Foreword

(From the First Issue 1932)

Translated by George Bretträger

 

          Since in this country until now our fellow countrymen from Banat, Batschka, Srem, Slavonia, Hungary and the Arader district lacked an almanac (yearbook) which purely has a compatriot character and devotes itself exclusively to their interests, we have set as our goal to fill this gap in the life of compatriots and from now on to publish the “German-Hungarian Family Calendar” annually.  The German-Hungarian Family Calendar herewith introduces itself to the body of countrymen.

          At what does the “German-Hungarian Family Calendar” aim?

          First and foremost it will be a refuge for all compatriot deeds in this country no matter in which regions these may now be situated.  On the other hand, it is meant to serve to bring the body of compatriots in America, which after all is settled from east to west and north to south in hundreds of cities in all states of the great union, to a sooner spring.  It also wishes to cooperate in the merger of all the compatriot societies in this country to a mutual alliance, as far as this is proper to the scope of a yearbook; moreover, leading, entrusted leaders of the body of compatriots should get a chance to speak in our calendar every year.  We will also endeavor to consult tried and tested forces in the old homeland in order to be able to give an accurate picture of the cultural, social and economic conditions of our lineage members in our native land.  We also want to report about the social work and the economic condition of the body of compatriots in this country from year to year.  Our reading material should always be folksy and in the process we want to give or Swabian dialect a prominent place.  To this end, we seek capable contributors who will tell us such stories which were orally handed down to us by our old folks but until now still had never appeared in print.  In the coming years, we will always profusely embellish our calendar with illustrations from the old homeland.  For that, we want to use only pictures which are of interest for our circle of readers.  We now request those readers, who have suitable pictures in possession, that they might place the same at disposal as a loan for this purpose.  Only such views are considered which are of general interest for the body of compatriots and prepared clearly and neatly.

          Our guiding principle is to take the calendar to a height that both we as well as the body of compatriots can look at with pride, and it wins us honor and esteem among all the Germans.

          Our maiden calendar radiates a lot of nostalgic warmth due to its illustrations of the old homeland and, through its “compatriot society almanac,” the “address list of the body of compatriots” and the “compatriot business guide,” gives a picture of what we have in mind and from what necessity this is for the entire body of compatriots in this country.

          If it was not completely possible for the editorial staff to shape the first calendar the way they had in mind, then this deficiency can be sought in the relatively short time since mid-July 1931.

          May spirit and style of the samples, which this German-Hungarian yearbook combines for 1932, give an approximate idea of the direction to which we aspire.

 

*          *          *

 

          When Mr. Marx was on the calendar organizational trip in the last year, he received pictures as a loan from many compatriots for our calendar of this year.  From them, we have selected and published the nicest from different regions.  There have still remained, however, many on hand with us which we would like to publish in our next year’s calendar.  Therefore, we request the owners of the same to leave them with us until then.

          All the pictures used, as well as those which are unsuitable for publication, we will return by mail.

          Because of the late arrivals of many orders for the compatriot address list, we were delayed in the completion of the calendar.  We wanted, however, to fashion the address list as extensive as possible, since it is of special importance for the body of compatriots and also the calendar; only because of that, we have decided to go beyond the usual time with the publication of the calendar.  Since, however, the content of the calendar is, in its way, tied to the account book, the delay is certainly disagreeable, however of no particular significance.  Of course, we suffer the greatest loss since with timely publication we could have sold many more calendars than now will be the case.

          A lot of complaints were lodged with us from everywhere because of the delay.  As a result of the work overload during the preparation of the calendar, we had to let the same (complaints) go unheeded.  We, therefore, express in this way our regret about the unpleasant delay.  We also hereby amiably apologize to all our advertisement and address list customers regarding this.

          We want to bring out our next year’s calendar around mid-November of this year.  In order to prevent any delay, we want to stress that all material for our 1933 calendar must be in our possession by October 15^th of this year at the latest in order to be able to be considered.

          In the existing calendar, we publish an address list of more than 1,100 addresses of fellow countrymen from many cities and states.  Our efforts go to triple at least the number of the same in our next year’s calendar and also to add all those cities in which our body of compatriots is represented in large numbers.  We also want to complete the compatriot society almanac and the compatriot business guide.  In order to be able to achieve all this, in the course of this year our managing director, Mr. Joseph Marx, will undertake several trips through the land and agitate among the fellow countrymen for this purpose.  We herewith recommend him to the body of compatriots and request the same to offer him full confidence and to be helpful in connection with his work.

          Fellow countrymen who are represented in this year’s address list—as well as every other fellow countryman—can also send in their registration for the address list of next year’s calendar in writing.  One would use the address list of the existing calendar as a model.  The insertion into the address list costs only 50 cents including the calendar.  We hold the price so low, fundamentally, in order to offer to every fellow countryman the opportunity to have himself entered in the same.  The more fellow countrymen make use of this opportunity, the more interesting the calendar will become.  For all orders, one will want to enclose the amount in check or money order since the COD transaction is too involved and would force two kinds of bookkeeping on us, also COD deliveries would raise the price; we want to avoid both.

As long as the stock of our this year’s calendar lasts, we will send the same to any address direct and prepaid for 35 cents in the United States and for 40 cents to Canada and Europe.  For all orders, one will equally want to enclose the appropriate amount in check or money order so that no delay develops in the shipment.  We request names and addresses be written clearly.  One would address all letters and orders to: 

 

Schwäbische Verlagsanstalt, 1739 Clybourn Ave., Chicago, Ill.

 

          We are of the hope that our existing yearbook finds favor and approval among the body of compatriots, and express herewith our most heartfelt thanks to all our advertisement customers, to the compatriot society people and business people, as well as to all fellow countrymen who supported us by entry of their names in the society almanac, the business guide and in the address list and thereby helped to carry out our arduous work.

 

With compatriot greeting

 

The editors.