As 2015 comes to a close, 2016 opens up a special anniversary for the City of Kitchener. One hundred years ago, residents of the City of Berlin adopted the name of a British lord and Secretary of State for War during World War I. The name change was wrought with conflict brought on by the social and political environment of World War I.
To help commemorate this anniversary, The Waterloo Centre for German Studies will be helping The Waterloo Region Museum with its exhibition on the city’s name change from Berlin to Kitchener. Four of our members are combing through archives housed at the Dana Porter Library on UWaterloo campus. Both the Berliner Journal (originally published in German and one of the forerunners to The Record) and the Breithaupt collection contain first-hand accounts of the events surrounding the name change.
The exhibition will open in the summer of 2016. We’ll keep you apprised of updates!