ETHNICITY

Common their culture
common their language
common their bond
volatile their history
fierce warriors of old
Teutonic in origin
founded by Charlemagne
of the Frankish Empire
through his grandson
Louis, the German.

Centuries later
a host of City States
devastated by the
Thirty Year War unified
by Otto von Bismarck
in a Prussian dominated empire.

Bratwurst and Schnitzel
Bock beer and Sauerkraut
Dumplings and Strudel
Dachshunds and Oompahs
Castles on the Rhine
bring visions of German
ethnicity easily to mind.

Well known too are
their other characteristics
such as punctuality, precision,
loyalty, obedience, cleanliness,
inventiveness, industriousness
as are chauvinism, cruelty,
combativeness and excesses.
Yes, these folk are an example
of one peoples' ethnicity.

 

Herbert Holzbauer
September 2002

Midi: "Das Kufsteiner Lied"
Composer; Karl Ganzer

Art: Charlemagne
(Cultural Resources)