roots in the new land and this book helped preserve it during the time. Later, the inhabitants of the Bethel colony moved west. The use of the German language in Missouri has also been hindered thanks to the anti-German sentiment of World War I and World War II causing a negative association with German culture. However, as more time moves on, there has been a revival movement of German culture and many Missourians are embracing the German heritage proving that even nearly 200 years after the initial German migration to the state, German culture is thriving.
