(IMMIGRATION) Ammanns Rede bey der Rückkunft der Gemeinde Kr

Sale 2174 - Lot 142

Unsold

Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500

(IMMIGRATION.) Ammanns Rede bey der Rückkunft der Gemeinde Kreidewinkel aus Amerika. 2 pages on one sheet, 13 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches; browned and foxed, small stains, creases, slight separations at intersection of folds. Entirely legible except for a few letters of the first two lines. [Germany?], 19th century

Set Alert for Similar Items

Additional Details

A satirical poem on the wonders of America, describing the exaggerated claims made about America to the residents of the mythical town of Kreidewinkel (literally "Chalk-Angle"). The emigrants are told that in America, birds fly into your mouth already cooked. After a long journey, they discover that the country is populated with wolves and bears instead of earls and barons, and starving workers drink salt water from the sea. Deciding after two years that Hell would be much better than America, the emigrants return from Baltimore ("Baltes-Ohr") to Hamburg, and are reunited with friends and family in their home village.
The title translates as "Ammann''s oration on the return of the Kreidewinkel community from America." Jakob Ammann (c. 1644-1730) of Switzerland founded the religious group now known as the Amish in 1693. Many of the Amish migrated to America in the 18th and 19th centuries. The poem is written in German dialect, which appears somewhat similar to the dialect still spoken by the Amish in Pennsylvania Dutch country today.
No author or publisher is named, and the piece is undated, but a reference to "d''Eisebah" (the railroad) suggests the mid-19th century. No other copies of this fascinating anti-emigration piece have been traced in the standard bibliographies or in European or American library catalogues.