New York Turn Verein Archives


visiting scholar, Markus Bierkoch, looking at a Turn Verein ledger while researching for his dissertation.

Markus Bierkoch is a doctoral candidate in History at the John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies, Freie Universität Berlin.  His dissertation focuses on German-speaking migrants and their descendants in New York City 1898-1933. He is especially interested in migrant associations as providers of social and financial benefits and as proponents of ethnic politics.

“The New York Turnverein records held at the Max Kade Center are, in my opinion, unique in the field of German-American archival collections, given their completeness, the years covered, and their  granularity. These records document how deeply involved the NY Turnverein was in the everyday life of the local German migrant community: it offered the chance to attend and participate in sporting events, theatrical performances, choral concerts, German language classes, and festivals. It is wonderful that such a collection has been preserved.” Markus Bierkoch, April 2019.