50 Years of Square Dancing in Germany

Hartmut Heiber, Cologne
Square Dancer since 1989

Before World War II and during war time, Germans never had heard about Square Dancing, and they certainly had other occupations than dancing during these difficult and sorrowful years that followed 1945 and the capitulation, but when the American GIs came to Germany and brought them hope and courage followed by the Marshall Plan that encouraged many Germans to restart a "normal" life when they received "Care" parcels and other things for their normalization of everyday life, they also thought of amusement, of entertainment and of dancing again. In the American military zone of Germany, i.e. roughly the areas of Hesse, Bade-Wurttemberg and Bavaria, population had tied contacts, since 1945, with American military persons, soldiers, GIs, they had changed cigarettes, chocolate and other nice things, or even received from those GIs as gift, and so had been developed, after some distrust in the beginning, good and friendly contacts and neighborship with those new rulers. Also there had developed sometimes more close contacts between young American soldiers and German girls, not always well seen by the German local population.

Nevertheless, it was not in the American zone, but in Bremen that arose the occasion of the first "Square Dance in Germany", as is stated in the Personal Recollection of Paul Hartman, a caller from Wheaton, Maryland, written down by himself. Paul Hartman was an American soldier and serviceman who came to Germany as the others, but he worked at the US services at Bremen that was an exclave of the US Zone, chosen by the American Army Administration certainly because of ist important ports and the opportunity to ship Army goods. Paul Hartman whose ancestors had come from Germany one generation ago, was an American Square Dance caller, and he looked for an opportunity to hold a dance. So he found a facility of the United Service Organisation (USO), known as Country Club, at Bremen, exactly Bürgermeister-Spitta-Allee 18, where was held the first Square Dance on Saturday, July 16, 1949. Five squares attended this first dance, one of the persons who came had ever square danced before. Most of them were American military servicemen who had brought some German guests who also danced. Paul Hartman had organized a live music band that had been the biggest problem, for at that time there were no public address systems nor records, certainly not in postwar Germany, and so he had to improvise. But it worked, and he taught some moves and the dancers had fun.

The dance was a great success and, as a result of the enthusiastic response of the attending five squares, Paul Hartman and the responsibles decided to hold other dances and afterwards the regular schedule became the first and third Friday of the month. Three squares of dancers attended regularly until December 1950 when Paul and his wife Fran who had joined him had to leave and get back to the United States. They had formed a loosely organized club, and as no fancy name was agreed upon, the group became eventually known as The Country Club Dancers.

As this had worked well, Paul Hartman had the idea that there could be US Service Clubs in other German cities, particularly in the American Zone. So he found interested people in Hamburg (British Zone), in Berlin (four Allied sectors) and in Augsburg (Bavaria, American Zone). To these cities, Paul traveled more or less regularly during weekends in order to held Square dances in the facilities of the local American clubs where above all American military servicemen attended, sometimes accompanied by German guests. But the cohesion of those groups was not like at the Bremen Country Club, it was difficult to hold them together. Paul had always to organize the music, i.e. the live band who often were German musicians. He had to bring along the musical notes that had been written down after his instructions by the Bremen live band musicians and he had to organize this music within the local conditions. But it worked.

The traveling conditions at that time after World War II were awful because of so many destructions on the German railroad network, as they had to do all those travels by train. The most adventurous was to go to Berlin via the Russian zone (afterwards the German Democratic Republic, Eastern Germany) - this was a real travel agent’s nightmare. Employees of the US Government were permitted to travel during those days only aboard the official duty train that entered the Russian zone at Helmstedt and went straight on to Berlin, but sometimes the train was held up by the Russian control commander. Then on Saturday night, Paul called at the local Service Club and on Sunday night went back by the same routine, and this one weekend a month. When Paul Hartman and his wife Fran had to go back to the States in December 1950, the Berlin group was particularly sad and dismayed and arranged with the AFN (American Forces Network) management to make recordings with music and calls that they could use after the caller’s departure. And really, Paul made two large records at the last dance in November 1950 which were used quite some time at the Service Club for Square dancing.

In addition to the regular dances Paul Hartman also called ad hoc dances in 1949/50 in Bremerhaven, Hoechst, Heidelberg, Munich, and Oldenburg.

