Photo courtesy of Dan Hoisington Copies of original advertisements for a 1917 rally are scattered throughout Turner Hall and across New Ulm. As with the original rally 100 years ago, a WWI remembrance event is scheduled for Tuesday (Wednesday eve) July 25.

NEW ULM — One hundred years ago the citizens of New Ulm faced a difficult dilemma. The U.S. formally entered WWI in April 1917 and soon implemented a draft.

As a city full of German immigrants and descendants, how could New Ulm support a military draft that would send them back to the fatherland to make war with their kin?

On July 25, 1917, nearly 10,000 people gathered outside Turner Hall for a rally protesting the draft. On Tuesday, July 25, 2017, Turner Hall will host a WWI Remembrance Day to honor the 100th anniversary of the rally.

Admission to the WWI Remembrance Day is free and picnicking is encouraged. The event begins at 6 p.m. outside in Turner Park. The New Ulm Battery will fire the cannon in salute followed by music from Dick Kimmel.

At 6:30 p.m. Dan Chouinard will also present music from the era. Chouinard recently created a Minnesota Public Radio program called “The War That Changed Us: Songs and Stories of WWI America.”

At 8 p.m. Dr. Michael Neiberg, one of the nation’s leading WWI historians, will speak on “the Path to War.”

Turner Hall will have a $1 beer and $1 bratwurst sale during the event.

Historian and Turner Hall Vice-President Daniel Hoisington called the original protest rally the most historic event in New Ulm history after the U.S.-Dakota conflict. Few events after it have had as wide of an impact.

In 1917, the population of New Ulm was estimated at only 8,000, meaning the entire town and residents from all over Brown County attended.

An article in a Minneapolis newspaper about the rally generated even greater publicity. The idea of a small community in rural Minnesota protesting the draft was shocking, but Hoisington said New Ulm was “a town away from things.”

New Ulm was not a great melting pot of European immigrants like larger cities. At the start of the war more than half of Brown County residents were first or second-generation Germans. The German language was spoken in country school, local stores and saloons.

Word of the rally reached the state and federal government. Undercover agents were mingling with the crowds to report back information to their superiors. The event received national attention from the news media.

Popular columnist Berton Leston Taylor responded to the rally in the Chicago Tribune, writing “The anti-draft meetings in New Ulm, Minn., remind us that fifty-four years ago the Indians massacred the population of that town. That is, fifty-four years too soon.”

The political blowback from the rally was extreme. Local politicians speaking at the rally were removed from public office by Gov. James Burnquist. This included Mayor Louis Fritsche and City Attorney Albert Pfaender. County Auditor Louis Vogel was also removed from his position for leading a parade preceding the rally.

Hoisington said it was a tradition for Vogel to lead parades. During the trial Vogel argued he never attended the rally, but had stayed in the Turner Hall Rathskeller drinking the whole time.

Hoisington said this was the first use of the “Rathskeller excuse.”

Martin Luther College was also impacted by the rally. The Minnesota Commission of Public Safety forced the college to fire its chief administrator, Rev. Adolf Ackermann.

Albert Steinhauser, Turner Hall President and newspaper editor, was arrested and charged under the Espionage Act.

The protest rally was unique in Minnesota. Hoisington said others in the state had anti-draft sentiments, but only in New Ulm there was a major platform to speak out in public.

Hoisington is hopeful the 100th Anniversary Remembrance will bring out the crowds. The event will continue no matter the weather. If it rains the music will move into the Turner gym.

“One-hundred years ago they came for the speeches, but we hope to entice people with $1 brats and $1 beer,” Hoisington said. “We hope it will be a nice night out for the people of New Ulm.”

For more information, visit the Turner Hall website at newulmturnerhall.org.