Germans of Waterloo Region

The scope of this Oral History Project is to collect the life stories of German-speaking immigrants to Canada by conducting biographic interviews with members of the German-Canadian community (immigrants from German-speaking central Europe as well as their descendants) who have ties to Waterloo Region of south-western Ontario, Canada. The interviews were video-recorded, transcribed, and the information gathered presented in two distinct ways. The initial presentation is a book which would contain individual community members' recollections of their immigration and settlement experiences. These accounts are embedded within the larger, historical context. The book chapters focus on a variety of migration-related topics, such as life before immigration to Canada, the immigration experience, life after arrival in Canada, work experience, language, and maintaining social and cultural heritage. . LCSH: Germans--Ontario--Waterloo (Regional Municipality)--History--1938-2011 | LCSH: Germans--Ontario-- Waterloo (Regional Municipality)--Social conditions--1938-2011 | LCSH: Waterloo (Ont. : Regional municipality)-- Emigration and immigration--1938-2011 | LCGFT: Oral histories Table of Contents Preface: Changing Times!..................................................................................1 Walter Stechel The Oral History Project....................................................................................3 Elizabeth Wendy Milne and Mathias Schulze The History of Waterloo Region........................................................................9 Elizabeth Wendy Milne and Mathias Schulze Mennonites......................................................................................................20 Christine Kampen Robinson and Nikolai Penner They Came from South-eastern Europe.........................................................32 Lori Straus and Emma Betz They Came from East-central Europe .............................................................47 Stephanie Cooper and Sebastian Siebel-Achenbach They Came from Germany and Austria ..........................................................58 Stefanie Templin and Sebastian Siebel-Achenbach Illustrations......................................................................................................69 Arrival in Canada.............................................................................................87 Judith Linneweber and Harald Bauder Earning a Living ...............................................................................................98 Ryan Carroll and Grit Liebscher Who Are We? .................................................................................................110 Alissa Melitzer, Natäa Nuhanovi¿, and Paul Malone How to Build a Canadian Bird with Feathers from Across the Sea.............120 Melanie Weiß Connecting with the Old Country ................................................................134 Lisa M. Rosen and James M. Skidmore Speaking the Language.................................................................................147 Wes Lindinger and Grit Liebscher Family and Children ......................................................................................156 Friederike Schlein and Linda Warley Looking Ahead...............................................................................................165 Elizabeth Milne and Mathias Schulze Bibliography ...................................................................................................168