When he had left in December 1950, some Square dancing activities went on in the described clubs, but certainly there is no direct connection between them and the clubs existing nowadays. If there is, this may be in the American Zone area.

Paul Hartman visited Germany and his German friends several times after his departure. He came back often in the 50s, but also in the 60s and 70s. He worked as a caller living in Wheaton, Maryland, and when he came to Germany, he always traveled with his wife around the country and called as often as he was able, always being invited by the local German clubs. His last great event was the festival "40 Years Square Dancing in Germany" organized by the Bremen club "Key Porters" in August, offering a big evening dance in a large hall and an open air dance the next day, on Sunday. This was a real treat for him to be able to come for a last time, to call for the crowd and to meet all his German friends and see how the movement had developed. Two years later, in 1991, he passed away in his home town of Wheaton, Md.

It is supposed that some groups here and there continued square dancing as taught by American pioneers here in Germany. There were certainly some American groups or nuclei on American military bases dancing, not always on a regular basis and not always forming regular clubs. But we can be sure that there was a continuity in dance activities until the first clubs formed that are still existing now. It has to be considered certain that also most of these clubs were founded by Americans or by both Germans and Americans. And it is certain, too, that most of these clubs were located in the American Zone of Germany or at least in connection with American institutions, military, cultural etc.

We know that the first and now oldest club still existing were the "Beaux & Belles" founded in September 1954 by an American couple at Frankfort, Harold and Thelma Deane. They first danced to records together with some other couples from the 10th General Dispensary. This was the beginning. One year later they hosted the first Round Up in Bad Wildungen (Hesse). There was presented the idea of forming the European Association of American Square Dance Clubs (EAASDC), our association still existing, and Harald was elected the first President in 1955. Other clubs of that area, all founded by American "Square Dance pioneers", soon joined this association, e.g. the "Heidelberg Hoedowners" (founded at about the same time), the "Kuntry Kuzins" of Wiesbaden (founded in 1955), and the "Mannheim Mixers". Those were charter members. Also the "Darmstompers" in Darmstadt were founded in 1959.

Those first clubs had almost only American members, servicemen of the American Forces, and often danced in military facilities. Only with the time, German members came in slowly, and as time went by, and American military staff changed places and was called back with their families to the United States, Germans became the majority and also changed American club statutes into German ruled statutes.

The problem is that American military staff is here on one military base often for 2, 3 or 4 years only, then must be reassigned, i.e. to go back to the States or change to another base in Germany, Europe, or worldwide. Constant turnover is a way of life on a military post. Thus, a continuity for a square dance club on a military base is hardly possible. When the military person also being a caller, gets reassigned, he will be leaving his square dance club leaderless. This was always the problem for those clubs. If they had the chance to integrate more and more German dancers, and also form and train German callers, they also had the chance to survive. But there were many purely American clubs on the bases that folded. The last example were the "Paws and Taws" at Bitburg Air Base when the Base was closed in 1993.

Nevertheless there were some American military men who took German brides, stayed long or forever, resigned from military jobs or took civilian jobs with the military. Those Americans who also were callers are well known and loved by our German dancers. Best known certainly is Al Stevens (with his roots in Virginia) who also retired from his military job some years ago and is a famous caller well known and seen everywhere at German Square Dance festivals. Another one is Kenny Reese from Houston, Texas who has been dancing in Europe since 1974 and calling for his club, the "Darmstompers" Darmstadt, since 1977 and for the other club, the Frankfurt "Beaux & Belles", since 1984. Altogether there is a handful of American callers in Germany who certainly will stay and are appreciated by their clubs.

But those callers also taught German interested dancers to learn the calling job and become experienced callers with the time. This process still began in the fifties, and so it was possible to substitute the American callers leaving Europe, and so it was possible to support and maintain the German clubs and dancing activities and prevent them from folding.

The oldest German clubs existing now are those in Frankfort ("Beaux & Belles" founded in 1954), Wiesbaden ("Kuntry Kuzins" founded in 1955), Darmstadt ("Darmstompers" founded in 1959), and Heidelberg ("Heidelberg Hoedowners"), but also in Munich ("Munich Dip-n-Divers" founded in 1958) and Berlin (clubs founded in the sixties). At that time, nearly all clubs were founded by American personnel, often in military areas. Often German membership was very limited as those clubs had American statutes (military status). Afterwards the clubs were converted to German clubs with German statutes, and numbers of American members were reduced as German membership grew with the time.

