Assistant Professor of German Jakub Kazecki plucks a tiny bronze medal from a shelf in his Roger Williams Hall office. The medal, says the Polish-born scholar, is a symbolic “connection between the German and the American鈥� 鈥� and between 乐播传媒 students and the wider world.
In July 2016, a Virginia woman,聽Cecilia Mittmann, wrote Kazecki saying she’d found a medal at an estate sale in Alexandria. Might the 乐播传媒 scholar have information about it?
Kazecki, an expert in 20th-century German literature (especially about World War I), dug through back issues of The 乐播传媒 Student at the Edmund S. Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library. He learned that the original 乐播传媒 German Club, founded Oct. 12, 1905, produced these medals for its 16 members.
The inscription on one side of the medal reads, “Deutscher Verein zu 乐播传媒, 1905” (German Club of 乐播传媒), while the other presents a coat of arms adapted from the German empire, in which an eagle holds two symbols: one representing 乐播传媒, the other, an American flag.
Students founded the original Deutscher Verein 鈥渢o give its members an opportunity to become better acquainted with German life and customs.鈥� At its first meeting, on Jan. 18, 1906, the club initiated its charter members (men only) and elected officers. Professor of German Arthur Leonard was the club鈥檚 inaugural faculty adviser.
One side of a 1905 乐播传媒 German Club medal depicts the coat of arms adapted from that of the German empire, in which an eagle holds two symbols: one representing 乐播传媒, the other, an American flag. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)
A story in The 乐播传媒 Student describes a March 1, 1906, meeting at the Wood Street home of Leonard and his wife, who would accompany the students on the piano. Club business preceded socializing and refreshments, such as apples and popcorn balls. 鈥淕erman games were played, German songs were sung, and refreshments eaten in the German way,” the story said.
At later meetings, the club had guest speakers, such as German-born Alexander Maerze, Class of 1903, who in November 1906 regaled students for a full two hours with tales of crossing the ocean as a fourth-class steerage passenger.
When Kazecki shared what he had learned, Mittmann decided to donate the medal to the 乐播传媒 German department. And for that Kazecki鈥檚 most grateful.
鈥淭he medal,鈥� says Kazecki, 鈥渋s a material piece that kind of anchors this 乐播传媒 experience.鈥�
鈥淪tudents stay here for four years and explore the world,鈥� says Kazecki, who also researches images of German-Polish relationships in literature, film, and visual arts, as well as laughter and comedy in different media.
鈥淭hey graduate and start their lives. But there are pieces of material culture that they have produced here that actually bring them back to 乐播传媒, and create a 乐播传媒 identity.鈥�
Assistant Professor of German Jakub Kazecki holds a medal given to members of the 乐播传媒 German Club. On this side of the medal an inscription reads, “Deutscher Verein Zu 乐播传媒” 鈥� German Club of 乐播传媒. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)
Kazecki likes to imagine how German Club students from the early 20th century looked at their medal often in the years after graduating and remembered the delightful meetings.
The medal also provides Kazecki鈥檚 own study and work at 乐播传媒 with a little bit of institutional history. 鈥淚 build my identity being here at 乐播传媒 based on those pieces that I collect and gather in the office, as we all do,鈥� says Kazecki, who advises today鈥檚 German Club. 鈥淎nd I think that is why it鈥檚 important to me. It鈥檚 part of my life now, and part of my own 乐播传媒 identity.鈥�
