ATTEMPTS TO PRESERVE NATIONAL CULTURES
IN CLEVELAND
By WELLINGTON G. FORDYCE
Historically the social activities of
the foreign born in Cleve-
land present a somewhat confused
picture. Certain of their ac-
tivities represent an attempt to
preserve their native culture. Some
of these have the active support of
native Americans for the
purpose of exploiting the wealth of
culture represented in the
various nationality groups in the city.
A second purpose of this
American support has been to speed and
to ease the process of
assimilation and naturalization through
an understanding of the
immigrant's background. An overview of
the history of immi-
grants in Cleveland during the past half
century shows the inter-
weaving of these motives.
Five factors have dominated this phase
of Cleveland's his-
tory. The first of these is the part
played by the actual foreign
colonies themselves. This has been discussed in a previous
article.1 The other elements
working for the purposes discussed,
are the foreign language press,
immigrant schools, immigrant in-
stitutions and societies, and certain
folk festivals and celebrations.
Cleveland has supported a varied foreign
language press.
Since 1900 there have been between one
hundred and one hun-
dred fifty foreign-language newspapers
and periodicals pub-
lished in the city. There have been
dailies, weeklies, triweeklies,
monthlies, and quarterly publications.
Humor, local and foreign
politics, religion, and society have
been their themes. The num-
ber has fluctuated a good deal. In 1927
twenty foreign publica-
tions were listed in Cleveland.2 Many
small publications have
been founded, but the majority of them
have lasted only a short
time. Those which have been most successful
and influential
1 Wellington G. Fordyce, "Immigrant
Colonies in Cleveland," Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical
Quarterly (Columbus) XLV (1936),
320-40.
2 Cleveland Year Book (1927), 284-6.
(128)
FORDYCE; NATIONAL CULTURES IN CLEVELAND 129
have been those published for the larger
immigrant groups. Resi-
dence and his employment have given the
immigrant an interest
in American customs, ideas, and events.
It has been the function
of the foreign press to communicate
news, and thus initiate the
immigrant reader into the American
environment and to translate
to him American ways and ideals.3 In
1929 there survived in
Cleveland some twenty-five foreign
publications. Of these, eight
were German, seven of them being
religious or society publica-
tions, three were Czech, four Polish,
two Italian, three Hungarian,
two Rumanian, and one Lithuanian.4
One of the oldest publications in
Cleveland is the Waechter
und Anzieger. It was founded in 1852 as the Waechter am Erie
by Louis Ritter and Jacob Mueller.
August Thieme, its first
editor, had fled from Germany after the
Revolution of 1848. It
was first published as a weekly, but in
1871 was taken over by
Henry Gentz and issued as a triweekly
independent. The follow-
ing year it was taken over by a stock
company and made a daily.
The paper's early political sympathies
under this organization were
Republican.5 Henry Gentz founded a second German
paper, a
weekly, in 1885.6
The early editors of the German papers
were usually liberals,
who had come to America when attempted
Revolution failed.
From 1900 to 1914 a number of the editors
were former officers
in the German army. Most of this new
group of editors were
unnaturalized and extremely
nationalistic. Von Noske, the editor
of the Waechter und Anzciger in
1914 was of this class. The
owners, because of this, thought it
better to employ new editors
who would not be offensive to American
public opinion.7
In 1924
the Waechter und Anzeiger passed
into the hands of
Dr. Andrew Cserna, a Hungarian, who also
controlled the leading
Hungarian daily, the Szabadsag. In
1928 the
syndicate which had
been organized to control these papers,
the Consolidated Publish-
ing Company, added to its chain the
Pittsburgh Volksblatt. The
3 Robert E. Park, The Immigrant Press
and Its Control (New York, 1922), 87.
4 N. W. Ayer and Sons, American
Newspaper Annual and Directory (1929),
752 ff.
5 W. Scott Robinson, Cleveland, 1888 (Cleveland,
1889?), 316.
6 Ibid., 318.
7 Park, Immigrant Press, 267.
130
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
president of the Consolidated Publishing
Company was William
Hopkins, son of a Welsh immigrant, and
one of the members
of the board of directors was Morris
Bernon, former member of
the Board of Elections, of
Hungarian-Jewish ancestry. This last
phase in the history of the Waechter
und Anzeiger is a bow to
American corporation practices, a
strange fate for a once power-
ful liberal German paper.
The most important Hungarian paper has been
the Szabadsag.
It was founded as a weekly in 1880 by E.
T. Kohanyi. Kohanyi
came from that class of Hungarian gentry
which was landless and
untitled. Members of his staff came from
this same group of Hun-
garians, which as a class has been
extremely conservative and
chauvinistic. Kohanyi was without
capital when he arrived in
Cleveland, but persuaded Louis Black and
Theodore Kundtz to
purchase stock in the paper. After a
short time Kohanyi moved
the paper to New York, but there it was
unsuccessful, and he
brought it back to Cleveland.8 In
1906 the Szabadsag absorbed
several competitors. One of them, the Magyar
Napilap, was sup-
posed to have some four thousand
subscribers. Mrs. Kohanyi
succeeded her husband after his death,
which occurred just before
the war. Dr. Andrew Cserna, formerly a
lawyer and banker
in Hungary, later married Mrs. Kohanyi
and took over the editor-
ship of the paper. How the Szabadsag passed
into the control of
a syndicate which also held the Waechter
und Anzeiger, has al-
ready been described.
