Why are German Americans so invisible?

[Anonymous]

Over 40 million Americans are of German ancestry. Yet there's no "German American" lobby, no "German American" vote, no German neighborhoods etc.

I'm from Chicago originally, and the Irish and Poles are much more visible than those of German ancestry.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know what a lobby would do but if you are looking for German American culture try Frankenmuth Michigan.

[Anonymous]

What exactly would this group lobby for? German nationalism has historically not had a positive connotation.

I know my first generation German-American grandparents had to prove their American-nees, and play down their German-ness during World War 2.

[Anonymous]

I'm sure someone here is more knowledgeable on this than me, but speaking anecdotally for my family of German descent, they were earlier immigrants (ie, pre Ellis Island) and not from a huge wave of immigration when anti-immigration sentiment ran high. They were also of a professional class that came with more money than later immigrants and didn't have to work menial jobs and live in nationality specific ghettoes, ie they assimilated quickly and never faced much discrimination. In turn, they never joined unions or networked together to form a "lobby" in the same way, they were more diffused with fewer common interests. I'm mostly familiar with the NYC area, but it doesn't seem like they went into the same professions as much as other ethnic groups either (again, correct me if I am wrong) like say the Irish going into metal working and the police that continued for generations. That's my impression anyway.

[Anonymous]

There isn't a Scottish lobby either, or a Puritan lobby, or an English lobby

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure someone here is more knowledgeable on this than me, but speaking anecdotally for my family of German descent, they were earlier immigrants (ie, pre Ellis Island) and not from a huge wave of immigration when anti-immigration sentiment ran high. They were also of a professional class that came with more money than later immigrants and didn't have to work menial jobs and live in nationality specific ghettoes, ie they assimilated quickly and never faced much discrimination. In turn, they never joined unions or networked together to form a "lobby" in the same way, they were more diffused with fewer common interests. I'm mostly familiar with the NYC area, but it doesn't seem like they went into the same professions as much as other ethnic groups either (again, correct me if I am wrong) like say the Irish going into metal working and the police that continued for generations. That's my impression anyway.

My German family on both sides immigrated to New York at the turn of the 20th century and were not like yours -- they were quite poor, spoke no English, were not members of any professional class, and wound up in menial jobs (one great grandmother was a hotel maid, a great grandfather was a day laborer). My impression is that they struggled quite a bit in NYC and did not stay there long. I had one set of great grandparents who moved South and West, living in a series of very rural communities until settling in Texas. Another set moved upstate to the Albany area. One of my German great grandfathers wound up marrying into an Irish family and that part of my family is dominated by Irish heritage.

I do think WWII had an impact on German cultural identity -- my grandmother was discouraged from speaking German even though before the war it was spoken in their home, and they adopted a very anglicized pronunciation of their name (the degree to which this was a choice versus just how English-speakers in the US said it is not clear but my grandmother says her parents made a point of no longer using the German pronunciation in the 30s).

My impression is that my family's experience is not dissimilar from other immigrants who settled outside of major cities in the US. There was just less of a concentration of people from the same region who spoke the same language, so I think that led to faster assimilation, intermarriage, and dropping cultural touchstones. I know some immigrant communities formed more cohesive communities outside of major cities (and the German immigrants did as well, in the upper Midwest) but it seems to be less common. A small town can't support a "little Italy." You do find little German restaurants and bars sometimes, though.

I wonder if a lot of Germans were from rural areas (like my family) and less likely to stay in large cities like New York or Boston, which means they were less likely to form concentrated communities with other German immigrants.

[Anonymous]

Great idea! Let's start a Bund.

[Anonymous]

There absolutely is a German American lobby and even a German American museum in dc. https://gahmusa.org/

[Anonymous]

It's regional. If you go to the upper Midwest you find German communities. Parts of PA, too.Though PP is right they would have blended more during and after WW2.

[Anonymous]

There's actually no such thing as "German Americans," just as there's no such thing as "Italian Americans." During the time of greatest immigration from these areas of the world, the countries of Germany and Italy did not exist. People came from different provinces and Hanseatic leagues. Someone emigrating from Hamburg did not consider herself to be a countrywoman to someone from Prussia. Someone emigrating from Napoli did not consider himself to be coming from the same country as someone from Tuscana.

[Anonymous]

They have very strong presence in the mid-west, like Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

[Anonymous]

There was a lot of anti-German sentiment around WW I as well. (A couple of pps referenced WW II).

I come from a PA Dutch (Dietsche) family that originally came over in the early 1800s. I know that branch of my family was German-speaking at home up until the early 1900s, but they made a concerted effort to raise my grandfather and his siblings to be English speaking, due to the anti-German sentiment of the time.

[Anonymous]

NYC has the German-American Steuben Parade every year.

https://germanparadenyc.org/

[Anonymous]

I’m from central PA - lots of families with German roots there but I agree that I think a big part is that the Germans tended to fan out more from the cities. It is NOT that they came over with lots more $ I think, perhaps just not at the times of the huge immigration waves that sparked backlash by native born workers.

My grandpa on my mom’s side was a factory worker and grew up very poor (parents also did factory work). Grandma was a lunch lady and also grew up poor with divorced parents (factory workers).
On my dad’s side I don’t know much about how my grandparents grew up but they must have done slightly better as they lived in a tiny house on an acre and my grandma stayed at home while my grandpa had a factory job.

[Anonymous]

I’m from Chicago too (south side Irish!)…but have you never been to Milwaukee? Our neighbors to the North are very very German.