| Summary: | FEATURES The Concordian December 1,1989 9 Hjemk0mst Center has unique history; exhibits F-M Arts Review Kris Roepke Visitors to the Heritage Hjemkomst Interpretive Center in Moorhead will experience a unique part of history. It is the home of the Hjemkomst, the Viking ship that was built in Hawley, MN and sailed to Bergen, Norway in 1982. "Hjemkomst" is Norwegian for homecoming. The ship and its creator In 1971, Robert Asp, a former Moorhead school counselor, dreamed of building a Viking ship and sailing it back to his ancestors1 homeland. He chose as his model the Gokstad, an authentic Viking ship that is currently on display at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway. A replica of the Gokstad was successfully sailed from Norway to the United States in 1883. The spring of 1972 was spent gathering oak umbers. When the project outgrew Asp's garage, an abandoned potato warehouse became the Hawley Shipyard. In 1974, Asp was diagnosed with leukemia, but this didn't dampen his determination. His family vowed to complete the project if he was unable to do so. Nine years after the idea was conceived, Asp's dream was afloat. The Hjemkemst is over 76 feet long, 17 feet wide and weighs over 16 tons The mast, which rises 60 feet above the deck, is made from a single Norway pine. The rest of the ship is made of white oak. On August 9, 1980. he sailed the ship on Lake Superior. It was then put in winter storage and the selection of crew members began. There were a total of 81 applicants. Though his dream was about to be realized. Asp didn't live to see it. He succumbed to leukemia shortly after Christmas, 1980. The Asp family selected the crew that winter. Each applicant was told that in ordered to be considered, he or she would have to work with them for three months in Duluth, preparing the ship for the journey. At the end of this time, thirteen crew members were selected, including Doug, Roger, Tom and Deb Asp, Robert's children. On May 6, 1982, the crew set sail from Duluth Harbor for New York City, 1300 miles away. They travelled by way of the Great Lakes, making many stops for community celebrations. Thirty-three days later, on June 8, the Hjemkemst arrived in New York City amidst great fanfare. On June 8, the second and final leg of the journey began, minus one crew member. Lynn Halmrast, a young husband and father, decided that the risk was too great and turned back home. The trip started off on a rough note. Just 500 miles into the 6100 mile trip, the ship encountered a storm that lasted a day and a half. The winds registered at 50 MPH. As a result, the rudder broke, causing a 1/8 inch wide, 14 foot long crack in the bottom of the boat. At this point, the crew seriously considered turning back to Newfoundland. However, they calculated that it would take them just as long to get there as it would to get to Bergen because of the high winds. They repaired the crack and pressed on to Norway. The Hjemkomst arrived to a royal welcome in Bergen on July 19, 1982. Robert Asp's dream had come true. Other activities of the center In addition to viewing the ship, visitors will be able to see a 20- minute documentary about the voyage as well as numerous displays relating to Asp and the ouilding of the ship. The Hjemkemst Center also has special attractions throughout the year. The Holiday Heritage Festival, which celebrates the rich ethnic heritage of the Red River Valley, began November 23 and runs through December 31. Christmas trees representing China, Mexico, England, Germany, Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden will be on Visitors admire the Hjemkomst. The Center offers many Scandinavian displays as well. Photo by Whitey. display. Also, various crafts will be featured during the first three weekends in December. Some of the crafts to be demonstrated include Ukranian egg-painting; rosemaling; English, Belgian, Danish and German lace-making; Polish paper-cutting; Scandinavian paper baskets; birchbark boxes and Norwegian tines; Swedish embroidery; Swedish straw and wood curl ornaments and more. In addition, a wide variety of musical talent will perform, including the FM Area Square Dancers, accordian player Jeff Williams, the MSU Heritage Dancers, the Ada Valley Swingers, the Valley Stars Square Dance Group and the Vietnamese Dragon Dancers. For information on specific times and confirmation of events, contact the center at 233-5604. Berlin wall, German economy in shambles Norbert Benzel, Professor of German Studies at Concordla, was bom In what is now East Germany. Photo by Whitey "Change" and "fast." Two all of this happening," said words that don't normally go Norbert Benzel, Associate together. But reality to the citi- Professor of German, "in such a zens of some of the Eastern Block short period of time." countries. "Wild, just wild," said From the Solidarity Party in Michelle Stevens, German Club Poland to the latest developments president. "I think it's great. I in Czechoslovakia, the events called West Berlin on Nov. 10, during the past several months and all the phone lines were have simply been amazing. No jammed. The operator wished me one would have thought previous- good luck in getting through." ly that this would have been With pieces of The Wall corn-possible, ing down and new developments ,"H*s a wonderful thing to see occurring daily, it is difficult to stay on top of everything. The only thing certain is when the "melting" of the Iron Curtain began — with the Solidarity movement in Poland. Benzel said, "We owe a lot to the Hungarians because they were bold enough to let the East Germans travel freely." The sights were great to watch, from East Germans dancing on The Wall to relatives visiting each other for the first time in years. There were also the curious East Germans who just enjoyed seeing the West and spending the $100 Welcome Money from the West German govt. "Through the years, The Wall has been a symbol for two things. One, the separation of East and West Berlin and Two, the separa-tion of Germany, North to South." said Benzel. Now that the separation has come down. The future between East and West remains uncertain. Hopefully, it will lead to stronger relations between East and West One promising sign is that 56,000 Communist Party mem-bers turned in their membership cards. This has never happened before. "What this means is they can-celled their memberships in the Communist party," Benzel said. "A key factor," said Stevens, "is that there is a young genera-tion of East Germans clinging because the East German consti-tution is so socialistic. East German citizens have the right to housing and mother and child protection for example. This isn't existent in the West." Another factor East Germans have to face is the ten percent unemployment rate in West Germany now. West Germany also has emergency housing pro-grams and a large population of Turkish workers. There are 540 people per square mile in West Germany compared with 52 peo-ple per per square mile in the United States. Taking all of this into consid-eration, this is going to affect West Germans and their economy, but to what extent remains to be seen. "Germany is more formidably economically compatible," said David Meowes. "There are fears because East Germany is the strongest of all Eastern Bloc nations." There are also fears by others that the two Germany's would reunite. Currently, England is tak-ing a low-key stand. France's gov-ernment is giving support for a merger but its citizens are not. "If there would be an econom-ic union, the total output would be twice as before," said Benzel. "In the long run there will be unifica-tion. People of the same ethnic background belong together." Another surprise has been the United States' low-key reaction. According to USA TODAY, Bush has said the United States will wait to offer aid until it is clear that any Eastern Bloc country is willing to reform its economy, not just open their borders. This was in response to West Germany urg-ing other nations to help East Germany. West Germany already provides East Germany with $2.5 billion in annual assistance. "Bush has been criticized by his low-key reaction," said Meowes. "He doesn't want to cre-ate a situation to make it more difficult We should give more to East Germany. There's a rare opportunity we're not taking advantage of because of this." "The United States really did-n't get into the act this time," said Benzel, "but they didn't when The Wall first went up, either. If the President would have come out stronger, it wouldn't have made much difference." For now, it remains to be seen if this new-found will spread to other Eastern Bloc countries. Demonstrations and free national balloting are steps to free coun-tries, but they don't necessarily guarantee them. "What we don't want to hap-pen," said Meowes, "is what hap-pened to the Chinese. If the gov-ernments cracked down, it would be tragic." k k (
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