Dr. Arthur Winter published a weekly
paper called Otthon,
but disposed of it to a Chicago
publisher just prior to the war.
George Kemeny founded a daily which was
transferred to Detroit
in 1916. John Biro, a former editor of Szabadsag,
founded Kepes
Vilaglap, an illustrated paper. Its circulation jumped to 8,000
in
seven months, and it was then sold to a
New York Hungarian
daily.9 In 1933 five
Hungarian papers still existed. Two were
dailies, the Szabadsag and Uj
Elore, the latter being a communist
8 Ibid., 347.
9 H. A. Liebovitz and P. Mihaly, A
Clevelandi Magyarok Tortente (The His-
tory of Cleveland Hungarians); tr. by
Frederick Gonda (Cleveland, 1919), 140.
FORDYCE: NATIONAL CULTURES IN
CLEVELAND 131
organ. The other three were weeklies,
one being a religious pub-
lication, and the other two being
smaller publications.
Cleveland has three Jewish publications,
the Jewish Review
and Observer, the Jewish Independent, and the Jewish World.
The
Jewish World, published in Yiddish, is a daily. The other two are
weeklies. The most important Jewish
paper in Cleveland has
been the Jewish Independent. It
was founded in 1906 by Maurice
Weidenthal, American-born of
Bohemian-Jewish parentage. Un-
der his direction the Jewish
Independent became the spear point
of many Jewish policies, both local and
national.
Maurice Weidenthal fostered an attack
upon the teaching of
The Merchant of Venice in the public schools, and the movement
spread to all Jewish America. One of the
Jewish societies, B'nai
B'rith, took the matter up and made it a national affair. The
motive was not antagonism to Shakespeare
as literature, but seems
to have been inspired by the Jewish fear
that plastic minds would
receive a picture of Jewish character
from Shylock that might
later lead to prejudice and persecution.
For similar reasons this
paper has opposed all plans to
incorporate religious instruction
into the public school curriculum. Any
movement which brings
any hint of a state and church union
receives their opposition.
Leo Weidenthal succeeded his brother in
the editorship and con-
tinued these policies. Under Leo
Weidenthal the Jewish Inde-
pendent has become distinguished for its literary excellence.
The first Polish paper founded in
Cleveland was Polonia W
Ameryce. It was founded in 1891 by a group headed by M. P.
Kniola. Theodore Dluznski assumed
control a few years later.
The latter sold the paper to a Detroit
concern which published
it until 1928. W. J. Nowak was the head
of a group of Cleveland
Poles who took control in that year. At
the time it was taken
over by the Detroit firm the name was
changed to Monitor Polish
Daily. This same firm of Cleveland Poles, organized under the
name, United Publishing Company,
publishes Zwiazkowiec, organ
of the National Alliance of Poles.
Another smaller daily, the
Polish Daily News, and three other weeklies are published in
Cleveland. The weeklies are religious
and society organs.10
10 W. J. Nowak, ed., Survey and Maps
of Polish Cleveland (Cleveland, 1930), 2.
132
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Two Italian papers have survived in
Cleveland. El Courier
del Ohio is a weekly. The most important is the daily, La
Voca
de Populo. There are five Slovene papers in Cleveland, two of
them dailies. The Ameriska Domovina was
founded in 1898, and
to celebrate its thirty-fifth
anniversary moved into a new building
of its own. Enakopravnost is the
other daily. It has been an
opposition paper of liberal leanings. A
bi-monthly, The Family,
official organ of the Russian National
Brotherhood is published
in Cleveland, and the American
Russian Messenger, which is pub-
lished in Homestead, Pennsylvania, has a
large circulation in
Cleveland. A weekly, the American
Russian News, and the Amer-
ican Orthodox Messenger, a monthly, are published in Cleveland.
The Rusin Elite Society published a
monthly magazine for several
years, but it was abandoned in 1929.
This magazine, while small,
was of considerable merit.
A Swedish daily was published in
Cleveland in 1905, but
failed because of the small colony in
Cleveland that it had to
draw upon for subscribers. The Greeks
had a similar paper which
was published between 1926-1932, but it
failed for a like reason.
In 1905 two Syrian medical students
started a paper, but it failed
in a few months due to a limited
circulation. The American Ru-
manian Daily News was founded in 1904. It has a splendid plant
on Detroit Avenue and claims a daily
circulation of 30,000. It
is the official organ of the Union of
Rumanian Societies and has
a national circulation. The Czech press
has almost disappeared.
In 1896 there were forty Czech
publications in Cleveland. In
1929 there were only two. Of these, Svct,
a daily, was the largest,
and it has retained much of its
influence and importance.11 There
have been a number of radical papers
among the Cleveland for-
eign press, but none of them have had a
long life.
The foreign press in Cleveland had it's
greatest importance
before 1920. No movement whether social or
political, could
succeed among the immigrant groups
without the approval of
their press. To be ignored or
"teased" by these papers meant
complete failure for any business or
political venture.12 The
11 Ayer, Newspaper Directory (1929),
752.
12 Park, Immigrant Press, 76.
FORDYCE: NATIONAL CULTURES IN
CLEVELAND 133
loss of circulation which they have
suffered since immigration has
come to a virtual standstill has ended
much of this great power,
although this does not mean that they
are entirely without in-
fluence.
This disintegration began with the war.
