GERMAN GROUP VISITS LOCAL NAMESAKE

ALTENBURG -- German delegates may have found a little piece of home here Thursday afternoon as they clustered around a monument to Martin Luther and visited a Lutheran church founded by Saxon immigrants.

The delegates attending the 13th annual Congress-Bundestag Seminar are here to discuss far-reaching governmental issues, said Manfred Richter, "but a little part of it is also tourism. We were interested to hear about the German heritage in this part of the country. We knew that a significant part of German heritage can still be experienced in this area."

The seminar is held alternately in Germany and the United States. For this year's seminar, U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson, chairman of last year's congressional delegation, named his home town of Cape Girardeau as the site.

While in Altenburg, members of the delegation visited Trinity Lutheran Church and the church museum, as well as the original Concordia Seminary, the first seminary built in the Missouri Synod.

"One of the delegates said, `What a moving experience, to find a monument to Martin Luther here in America,'" Richter said. "Very few people in Germany would know that this is here."

Richter is the mayor of Bremerhaven, Germany, and a former member of the Bundestag.

Robert Fiehler, a lifelong resident of Altenburg, said residents are glad for the chance to show off their strong German heritage.

"I got confirmed here in 1939, and that was half in German and half in English," he said, adding that some classes were still being taught in German at Trinity Lutheran School "up until World War II."

Last year Fiehler visited Altenburg, Frohna and Wittenburg -- the ones in Germany -- and said he felt right at home.

"Of course, they're a lot bigger," he said. "They're cities."

While in Cape Girardeau, talks between German and American political leaders will focus on common issues, including trade, immigration policies, unemployment, nationalism and the impact the development of the European Union will have on relations with the U.S.

"The first thing Germany is interested in is that the European Union is not `Fortress Europe,' as was tossed around earlier," Richter said. "We want to be open to world trade and worldwide relations. We do not want to lock ourselves up."

One of the issues under discussion is the development of "a free trade zone" between the United States and the European Union, he said. "This is of course a long-term perspective," he said. "It will take years to develop."

In light of the development of the European Union, Richter said, some delegates had "some concern about isolationist tendencies being voiced" in the United States.

While visiting and talking to American leaders and citizens, he said, delegates have learned "this seems not be the tendency overall."

Thursday's agenda included a visit to Lambert's Cafe in Sikeston.

The seminar will wrap up today with discussions on the effects of negative economic growth on German society, ways to strengthen U.S.-German relationships, the expansion of NATO, the presence of U.S. troops in Europe, Bosnia and the possibility of sharing the burden of future peacekeeping missions.

Despite choosing Cape Girardeau as the site of this year's seminar, radiation treatment for lung cancer has kept Emerson back in Washington.

"This is one of the really big disappointments to me that I cannot be there in person because we have been planning this for a year," Emerson said.

Last year, the seminar was held in Dresden, Germany, the first and only time it has been held in the former East Germany. Emerson was among the Americans in attendance.

Over a meal, two members of the German delegation told Emerson they wanted to visit "the heartland" of the U.S.

"I said, `You will come to the heartland.' It was that simple," Emerson recalled Thursday from his Washington office. "I said, `I represent the heartland.'"

Emerson said it was fitting that the decision to come to Cape Girardeau was made in Dresden, which is in Saxony. Most of the German Lutherans who came to Southeast Missouri in the 1840s emigrated from Saxony.

Although he can't attend in person, Emerson said his staff is updating him on the seminar several times daily. Emerson welcomed the delegation by telephone Wednesday.

The congressman said the seminar in Cape Girardeau could lead to increased trade between Southeast Missouri and Germany.

"We are at the takeoff point with three ports on the Mississippi River in Southeast Missouri," he said.