WALLDORF, Germany The 50th anniversary of the sister city relationship between Walldorf and Astoria is official, following a gift exchange and presentation at the Sports and Culture Center Sunday night. 

Astoria Mayor Willis Van Dusen and Walldorf Mayor Christiane Staab re-signed the official treaty on stage in front of more than 100 people to mark the occasion.

Dinner and music was provided, with Van Dusen saying the event was the best exchange event yet.

It is a great pleasure and honor to welcome you all this evening at our Astoria Hall here in Walldorf, Staab said. It shall be strengthened by re-signing the treaty this evening once more. And therefore it is a great honor to welcome some very very special people.

Staab introduced the city representatives and sister city committee attendees from both countries to the audience, before Van Dusen was asked to take the stage.

Van Dusen told those in attendance about seven points of interest in Astoria, regardless of where his audience originated. Then, he noted, how each seven of those points held a strong connection with Walldorf. For instance, the first person to cross the Astoria Bridge when it was built in 1963 was the Walldorf Burgermeister Wilhelm Willinger. The U.S. Coast Guard, a big part of Astoria’s composition, has a housing development named after Walldorf.

Never before has the Astoria City Council left together from the United States for any reason, Van Dusen said. We felt it was important to be here. And we bring friendship. 

That statement was met with audience applause, after being translated by Heike Kaiser.

Former Oregon State Police Trooper Jim Pierce was also in attendance, as was his group of Astoria High School exchange students visiting Walldorf for the week and participating in home stays.

Friendship instead of hate, friendship instead of ignorance, friendship instead of envy, and for that reason today it is taken for granted young people of our countries laugh together, learn together and party together, Staab said.

It is our duty to open their minds to the worth of the friendship between our countries and our cities and to show them ways how it could be kept and increased. And the student exchanges are in my opinion the best ways to show them life on the other side of the great ocean.

Friendship can grow when you know each other, when you trust each other and therefore, with this exchange program for many years, we must do this in the future. We are responsible for these kids, our future in friendship.

She noted that John Jacob Astor was the same age as the teenage students on the trip when he left his home in Walldorf for the American dream.

The dinner concluded with dance performances and a Frank Sinatra-style singer on stage who belted out Elvis Presley, Louis Armstrong and Sinatra hits perfectly in a tuxedo. 

Dancers from a local dance school performed to a variety of hits in both English and German, as well as a group of line dancers who performed to county-western hits from America.

Earlier in the trip

The City Council members and guests of Astoria arrived in Walldorf Saturday in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the sister city partnership and John Jacob Astor’s 250th birthday Wednesday. Each were warmly greeted with Astor flags, sunshine and fresh pretzels, before an evening hotel reception hosted by Staab. 

We are so happy to have you here, Staab said. We hope you have a wonderful time.

After the cocktail hour, the gathering moved to the Astorhaus. Now a museum, the building was built in 1854 and once housed the poor people and the orphans of Walldorf, a gift $50,000, a large sum in that time period from John Jacob Astor to the city when he died. 

The event marked the pre-opening of the Astor Exhibit inside the museum. The exhibit opened to the public Sunday. Dinner was then served in the park behind the house, which included a variety of salads and barbecued meats, as well as German-made wine and beer.

Traditional German music was played throughout the evening with now-retired city manager of Walldorf Jurgen Kamm in the band. Sister City co-chairman Bruce Conner was invited to sing a song with them, and Paulette McCoy, who served as Astoria Bicentennial director, treated the crowd to an English rendition of a German song she learned when she was a singing waitress at a German restaurant in Portland.

Walldorf is home to SAP, one of the largest business software companies in the world. The city is considered one of the richest in Europe. Astor was the richest person in America when he died.

Sundays schedule

Sunday, the city participated in a nondenominational outdoor church service followed by lunch. Then, officials were guided on a walking tour of Walldorf, which began with the oldest basement in the city built in the 1500s and led to the former Jewish Synagogue that was left in 1938 just before war broke out. It now is occupied by another church and to this day, Walldorf does not have a Jewish congregation.

The organ player in the town’s Catholic Church played three pieces for those on the trip. Visitors were brought to the site of Astor’s birth home which was torn down in 1911 because it was irreparable.  Lord John Jacob Astor VIII from London took part in the events for the weekend, before returning home Sunday.

Today, the group was to visit Heidelberg and attend a presentation in the city’s library by Dr. Alexander Emmerich on Developing  the West: The Dream of John Jacob Astor.