Nationalistic feel-
ing ran high and the foreign press
seemingly overlooked the pos-
sibility of America's entrance into the
war on the side of the
allies. In order to survive, a
"right about" in policy was neces-
sary on the part of the German papers
particularly.13 During the
first three years of the war the Szabadsag
was extremely jingo-
istic. It's editor, Stephen Puky, had
Junker connections abroad.14
The worst situation was revealed when it
appeared that William
Warne, another of it's editors, had
suggested a plan for labor
agitation to interfere with the
manufacture of munitions. A
movie film was also to be used in this
program. A letter from
Warne to Austro-Hungarian ambassador,
Dr. Constantin Dumba,
was intercepted.15 Older
citizens of Cleveland recalled a day
when German newspapers were not censored
and their editors
were not sent to jail. In 1871 the
German victory over France
saw a great celebration in Cleveland.
The public schools closed,
German flags were in evidence, and all
Cleveland joined with it's
German-born in celebrating victory. Such
was the importance
of it's German population forty-five
years earlier.16
The circulation and advertising of
practically all foreign
language papers in Cleveland have
declined sharply since the
war. The stoppage of immigration, the
wave of American na-
tionalism of the 1920's, and the final blow of the great collapse
of 1932 were obstacles too great for
them to surmount. Each
editor interviewed by the writer claimed
many more thousands
in circulation than available figures
supported. For business
reasons, a statement of actual
circulation was not available. The
Waechter und Anzeiger used to be sold on every newstand, and
13 Carl Wittke, "Ohio's German
Language Press and the War," O. S. A. H. S.
Quar., XXVIII
(1918), 85.
14 Park,
Immigrant Press, 352.
15 Senate
Sub-committee of the Committee on Judiciary, Hearings on Brewing
and Liquor Interests, and German and
Bolshevik Propaganda, 66 Cong.,
1 Sess.,
Sen. Doc. No. 62 (1919), III, 1466 ff.
16 Celestia E. Melton, Memories (Cleveland, 1919), 14.
134
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
the Szabadsag also had an
enormous circulation. In 1929 Ayer
gave the Szabadsag 19,000 daily circulation and the Waechter und
Anzeiger 18,000.17 Whatever the actual circulation, every for-
eign paper in Cleveland has suffered
heavy losses, those of the
Germans and Hungarians being greater
than those of the papers
of newer immigrant groups. New
newspapers published by the
merchants themselves, have cut heavily
into their sources of
income and their dwindling circulation
has made advertising
difficult to secure. Public utilities
and patent medicines are still
their staples in the matter of paid
advertising.
Most of these papers have been housed in
new buildings
within the last decade. Obviously they
intend to continue in
business. The business in which they
will be engaged in the
future will not be the newspaper
business unless restrictions on
immigration are lifted. Most of them
seem to be in a stage of
transition in which the ultimate
business will be that of printing.
The company which publishes the Szabadsag
and the Waechter
und Anzeiger does a great deal of job printing and had the
Goodyear contract for advertising in
1930. The
Monitor Polish
Daily publishes two suburban American papers on it's presses.
It has also printed a Polish Telephone
Directory, and a city di-
rectory of Poles. These activities
outside the regular business of
publishing a foreign language paper,
explain how they have been
able to maintain themselves during a
difficult period of their his-
tory, all with some dim hope of a new
wave of immigration. News-
papers published by the newer immigrant
groups have had the
same problems. All have adopted the
practice of adding a page or
two in English in an attempt to make
readers of the American-
born generations, who have shown a
marked lack of interest in
retaining a knowledge of their ancestral
tongue. To avoid failure
and eventual bankrupcy, the press of the
later immigrant groups
will have to adopt devices such as those
used by the older for-
eign language papers.
Immigrant education in Cleveland has a
dual history. The
object of one type of education has been
Americanization. The
27 Ayer, Newspaper Directory (1929), 752.
FORDYCE: NATIONAL CULTURES IN
CLEVELAND 135
object of the other has been to preserve
the native language and
culture. The question seems to have
received little attention
until the time of the World War, when
Cleveland became race
conscious, as did the rest of the
country. In 1921 it was esti-
mated that there were 100,000 persons in
Cleveland who were
unable to read or write English, and
150,000 more who had ac-
quired enough knowledge of the language
for the most elementary
purposes.18 During the war
and following with the post war
wave of nationalism, considerable
attention was devoted to this
condition. How rapidly it was dealt with
is demonstrated by the
enrollment of 64,000 non-English
speaking persons in the city's
evening elementary schools in 1925.19
The parochial schools have been
important in immigrant
education. Before the war the
immigrant's children were sent
to these schools to preserve the group
language as well as for
religious education. In addition other
part time schools were
maintained for instruction in the native
tongue. The immigrant's
desire to maintain his language was part
of the eternal struggle
of the subject minorities to preserve
their racial culture, which
was going on in Europe before 1914. This
was the case with
Czechs, Slovaks, Jugoslavs, and Poles.20 The Germans gave
up most of their parochial and language
schools with the intro-
duction of German into the public
schools of Cleveland, and by
1900 most of their
separate schools had been abandoned. The
rate of illiteracy was lower among the
Czechs than among many
of the newer groups. They were eager for
education and all who
had the means took advantage of every
opportunity. Most of
the Czechs obtained at least an
elementary education, and a large
percentage of them soon entered the
professions. They main-
tained language schools outside public
school hours. In 1927 the
Bohemian Free Thinkers maintained five
Czech schools with
classes in language and history in
Cleveland.21
The Slovaks have been supporters of the
American free
school system. Due to their economic
status however, not many
18 Cleveland Citizens' bureau, Annual
Report (1921), 5.
19 Cleveland
Year Book (1925), 105.
20 Herbert A. Miller, The School and
the Immigrant (Philadelphia, 1916), 53.
21 Cleveland Year Book (1927), 337.
136 OHIO
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
of this group were able to give their
children more than an
elementary education. Today the picture
is changed, and more
and more of the Slovak children finish
high school, and their
college graduates have begun to take
their place in the professions.
The Jugoslavs have stubbornly preserved
a national culture
through centuries of rule by other
races. They have been able
to do this through the efforts of their
churches, and of a line
of minstrels called guslari. The
latter in verse and song have
preserved the folk culture of a race.22 Today there are several
language schools supported by their
societies and churches. They
have small enrollments but still
function. In 1919 one of the
Slovenian schools was the second largest
in the city.23 The Serbs
have a single language school attached
to the Serbian Orthodox
Church.
The Italians and Poles were not strong
supporters of educa-
tion in the early days of their
Cleveland residence. Few of either
group completed high school, and it was
not until some time
after the World War that they began to
appear in the professions.
The few who did take advantage of
educational opportunities
became leaders of their group. The Case
football team was
coached for a number of years by an
Italian who had worked
his way through high school and college,
and members of both
groups attained distinction in various
professions. The Poles
attended parochial schools, and until
1918 the instruction in these
schools was in Polish. In 1918 the Ohio
Legislature passed a
law which required all instruction in
the elementary grades to be
in English.24 There have been
fewer Italian parochial schools
than might be expected. In 1929 there were
only two. One
writer attributes this to distrust of
clerical control that was a
heritage from the fatherland.25
However, in the last few years
there has been an increasing enrollment
of Italian immigrant
children in the Cleveland parochial
schools. Italy's rise to Eu-
ropean importance seems to have
stimulated racial pride, and a
desire to know the mother tongue.
Cleveland school officials
22 Eleanor E. Ledbetter, The
Jugoslavs in Cleveland (Cleveland, 1918), 7.
23 Cleveland Year Book (1927),
339.
24 C. W. Coulter, The Poles in Cleveland (Cleveland, 1919), 26.
25 C. W. Coulter, The Italians in
Cleveland (Cleveland, 1919), 21 ff.
FORDYCE: NATIONAL CULTURES IN
CLEVELAND 137
have found it expedient to add the study
of Italian to the courses
of study in some of the public high
schools. The Italian societies
have revived their language schools. In
1927 the Polish Na-
tional Alliance maintained six language
schools in Cleveland. In
1929 there were eighteen Polish
parochial schools, and five of the
Cleveland high schools had a majority of
their pupils from Polish
homes.26
The Lithuanians have been strong
supporters of education,
and have placed an increasing value upon
advanced education.
This shows in any study of their place
in the economic life of
Cleveland. Few are found in unskilled
jobs, most of them being
in more technical trades and the
professions. A number of
Lithuanian organizations have made
voluntary pledges to help
at least one ambitious boy from their
group to gain a higher
education.27 All of the
Hungarian Catholic churches have paro-
chial and language schools. The
Hungarian Reformed Churches
had over a thousand children enrolled in
their part time schools
in 1921.28
Twenty Cleveland synagogues had language
schools as a part
of their program in 1917.29 In 1921 nine of
these schools had a
total enrollment of 2,000 children between seven and fifteen years
of age. The children met five days a
week outside of regular
school hours to receive instruction in
Hebrew language and litera-
ture, Jewish customs, and Biblical and
secular history.30 In 1929
the school of the Temple had sixty-nine
teachers and 1,500 children
enrolled.31 The Cleveland
Hebrew School and Institute, under
the direction of Abraham H. Friedland,
has attempted to make
the study of Hebrew a living thing.
Originally American-born
Jews learned a stilted classical speech
which they could write,
but not speak fluently. Mr. Friedland's
methods have resulted
in a conversational language taught from
the viewpoint of cul-
ture, rather than as a compulsory
religious language. He has
had considerable success in this
undertaking. The Jews have
26 W. J. Nowak, ed., Survey and Maps of Polish Cleveland (Cleveland,
1930), 8.
27 C.
W. Coulter, The Lithuanians in Cleveland (Cleveland, 1920), 12.
28 Cleveland Year Book (1921), 171.
29
Cleveland Jewish Society Book, II
(1917), 19.
30 Cleveland Year Book (1921), 171.
31 Cleveland Jewish Independent, October
4, 1920.
138
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
been sturdy supporters of the public
school system and have had
representation on the Board of
Education.
Most of the Swiss children have gone
through the Cleveland
secondary schools. The Swiss have never
had language schools,
and have had many of their activities
forced into English in order
to maintain their contacts with the
younger generation. They
profited from the German taught in the
public schools, and when
it was dropped from the curriculum
during the war, they suffered
the loss with the Germans. Before 1920 few Rumanian children
completed high school. This was because
many of them expected
to return to Rumania, or because of
economic reasons. Since the
war the Rumanian immigrant has tried to
give his children every
advantage. Knowing that his children
will be Americans and
have no desire to return to the
fatherland, he has tried to prepare
them for life in America. Each Rumanian
church has a language
school, but the younger generation has
not been very enthusiastic.
Since 1920 a small percentage has gone to
college.
