Letters of a German American Farmer: Juernjakob Swehn Travels to America

by Johannes Gillhoff, Richard Lorenz August Trost (Translation)

Early in the twentieth century, drawing upon the hundreds of letters written to his father by students who had emigrated to northeastern Iowa from Mecklenburg, in northeastern Germany, Johannes Gillhoff created the composite character of Juernjakob the archetype of the upright, honest mensch who personified the German immigrant, on his way to a better life through ambition and hard work. Gillhoff's farmer-hero, planting and harvesting his Iowa acres, joking with his neighbors during the snowy winters, building a church with his own hands, proved so popular with the German public that a million copies of Jürnjakob Swehn der Amerikafahrer are in print. Now for the first time this wise and endearing book is available in English. “First, let's talk about pigs,”Juernjakob Swehn writes from his farm in Iowa. “In America, pigs have a curly tail and talk in Low German so I can understand them.” Swehn builds a log house and makes a success of farming, marries a woman who's “a whole different nation that has its confidence from the inside,” raises a family, and becomes an elder in the Lutheran church. He recognizes his good fortune but acknowledges that memories of his village grow stronger every year, that “being homesick is the best thing that home can do for you …no power on earth holds on to you like your homeland.” It is this sense of home, both in Iowa and in Mecklenburg, that makes Juernjakob Swehn appeal to today's readers as much as he appealed to readers in 1916.

Genres: Fiction

200 pages, Paperback

Published May 1, 2000

Reviews

[AnnaB · Rating 5 out of 5]

Danke an Johannes Gillhoff, der die Auswanderer-Briefe durchgearbeitet und in diesem Büchlein veröffentlicht hat!
Harte Arbeit, viel Humor, plattdeutsche Einschübe, Staunen über die Wunder dieser Welt gibt es hier zu lesen. Dazu festen Glauben, Herzenswärme und bodenständigen Menschenverstand.

[Alanya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Machmal interessant, machmal rührig, manchmal belanglos: Jürnjakob erzählt aus seinem Auswandererleben im ländlichen Iowa um die Jahrhundertwende. Er ist ein sympatischer Briefeschreiber - etwas naiv und bodenständig, und doch lebenserfahren und bauernschlau im besten Sinne. Ob die Geschichten von Laienpredigern und ausgebüxten Kühen heute noch so faszinieren wie vor einhundert Jahren, muss man wohl selber wissen. Im letzten Kapitel, offensichtlich zu Kriegszeiten noch hastig angefügt, erwacht in Jürnjakob Swehn sein vorher sehr unterschwelliger deutscher Nationalstolz, der einen das Buch heute eher peinlich berührt zurückstellen lässt.

[Mk · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have it set aside for a re-read. I find the language similarities (Mecklenburgerplatt and English) striking and downright fun! The cultural issues in rural Iowa these German farm immigrants experienced are insightful and elucidating. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.

[Kendall · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book provides a glimpse into rural life in the midwest and the German immigrant communities of Iowa. Historically accurate and compelling.

[Patricia]

I think I will take this one with a grain of salt.