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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=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. [/quote]

Yes, this is what my father told me about his German-speaking immigrant parents (they were from a non-German minority that spoke German). My father's eldest brother (about 25 years older than my father) went to a German-speaking ES in Cleveland but was either taken out of it or it closed down due to anti-German sentiments in the wake of WWI. None of my father's other siblings or my father himself ever learned more than a handful of German words. He did not embrace his ethnic roots until he was well into his 70s.

Google almost any ethnic group in the US and you will find that they were targeted, persecuted, or hated at some point in US history [/quote]

This is why my DH's family stopped speaking German during WWI and anglicized their names. In fact, my older grandparents still did not like my DH when they met him because "his family were German foreigners." They pretty much considered Germans like many people would consider Spanish speaking people coming to the US from across the border today.

Usually groups are hated, they become Americanized, stop speaking their native language, and then get integrated into the country.[/quote]

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