Why are German Americans so invisible?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There were different waves of German immigration to the United States. The first waves started in the late 17th century to Pennsylvania and formed what we now call the Pennsylvania Dutch, although most were actually just plain Lutheran and assimilated quickly enough. There are some letters exchanged among the Quakers and even Ben Franklin exhibiting concern that Pennsylvania was being overrun by Germans! My father's family of my surname came in the 1690s with other family branches in the subsequent decades through the 1750s. None were strictly Anabaptist and we fought in the Revolutionary War for the colonialists. You still see strong German cultural influence in central Pennsylvania from this immigration wave 300 years ago even though few new emigrants joined the Pennsylvania Germans after the Revolutionary War.

Then, in starting in the 1830s and particularly in the 1840s, a massive tide of German immigrants swept across America. Unlike the 18th century Germans, these were not Anabaptists or low church Lutherans but a mixture of Catholic and Protestants, and from various parts of Germany. This tide was partially fueled by the revolutions of the 1840s. They came to both cities and countryside and most headed for the "frontier" of the time, the middle west, although large and flourishing communities settled in Baltimore. These Germans were more recognizably "generically German" than the earlier Germans, whose identities had initially been rooted in faith. The Germans were the most successful of the immigrant groups and, unlike the Irish of the same time, were widely recognized as being law abiding, orderly, hardworking, making their assimilation much easier and as such they suffered fairly minimal anti-immigration pushback (although not entirely exempt, there were a few localized anti-German riots). It helped that most were Protestants.

The unification of Germany in the 1860s and the resulting economic growth of the new German state did slow down the tide of German emigration to America, but a strong German identity did continue, particularly among the 1840s immigration generation. Baltimore had German newspapers and German beer halls and German singing societies. But when WWI broke out, the German-speaking Americans knew where their loyalties lay and that was the psychological break with Germany and most of the German identities quickly faded away and newspapers and singing societies closed down. So successful was this retrenchment that by WWII, it never occurred to anyone to question the potential loyalty of someone like Eisenhower just because he had a German last name. An all-encompassing American identity had taken over and the middle 20th century saw a significant retrenchment from "ethnic" identities, which extended to other European immigration groups like the Italians and Polish.

If you want to ask why the German American concept is now so invisible, it's because it was no longer needed and people were now too far removed from a mother country that also no longer existed in a meaningful sense.

To add on to this - the Erie Canal was opened in 1825 and created better direct access to the Midwest. Railways also expanded in the decades after that. Per Wikipedia: "As the Midwest opened up to settlement via waterways and rail in the mid-1800s, Germans began to settle there in large numbers. The largest flow of German immigration to America occurred between 1820 and World War I, during which time nearly six million Germans immigrated to the United States. From 1840 to 1880, they were the largest group of immigrants." From my ancestry research there were entire families (parents with 10-15 kids, plus siblings with similar families) that settled and populated the Midwest. Along with the German immigrants, there was also a lot of internal migration of English farmers from the northeast (MA, NJ) and mid-Atlantic (DE, MD, VA). Everyone was looking for land opportunity. The Germans who immigrated during this time period were well educated and wealthy. Within one to two generations, they congregated to build out the main cities, started all sorts of businesses, and became community leaders. German culture, combined with English culture was the dominant culture. As others have said, WWI & WWII brought a suppression of the German language and explicit identification of being German, but by this time immigrants were 3rd and 4th generation anyway, so they didn't feel strong cultural ties to "Germany".

I read an interesting study about 5 years ago looking regionally at what defined "American" culture. It found that German culture was the core of "American" culture in over 50% of the country. German Americans are not invisible - we are everywhere and well integrated into the WASP melting pot.

Also shout-out to the other American mutt in this thread! That's how I describe myself when asked about my heritage. I'm Italian-Polish-German-English-Spanish, and there's some hints of middle eastern and African from those Italian sailor ancestors of mine.

[Anonymous]

My great-grandparents were German. I found records that during WWI they had to register as Alien Enemies and have their photo taken and be fingerprinted. They Americanized their names and hid evidence of being German because of anti-German sentiment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Pennsylvania Dutch are not Dutch they are Deutsche = German.

