Gemeinschaft: Lessons from German Immigration and Integration
Summer Exhibit 2025 - June 1 to September 30
When German immigrants first arrived in Appleton and other communities across Northeastern Wisconsin, they faced horrible discrimination. Their meager connections to their former homes - their food, drink, religion, customs, even their names - were deemed to be utterly foreign by those already living here.
Yet within a few generations, what seemed so foreign became fundamental to who we are as communities. Today, those exact things - brats and beer, Lutheranism and Catholicism, and even German surnames - are threads woven into our social fabric and are what make our part of the state so wonderfully unique.
Gemeinschaft is the German word for “community.” But its meaning is much deeper than that. It refers to people who live and work closely, who have strong personal relationships and shared morals and values, and who put the needs of the community ahead of the desires of the individual.
This describes precisely what is best about our communities.
Gemeinschaft: Lessons from German Immigration and Integration comprises a series of exhibits, events, and special tours that will tell the story of this evolution, its impact on Hearthstone, and its wider significance. It will provide reminders of what we have learned together and apply those lessons to our communities today.
Tickets for special tours and events continue on sale until September 28. Gemeinschaft exhibits in the Lower Level will be included in every tour of Hearthstone.
