Overview

400,000 Americans speak Palatinate German? Douglas Madenford, born and raised in Pennsylvania, looks for traces in his homeland and the Palatinate in the documentary "Hiwwe wie Driwwe" by Benjamin Wagener and Christian Schega. Doug meets many people and learns what is left of the Palatine language and culture in America and how it has developed "hiwwe like driwwe" here in Germany and beyond in America. About 300 years ago, many people from the Palatinate fled because of political persecution and economic reasons to the United States and mainly settled in and around Pennsylvania. They also brought their language and culture to the New World. Both have largely survived to this day. In America, people still speak their variant of the Palatinate dialect: the so-called Pennsylvania Dutch.