Translation of the news item from the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung dated 19 July 2000:

NOTE:(name misspellings, misquotes, and factual errors have not been corrected)

(under the picture: ) THE GERMAN HOSPITALITY is, above all, what impressed the guests from Cappeln, Missouri, USA.

Headline quote: From the Alps to the North Sea is only a stone's throw.

Secondary headline: Americans from Cappeln, Missouri, on a discovery trip

Westerkappeln: Not for everyone, but for many of the ten persons in the group from Cappeln, Missouri it was their first visit to Germany and, above all, to Westerkappeln. After a week in south Germany, the Americans set out for a further week of searching their roots in the place of their forebears. It certainly "looks like Missouri", but the visitors also noted differences. Patient Germans in traffic: "They don't honk the horn", said one American, surprised but pleased.

For a long time now there have been good contacts between the descendants of those emigrating from the region of Tecklenburg to Missouri to seek their fortune and of those who opted to remain. The couple Raymond and Celia Freese are in Germany for the eleventh time. Also, Marilyn Rosburg already had had her passport stamped in Germany twice when she decided to come a third time, this time with her parents.

Arriving in Munich, their travels led them to Oberammergau, where they naturally saw the Passion Play, and which they found "very impressive". From there they went to Rüdesheim and St. Goarshausen and to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Rothenburg is a town, explained Travel Agency head Werner Michels with a wink, "that the Germans have built just for Americans".

After the tour through south Germany came a week of searching their roots, with the Rosburgs having relatives in Fulda and Lübeck, the Freeses in Melle and in Uffa near Frankfurt. There the visitors got to know the nature of German hospitality, for in this small town everything is closed on Wednesday afternoons. After some time looking unsuccessfully for a place to stop for refreshment, with associated rest rooms, they approached a resident and explained their problem. With no hesitation, he invited them into his home to use the facilities and provided refreshments. Not only that. As the visitors were later strolling through the village and were greeted by the occasional locals that they met, an 89 year old lady with some things to say about the families they were searching called to them. She had apparently been phoned by the resident whose home the visitors had visited earlier and had been informed about the families that the group was looking for.

In addition, not only is everything so clean but also, comparatively cramped and small to all the Americans. Thus the quick change of scenery made a significant impression. From the Alps to the shores of the North Sea in one hour: "We would only be in Iowa", joked Lyle Rosburg. In general, large and small, old and young are relative concepts. Thus the group was visiting, among other places, a 300 year old home. "And it was never a fortress!", being very astonished about the age. A house 300 years old? In America it would be unthinkable. "We would simply tear it down and build new.", explained Lyle Rosburg. Americans are even more impatient that Germans. That was noticed by Margie Dickmann, who with her mother Minnie Holt was a part of the group. She had experienced many situations in traffic that would incur road rage in Americans: "But here they don't even honk their horn", she declared in amazement.

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