LL-L: "Place names" [E] LOWLANDS-L, 05.AUG.1999 (01)

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From: Felix Huelsey [huelseyf at smail.Uni-Koeln.DE]
Subject: LL-L: "Place names" [E/LS] LOWLANDS-L, 30.JUL.1999 (03)

Dear Ron,

At 12:34 30.07.99 -0700, you wrote:

>Does any of you happen to know why the Lower Saxon town known as "zu
Wittingen"
>in (High) German has the Low Saxon (Low German) name "Transvaal"? There
has got
>to be some connection with Transvaal in South Africa and an interesting story
>behind this.

It is very interesting to hear that there is another "Transvaal" in
Germany. I grew up in the town of Marl between Ruhrgebiet and Münsterland,
and to the south (between Marl and Herten to be exact...) there is a tiny
village also called Transvaal. It was founded in the late 19th century, and
the story goes that there lived an old Herr Krüger - a very common German
family name - who resembled the famous South African politician Paul
Kruger. So this Mr Krüger was called "oom Krüger" and the village became
known as Transvaal.

I have no idea whether this story is true, but if not, it is certainly a
good invention. I think I heard it on a city tour of Marl some 20 years ago.

Greetings from Cologne,

Felix Huelsey.

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