Wartburg College will host “The Legacy of 1848 Conference,” Sunday-Tuesday, Oct. 20-22, focusing on the impact of German immigrants on American society.

The “Forty-Eighters” — refugees from failed democratic revolutions in Germany — played pivotal roles in American life, such as in journalism, education, politics, the abolitionist movement and the Civil War. 

Many events are open to the public:

• Thuringian Award ceremony honoring Dr. Karl Fink ’64, professor of German at St. Olaf College; Mark Schlenker, honorary consul of Germany, presenter; Sunday, Oct. 20, 5:30 p.m., McCaskey Lyceum.
• Kleinfeld Lecture — Dr. Steven Rowan, University of Missouri-St. Louis, will discuss “Secrets and Horror: The Urban Mystery and the Forty-Eighters,” Sunday, Oct. 20, 6 p.m., McCaskey Lyceum.
• “Forty-Eighters and Friends,” a documentary by Wartburg communication arts professor Travis Bockenstedt, will depict the the unlikely friendship between two men and their quest to document the German immigrant influence, Monday, Oct. 21, 7:30 p.m., McCaskey Lyceum.
• Presentations by speakers on wide-ranging topics related to the “Forty-Eighters,” Monday-Tuesday, Oct. 21-22. A complete listing is at https://www.wartburg.edu/1848/.