Plattdeutsch (Low German) in Cole Camp, Missouri
From: Rural Missouri, July 1990, pp. 10-11
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Unner hoge, dicke Eeken
steit min lewet Vaderhus,
awerhen dar treckt de Wulken,
weit de Winne mit Gebrus.
So begins a German poem which in English is translated:
Under high, thick oak trees stands my loving Father's house. Above, the clouds are swiftly moving. The wind is blowing with lots of force.
A group of about 20 people sit around the living room of Evelyn Gossen's farmhouse near Cole Camp. The group reads together the remainder of the poem which recalls the longing memories of a man for his childhood in northern Germany. The poem is read in Low German, the ancient language of the northern German people. Evelyn is teaching the group the language of their ancestors, and for many, their parents. A few in the room speak the language fluently including Evelyn. It is the language of the Low German people who settled in Cole Camp.
Settlers began to trickle into central Missouri to Benton, Pettis and Morgan. counties in the early l830s. But, later in the decade and into the 1840s the trickle became a flood as hundreds of families left their homes and farms in northern Germany and made the long, dangerous journey to settle around Cole Camp. These early German settlers brought with them a language called Plattdütsch or Low German.
"It's important to know your heritage, to know who you are. And the Low German language is part of our heritage. It's who we are," says Shirley Cash, chairperson of Cole Camp's 1989 sesquicentennial. The celebration centered on the town's German heritage.
"You'll not find another community with such vibrancy, and I like to think it's the Low German heritage," says Neil Heimsoth, a Sedalia artist whose family history is part of that heritage. Like many people in Cole Camp, Heimsoth speaks Plattdütsch.
Low German is a dying language. It is old; much older than the formal language known as High German spoken in Germany today. Low German has not been a written language for centuries. It is a spoken language. It is informal and personal. Plattdütsch was the language taught to children by their mother. It is still called the "mother tongue" of the northern German people.
"The Low German language is a smooth, easy-going language that you learned at your mother's knee," says Leonard Brauem, a life-long resident of Cole Camp who is fluent in Plattdütsch.
In a northern German region along the coast of the North Sea, in the low country, the history of Cole Camp and its language began.
"A lot of people think it's called Low German because it's a lower form of . the language," says Leonard. "It actually refers to the flat country of northern Germany
Much like the Netherlands, this region of Germany is low-lying, often only a few feet above sea level and constantly covered with water. To live here, the German people dug thousands of miles of canals and reclaimed farmland from bogs and swamps. But, life in the flat country was difficult. Disease was common and life was hard.
By the early l800s, Europe had been racked by centuries of war. Leonard Bmauer's great-great grandfather, Johan Hinmich Brauer fought for the English in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. He decided that his sons would never fight another man's war. But, where to go to escape turmoil ant the hard life in the low countries
There was little land left in Germany, but in America there was endless land and opportunity. In 1844 Johan gathered up his family and sailed to New Orleans. From there he traveled by river to Boonville and overland to Benton County.
The story of Leonard Brauer's great-great grandfather closely parallels that of many families who traveled to the Cole Camp area from northern Germany.
"It was like a chain reaction. When one family started coming, others soon followed," he says.
From 1840 until the start of the Civil War a major migration of German people to the Cole Camp area happened. A key to why Cole Camp's German community stays so close today is that most of the more than 400 families who journeyed to Cole Camp between 1840 nd 1860 came from a tiny area in northern Germany of only about 40 square miles. These families brought with them their customs, traditions, the Lutheran Church, and their language.
Once Low German families settled onto their farms they learned English, the language of their new country, but they kept Plattdütsch alive in the home. Leonard Brauer learned Low German as his first language from his parents who still spoke it at home. He did not learn English until grade school
It is estimated that more than 1,000 people in Cole Camp still understand Low German. Many speak it fluently. That language more than anything else has bound the German community in Cole Camp together. Families share common histories and traditions, and they share the language.
But, still the Low German language is dying. Until recently there was little interest in keeping it alive. Young people especially were not interested in learning the language of their parents. Even High German is not taught in the Cole Camp school district. The gradual loss of the language alarmed many people.
"Low German is really unique. It's like an endangered species," says Shirley Cash. "It may not be here tomorrow, so it becomes more precious."
People in the community saw an opportunity in the 1989 sesquicentennial to revive interest in the Low German heritage. What began as a simple call for a collection of Plattdütsch sayings became an overwhelming response which showed how deeply interested people were in the area's past. The result was an exhaustive history of the Low German people of Cole Camp, "Here We Speak Low German," published in 1989. The book chronicles the unique history of the community, its people and its language.
Interest in Low German history remains strong here. A group has organized performances of Low German theatre, a tradition found in Germany but unknown in the United States. Low German theatre is a collection of traditional skits and songs all performed in Plattdütsch. The theatre was shown to sold-out audiences in Cole Camp and in the German community of Concordia to the delight of people who enjoyed German stories told without the benefit of English translation. Now Evelyn Gossen is teaching Low German in her home.
"This has been an opportunity for Cole Camp," says Shirley Cash. "It's really brought the community together."
Despite the new interest in Plattdütsch, many still fear the language will be lost.
"Low German is going to be a dead language," says Neil Heimsoth, who illustrated the community's history book. "I'm not sure there is anything we can do about it. But, perhaps through books and music we can preserve a little bit of it."
"It's family. It's history," says Leonard Brauer "When you lose this language, you lose a big piece of your past'
Leonard Brauer of Cole Camp walks through the cemetery at the Brauersville Immanuel Lutheran Church. The church and town which once stood near there were named for Leonard's great-great grandfather, Johan Hinrich Brauer, who started the town after moving to America from Germany with his family in 1844. The large gravestone to the right is Johan's and the inscription is in German.
"Vat ist dltt?" "What is this? asks Evelyn Gossert in her home near Cole Camp. Evalyn is teaching a group of people Low German. Many of them went to Germany in the summer of 1990 to tour the area that their ancestors came from.
Henry Lange Sr. sings a Low German song durIng a performance of the Low German theatre in Concordia. Low German theatre is a collection of German skits and songs performed without English translation. The theatre was shown to sold out audiences in Cole Camp and Concordia.
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Mirror site on Pace Network
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