Yup, it’s a very strong German influenced culture. My grandparents’ first language wasn’t English even though their ancestors came to the US in the 1700s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There were different waves of German immigration to the United States. The first waves started in the late 17th century to Pennsylvania and formed what we now call the Pennsylvania Dutch, although most were actually just plain Lutheran and assimilated quickly enough. There are some letters exchanged among the Quakers and even Ben Franklin exhibiting concern that Pennsylvania was being overrun by Germans! My father's family of my surname came in the 1690s with other family branches in the subsequent decades through the 1750s. None were strictly Anabaptist and we fought in the Revolutionary War for the colonialists. You still see strong German cultural influence in central Pennsylvania from this immigration wave 300 years ago even though few new emigrants joined the Pennsylvania Germans after the Revolutionary War.

Then, in starting in the 1830s and particularly in the 1840s, a massive tide of German immigrants swept across America. Unlike the 18th century Germans, these were not Anabaptists or low church Lutherans but a mixture of Catholic and Protestants, and from various parts of Germany. This tide was partially fueled by the revolutions of the 1840s. They came to both cities and countryside and most headed for the "frontier" of the time, the middle west, although large and flourishing communities settled in Baltimore. These Germans were more recognizably "generically German" than the earlier Germans, whose identities had initially been rooted in faith. The Germans were the most successful of the immigrant groups and, unlike the Irish of the same time, were widely recognized as being law abiding, orderly, hardworking, making their assimilation much easier and as such they suffered fairly minimal anti-immigration pushback (although not entirely exempt, there were a few localized anti-German riots). It helped that most were Protestants.

The unification of Germany in the 1860s and the resulting economic growth of the new German state did slow down the tide of German emigration to America, but a strong German identity did continue, particularly among the 1840s immigration generation. Baltimore had German newspapers and German beer halls and German singing societies. But when WWI broke out, the German-speaking Americans knew where their loyalties lay and that was the psychological break with Germany and most of the German identities quickly faded away and newspapers and singing societies closed down. So successful was this retrenchment that by WWII, it never occurred to anyone to question the potential loyalty of someone like Eisenhower just because he had a German last name. An all-encompassing American identity had taken over and the middle 20th century saw a significant retrenchment from "ethnic" identities, which extended to other European immigration groups like the Italians and Polish.

If you want to ask why the German American concept is now so invisible, it's because it was no longer needed and people were now too far removed from a mother country that also no longer existed in a meaningful sense.

To add on to this - the Erie Canal was opened in 1825 and created better direct access to the Midwest. Railways also expanded in the decades after that. Per Wikipedia: "As the Midwest opened up to settlement via waterways and rail in the mid-1800s, Germans began to settle there in large numbers. The largest flow of German immigration to America occurred between 1820 and World War I, during which time nearly six million Germans immigrated to the United States. From 1840 to 1880, they were the largest group of immigrants." From my ancestry research there were entire families (parents with 10-15 kids, plus siblings with similar families) that settled and populated the Midwest. Along with the German immigrants, there was also a lot of internal migration of English farmers from the northeast (MA, NJ) and mid-Atlantic (DE, MD, VA). Everyone was looking for land opportunity. The Germans who immigrated during this time period were well educated and wealthy. Within one to two generations, they congregated to build out the main cities, started all sorts of businesses, and became community leaders. German culture, combined with English culture was the dominant culture. As others have said, WWI & WWII brought a suppression of the German language and explicit identification of being German, but by this time immigrants were 3rd and 4th generation anyway, so they didn't feel strong cultural ties to "Germany".

I read an interesting study about 5 years ago looking regionally at what defined "American" culture. It found that German culture was the core of "American" culture in over 50% of the country. German Americans are not invisible - we are everywhere and well integrated into the WASP melting pot.

Also shout-out to the other American mutt in this thread! That's how I describe myself when asked about my heritage. I'm Italian-Polish-German-English-Spanish, and there's some hints of middle eastern and African from those Italian sailor ancestors of mine.

This is what I come to dcum for! I love the historic lesson. Also remember Christmas trees, coffee cake, beer, pretzels, hot dogs are all basically German in origin. So pretty American. Even apple pie is likely Germanic in origin.
And this thread didn’t even discuss the significant German Jewish immigration which followed somewhat different trends.