But also Canadian military servicemen founded Square dance clubs, during the sixties, and afterwards let German dancers come in, e.g. in Lahr (Black Forest) and Soest (Westphalia). Even at American military airbases outside the American Zone clubs were founded, e.g. in Bitburg (Eifel), in Geilenkirchen (AWACS base) and Brunssum in the Netherlands (Afcent base), not far from the German border. It is remarkable that specially in the Rhine Main area, i.e. the area between Frankfort and Mannheim, the most clubs can be found, a sort of nucleus of German Square Dancing. From here the movement spread all over the land, but in other areas, e.g. in the British Zone (North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxonia, and the whole north of Germany, clubs were founded later, often in the 70s and 80s, and the club founding boom is still going on nowadays. Many clubs in Germany were founded by folk dancers and the like, others by Country clubs and Country music fans, still others by people loving American culture and way of life.

The European Association of American Square Dance Clubs (EAASDC) grew with the time and spread all over Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, and now even the Czech Republic. Only Denmark, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, also the Netherlands and the Czechoslovaks (the Czech and Slovak Republics) have their own national associations where their clubs are organized.

In 1975, the EAASDC had about 80 member clubs, and it is interesting that among them were also British, Norwegian, Icelandic, Dutch, Belgian, Italian, Spanish clubs, and even one in England. After that time came the club founding boom that is still going on, nowadays the EAASDC has about 460 clubs in eight nations: The big majority are German clubs, the rest are Dutch (12), Belgian (6), Swiss (7), Austrian (3), Czech (2), Italian (1), and Spanish (1) clubs. The majority of them are Mainstream clubs, but we also have Plus clubs and high level clubs dancing A1 to C3a.

The history of Round Dancing in Germany is similar. Paul Hartman also taught some simple Round Dances during his activities in 1949/50, but these were forgotten until new leaders came up in the sixties and newly learnt and taught Round Dancing. This was the case especially in the old clubs in Southern Germany were there was presence of American pioneers and Square and Round Dance leaders alike. Round Dancing also spread very slowly all over Germany, but still mainly in the southern part. Now we have about 20 Round Dance clubs in Germany. Contra and Traditional Square Dancing were never very much developed here, still today we have only one Contra club in Germany and very few leaders, 3 or 4, but it is official part of our dancing activities and officially represented in the ECTA. ECTA is the European Caller and Teacher Association founded in ... , is officially responsible for the dance programs issued by CALLERLAB and ROUNDALAB, and has some hundred members in all Europe. Also represented in these bodies is Clogging that came along in Germany much later (in the eighties), and there are now about 5 Clogging Clubs with competent leaders.

One idea about German club life. The club founding boom still is going on because there are many young and middle aged people who join the movement and who are willing to learn and found new clubs everywhere in the country, so that the number of 460 was reached this year. These young people are filled with enthusiasm and devoted to their task to build their club. Most of the German clubs are rather small (20 to 30 dancers), but their are also huge clubs as the "Munich Dip-n Divers" with about 250 members. Most German square dancers (the complete number is difficult to state, estimated about 8 to10.000) are willing to hold contacts between each other, they often organize club visits, banner raids, campouts, and particularly Special Dances, as we call it here, about once per year, with original fancy names, where all other Square Dancers and clubs are invited. After that, four times per year is held on fixed dates a jamboree: Spring Jamboree in March, Summer Jamboree in June, Fall Round Up at the beginning of September, and Winter Jamboree in December. These are officially by both EAASDC and ECTA, but organized by one local club.

In Germany we have, after my knowledge, no (!) Single club, as we accept couples and singles in any club. In every club, normally everyone dances with every other member. Sure, there are couples who are dancing together all or most of the time, but this is not a big problem, as there are enough singles normally to dance with the other singles.

Even if the 50^th anniversary of Square Dance in Germany is not celebrated officially, we remember that date of July 16, 1949, and we think with gratefulness of Paul Hartman who began to introduce this cultural heritage from America back to Europe, and of all the American citizens who made it possible and who helped us to develop our dancing skills and to find pleasure in Square and Round Dancing.