Frank, I have to disagree with what you seem to be saying -- that ALL replies to someone's comments should be made off-list. Let's not go overboard. Discussion is part of what this list is about. Susan ----- Original Message ----- From: "Frank Brehm" <nikomahs@bellsouth.net> To: <ubatrans@klondyke.net>; <germany-passenger-lists@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2006 8:35 PM Subject: Re: [G-P-L] [GERMANY-PASSENGER-LISTS] Conscription > DON'T YOU READ YOUR E-MAIL CONTACT THE INDIVIDUAL DIRECT. > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Ursula B. Adamson" <ubatrans@klondyke.net> > To: <"Wayne Straight"@mail.rootsweb.com>; > <germany-passenger-lists@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2006 11:30 AM > Subject: Re: [G-P-L] [GERMANY-PASSENGER-LISTS] Conscription > > >> Hello Masuga, >> Some of your research appears to be flawed and I think it is not a good > idea to fill the >> heads of American researchers with stuff such as < "city states" such as > Hessen, Hannover, >> or Holstein>> that's just nonsense. I would suggest to anyone wanting to > know about the >> country/state of their ancestors that they 'google' around or else look >> it > up in the >> encyclopedia. >> >> You give people the impression that the only reason people left > Germany/Prussia was to >> escape conscription. That's absolutely not true....how else would you > explain the millions >> of single women who emigrated to the US because of the simple fact that > they were not free >> to marry i.e. unless the feudal landlord gave his permission. In >> addition, > there was the >> same potato plight in Germany in the late 1840s as the one that raged in > Ireland. >> >> And your comments regarding the "platt-deutsch" a dialect that is still > spoken in every >> village in Germany from the Baltic and Atlantic all the way down to Baden > and Bavaria even >> to this day along with the standard 'high german' is just pure nonsense. > Platt-deutsch has >> nothing to do with Low Saxony, it is a 'spoken language' or 'dialect' > that's different in >> every German state. >> When I visit my hometown in Hessen, I too speak 'platt-deutsch' with my > peers and anyone >> else who still remembers the local form of communication. >> >> Ursula from Michigan >> >> >> >> >> >> Wayne J. Straight wrote: >> > Hi Folks; >> > >> > I did a good bit of research to try to understand why so many of my >> > ancestors fled Schleswig-Holstein in the mid-19th Century. This led me >> > to understand that up until the time of the Prussian takeover, most if >> > not all Germans were citizens of "city states", such as Hessen, Hanover >> > or Holstein. If a German peasant had any patriotic feelings at all they >> > were to one of these city states, vice a German federation (chances are >> > that any such loyalties went no further than the local village). Since >> > the Prussians required registration for conscription at a very early >> > age >> > (15, if I remember correctly), and since the young men felt absolutely >> > no loyalty to Prussia, many fled elsewhere to avoid the draft. Once >> > having arrived in the US however, their point of view in re citizenship >> > often did a 180. Thus the irony that many who fled Prussia to avoid the >> > draft ended up enlisting in US Federal or CSA military units. >> > >> > One interesting sidebar of my research is the discovery that my >> > ancestors didn't even speak the same language as their Prussian >> > "countrymen". They spoke Plattedeutsch vice German. Also known as >> > Low-Saxon, this is a Germanic tongue more closely allied to Danish, >> > Dutch and English than to proper German. >> > >> > Cheers, Masugu >> > >> > >> > ------------------------------- >> > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > GERMANY-PASSENGER-LISTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> > >> > >> > . >> > >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > GERMANY-PASSENGER-LISTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > GERMANY-PASSENGER-LISTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >