Heinrich Imhof
Hoffnung auf ein besseres Leben, Pub. 2018.
Orders can be placed with the author, by emailing him in English, via his e-mail address: H.Imhof@gmx.de Price of the book: 38.00 Euros. Mailing costs to North America: 17.00 Euros. Total 55.00 Euros. If ordering from the US or Canada, please discuss with your bank the best way to send money to Mr. Imhof. US checks are difficult to cash in Germany. A money order from your bank is one way to pay for the book and shipping.
Heinrich Imhof has traced the emigration of thousands of people from Wittgenstein to North America in the 1700’s, 1800’s and 1900’s. His book is meticulously researched and filled with interesting stories of these people who brought their families and their culture to North America. It is written in German, but is accessible for those with a German-English dictionary (or Google translate) and a high school knowledge of the language - and it is worth the effort. Descendants of Simon Dreisbach Sr (the 1743 immigrant) can trace their ancestors back to Sophie Im Hof as can the author, Heinrich Imhof - we are therefore, distant cousins of the author who produced this incredible book.
Imhof’s monumental list of Wittgenstein emigrants is a masterpiece of research. Before arriving at this crowning work the reader is first confronted with the absolute poverty and hard conditions of servitude endured by many in Wittgenstein. There are, for example, first person accounts in the Wittgenstein records of meetings with known individuals – women and their children, who are clearly on the brink of starvation. Until the Treaty of Vienna in 1809 the Counts (for a short while Princes) were absolute rulers and their subjects lived in a state of semi-serfdom.
Imhof cites official rulings, still preserved in archives, showing how ’legal’ would-be emigrants made application and paid dearly for the right to leave the territory. Only occasionally are the Counts’ decisions humane. They could also be blatantly heartless, requiring emigration tarifs and fees the supplicant could never pay. The number of those who fled secretly by night is huge. (Here we note that both Simon Dreisbach as well as his young nephew Henrich [1754 immigrant] fled in this way. On the other hand Martin Dreisbach applied for, paid for and received official permission to emigrate from Siegerland where he was then living.)
Just before the emigrant list, the author provides us with instances of emigrants who returned to Wittgenstein for a visit, as well as a list of persons who returned permanently after many years in America. The breadth of Imhof’s findings is truly astonishing and well worth examining.