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Archiver > NYC-ROOTS > 2000-12 > 0975763442
From:
Subject: Re: [NYC] Roselle, Staten Island ?
Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2000 08:24:02 EST
In a message dated 12/02/2000 1:49:10 AM Eastern Standard Time,
writes:
> There was one of those Schutzen or Scheutzen Parks in Hudson County, NJ,
> also (pronounced, if you'll forgive me, "shit-zen") by my mother. Did that
> name or word have a special meaning to our German immigrants? There were
> athletics, dances, concerts, etc. there years ago.
>
>
Yes, Schützen Park is still in the town of North Bergen, NJ. The activities
you list are still held there. You can find these activities in the NY and
the NJ German language newspapers (which are now weeklies). Sometimes
activities are listed on the only German language radio program in the area
on Saturdays from 4 to 6 PM on WFUV (Fordham Univ. radio station).
Schützen has several meanings. I thought it referred to the fact that the
name was referring to the possibility that maybe at one time the place was
started by a rifle club, as schützen is a verb meaning to shoot. My
dictionary says it also means to protect or to shelter, and there is also
next door the Fritz Reuter(sp?) Old Age Home which is supported by events
held at Schützen Park.
I have heard the pronunciation you mention also; but I have also heard the
word pronounced differently. The ü is pronounced like ue.
I think our forefathers used to work hard, but also they had more fun than we
often do today; they used to go to these places and dance energetically and
consume their native specialties as well as meet with other folk from their
native areas (and thus the language and traditions survived for a while).
Margaret
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