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Cullman’s establishment. Throughout the initial planning of Cullman’s centennial birthday in 1973, citizens and local officials looked to the city’s founding legacy for inspiration in celebrating
the German town’s one hundredth birthday. The Cullman Friends of Frankweiler Facebook page describes this celebration as when the seeds were planted for a relationship with Col. Cullmann’s hometown.
It is told by members of Cullman Friends of Frankweiler that at that time in 1973, Hans Krause
- representative of Lufthansa Airline of Germany
- presented Cullman’s Mayor, W.J. Nesmith,
with a book compiled by the airline containing information about John Cullmann and included greetings from the Burgermeister of Frankweiler. By 1975, the seeds that were planted just two
years prior were beginning to bear fruit, and later that year Cullman saw the visit of five visitors
from Frankweiler - including past Burgermeister Friedrich Fliehmann, that year’s current Burgermeister Theodor Pfaffmann and members
of their families. Their visit centered around the dedication of the Colonel Cullmann house - home of the Cullman County Museum. Visits from officials of Frankweiler continued in 1985 when John Cullmann’s great-great granddaughter, Ellen van der Linden of Konigstein, Germany, was located and invited to join distant relatives local to Cullman for a formal meeting.
Cullman Mayor Jack Sides with Frankweiler Burgermeister Gunter Steiss
Not long after these initial visits, Gunter Stiess
- Burgermeister of Frankeweiler at the time - extended an invitation to Cullman Mayor Jack Sides to attend a special ceremony in John Cullmann’s birthplace of Frankweiler. The ceremony was created to honor Colonel Cullmann’s contribution as the City of Cullman’s founder. In May of 1987, a delegation of 19 Cullman citizens, led by Mayor Jack Sides and his wife, Ruth, attended the celebration marking a permanent partnership between the
two cities. During the twinning ceremony, Cullman Mayor Jack Sides and Frankweiler Burgermeister Gunter Stiess made a toast with a glass of Frankweiler wine signifying that Cullman and Frankweiler were Sister Cities.
Cullman guest visiting Frankweiler 1993
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