From Langenbrück to Kansas City

Author(s)

Andrew Bergerson, Li Gerhalter, Thorsten Logge

Abstract

In 1911, Thekla E. Scholz migrated at the age of 23 from her rural village in
Upper Silesia to work as a maid in the United States. She and her husband Robert J. Kiefer, an itinerate cabinet maker and musician, settled in Kansas City
after he served in the German Army during the First World War. Thanks to
Thekla’s lifelong habit of preserving holy cards, letters, photographs, and postcards, scholars can study her migration and subsequent life in Missouri as well
as the ongoing challenges faced by her family and friends in both countries.
In 2020, the Robert J. Kiefer and Thekla E. Scholz Collection became the
primary focus of a collaborative international online research seminar and project involving four faculty members and more than thirty graduate students in
art history, ethnography, history, and public history from the Universities of
Hamburg, Vienna, Wrocław, Missouri-Kansas City and -St. Louis. German
Migration to Missouri 2.0 consists of student-authored microhistories focusing
on this one German-American family. It offers rare glimpses into the experience of German-American migration and acculturation through the lens of a
fascinating working-class woman.

Organisation(s)

Department of History

External organisation(s)

Universität Hamburg, University of Missouri–Kansas City

No. of pages

179

DOI

https://doi.org/10.25592/gmm-2-2021

Publication date

2021

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

601022 Contemporary history

Portal url

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/7abcec03-7a34-450b-b4f7-a0801ce3941b