A TRIP

TO A FORGOTTEN UTOPIA

A FILM BY
Peter Roloff

MONTAGE
Manfred Hillscher

SOUND ASSISTANTS
Oliver Behnecke, Monika Kiesewetter

PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS
Jana Drescher, Andrea Kuserau

PARTICIPANTS
Mark Blumenberg
Autumn Franke
Ralph Gregory
Cheryl Hoffmann
Diane Jones
Dorris Keeven-Franke
Monika Kiesewetter
William McHugh
Carol Muench
Gerd Petermann
Penny Pitman
Lois Puchta
Peter Roloff
Chic Ruether
Walter Schemmer
Thomas Schill
Rolf Schmidt
Gunter Schröder
Folker Winkelmann
Elfriede Wilhelm
Gerd Winter

THANKS TO
Sala Deinema, Henry Schneider, Don Heinrich Tolzmann
Blumenhof Winery-Dutzow, MO
Boone-Duden Historic Site-New Melle, MO
Deutschheim State Historic Site-Hermann, MO
Friends of the Pelster Housebarn,Washington, MO
Gasconade County Historical Society, Hermann,MO
Gateway Arch Riverboats-St. Louis, MO
Insellfreunde Harriersand E.V.
Kirchengemeinde Nieder-Gemünden
Missouri Historical Society Archives-St. Louis, MO
Routes to the Roots, Wolfgang Grams
Washington Missouri Historical Society

A PROJECT OF REISENDE SOMMER-REPUBLIK
in cooperation with
ARBEITNEHMERKAMMER- BREMEN
HEINRICH BOLL STIFTUNG - Bremen

SUPPORTED BY
MINISTERIUM FUR KULTUR - Bremen

PRODUCTION maxim film

©2010 Maxim Bremen

Bremen@MAXIM-FILM.DE

WWW.MAXIM-FILM.DE

English/German Versions

An encore U.S. showing is scheduled for Sunday, February 27, 2011 at St. Vincent de Paul School in Dutzow, Missouri on Highway 94. The public is invited, and there is no charge for the film as it is sponsored by the Boone-Duden Historical Society and the Dutzow Verein.

"A democratic German-Republic in the United States of America"

This utopian idea brought Friedrich Muench and Paul Follenius to the United States in 1834, when they abandoned their homeland, along with 500 emigrants, to establish a new home in a Missouri valley.

Today that Missouri valley is known as Dutzow, in the Lake Creek valley, across from Washington, Missouri, approximately 50 miles west of St. Louis, Missouri.

In October of 2009, members of the Sommer-Republik from Bremen, Germany visited the location to see what remained of the sites and the culture brought by the Giessen Society.  They visited with local historians, and the sites and museums that remain today, that are dedicated to the history of these early German emigrants.

This film shares that visit, and follows their discoveries of how much of the culture and values remain today. The film was first shown by the Sommer-Republik on September 4, 2010 in Bremen Germany, and was followed by

a United States premiere at Blumenhof Winery in Dutzow on November 2, 2010.

An encore is being co-sponsored by the Dutzow Verein and the Boone-Duden Historical Society at the St. Vincents DePaul School in Dutzow, MO on February 27, 2011 at 1 pm.