Early Syrian immigrants withdrew their
children from school
as soon as the law permitted and put
them to work, usually in the
family business. Since 1920 they seem to
have caught the fever
for education and have sent many of them
through college. St.
George's Syrian Orthodox Church
maintains a language school
which is purely voluntary and whose
sessions are held after
regular school hours. The one Greek
language school is similarly
conducted. The Chinese have language
schools maintained by
the two tongs in the city. Their
teachers have been graduates
of Chinese colleges, and the children
have been instructed in
language, history, and the arts.32 The
classes meet outside pub-
lic school hours.
It has been estimated that only twenty
per cent. of the Rus-
sians reached high school, that only
five per cent. graduated, and
that the number going to college was
negligible.33 There is
considerable doubt as to the accuracy of
this particular statement.
As one of the last of the newer
immigrant groups, the Russians
32 Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 1, 1928.
33 Ina Telberg, Russians in Cleveland,
MS. (Master's thesis in Western Reserve
University Library), 16.
FORDYCE: NATIONAL CULTURES IN
CLEVELAND 139
can be expected to be somewhat slower in
adoption of American
customs. Economic conditions are also
more difficult for the
later immigrants, and the depression was
particularly severe for
this group. The question as to exactly
whom are classified as
Russians also makes it a doubtful
statement. All Orthodox and
Greek Catholic churches have maintained
language schools. In
the religious services of these two
sects, a knowledge of the native
tongue is necessary. The mass is
celebrated in the language
of the congregation, Russian, Croatian,
or Greek, as the case
may be. All music is choral, and in the
native tongue. There
are no musical instruments of any
kind. At certain times
during the services, the priest
withdraws, and the congrega-
tion carries on the ritual. A part of
this is a procession
which marches around the church singing
the service. Some
of these sects are considering the
translation of their ritual
into English. In 1905 the first
missionary preparatory school
in the United States was established in
Cleveland. It's pur-
pose was to prepare students for
entrance to the Russian
Orthodox Seminary. It lasted until 1908, long enough
to
graduate one class. Curiously enough,
its end came because
of the adoption of a requirement by the
seminary for a high
school diploma, as well as a certificate
from the priest that
the candidate had sufficient religious
training. The Russian
Orthodox Seminary has been dormant since
the cessation
of financial aid that had been received
from the Russian
government. The clergy has been drawn
from refugees of
the Revolution of 1917, but plans are
being made for the es-
tablishment of a seminary. The Greek
Catholic clergy are
being trained in Roman Catholic schools.
Festivals and celebrations held by
societies and church
organizations of the foreign-born
represent another type of
effort to preserve the customs of the
fatherland and bring
an Old World flavor to the community life
of the city. Fetes
at which native music is sung and
played, native costumes
worn, serve to give the Clevelander some
knowledge of the
backgrounds of these strangers within
his city. Many of
these celebrations are of such a nature
that they are soon
140
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
modified to meet metropolitan
conditions. Others have be-
come a more permanent part of the city's
life. One newspaper
account described a parade in which the
mounted men wore
the costumes of the Magyar cowboys
called Ciskoes. Their
costumes were composed of white skirts,
with blouses of long
flowing sleeves. Mounted on spirited
horses they must have
presented a thrilling picture. The
parade proceeded to one
of the church halls for a program of
addresses, folk dancing
and songs, all in the native tongue.34
Another Hungarian
celebration that has been held regularly
is their Harvest
Festival. This usually starts with a
parade in which the
participants carry flowers, fruit and
other products of the
harvest season. Arriving at the
Hungarian Hall, which is
decorated for the occasion, the festival
concludes with a pro-
gram of folk music and dances related to
the harvest sea-
son.35
One of the oldest of the Italian
celebrations is the Feast
of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin,
held annually on
August 15th. It has been described as
follows:36
The celebration proper begins with High
Mass on the morning of
the saint's day. Hundreds of little
girls dressed in white scatter flowers
before the head of a procession which
starts from the church door. A
choir of boys and girls follows singing.
Then comes the float bearing the
statue of the saint escorted by a guard
of young men in picturesque cos-
tumes, the priest in his robes, the
acolytes in their cossocks, and the
populace in holiday attire. Brass bands,
floats representing sacred or his-
torical episodes, and carriages loaded
with flowers give length and added
brilliance to the picture. The
procession winds its way through the streets
of the colony, and is frequently stopped
by worshippers who desire to make
votive offerings at the shrine of the
saint. The end of the route finds the
procession back at the church door. The
religious part of the festival
over, the colony settles itself to three
days of feasting, athletic exhibitions,
sports, national dancing, and other
recreations.
This is still a celebration in the
Mayfield Road Italian colony,
with a few modern touches. The church is
festooned with strings
34 Cleveland
Plain Dealer, August 4, 1900.
35 Ibid., October 5, 1908.
36 Coulter, Italians, 31.
FORDYCE: NATIONAL CULTURES IN
CLEVELAND 141
of lights, and the automobile replaces
the carriage. Otherwise it
remains the same.
The Norwegians in Cleveland have an
annual "Sailors' Fest."
It is held every spring to bid the
sailing men "God Speed" on the
opening of the lakes to navigation.
Songs, plays, addresses, a
religious service and a banquet in the
church have been the fea-
tures of this celebration. The Swiss on August 1 celebrate
Bundesfier, the Swiss July 4. It is the anniversary of the winning
of Swiss independence from Austria. It
includes a dance and
banquet, speeches of patriotic nature,
and an exhibition by the
Swiss Turnverein, all held in the
Swiss Hall.
