Ted Hierl passes away at age 67

It is with a very heavy heart that I am announcing the death of Ted Hierl. I would like to thank Robert Deglau for letting me know of Ted's unfortunate passing. As you can read below in his obituary, Ted was a radio announcer in New Jersey with his own German Radio show for 36 years.

Ted organized annual cruises that featured famous German singing stars such as Heino, Tony Marshall, Alpentrio Tirol, Reiner Kristen, and the Schaefers to only name a few. My heart goes out to his wife, Hilde, and their family during this very difficult time in their lives.

Dear Friends:

It is with great sadness that I am informing you of the passing of our good friend Ted Hierl.

Many of you knew Ted through his activities on the German-American Heritage Council in New Jersey, where he organized and hosted the "Heritage Festival" featuring some of the greatest entertainers from Germany, who had long become his personal friends. His long friendship with Heino - for whom Ted coined the name "Die Stimme der Heimat" -, was a bridge between Ted´s old homeland and an audience of German-Americans that couldn't get enough of the beautiful evergreens.

You might have also known Ted from his German-American Radio Program that he has broadcast for over thirty years. Or from his involvement with the scholarship program for American students of German. Or for his enthusiasm towards all things German-American, from the Heritage Museum in Washington, DC to the many festivals he regularly visited in the Greater New York area.

But Ted was also a great friend and supporter of the German-American Steuben Parade. He talked about the parade on his weekly radio program, he attended the Banquet and the festivities on Fifth Avenue and Central Park for many year, always joined by his wonderful wife Hilde, who had been a pillar of support for Ted throughout their marriage of almost fifty years.

Ted will be dearly missed by the German-American community. We will miss him in the Steuben Parade and at the many events he used to attend. We will miss his voice on the radio and the valued insight and opinion he gave.

Below, please find Ted´s obituary and information on his wake and funeral service.

Please keep Ted, his wife Hilde and the entire family in your thoughts.

Yardville - Detlef "Ted" A. Hierl, 67, died peacefully on Sunday, May 30, 2010 in Trenton, NJ, surrounded by his loving family after a courageous 4 year battle with cancer. Born December 7, 1942 in Bonn, Germany, he was the youngest son of the late Willibald & Christine Hierl (Sauder).
After Ted completed his schooling and apprenticeship near his hometown Bruehl, he received his Master Certificate for machine building. A few years after immigrating to the USA with his wife and daughter in 1962, a son was born, and the family became US citizens.

Ted's first job was working for Crossley Machine Company in Trenton. In 1966 he became the plant manager for Coronis Building Systems in Columbus, NJ till his retirement in 2008. Ted was also a partner in the "Take it Easy Bar & Liquor Store" in Yardville, NJ for several years.

In addition to his professional life, Ted was especially active in the German-American Community in the Delaware Valley. He became the voice of German radio for 36 years performing the two-hour live show each and every Sunday morning. Ted started broadcasting over WTTM Radio, Trenton, NJ in 1974. During his Christmas Eve specials former Trenton Mayor Arthur Holland usually visited the studio. In 1997 the German Radio program moved to WNWR- AM 1540, Philadelphia, PA and hopefully will continue with the help from his family. From 1982 till 2000 he also broadcast a 2nd German-American Radio program over WJDM, Elizabeth, NJ.

Another event dear to his heart was the German Heritage Festival at the Garden State Arts Center, now known as the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ. After attending the 1st festival in 1974, Ted decided to become involved in the event and the German Heritage Council of NJ. At first as Master of Ceremonies, additionally Program Chairman in 1977. He became Program & Vice Chairman in 1979 and was the General & Program Chairman from 1985 to the present, with the last German Heritage Festival being held in 2007 featuring Heino. Over the years, Ted was able to bring some of the best German speaking entertainers to NJ. With the help of the dedicated committee, the festival was well known throughout the Tri-State area and beyond. Attendances up to 15,000 people generated proceeds used to award numerous scholarships each year and support the Garden State Cultural Center Fund in their fundraising.

Over the years Ted also coordinated many various German shows in the tri-state area, mostly during Advent, and cruises with well known German speaking entertainers from overseas. In earlier years he coordinated shows for Trenton Heritage Days, Trenton Parks and the State Fair, sometimes broadcasting live from events. Besides supporting the German-American Steuben Parade in New York and Philadelphia, he was also involved for a few years in the German Alps Festival at Hunter Mountain in NY and Action Park in NJ.

Ted was appointed by NJ Governors Kean, Florio, Whitman and McGreevey as a member of the Ethnic Advisory Council. In 1990 he represented NJ Gov. Jim Florio at the reunification of Germany in Berlin. Through his involvement, Ted met numerous Presidents and Dignitaries, including President Clinton, German Chancellor Kohl, and Dr. Henry Kissinger.