[Anonymous]

I think some of it too is that Germans were more rural immigrants. They headed to the farmlands, largely in the Midwest. In my opinion, immigrants that settle in cities get more attention because there’s more people in cities to interact with them. Similarly rural poverty isn’t as focused on as inner city poverty, but rural poverty numbers are higher.

[Anonymous]

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

The Irish have done well by going into politics, law enforcement and booze/bar industry. They make the laws, break the laws and enforce the laws. That being said, the anti German sentiment ran pretty deep due to WWI and WWII. Germans were not too popular.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Almost all my half-German aunts and uncles married WASPs — Germany has a history of deep-seated Anglomania/Anglophilia.

That's funny. Also untrue.

--actual Geman.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There were different waves of German immigration to the United States. The first waves started in the late 17th century to Pennsylvania and formed what we now call the Pennsylvania Dutch, although most were actually just plain Lutheran and assimilated quickly enough. There are some letters exchanged among the Quakers and even Ben Franklin exhibiting concern that Pennsylvania was being overrun by Germans! My father's family of my surname came in the 1690s with other family branches in the subsequent decades through the 1750s. None were strictly Anabaptist and we fought in the Revolutionary War for the colonialists. You still see strong German cultural influence in central Pennsylvania from this immigration wave 300 years ago even though few new emigrants joined the Pennsylvania Germans after the Revolutionary War.

Then, in starting in the 1830s and particularly in the 1840s, a massive tide of German immigrants swept across America. Unlike the 18th century Germans, these were not Anabaptists or low church Lutherans but a mixture of Catholic and Protestants, and from various parts of Germany. This tide was partially fueled by the revolutions of the 1840s. They came to both cities and countryside and most headed for the "frontier" of the time, the middle west, although large and flourishing communities settled in Baltimore. These Germans were more recognizably "generically German" than the earlier Germans, whose identities had initially been rooted in faith. The Germans were the most successful of the immigrant groups and, unlike the Irish of the same time, were widely recognized as being law abiding, orderly, hardworking, making their assimilation much easier and as such they suffered fairly minimal anti-immigration pushback (although not entirely exempt, there were a few localized anti-German riots). It helped that most were Protestants.

The unification of Germany in the 1860s and the resulting economic growth of the new German state did slow down the tide of German emigration to America, but a strong German identity did continue, particularly among the 1840s immigration generation. Baltimore had German newspapers and German beer halls and German singing societies. But when WWI broke out, the German-speaking Americans knew where their loyalties lay and that was the psychological break with Germany and most of the German identities quickly faded away and newspapers and singing societies closed down. So successful was this retrenchment that by WWII, it never occurred to anyone to question the potential loyalty of someone like Eisenhower just because he had a German last name. An all-encompassing American identity had taken over and the middle 20th century saw a significant retrenchment from "ethnic" identities, which extended to other European immigration groups like the Italians and Polish.

If you want to ask why the German American concept is now so invisible, it's because it was no longer needed and people were now too far removed from a mother country that also no longer existed in a meaningful sense.

To add on to this - the Erie Canal was opened in 1825 and created better direct access to the Midwest. Railways also expanded in the decades after that. Per Wikipedia: "As the Midwest opened up to settlement via waterways and rail in the mid-1800s, Germans began to settle there in large numbers. The largest flow of German immigration to America occurred between 1820 and World War I, during which time nearly six million Germans immigrated to the United States. From 1840 to 1880, they were the largest group of immigrants." From my ancestry research there were entire families (parents with 10-15 kids, plus siblings with similar families) that settled and populated the Midwest. Along with the German immigrants, there was also a lot of internal migration of English farmers from the northeast (MA, NJ) and mid-Atlantic (DE, MD, VA). Everyone was looking for land opportunity. The Germans who immigrated during this time period were well educated and wealthy. Within one to two generations, they congregated to build out the main cities, started all sorts of businesses, and became community leaders. German culture, combined with English culture was the dominant culture. As others have said, WWI & WWII brought a suppression of the German language and explicit identification of being German, but by this time immigrants were 3rd and 4th generation anyway, so they didn't feel strong cultural ties to "Germany".

I read an interesting study about 5 years ago looking regionally at what defined "American" culture. It found that German culture was the core of "American" culture in over 50% of the country. German Americans are not invisible - we are everywhere and well integrated into the WASP melting pot.