Some of the celebrations and ceremonies
that are a part
of the Orthodox and Greek Catholic
traditions, have contributed
to the varied folk culture of Cleveland.
These vary according to
the nationality of the congregations,
whether Greek, Rusin, Rus-
sian, or Ukranian. The name applied to
the celebration by one
group is frequently strange to another,
and it will only be recog-
nized by a description of the particular
celebration or ceremony.
On occasions, some of these celebrations
have been conducted in
spectacular fashion. January 19 is known as
Jordan Day in
the Orthodox Church, in honor of the
baptism of Christ. In 1920
one of the Russian churches celebrated
the day with a ceremony
held outside the church. An aisle of
evergreens led to the door
of the church, where a huge cross of ice
was mounted. Through
the blizzard that raged that day, the
congregation marched in
their procession up the aisle to the
cross, singing hymns and
carrying their religious banners.
Following the processional came
the blessing of the holy water by the
priest. The people carried
some of the water home with them
following the ceremony. The
religious significance of this ceremony
is that the blessing brings
grace and happiness to all true
believers in Jesus Christ.37
Two other ceremonies of the Orthodox
church are held
partly outside the church. On Good
Friday the ceremony com-
memorating the burial of Christ is held.
The congregation marches
in procession around the outside of the
church. They carry with
37 Cleveland Year Book (1921), 298.
142
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
them the Epitaphios, which
resembles a sedan chair. It is covered
with flowers and bears a pictorial
likeness of the dead Christ. It
is finally carried into the church and
placed in a sepulchre arranged
before the altar. The second ceremony
takes place on Easter
Sunday and is in celebration of the
resurrection. The procession
forms outside the church, marches around
it three times singing
hymns in celebration of the risen
Christ, and then enters the
church. After the service in the church,
the priest leads the
congregation outside where he blesses
articles of food as the
climax of the Easter celebration. These
outside spectacles are
slowly being abandoned. The urban
conditions, the attendant
publicity of curious Americans, and
objections from the younger
generation are resulting in a
modification of the celebration. They
are still a part of the church, but are
confined to the church and its
adjoining grounds.
A curious spectacle of hybrid nature
occasionally has made
Clevelanders stop and stare. A Chinese
Christian funeral proces-
sion is sometimes seen in downtown
Cleveland. From the Old
Stone Church comes an American brass
band playing a dirge. It
will be followed by open cars loaded
with flowers. In one of them
will be seen a large mounted picture of
the deceased. Then comes
the hearse and the cars with the
mourners. This presents a mixed
picture of the noise and ceremony of a
Chinese funeral combined
with the somber character of an American
one.38
Contacts with the homeland by the
various immigrant groups
have had their political and social
effects upon the relationships of
these groups in Cleveland. They have
always received attention
from their native land, and European
feuds and friction have made
the life of the immigrant difficult at
times. The most common
appeal made to the immigrant is for
financial aid. In September,
1900, Cleveland Germans received an
appeal from a representa-
tive of the Boer's Aid Association. He
addressed two meetings
in the Turners' halls, and promised that
the Boers would never
give up their struggle with England. He
collected a large sum
of money in spite of the newspaper
reports that President Steph-
38 Cleveland Plain Dealer, February
24, 1928.
FORDYCE: NATIONAL CULTURES IN
CLEVELAND 143
anus Johannes Paulus Kruger was on a
Portuguese battleship
bound for Europe.39 In
October the same year, the Poles heard
an appeal from Count Thaddeus Milkowski
for funds to finance
the struggle for Polish freedom. Count Milkowski was treas-
urer of the Polish National Fund, with
headquarters in Switzer-
land. He addressed a great mass meeting
and collected funds
for his work. He is typical, perhaps, of
this type of contact.
A veteran of the Revolutions of 1848 and
1863, his appeal to
Polish patriotism is easily
understood.40
The struggle of the Balkan states with
the Turks aroused
considerable excitement among the
Cleveland foreign-born. The
Bulgars and Rumanians held joint
meetings to raise funds, and
received promises of aid from Cleveland
Hungarians. A few
of the younger men left for the homeland
to enlist in the mili-
tary forces. Many of the immigrant
groups were interested in
this struggle because of its religious
appeal.41 During the World
War every group in Cleveland was engaged
in activities for the
benefit of the fatherland. Bazaars,
benefits, and direct soliciting
were resorted to by every group to raise
funds. Huge quantities
of medical and relief supplies were sent
abroad with this money.
The action of the foreign language press
has been mentioned. A
few of the immigrant groups have
continued relief activities since
1920, and receive
merited attention from the fatherland because
of it.
Representatives of European subject
minorities began active
campaigns for independence while the
World War was still in
progress. The Lithuanians, Rumanians,
Czechs, and Slovaks in
Cleveland published numerous pamphlets
in furtherance of their
nationalistic ambitions.42 Cleveland still receives a flood of
propa-
ganda of a type intended to influence
opinion on European ques-
tions. A mention of the Treaty of
Versailles is all that is needed
to bring a flood of comment from any
immigrant, and most of it
is extremely bitter. In the case of the
nations formed from the
39 Ibid., September
24, 1900.
40 Ibid., October 8, 1900.
41 Ibid., October 12, 1908.
42 Pamphlets
containing this type of propaganda make a valuable collection in
the Cleveland Public Library.
