Germans in the Making of Missouri
12:00 p.m., Monday, Nov. 3, 2008
Webster Hall Auditorium
Admission: free

Missouri Germans sent more of their young men into the Union Army than did the Germans of any other state. The Germans of St. Louis are often credited with saving Missouri for the Union. The German brewers of St. Louis, most notably Anheuser-Busch, supplied much of the South and the lower Midwest with beer. Like Germans across America, Missouri Germans were intimidated and assaulted during World War I. Late in the 20th century, the stigma against all things German that had resulted from the two world wars faded. Once again elderly people across the state tried to speak the language they had spoken at home in Missouri as children. They began to celebrate their European heritage once more.

Robert Frizzell is director of libraries at Northwest Missouri State University. After a bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia and service in the U.S. Army, he obtained master’s degrees in European History and librarianship from the University of Illinois. He has published numerous book reviews and articles in half a dozen historical journals. His book, Independent Immigrants: A Settlement of Hanoverian Germans in Western Missouri, was published in October 2007 by the University of Missouri Press.