In recognition of all his efforts to uphold the German traditions in the USA and endeavors to sustain the friendship between the two Countries, Ted was honored with numerous awards. In 1989, he received "The Federal Republic of Germany Friendship Award" presented by the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2001, Ted was honored by the United German-American Committee of the USA, Inc., at the Council of 1000 Banquet as the "Distinguished German-American of the Year". German President Richard von Weizaecker awarded Ted with the most prestigious recognition, "Das Bundesverdienstkreuz 1. Klasse - Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, 1st Class" on September 10, 1991.

With his involvements, Ted was made Life Time or Honorary member of many of the German-American Clubs in the Tri State Area. He was also a Free and Accepted Mason of the Herman-Humbold Lodge, No.125, the oldest German speaking lodge.

Ted had a great passion for traveling, often visiting family in Germany, cruising to Alaska, Hawaii, the Panama Canal and the Caribbean. His greatest joy was visiting Florida with his grandchildren. All through his life Ted was an avid soccer fan. His other hobbies included bowling, visiting the Metropolitan Opera and swimming.

He is survived by his wife of almost 50 years, Mathilde S. Hierl (Erkelenz),
daughter Elke C. Born and husband Christian,
son Ralph J. Hierl and wife Elizabeth,
proud grandfather of Werner Born, Eric & Ryan Hierl, who he enjoyed spending time with, and son-in-law of Anna Jackson.
The youngest of 8 children, he was predeceased by sisters Marie, Hanna and Ernie and brothers Willibald and Heinz.
He is also survived by sister Malie Palmersheim, brother Franz Josef Hierl,
several in-laws, many nieces and nephews, including his Godson Horst Hierl, all in Germany.

Instead of flowers, donations should be made in Ted's memory to the German Heritage Council of NJ for scholarships, the German-American Heritage Foundation of the USA for the museum in Washington, DC or the Herman-Humboldt Lodge No.125 all in care of PO Box 9855, Trenton, NJ 08650.

Visitation hours are from 2-4pm and 6-9pm on Thursday, June 3, 2010 at Knott Colonial Funeral Home, 2946 South Broad Street, Hamilton, NJ. The funeral mass will be held at 11am on Friday, June 4 at St. Raphael's Church, 3500 South Broad Street, Hamilton NJ, followed by interment at the Princeton Memorial Park, Robbinsville, NJ.

If you would like to sign the Guestbook at Knott Colonial Funeral Home... CLICK HERE.

2010 Alaska Cruise with Alpentrio Tirol

Yes, your favorite German Radio DJ, Ted Hierl, is again organizing a fabulous cruise. This year it will go to Alaska, the inside passage. As of this writing, there is still room on this cruise. But don't delay, these cruises fill up quickly.

It starts on August 20 and for 10 days you will be on board the Sea Princess. It leaves from San Francisco and you might want to add a few days to your vacation so you can explore San Francisco, like seeing the famous Gold Gate Bridge.

Ports that you will see on this cruise are: Victoria BC, Juneau, Skagway, Tracy Arm Fjord, and Ketchikan. All for a cost of only $1,399. See the flyer on the page for more details or call Clark Travel toll free at 888-434-6699 or Ted Hierl directly at 609-585-6757.

This cruise will feature my favorite "boy band", the Alpentrio Tirol. They will entertain this group exclusively and you are sure to see the entertainers on board throughout the cruise. Also, as in the past, the popular Elstertaler Musikanten will be featured on two party nights, again only for your group. We have been on some of these cruises organized by Ted Hierl and everyone has a great time, you make new friends from the US and even from Germany. Also, the party nights are really great with big names from Europe like the Alpentrio Tirol.

Don't miss this fabulous cruise.

2009 Deutschen Vorentscheid Results

Finally, I had a chance to watch the Deutschen Vorentscheid for the annual Grand Prix der Volksmusik competition back on May 21. I enjoyed the show but my own personal favorites did not make the finals. My favorites have a lot to do with the fact that I have met some of them in the past and, of course, I was rooting for them, like, Reiner Kirsten. That is because we were able to meet him last year on Ted Hierl's Hawaii Cruise in 2008. The song by Gunther Behrle author that Claudia Dechant sang, Nimm diesen Ring, also did not make the finals. However, Judith & Mel's song, Liebe gibt - Liebe nimmt, which was written by Mel Jersey did make the finals and so did Claudia & Alexx. Each country has announced their finals and you will find them listed at the Grand Prix website. Note I have again included links to the singers' webpages below.

