The German-American Heritage Foundation of the USA (GAHFUSA) is a national non-profit organization that promotes the German language, culture, and heritage in the United States and works toward preserving the history of Americans of German ancestry who helped build the United States."Mission,"
German-American Heritage Foundation. It is a national membership organization through which Americans of German heritage and language work together on issues of common concern. The organization's national headquarters are in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

The German-American Heritage Foundation was established as the United German-American Committee of the USA in 1977. Each year since President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

first declared October 6

German-American Day German-American Day (german: Deutsch-Amerikanischer Tag) is a holiday in the United States, observed annually on October 6 under . It celebrates German-American heritage and commemorates the founding of Germantown, Pennsylvania (now part of Phil ...

in 1987, GAHFUSA has petitioned the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

, and state and local governments to issue national and statewide proclamations."Ongoing Programs"
German-American Heritage Foundation. On October 17, 2008, the German-American Heritage Foundation acquired Hockemeyer Hall to establish the first national German-American Heritage Museum of the USA. Through supporters and fundraising, the GAHF was able to renovate the interior and exterior of the old townhouse, which opened in March 2010."About the Museum"
German-American Heritage Foundation.

Notable "Distinguished German-Americans"

The organization honors the outstanding contributions of Americans of German descent through its Distinguished German-American of the Year Award, which it presents at the annual Council of 1000 Award and Fundraising Gala."Distinguished German-American of the Year Award"
German-American Heritage Foundation. Notable awardees have included: * 1989:

Werner Fricker Werner Fricker (January 24, 1936, in Karlsdorf, Yugoslavia; (Banatski Karlovac); – May 30, 2001, in Horsham, Pennsylvania) was a German-American soccer halfback who later became president of the United States Soccer Federation. He is a membe ...

* 1990:

Eric Braeden Eric Braeden (born Hans-Jörg Gudegast; April 3, 1941) is a German-born film and television actor, known for his roles as Victor Newman on the CBS soap opera ''The Young and the Restless'', as Hans Dietrich in the 1960s TV series ''The Rat Patrol ...

* 1992: Heinz C. Prechter * 2005:

Günter Blobel Günter Blobel (; May 21, 1936 – February 18, 2018) was a Silesian German and American biologist and 1999 Nobel Prize laureate in Physiology for the discovery that proteins have intrinsic signals that govern their transport and localization in t ...

* 2006:

H. Norman Schwarzkopf Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. (; August 22, 1934 – December 27, 2012) was a United States Army general. While serving as the commander of United States Central Command, he led all Coalition of the Gulf War, coalition forces in the Gulf ...

* 2008:

Jesco von Puttkamer Jesco Hans Heinrich Max Freiherr von Puttkamer () was a German-American aerospace engineer, senior manager at NASA, and a pulp science fiction writer. He was an advocate of human space exploration, and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence ...

* 2009:

William R. Timken William Robert Timken Jr. (born December 21, 1938) is an American industrialist, businessman and former diplomat. He served as the U.S. Ambassador to Germany from 2005–2008. He has served at The Timken Company (which his great-grandfather Henr ...

* 2010:

Paul Volcker Paul Adolph Volcker Jr. (September 5, 1927 – December 8, 2019) was an American economist who served as the 12th chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1979 to 1987. During his tenure as chairman, Volcker was widely credited with having ended the ...

* 2011:

Robert Zoellick Robert Bruce Zoellick (; ; born July 25, 1953) is an American public official and lawyer who was the eleventh president of the World Bank, a position he held from July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2012. He was previously a managing director of Goldman Sach ...

* 2015: Doug Oberhelman * 2016: Philip F. Anschutz * 2018:

Peter Thiel Peter Andreas Thiel (; born 11 October 1967) is a German-American billionaire entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and political activist. A co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies, and Founders Fund, he was the first outside investor in Fac ...

Peter Thiel to Receive 2018 Distinguished German-American of the Year Award
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References

External links

*{{Official website, http://gahmusa.org/ German-American culture in Washington, D.C. German-American history German-American organizations Organizations based in Washington, D.C.

Notable "Distinguished German-Americans"

See also

References

External links