144 OHIO
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
old Austrian Empire, it has certain
characteristics of civil war.
Families have been divided, with members
under the sovereignty
of different governments. Some of the
later immigrants came to
America because of their dislike for the
racial group in which they
found themselves when the new boundaries
were drawn.
The feeling of Rumanians and Hungarians
in Cleveland is
typical of friction of this kind. The
Rumanians in Cleveland have
come from Bessarabia, Bukovina, and
Transylvania for the most
part. They are interested in preventing
any treaty revision which
will deprive Rumania of this territory,
not because they intend to
return, but because they have relatives
living in these territories.
The Hungarians have worked for revision
of treaties because they
feel that much of Hungary's lost land is
historically Hungary's.
Hungarians in Cleveland wear mourning
bands on the anniversary
of the empire's dissolution. The
Rumanians have become alarmed
at the extent of the revisionist
propaganda and have organized
a national committee to combat it. The
first meeting of this com-
mittee was held in Cleveland in April,
1933, with John Trutza, a
Cleveland Rumanian, as its chairman.43
Cleveland Jews have been brushed by
these waves of nation-
alism. The possibility of a Jewish state
in Palestine under British
protection intrigues the Zionist
extremists. Most of the far-seeing
hope only for a cultural center, in
Palestine which will furnish
world leadership for the Jews. Recent
persecutions of the Jews
in Poland and Germany have brought
assistance in aiding refugees,
and protests to Washington in an attempt
to bring political pressure
for their relief. The Slovene National
Home was the scene of a
great mass meeting in 1930. It was held
in protest against the
Fascist policy of Italianization in
northern Italy.44 They later
published a pamphlet picturing the
closing of schools, the burning
of homes and clubs, and the execution of
a number of the young
men who resisted. Quite a number of the
Cleveland Slovene
colony either came from this border
zone, or have relatives living
there. Cleveland Italians have not been
immune to this post-war
nationalism. Newspaper rumors have been that during Mus-
43 Cleveland News, April 5, 1933.
44 Cleveland Press, September 29,
1930.
FORDYCE: NATIONAL CULTURES IN
CLEVELAND 145
solini's African adventure a donation of
gold in the form of
rings, was made by the Cleveland colony.
In return a thousand
of the steel rings that Mussolini gave
to Italian women, who gave
their jewelry to finance the
expeditions, came to Cleveland.
Another important factor in the
immigrant's attempt to pre-
serve his national culture is the
immigrant society. Every church
has several, and each nationality group
has dozens, organized for
various purposes. They are organized for
men, women, insur-
ance purposes, military training,
charity, gymnastics, dramatics,
music, religion, and politics. The
creation of these numerous or-
ganizations has been attributed to
suppression in the homeland,
and to a natural desire for social
contacts with people of their own
race and interests.45 These
organizations must run into the thous-
ands in Cleveland. Many American
fraternal groups maintain
branches among the immigrants. There are
between three and six
hundred German societies in Cleveland.
Many branches of the Ger-
man American Alliance flourished before
1918, and their place since
that time has been taken by a smaller
number of branches of the
Steuben Society. Charles J. Wolfram of Cleveland has been
one of the national officers of this
organization. The Wacchter
und Anzeiger published a directory of 531 societies in 1932.46
There is a federation of the German
societies with a membership
of fifty. It is non-political as to
aims. The two oldest German
societies are the Germania Turnverein
Vorwaertz founded in
1878, and the Socialer Turnverein
Vorwacrts founded in 1870.
Over five thousand persons visit their
halls each month to engage
in some activity.47
The Czech Sokols have been their
most important organiza-
tions. They are not only athletic
organizations, but cultural so-
cieties similar to the German Turnverein.
There are four of
these societies in the city. They
combine for an annual gymnastic
meet that is an exhibit of all the
activities sponsored by the so-
cieties. Cleveland has been the scene of
several national meetings
of both German and Czech societies of
this kind.
The Hungarian Self Culture Society was
founded in 1902.
45 Peter Roberts, The New Immigration
(New York, 1920), 187.
46 Cleveland Press, November 1,
1932.
47 Cleveland News, December 14,
1927.
146
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Its aim was to encourage a love of
Hungarian literature. Two
others, James Vitez and Gul Baba, were
founded in 1906 with
similar objectives. The activities of
these organizations led to
the establishment of a Hungarian
department in the Public
Library. The first Hungarian insurance
society was founded in
1886. In 1906 the American Hungarian
Federation was organ-
ized with Dr. Henry Baracs, a Cleveland
Hungarian, serving as
president of the organization in
1916.48 About one hundred
societies are represented in the
federation of the United Hungarian
Societies of Cleveland.
The only Swiss society in Cleveland is
the Schweitzer Kranken
Unterstutzungs Verein, a branch of a national organization, the
North American Schweitzer Bund. Its
hall has been the only
Swiss cultural center in Cleveland. The society maintains a
Mannerchor, gymnasium, theater, yodeller's club, and an insur-
ance organization. The principal Slovene
society is the Slovenian
Mutual Benefit Association. It was
organized in 1910, and has
about 8,000 members in Cleveland. Its
insurance organization has
been maintained on a sound basis, and
its hall has been the center
of many of the most important activities
of the Slovenian colony.