The results of the finalists going from Germany to the finals in Munich on August 29 are:

Bergkameraden & Oswald Sattler -- Ich traume von der Heimat

Judith & Mel -- Liebe gibt - Liebe nimmt

Claudia & Alexx -- Mama, danke

Rico Seith -- Tausen Augen Hoffnung

Germany

Here is the original list that competed at Germany's vorentscheid on May 21.

Vladimir Boldt -- Alle Sterne schaun Dir zu

Isartaler Hexen -- Brave Maedchen kommen in den Himmel

Zipfelbuben -- Das gibt sich bis 70

Bergkameraden & Oswald Sattler -- Ich traume von der Heimat

Benjamin Grund -- In nomine patris

Florian Fesl -- Lass uns wieder Freunde sein

Judith & Mel -- Liebe gibt - Liebe nimmt

Claudia & Alexx -- Mama, danke

Licht -- Mut zur Liebe

Claudia Dechant -- Nimm diesen Ring

Reiner Kirsten -- Signora Come stai

Rico Seith -- Tausen Augen Hoffnung

Schlagerfeuer -- Unsere Erde

Dorfrocker -- Unter'm Tanzboden sitzt der Teufel

Bel Amis -- Vaterunser

2008 Hawaii Cruise Report

If you can read German, here is a report of last year's cruise to Hawaii on the Golden Princess with Reiner Kirsten. This article was published in the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung on January 3, 2009, written by fellow cruisers, Otto und Sieglinde (pictured to the left). It gives a detailed account of our cruising experience with this fun group of people. The article is all in the German language, so just click here to read the whole article. Also, you can take a look at our Hawaii cruise page and see all the pictures we took on this fabulous cruise by clicking HERE. The New Yorker Staats-Zeitung would appreciate your support and we thank them for letting us reproduce this article here on our website. If you would like to help support this fine German Language newspaper, please subscribe.

Die New Yorker Staats-Zeitung oder die California Staats-Zeitung koennen unter der folgenden zollfreien Telefonnummer bei Frau Margita Baldeweg bestellt werden: 1-877-818-6201 or send an e-mail to, NYStaatsZ@aol.com

If you are interested in this year's cruise with Ted Hierl to the Southern Caribbean, please take a look at our Southern Caribbean cruise page featuring the Original Naabtall Duo. We have some links to YouTube, if you want to see what this talented Duo can do.

Here are the opening paragraphs of the newspaper article, if you would like the complete article CLICK HERE.

Obwohl es im Lied heißt, daß es in Hawaii kein Bier gibt, konnten die Reiseteilnehmer von Ted Hierl’s German American Radio Cruise bei der kűrzlichen Kreuzfahrt selber feststellen, daß das nicht den Tatsachen entspricht. Es gab viele Sorten von Bier, sogar deutsches Bier aus Műnchen, auf dem stolzen Schiff „Golden Princess“ und auch auf den vier Inseln von Hawaii, die das Schiff anlief.

Die Hauptattraktion auf dieser Traumreise war der deutsche Star und Schlagersänger Reiner Kirsten aus Freiburg im Schwarzwald. Er sang außer neuen deutschen Schlagern auch viele, immer so gern von den Deutsch-Amerikanern gehörten, deutsche Volkslieder. Alle sangen kräftig mit! Er forderte auch die Leute zum tanzen auf, was von vielen gerne befolgt wurde. Reiner Kirsten ist ein außerordentlich gut aussehender junger Mann, der es mit seinem sonnigen Lächeln und seinen wunderschönen blauen Augen allen Damen angetan hatte. Der talentierte Kűnstler schreibt viele seiner Lieder selbst. Alte Schlager, wie „Heimat deine Sterne“ wurden von den Zuschauern mit begeistertem Applaus bedacht. Als er erwähnte, daß bei seinen frűheren Auftritten ihm oft eine Dame ein Glas Rotwein zur Bűhne brachte, stűrmten gleich drei Damen aus dem Publikum mit vollen Gläsern zu ihm hin.