Also shout-out to the other American mutt in this thread! That's how I describe myself when asked about my heritage. I'm Italian-Polish-German-English-Spanish, and there's some hints of middle eastern and African from those Italian sailor ancestors of mine.

This is what I come to dcum for! I love the historic lesson. Also remember Christmas trees, coffee cake, beer, pretzels, hot dogs are all basically German in origin. So pretty American. Even apple pie is likely Germanic in origin.
And this thread didn’t even discuss the significant German Jewish immigration which followed somewhat different trends.

Let's not forget Hamburgers, also German.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting thread. I am second generation German American on my fathers side whose entire family was very German, his grandfathers were both brewmeisters who came to USA in the late 1800s and settled in NYC. Much of my family is still in New York Hudson Valley and one of my cousins is very active in a German dance and heritage group in Poughkeepsie called, of course, Germania. They have a club and an event grounds and are very active putting on an annual Oktoberfest etc.

Germans are the number one ethnic group in America, did you know that? In terms of numbers, they are. And yes they are in some ways more assimilated but that’s largely a result of being the dominant group. My father’s German American family, his parents Nazi sympathizers only first generation Americans felt themselves more American than their Italian and Jewish and other ethnic group neighbors in the south Bronx of the 1930s, 40s and beyond.

Now I’m going to state some facts and stir some anger, I’m sure. We Germans are a very racist people as a whole. Our presence as the dominant ethnic group in the USA is explanatory for the USA’s long reluctance to enter WWII and our refusal to help so many Jews who tried to emigrate to America in the 30s and early 40s. See Ken Burns’ most recent documentary if you are unfamiliar with this history. See also Rachel Maddow’s recent podcast Ultra for some more American history about Congressional collusion with the Nazis to influence American citizens in the 30s and 40s. See also recent rise of ultra far right nationalist domestic terrors groups and the backlash against rising diversity in America. America’s German roots are pivotal to her pains - and some of her successes, too.

I am proud to be German, but I am also very properly ashamed of much of my German heritage. A warring, authoritarian, fascistic culture that battles the urges ongoing. See current rise of far right nationalist extremism in . . . Germany.

You clearly know nothing about today's Germany since it is only your ancestry that is Geman.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in western Pennsylvania with a large extended family that was run by my grandmother and her sisters, all with German roots (surname Vasbinder). We ate German foods, played German games, and had other German-influenced traditions around the holidays but none of it was EVER called out as German or labeled as German in any way. It wasn't until I was in my 30's that I even put it all together as being so heavily German-influenced.

Very similar experience with my family from western PA/NY. They were just our family traditions, never called out as "German". Well, there was German potato salad.

Our ancestors came over in the 1840s and were farmers.

[Anonymous]

My German grandparents were terrified to speak German or look German during the 40s. They refused to let my dad and his brothers speak German even at home. They were told they were American and not German and to never talk about Germany in public. I’m assuming that mentality has something to do with it.

[Anonymous]

There are so many people of German ancestry and Scottish / English / Irish ancestry that we don't need a lobbying group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My great-grandparents were German. I found records that during WWI they had to register as Alien Enemies and have their photo taken and be fingerprinted. They Americanized their names and hid evidence of being German because of anti-German sentiment.

Japanese internment during WW2 is widely known, but innocent German-Americans were also victims of this criminal xenophobia, during the first and second world wars:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_German_Americans

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in western Pennsylvania with a large extended family that was run by my grandmother and her sisters, all with German roots (surname Vasbinder). We ate German foods, played German games, and had other German-influenced traditions around the holidays but none of it was EVER called out as German or labeled as German in any way. It wasn't until I was in my 30's that I even put it all together as being so heavily German-influenced.

Very similar experience with my family from western PA/NY. They were just our family traditions, never called out as "German". Well, there was German potato salad.

Our ancestors came over in the 1840s and were farmers.

Good point. I posted about my dads family refusing to let him speak German or talk about being German. But all of our Christmas traditions are 100% German, and we are German food all the time growing up. But my dad never referenced it as being German and only as an adult with my own kids did I explain why we had certain family traditions!

[Anonymous]

Mine came earlier and were part of the early Pennsylvania Dutch. So they were spread out and in farm communities.