European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 1, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday december 1, 19b6 the stars and stripes Page 9 Story of new motherland unfolds slowly Albany . Api or. Charles Jehring has seen Amanca 9 past and Tooks like this commissary san of Regehr Ipalook commissary san o lop Cnoc Quad Gerichten Van do Wilde Vinden. This is very important he Aid pointing to the archaic dutch passage in a yellowed Book. The indians have just attacked Manhattan and wiped out All the colonies on staler Island an new  murder pillage and destruction Areall in a Day s work for Gehring. For 12 Yean he has struggled with scheming killers greedy traders and weird verbs in an attempt to decipher a cryptic his tory left by some of the new world first colonists. The Effort has Cost him Lime patience and five prescriptions for eyeglasses. But historians say that when he finishes sometime around the year 2000, Gehring will have contributed a Price less addition to american history the Story of new Netherland the Colony that dominated mid Atlantic America from 1621 to 1664 and became Ameri Ca s first mailing pot. It s 12,000 pages of dutch Manu scripts the remains of the archives of new Netherland said Gehring 47, Abig. Ruddy checked Man with Black hair. What makes them so important is that historians will be Able to say on a Day to Day basis How the Colony was governed rather than looking at it from the outside from Virginia or new  new Netherland which encompassed currens Day new York new Jersey Dela Ware and Eastern Pennsylvania was a land of mud streets Drunken brawls and skirmishes with indians and new eng Landers. But Gehring said the Colony s court documents and government correspondence also reveal a fun Loving relatively prosperous people embarked on a historic Experiment. They re very Happy people they like to play games and Nave fun he said. Our Conception of most people in the 17th Century is them walking around with dour expressions dressed in Black. The dutch Hod a sense of  one of the important differences be tween new Netherland and the other Early colonies was the extent of ethnic integration he said. Refugees flooded into the Netherlands As the thirty years War spread turmoil through Europe from 16ib-4b. Many of the new Comers crossed the Ocean to the Colony. You Start getting a melting pot of nationalities in the new Neth stand area much sooner than in new England and the tobacco states he  new grew out of this Neces sity to accommodate. I think that what eventually becomes the american character comes out of the Middle at lactic  to some ways Gehring is a Pioneer himself dealing with privation to Redis cover the new world. Until a few years ago he worked in an Albany office so dilapidated that Snow Bow in through the window frames. In the summer it was so hot he lied scarves around his head to keep from sweating on the documents. The documents Are hard enough to read As it is. Since Peter Stuyvesant surrendered them to the conquering English in 1664, the documents have been singed by fire stained by water and chewed by rats. On top of that every few years be have a monetary crisis said Gehring. The project sponsored by the new York state Library system raises half it budget from donors including . And dutch companies and the dutch government. It s hard to overemphasize How important they the documents Are said Oliver a. Rink chairman of the history department at California slate univer sity Al Bakersfield. They re probably the last major source for colonial history Hathas not been available to scholars. These Are primary sources in a lost  in addition to providing fresh information on Early America the documents describe the dutch colonies in the Caribbean and in Brazil in a vol ume titled the Curacao papers. The Curacao papers. Are going to get a lot of attention said rink. They re going to be useful to people who have an interest in the history of slavery of Brazil of Trade. It will probably he the volume for which he will become Best  people translated parti of the document before Gehring started. The last . Van Laer. Finis had about one tenth of them by 1915. The papers then Lay dormant until 1974, when the slate government authorized a one Yea Grant to begin translation again. Gehring who has a doctorate in Ger manic languages and has taught College courses said i never wanted to be translator Bui if s All new stuff. 1 can t wait to Sec what will turn up next take on new courage Pope urges aborigines Alice Springs Australia a in n forceful defense of the rights of native Peoples. Pope John Paul ii Toldan audience of several thousand aborigines saturday that the Church sup ported their Light to keep ancestral lands. The Pope bringing his message to the heart of the Outback in the Centero the continent said the hour has come for you to take on new courage and Hope. John Paul flew from sweltering Dar win to this arid Oasis where native bands welcomed him with Bush coun try music. The Pope deplored that in the past aborigines have been taken from their Homeland placed in reserves and forced to live like exiles in a foreign  the Pope raising a highly contentious Issue in Australia tempered his statement saying certainly what has been done cannot be undone. But what can now be done to remedy the deeds of yesterday must not be put off till tomorrow he added. The aborigines the indigenous people of Australia number Only about 150,000, or about i percent of the million population about half their Esti mated number Al the time of european settlement in 1788. They have land claims pending in Many areas of Australia including Urban areas such As Sydney. Some local governments oppose the claims Pope John Paul ii embraces an aboriginal baby in aug Tali Uhlback. App Floto which Are supported by the National government. Ayers Rock a huge Monolith sacred tothe aborigines was handed Over to the aborigines in the Pas year in a landmark settlement it is about 200 mites South West of Alice Springs. In his speech the Pope outlined a his tory of discrimination against the aborigines since the continent was first settled by English convicts. Many of you have been dispossessed of your traditional lands and separated from your tribal ways though some of you still have your traditional culture. The discrimination caused by racism is a daily  he said the Church Long opposed the Legal fiction adapted by european settlers Hal the land was nobody country and called for the right of the aborigines to keep their traditional lands. The Church still supports you today he said. Let it not be said that the fair an equitable recognition of aboriginal rights to land is discrimination. To Call for the acknowledgement of the land rights of people who have never surrendered those rights is not discrimination the Pope said. John Paul is on a two week Lour of asian and Pacific countries that has included slops in Bangladesh Singapore Fiji and new zealand he is scheduled to Stop in the Seychelles before resuming to Rome on dec. I. Dec Calls for further sanctions against Syria Bonn a the common Market said saturday that further joint action against terrorism is necessary after Syri an government agents were implicated in a West Berlin bombing. The 12 member nations Are main Taining close contacts on Security implications of this Case in particular As re Gards the abuse of diplomatic Sara Unity the in pm