Reiner Kirsten wurde von den Original Elstertaler Musikanten, den Stimmungsmachern aus Thűringen, unter Leitung von „Semmi“ meisterhaft unterstűtzt. Die Elstertaler haben schon öfters bei den vielen Kreuzfahrten, von Ted Hierl und Clark Travel veranstalteten Schiffsreisen, aufgespielt. Clark Travel, zusammen mit Ted Hierl, hatte zu Beginn der Kreuzfahrt zu einer Begrűßungsparty geladen mit freien Getränken fűr alle Teilnehmer. Auch bei der Abschiedsparty gab es freie Drinks. Bei dieser Feier erschien sogar der Kapitän des Schiffes, John Foster. Er stieß mit Ted Hierl und Reiner Kirsten mit einer Flasche Spatenbier an. Wieder einmal gelang es den Elstertalern die Stimmung hochzuschrauben. Bei einer großen Polonaise schlängelte sich eine lange Reihe Deutschamerikaner und Bundesbűrger aus der alten Heimat durch die Vista Lounge, lautstark singend. An dieser Polonaise nahmen sogar einige philippinische junge Kellner teil, die den Anfang der langen Schlange űberműtiger Menschen bildeten. Unsere Reisegesellschaft hatte immerhin 340 Teilnehmer; 85 davon aus Deutschland, hauptsächlich Thűringen. ... CLICK here to finish reading this article.

Freddy Breck dies of cancer at 66

My friend, Maria Olliges, just sent me an e-mail with a link to this story on Smago. If you cannot read German, it reports the death of singer, Freddy Breck, at the age of 66. He died of cancer on December 17.

http://www.smago.de/freddy-breck-der-saenger-und-entertainer-freddy-breck-ist-tot,,,,41837.html

Freddy Breck had an appearance in Milwaukee at the Red Carpet Inn in 1986 (see picture on right) and was most famous for his hit Rote Rosen. I remember the show he put on and he was a fabulous entertainer. He was not only a great singer, but quite a talented comedian and had all the people laughing with his dialect impersonnations. He will be missed in the Volksmusik world.

I received an e-mail also from Ted Hierl, who has been the top German Radio host broadcasting from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for many years. Ted knew Freddy Breck personally and received a call from Freddy's wife, Astrid. Freddy Breck starred at the Heritagefest in New Jersey many times and Ted with his wife, Hilde, have many fond memories of their time with him.

If you would like to see a clip of Freddy Breck performing his biggest hit, Rote Rosen, click on the link below on YouTube.


www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMkd-uCaKqg

Back from Hawaii

Although I have been back from Ted Hierl's cruise to Hawaii aboard the Golden Princess for a few weeks, I finally got my pictures organized. At the bottom of this posting, I have a short slideshow with a sampling of what we saw & did on the cruise. But to see all the pictures and you will go to the Hawaii Cruise page. There are 3 slideshows and instructions of how to download pictures to your computer for free.

Reiner Kirsten put on some great shows. This Schwarzwald native warmed up the audience with some old favorites and introduced them to his new hits. Reiner mingled with the people on the cruise even when he was not performing and soon when you heard him say "Hallo Freunde" there was someone else saying "Hallo Reiner".

The Elstertaler, led by Wolfgang Semmler, again provided 2 show nights of dance music. However one of the highlights was when Semmi sang to his lovely wife, Ilona. He changed the words to the song to address their 12 years together and this year they were married. The Elstertaler really had the place jumping and you can see why Ted Hierl invites them back each year. Andre is a very talented singer and knows what the crowd wants to hear. They also brought with them some of the new hits in Germany and had everyone up on their feet. One morning, Tomas, on the keyboard, joined us for breakfast with this family. Tomas also plays in the new band that accompanies Stefan Mross and it was very interesting getting some inside stories from him.

We were lucky to have a great table of 6 other people to sit with at dinner time. Our table was very mixed with each couple coming from a different state: California, Minnesota, Rhode Island and, of course, Wisconsin. It was fun to hear what everyone had done throughout the day and some of them had some interesting adventures mixing with the locals. There was a table of people from Milwaukee and it was nice to see familiar faces on the cruise as well.

Ted Hierl and his lovely wife, Hilde, deserve a great big thank you for spending countless hours putting together this cruise. There were over 360 people in our group and 88 of them came from Germany. Hilde did all the coordinating and translating that was needed to make things go smoothly. Ted announced that next year's cruise will be going to the Southern Caribbean with the Original Naabtal Duo as the star guests. I have created a new Cruise page with all the details and you can get there by pressing this button . If you want to see the Naabtal Duo in action there are a bunch of links to YouTube so you can get familiar with their music. I will be putting a direct link along the left sidebar of the webpage soon, so if you are thinking of going next year call & reserve your cabin before they are filled up. Please note that if you click on Ted & Hilde's picture you will go to Ted's Webpage where you can listen to his 2 hours Sunday Radio show all week.

Sail with Reiner Kirsten to Hawaii

Those of you who just cannot decide whether or not you want to go on the Ted Hierl Hawaii cruise that will be featuring Reiner Kirsten as the entertainment, better get going. Click HERE to get all the info about this fabulous cruise in October.

If you want to see a clip of this Schwarzwald boy, click on the video below.