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The Order of the Sons of Hermann, also known as Hermann Sons and by its German name as Der Orden der Hermann's Soehne or Hermannssöhne, was formed as a mutual protection society for German immigrants in New York City on July 20, 1840.〔Fritz Schilo, ("Sons of Hermann" ), Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Society, retrieved August 14, 2013.〕〔("Die Hermann's Soehne: An Order with an Honorable Record for Benevolence: Works of Charity Quietly Done: A Society Founded to Foster the German Language and Customs – A Statue to Hermann, the Teuton Warrior," ) ''New York Times'', May 19, 1895, p. 21. (pdf)〕 The order provides low-cost insurance and mutual aid and has historically promoted the preservation of German language and traditions. ==History== The Sons of Hermann was formed by Dr. Philip Merkel, George Heiner, John Blatz, A. Auer, R. Schwendel, W. Kohler, and Philipp Germann on the Lower East Side,〔〔According to Albert Clark Stevens, ''The Cyclopædia of Fraternities'', 2nd ed., New York: Treat, 1907, (p. 282 ), the fifth and seventh names are R. Schivendel and Philipp Hermann. He and the ''New York Times'' both have "Dr. Philip Merkel" as the first name.〕 in response to anti-German prejudice during a period of heavy German immigration to the United States. One account, published in the ''St. Paul Morning Call'' in 1896, is that the order was founded after the funeral procession for a German was hindered and the mourners insulted by nativists, prompting protest meetings of German Americans at one of which a speaker said another Hermann (Arminius) was needed to protect the Germans from their enemies.〔Stevens, p. 283.〕 It was an offshoot of the Odd Fellows.〔Stanley Nadel, ''Little Germany: Ethnicity, Religion, and Class in New York City, 1845–80'', University of Illinois Press, 1990, ISBN 0-252-01677-7, (p. 111 ).〕 By 1848 the organization had grown to six groups with 800 members, and on December 25, 1848, a national grand lodge was formed in Milwaukee.〔 Hundreds of lodges were organized during the nineteenth century; by 1895 there were about 30,000 members,〔 and in 1896 there were Grand Lodges in California, Connecticut, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington in addition to New York, as well as scattered members in 15 other states with a total membership of 90,000.〔 A German-language account ten years after that mentions affiliates in Canada and in Germany itself.〔Georg Schuster, ''Die Geheimen Gesellschaften, Verbindungen und Orden'', Volume 2 Leipzig: Theodor Leibing, 1906, (p. 511 ).〕 However, like all things German, the order declined sharply in popularity with the outbreak of World War I.〔''Germany and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History'', ed. Thomas Adam, ABC-CLIO, 2005, ISBN 1-85109-628-0 p. 985 ().〕 The order's symbolic colors are black, red and gold, representing German unity: black for ignorance, prejudice and indifference; red for the light and enlightenment spread by German culture and the German spirit; and gold for true freedom, which man arrives at through knowledge and labor.〔 The order never had degrees. It has had rituals since its inception; at one point the Roman Catholic Church refused church burial to members of the Sons of Hermann because of their ritual.〔Kathleen Neils Conzen, ''Immigrant Milwaukee, 1836–1860: Accommodation and Community in a Frontier City'', Harvard University Press, 1976, ISBN 0-674-44436-1 (p. 169 ).〕 But by the 1970s neither the initiation rite nor the burial rite was required. The burial rite mentions that the departed is now with the Almighty, but the order does not limit its membership to believers in a supreme being.〔Alvin J. Schmidt with Nicholas Babchuk, ''Fraternal Organizations'', Greenwood encyclopedia of American institutions 3, Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood, 1980, ISBN 978-0-313-21436-3, p. 153.〕 German Jews participated fully in the Sons of Hermann; the order's insurance fund was led by Jacob Brandeis and Rabbi Emanuel Gerechter, the former also directing the order's choral group in Milwaukee.〔Avraham Barkai, ''Branching Out: German-Jewish Immigration to the United States, 1820–1914''. Ellis Island Series. Holmes & Meier, 1994, ISBN 0-8419-1152-5, (p. 184 ).〕 At one point the order had a female auxiliary called the Daughters of Hermann, open to the wives, mothers, sisters and daughters of the Sons.〔Stevens, pp. 283–84.〕 Harmonia Lodge No. 1 in San Antonio was the first Sons of Hermann lodge to offer its members non-profit life insurance (proposed in 1873).〔("From Folk Hero to Fraternalism," ) Sons of Hermann Hall, Dallas, December 16, 2008. Accessed October 18, 2009.〕 Starting on July 1, 1875, the national organization required members to purchase a life insurance policy.〔("History," ) Hermann Sons Fraternal Insurance, 2008. Accessed October 18, 2009.〕 This is now a major feature of membership; ritual initiation is not required.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sons of Hermann」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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