Small societies have been numerous among
the Italians, but
many of them are being absorbed into the
Sons of Italy, or have
formed mergers of other types. The Sons
of Italy has been the
most important society among the
Italians. It is a national organi-
zation and has numerous branches in
Cleveland. In 1931 this
society established the first
English-speaking branch in the United
States in Cleveland.49 Polish
societies have been numerous. There
are two national organizations in
Cleveland, the Polish National
Alliance and the Alliance of Poles. The
latter came into being
as the result of a split occurring
during a convention of the Polish
National Alliance held in Cleveland in
1896. The Cleveland Poles
withdrew and formed the Alliance of
Poles. Both have numerous
branches. In 1928 a federation of Polish societies was organized
to act as a directing agency for their
activities.
Early Russian societies in Cleveland
were usually small groups
48 Liebovitz,
Clevelandi Magyarok, 135 ff.
49 Cleveland Plain Dealer, January 26, 1931.
FORDYCE: NATIONAL CULTURES IN
CLEVELAND 147
bearing the name of a Russian saint.
Many of them were later
united under the name of the Russian
National Brotherhood. This
was organized as an Ohio corporation,
with national headquarters
and a dozen or more branches in
Cleveland. The Russian Greek
Catholic Brotherhood is a church
organization with four branches
in Cleveland. The Rusin Elite Society is
a social and cultural
organization. It published an excellent
literary magazine for sev-
eral years that was claimed to be the
first Russian cultural maga-
zine to be published in America. It
suspended publication during
the depression and has not been
revived. Two other Greek
Catholic societies are represented in
Cleveland, the Greek Catholic
Union with thirty branches in the city,
and Sobrana with two.
Russian refugees of the Revolution of
1917 have an organization
called the Russian Circle. It has
neither constitution nor officers.
It meets to entertain a visiting
celebrity, usually a refugee like
themselves, or to celebrate a holiday of
monarchist Russia. For
political and business reasons it has
never taken the aspect of the
usual immigrant society.50
The Syrian societies are usually connected
with their churches.
One Syrian club composed of those from
the same town, functions
as a social organization. The principal
Danish organization is
the Danish Brotherhood. It is a social
and insurance society, and
owns its own hall. The Dutch have only
one society outside of the
church organizations. Neerlandia, as
it is called, is only a few
years old. There are four Chinese
organizations in Cleveland,
the Chinese Student's Club whose
membership is always chang-
ing, the Chinese Freemasons, the On
Leong and the Hip Sing
Tongs. The two tongs are commercial organizations which in
some of their practices resemble the
medieval guilds.51
Rygas Pherros is a Greek dramatic society which has been
unusually successful. A number of its
productions have been
taken to other cities. There have been a
number of smaller
Greek societies, entirely social, formed
by groups coming from
the same town or island in Greece. The
principal society in
Cleveland is a branch of the American
Hellenic Educational
50 Telberg, Russians, 36.
51 Arthur Young, ed., Seeing China in
Cleveland (Cleveland, 1929), 52.
148
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Progressive Association, more familiarly
known as Ahepa. Its
requirements for membership include
American citizenship. It
was organized to foster American ideals
and doctrines, citizenship,
and love and pride in the homeland. The
Cleveland chapter has
four hundred members, and has recently
purchased a hall. It
supports a junior order called the Sons
of Pericles.
The Rumanians have their quota of
societies in the city.
The principal organization is the Union
of Rumanian Societies
with national headquarters in
Cleveland. It has eighty-six
branches and publishes the largest
Rumanian daily in Cleveland.
The oldest Rumanian society in the
United States is the Carpatina
Society of Cleveland. Founded in 1902 as a social and
cultural
organization, the society was copied in
other cities having
Rumanian colonies. It was the leader in
the formation of the
Union of Rumanian Societies.
The number of Jewish societies in
Cleveland is beyond count.
The variety of purposes is also greater
than for any other group.
Religion, care of the aged and orphans,
political, working girls,
music, education, sports, care of
cemeteries, are some of their
objectives. The Excelsior Club, a social
organization founded in
1872, is one of the oldest in the
city. There were at one time three
branches of B'nai B'rith, a
national Jewish society, in Cleveland.
In 1902 they were consolidated, and this single chapter has
been
the most influential of the Jewish
societies. Two other Jewish
organizations are unusual. The Hebrew
Free Loan Association
makes loans to worthy Jewish poor
without interest, so that they
do not become public charges. It was
founded in 1905, and most
of its loans are repaid. The other is a
cemetery association, or-
ganized for the burial of Jewish
paupers.52
The cessation of immigration has had
serious effects upon
these immigrant activities. It has led
to the beginnings of disinte-
gration for the foreign colonies
themselves. There has been a
sharp decline in the circulation and
importance of the foreign
language press. Breaking the stream of
immigation has reduced
the effectiveness of appeals for
financial aid from abroad, although
the nationality groups are still
sensitive to propaganda from the
??°2 Cleveland Jewish Society Book, II, 19 ff.
FORDYCE: NATIONAL CULTURES IN
CLEVELAND 149
homeland. The major difficulty in
preserving their culture has
been the language problem. American-born
children are not in-
terested in learning the mother tongue,
nor do they wish to live
in the foreign quarter. The insertion of
an English page in the
foreign language newspapers, the move to
translate church ritual
into English, the modification of
festivals and church celebrations
to meet objections of the second
generation, the establishment of
English-speaking branches of their
societies, are evidences of at-
tempts to meet this problem. The
ultimate end under present
conditions seems to be the final
disappearance of national cultures,
with assimilation of their best elements
in the American way of
life.