1. Did you know ... ?

         H  That Leonardo DiCaprio’s grandmother is German?  That his middle name is Wilhelm ?

         H  That Sandra Bullock’s mother is German?  That Sandra speaks German ?

         H  That famous dancer Fred Astaire’s father came from Austria ?

         H  That the most famous Tarzan - Johnny Weissmueller - had Austrian parents ? 

         H  That Mark Twain spoke German ?

               H  That basketball pros Dirk Nowitski & Detlef Schrempf are German ? 

         H  That supermodels Heidi Klum and Claudia Schiffer are also German? 

         H  That action star Arnold Schwarzenegger was born in Austria ?

         H  That Wolfgang Peterson, director of Outbreak,  A Perfect Storm, & Air Force One, is German.

   2. Have you ever ... ?

        H   Eaten candy corn ?  You can thank Gustav and Albert Goelitz - German candymakers.

        H   Eaten a Tootsie roll ?  You can thank Leo Hirschfield, an Austrian immigrant candymaker.           

        H   Eaten pretzels ?  They’re from Germany where they’re called Brezeln. 

        H   Had Heinz ketchup ?  H. J. Heinz’s parents came from Germany.     

           H   Been x-rayed ?  You can thank a German - Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen - who discovered x-rays.

        H   Used Scotch tape ?  You can thank Jacques Brandenburger - the Swiss inventor of cellophane - which is used for Scotch tape. 

        H   Heard of anthrax?  You can thank Robert Koch, the German scientist who discovered it.

        H   Used a Bunsen burner ?  You can thank Robert Wilhelm Bunsen,  the German scientist who invented it.  

                  H   Gone to kindergarten ?  You can thank Margaretha Meyer Schurz,  a  German immigrant who started the first kindergarten in the USA.   

        H   Told someone the temperature ?  You can thank Gabriel Fahrenheit, the German scientist who developed the Fahrenheit temperature scale.     

        H   Been to a wedding ?  Then you’ve heard “The Wedding March”  by German composer Felix Mendelssohn.      

  3.  Have you read ... ? 

        H   Bambi ?   It was written by Felix Salten, an Austrian writer.

        H   Madeline’s Rescue ?  The Madeline books were written by Ludwig Bemelmans, who was born in Austria. 

        H   Little Red Riding Hood ?   It’s a German fairy tale.

        H   Hansel and Gretel ?   It’s another German fairy tale.

        H   Green Eggs and Ham ?  Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss) grew up in a German-speaking family.  

        H   Lord of the Rings ?   J. R. R. Tolkien’s last name is originally German - Tollkühn.  

 4.   Have you seen ... ?

        H   Gone With the Wind ?  The musical score was written by an Austrian, Max Steiner.

        H   Sayonara  or  The Bride of Frankenstein ?  The musical scores were written by an Austrian, Franz Waxman.

        H   The Lion King ?  The musical score was written by Hans Zimmer, another Austrian.  

        H   My Fair Lady ?  The music was written by Lerner & Loewe - Loewe was Frederick Loewe, also an Austrian composer.

        H   The Sound of Music ?  The whole story is about the von Trapp family and their escape from Austria, the music by Rodgers & Hammerstein - Oscar Hammerstein.

        H   Heidi ?  The story was written by a Swiss woman, Johanna Spyri.

        H   The Nutcracker ?  It comes from a work by German writer,  E. T. A. Hoffmann.

        H   The Wizard of Oz ?  L. Frank Baum, the author of the book, had ancestors from Germany. 

        H   The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus ?  The father of the Ringlings came from Germany.    

  5.  Have you heard of ... ? 

        H   The Ritz Hotel ?  It was founded by a Swiss man,  Cesar Ritz.       

        H   Houdini ?  His real name was Ehrich Weiss; he was born in Hungary, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

        H   Klieg lights ?  They were invented by John & Anton Kliegl, German immigrants. 

        H   Gummy bears ?  They come from Germany where they’re called Gummibären.  

        H   Levi’s jeans ?  They were started by Levi Strauss, a German immigrant to America.  

        H   A Geiger counter ?  It was invented by Hans Geiger, a German physicist. 

        H   Steinway pianos ?  They were built by Heinrich Steinweg, a German woodworker and organ-maker who immigrated to America.     

        H   Rottweiler dogs ?  They originated in Rottweil,  Germany.    

       H   Smucker’s jelly ?  Originally named Schmucker  - the family came to Ohio from Switzerland.  

         H   Petri dishes ?  They were invented by Julius Petri, a German bacteriologist.  

        H   Zinnias ?  This lovely flower was discovered by J. G. Zinn, a German botanist.   

        H   Camellias ?  Georg Josef Kamel, a German missionary, introduced this flower to Europe and it’s name - Latinized to camellia - comes from his last name.

  6.  Did you also know ... ? 

        H   That the world’s oldest zoo is in Vienna, Austria ?    

        H   That the world’s largest zoo is in Berlin, Germany ?  

        H   That the world’s oldest monorail still in operation is in Wuppertal, Germany ?

        H   That Annie Oakley toured Germany & shot a cigarette out of Crown Prince Wilhelm’s mouth ?

        H   That Queen Victoria spoke German as a child ? 

        H   That the Brooklyn Bridge was designed by Johann Roebling, a German ? 

        H   That PEZ candy & dispensers were first created by Edward Haas, an Austrian ?

        H   That velcro was invented by a Swiss scientist, George de Mestral ?

        H   That Time magazine’s “Man of the Century” was Albert Einstein, a German physicist ?

  H      That Johannes Gutenberg was chosen “Man of the Millennium”  for inventing the printing press

      H   That Stanford University has a German motto ?   It’s Die Luft der Freiheit weht.

            (Sign up for German to learn what it means !)