Wildbahn Band - Ludwig Polka @ 60th Gottscheer Treffen Alpine Club Kitchener-Berlin 2024-8-3

Wildbahn Band
/ wildbahn.kw
This was the final song of the first day of the 2 day 60th Gottscheer Treffen, which is an annual North American reunion of the German ethnic minority Gottscheers originally from Slovenia. The event took place at the Alpine Club in Kitchener (formerly Berlin) Ontario 3-4 August, 2024.
The Alpine Club was founded by ethnic German immigrants from Gottschee, which is a traditionally a German part of southern Slovenia. Before WW1 it was part of the Austrian Empire. It was established as a German enclave during the 1300s. Due to the mistaken policies of a number of governments during and after WW2 most of the ethnic German population was forced to emigrate.
Alpine Club
464 Maple Avenue
Kitchener, Ontario
alpineclub.ca/
gottschee.org/
en.wikipedia.o...
The settlement around Kitchener was founded by German Mennonite pioneers from Pennsylvania in 1803. The city was called Berlin up to WW1, when it was renamed due to prejudices at the time. There is still an interest to restore its original name, since Herbert Kitchener was responsible for some very serious human rights abuses during the Anglo-Boer war against the civilian population. Berlin, Germany having been divided during the Cold War and then re-united has become a symbol of reconciliation and perseverance through difficult times.
There was a time when Toronto and the province of Ontario had German-speaking majorities - many were ethnic German immigrants from the USA, where Germans are the largest ethnic group nationally and are the majority in several states.
Deutsch-Kanadische Gedachtnis Stiftung - German-Canadian Remembrance Society
germanremembra...