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Approximately 100 German and American community members came together Oct. 6 at the German Protestant church in Baumholder for the first German-American Thanksgiving Prayer.
“It is good that we have done this,” said Burkhard Zill, Protestant chaplain of the City of Baumholder. “When else do you have the opportunity to foster German-American friendship, aside from the official events and meetings?”
Zill, his Catholic colleague Mathias Schmitz, Chaplain (Capt.) Donald Smith, 16th Special Troops Battalion, and Douglas Smith from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints conducted the worship service.
The brief sermon was held in English and German. Assistants Bettina Noever (Protestant) and Anne Kiefer (Catholic) provided translations. The service was followed by a potluck dinner at the community room in the back of the chapel.
Soup, chicken, salad, cake — everyone brought something. There was chatting and eating and plans were developed for future events. There was also discussion on how the German-American Stammtisch (an informal social gathering), held at 6:30 p.m. every Wednesday at the Restaurant Zum Stern, can continue to improve. It was at the Stammtisch that plans for the German-American Thanksgiving prayer were born.
Smith, together with Baumholder Assistant City Mayor Michael Röhrig, initiated these Stammtisch meetings. Smith was very impressed with the statement from Röhrig, he said.
“We, the City of Baumholder, have a desire to help make the U.S. Soldiers and their families feel like this is their home away from home,” Röhrig said. “At the more official functions, socializing and communicating works extremely well. However, at the more grass roots level we would like it to be better. These events along with the Stammtisch will help to bridge this gap.”
