Germans

Richard Wilbur is the author of The Rise of French New Brunswick and
co-author of Silver Harvest: The Fundy Weirmen’s Story.

I have not read any other titles in the Peoples of the Maritimes series,
but the editors struck gold when they found Dr. Waseem to research and
write this study of German emigration to the Maritimes over the past 250
years. In 1960, Waseem arrived in Canada to teach German at Acadia
University—a vantage point from which she wrote articles on her
resettled countrymen.

Her study begins with the decision by Governor Cornwallis to find
German Protestant settlers to serve as a balance between the recently
warring French and English in what was then Nova Scotia; between 1750
and 1752, over 2500 settlers arrived. Chapter 2, “Adjusting to a New
Life,” describes the founding of Lunenburg and other German
settlements in the Moncton area of New Brunswick. Chapter 3 has an
excellent description of how Lunenburg developed and prospered down to
the recent decline in commercial fishing, when tourism was championed as
its new economy. The rest of this chapter, drawing on annual census
reports from 1871 to 1991, is less successful because it provides
nothing more than statistical summaries for the three provinces; a
concluding summary paragraph would have helped.

The rest of the book is devoted to sketches of successful German
émigrés who arrived after World War II and prospered, thanks to their
“Protestant work ethic” and special skills, in such areas as
teaching, crafts, fruit farming, and winemaking. Chapter 4, “Prominent
Individuals,” consists of biographies of people “who were known to
the author, or involved with the book, and who were willing to tell
their story.” All had fascinating and positive stories to tell, and
their lives, as well as those of hundreds of other former Germans,
testify to how much they have contributed to their adopted land. The
Maritimes could use many more.