​Give them the same chance your family had, Commissioner

City Commissioner Dave Piepkorn’s great-great-grandfather, Friedrich Franz Gottlieb Piepkorn (1808-1897), left Revahl, Prussia, now Rewal, Poland, between 1863 and 1870, and lived in Waltham, Mower County, Minnesota.

Why? Like most Prussians, Franz was stuck in the situation he was born into, and told what to do. Most farmers were tied to large estates and virtually owned by great landowners. They performed forced labor. The royal bureaucracy and landowners controlled everything, from whom and when they could marry to the exact amount of firewood they could burn in winter.

In 19th century Prussia, every able-bodied man was a soldier. There are records of Franz Piepkorn in two regiments.

It’s hard to imagine how militarized Prussia was. One good way is to read the novels of Theodor Fontane (1819-1898). Imagine the Bison football homecoming, but every day and in every city: barracks, parades, uniforms everywhere. The officers were idolized and everyone was in uniform at least part of the time. Franz was available for service all the time and for most of his adult life.

Franz didn’t arrive in the U.S. until he was at least 56 years old. He’d probably wanted to emigrate sooner. Maybe he was waiting for the U.S. Civil War to end. Or maybe he could see the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71) coming. He waited until his youngest child Reinhart was old enough to travel. He didn’t want his sons to repeat his life.

Today’s refugees and new Americans are the same, but from worse situations. They’ve come from war zones, ruined countries, and refugee camps, and they want to start a new life. Have a heart, Commissioner.

Among friends Dave Piepkorn’s great-great-grandfather was called Franz, but in the U.S., he appears in documents as Frank Piepkorn. That’s a sign that he didn’t want to hide in his community and read German language newspapers. He wanted to be American.

Frank’s son, Reinhart Piepkorn (1863-1943) is Robert Richard Piepkorn in later documents. Same story. Work hard, fit in, leave the past behind.

That same Robert Piepkorn, Franz’s youngest son and Dave Piepkorn’s great-grandfather, was born in Revahl, Prussia, in 1863. He was married on October 10, 1890, to fellow immigrant Maria Louise Volgmann. They had twelve children, and that’s how we found out the little that we know, from their online data and comments.

Did Frank or Robert Piepkorn homestead their land? We can’t say for sure. There are Piepkorn homesteaders in North Dakota, but no record in the name of Franz, Frank, Reinhart or Robert. If Robert homesteaded land, he paid very little for it and almost certainly made a good investment in it. If he did, he received far more in government benefits than any current refugee or new American.

We don’t know very much about Robert Piepkorn and we are aware that this is a weak argument. It’s so weak that it has a name: “If I had a sister, she would like Camembert.”

Commissioner Piepkorn, almost all of our refugees want to be American, just like your ancestors and just as much. We see them at the YMCA. They’re struggling to learn English, and their children speak it perfectly.

You, Commissioner, are hindering them. Your angry speeches mobilize the hatred of the worst elements among us. You legitimize bad treatment and abuse. We know you aren’t the only one; there are far worse and in positions of great responsibility. But that doesn’t make it right and you don’t have go along with it.

Attacks on all minorities have increased markedly since the recent election, especially on American Muslims. That places a special responsibility on our elected representatives to encourage reconciliation, empathy, neighborliness.

We don’t think anything we say will change your mind, Mr. Piepkorn. But if you go to one of the mosque’s events, and talk to them, maybe you’ll be able to see them as people essentially like you, and not as budget liabilities. Not likely, but we can hope.

It’s not far away, at 601 28th Street South, 701-234-9607.

You’ve demanded and obtained testimony from Lutheran Social Services CEO Jessica Thomasson, the Forum’s person of the year for 2015, and from Dan Mahli, Fargo City Development Administrator, that the benefits refugees receive are modest and that they depend on such aid for a reasonably short time. And still you don’t believe the figures you’ve been given.

We wonder. Do you believe what you are saying? You are surely aware that a considerable number of voters are against any more refugees coming in. And you must run for reelection in 2018. Are you Big Bo Peep, looking for sheep?

Your great-grandfather Robert Piepkorn was a prosperous farmer. He retired in the resort town of Sandpoint, Idaho, up in the panhandle, a beautiful part of the country. This Thanksgiving we wish the same, or as much, to everyone making a start here in Fargo.