“Murder & Mayhem in an 1881 Ohio German Immigrant Family" at the German American Heritage Center -- February 22.
Sunday, February 22, 2 p.m.
German American Heritage Center, 712 West Second Street, Davenport IA
A hybrid program presented by Suzanne Ondrus, Ph.D in the venue's popular “Kaffee und Kuchen” series, the fascinating true-crime presentation Murder & Mayhem in an 1881 Ohio German Immigrant Family will be delivered at Davenport's German American Heritage Center on February 22, the session's themes of domestic violence that may include emotional, physical, and psychological abuse making discretion advised for patrons.
A newspaper’s three words: slatternly, virago, and termagant built the murder story of German Ohio immigrant Mary Bach by her husband Carl Bach in 1881 as one where a dirty, domineering, and overbearing woman was to blame for her own murder. Ondrus re-examines the story with the case’s artifacts – the noose, fingers, knife, stories from the local newspaper of 1881-1883, the Bachs’ homesickness for Germany, and the townspeople. She shows how Mary Bach resisted, not only the night of her brutal murder, but by legal means too. While Carl Bach goes down in history as the last man hung in Wood County, Ohio, in this book the whole story of the murder comes forth.
Program presenter Suzanne Ondrus, who will appear virtually through Zoom, is a poet, educator, and advocate. She helps create safe spaces through training in gender equity, gender mainstreaming, sexual harassment, women’s empowerment, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Ondrus' foundation with gender issues began with her women-focused undergraduate studies in International Business and Management at Wells College, a women’s college. With her doctorate in Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies from The University of Connecticut, she examined gendered social justice issues, such as Ugandan women’s inheritance law; children’s sexual abuse laws in Nigeria; and social and cultural treatment of the mentally ill in West Africa, in conjunction with an analysis of literary techniques that cognitively elicit empathy.
Ondrus' poetry books Passion Seeds and Death of an Unvirtuous Woman deal with women’s sexuality, racism, identity, and domestic violence and serve as platforms for discussion of these taboo topics. She has taught Gender and Women’s Studies; Creative Writing; Literature; and conducted Sexual Harassment Training and Policy Evaluation; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; and grant writing training at universities and NGOs in America, Africa, Europe, and remotely in Guatemala.
Murder & Mayhem in an 1881 Ohio German Immigrant Family will be presented at Davenport's German American Heritage Center on February 22, with refreshments for this “Kaffee und Kuchen” event served at 1:30 p.m. and the program beginning at 2 p.m. Participation is free for Heritage Center members and $8 for non-members, and more information is available by calling (563)322-8844 and visiting GAHC.org.
