German Americans Research Paper

The repercussions of WWI had a larger effect on some immigrant groups than others. One of the groups that was affected the most by WWI in the United States, was the German population. Germany’s role in the war made life increasingly difficult for German Americans. During the war, the whole German race was being painted as the enemy.

Americans became afraid of and disdainful towards anything German. Affairs associated with Germans or Germany ceased such as German bands, German courses in schools, and renaming German associated words such as German measles to liberty measles. Many German-Americans felt loyal to America but still had ties to Germany. With intolerance towards all things German, German-Americans became cautious and discreet in their speech and actions. Ambassador James W. Gerard warned, “but now that we are in the war there are only two sides, and the time has come when every citizen must declare himself American – or traitor!”

When America entered into the Second World War it made their friends from different region and everywhere in the world to unite and fight for freedom and also fight against fascism. Ronald Takaki, a famous historian finds out that the armed fight for democracy abroad was followed by disregard of America that everyone was made or created equal. There was racism of all kinds; segregation of African Americans and imprisonment of Japanese Americans and also denying to overall asylum to the Jewish refugees.

With the outbreak of World War I immigration was put to a stop and Ellis Island was turned into a detention center for enemy aliens specifically German Americans or German immigrants. Many Americans during the first and second World War felt a sense of obligation to their country, it was this sense of obligation that drove people to participate in voluntary associations to aid the government in capturing enemy aliens. President Woodrow Wilson invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 and “defined all male German citizens in the United States age fourteen and older as “enemy aliens.”” (Capozzola, Pg.177) Enemy aliens would face specific regulations including liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed. They would be forced to surrender any firearms, and weapons they own, they also were not allowed to live or travel within a half a mile of any “military installation”. Many organizations dedicated to German- American life closed shop during the war usually in fear of being seen as having multiply loyalties. The German language was removed from the schools’ curriculum along with German music being cut out of music books, even German dog breeds would be slaughtered in some states. There were four internment camps used to house these “enemy aliens” and the only visitors allowed to come to the camps were spouses, and a select group of ministers. “The Smith-Towner Bill introduced in October 1918, would create a department of education in Washington that would distribute

The American people were easily manipulated into anti-German and pro-war beliefs. More "American-like" names were given to certain things. Hamburgers became Salisbury steaks because Hamburg was located in Germany. Sauerkraut became liberty cabbage, because sauerkraut was a German name. Beethoven 's music was banned, and burning of German books was common. "These techniques were highly successful. The government found that overt and subtle forms of propaganda fanned the requisite passions of pride and prejudice to fight a total war in Europe. Indeed, aggressive propaganda helped to skirt constitutional and statutory limitations on war policies — policies that would never pass rational scrutiny in peacetime. Empirically, it proved that government propaganda aimed at arousing strong feelings of American nationalism could facilitate the exercise of extralegal and

The WASPs also respected the Germans because the Germans were Protestant. The Germans also proved that they were extremely hardworking. They created many businesses, some of which still exist today. The Germans also brought over foods such as hot dogs, apple pie, and pretzels. Furthermore, the Germans came in quite small numbers, which the WASPs definitely appreciated. The Germans did not have to assimilate and live on their own, without the WASPs having to take care of them. Finally, the Germans were relatively welcomed when they arrived to America. The only stereotype given to them was a positive one, claiming that they were the model immigrants that every other immigrant group should aspire to be like. All in all, the six million Germans who came to the United States during the first wave were well liked by the WASPs and had a successful and smooth immigration into America.

Orchestras Refused to play works by German composers, and German measles became “Liberty Measles”. There were also more serious actions taken against German Americans, especially business owners. Almost every German Business owner’s store had their windows smashed and the store vandalized. Even though this was very inhumane and rude, the US government often overlooked these wrongdoings just so they would continue to get public support for the war. Both German and Islamic and Arab Americans dealt with the cruel treatment after WW1 and 9/11. Stereotypes were placed on them and they were automatically considered the “Bad Guys” because of where they were from. They both were treated unfairly by the government and society. When something bad happened to these German, Arab, and Islamic americans the government overlooked these problem a lot of the time . When all of this was going on, there wasn’t a lot of laws in place to protect them or even defend them. They were purely judged just because of their relations to their country and were humiliated. They often had to get searched extra times for absolutely no reason at all, just over sepecision. In conclusion, the German, Islamic, and Arab Americans had to deal

Americans became afraid of and disdainful towards anything German. Affairs associated with Germans or Germany ceased such as German bands, German courses in schools, and renaming German associated words such as German Measles to Liberty Measles. Many German-Americans felt loyal to America but still had ties to Germany. Ambassador James W. Gerard warned, “but now that we are in the war there are only two sides, and the time has come when every citizen must declare himself American – or traitor!” Intolerance towards all things German made German-Americans cautious and discreet in their speech and actions.

Ethnicity, played a significant role in America’s neutrality from 1914-1917because roughly 30 million Americans were either born in Europe or had European parents , therefore, many Americans felt allegiance toward one side or the other. German-Americans felt that the attack by Germany was justified as the ship was secretly transporting

Also the Germans tried to use propaganda against the U.S. by attempting to convince American soldiers to join Germany in its war efforts. German soldiers would purposely drop pamphlets onto the ground in hopes that American soldiers would come across them and read them. On the pamphlets were saying such as "Do you think it honorable to fight the country that has given birth to your fathers or forefathers?" (Brainz) The Germans also attacked the African-Americans with phrases such as "Do you enjoy the same rights socially and before the law? Do you enjoy the same rights as the white people do in America the land of Freedom and Democracy? Or aren't you rather treated over there as second class citizens?" (Brainz) With these, the Germans tried to persuade the African-Americans that the U.S. was not treating them with respect and were not equal, but if they went to the German side they would be treated like average citizens. I feel it was a valiant effort for the Germans, but was not very productive.

United States declaration of war towards Germany played an important role on German immigrants because it put their loyalty in doubt. After President Woodrow Wilson declared war on Germany, a violent attitude wave unleashes towards German immigrants. This situation was in part to the skepticism that Americans had in regards to loyalty to the United States from the German immigrants. According to Trommler and McVeigh, German immigrants were economically, physically, or intellectually forced to prove their loyalty. Display financial support by buying war bonds. Physically acts to demonstrate patriotism such as being force to kiss the American flag. Intellectually forced by burning books of German language as well as change names of towns, personal

World War I prompted the US general public to savagely attack all things German related, effectively reducing the influence of German-American’s to shadow of what it had previously been. Communities were ripped apart by mobs. German language was bombarded to the point of near extinction. The German origin of products and companies were hidden in order to maintain any profitability The German-American people were persecuted to the the point of hiding renouncing their heritage. While the crusade against German-American culture relented after the war, the damage was

Their defeat in World War I accelerated anti-Semitism among the German people. Many German writers and public figures (encouraged by the German Army General staff) explained the defeat with the "stab in the back" argument -- that Jews and communists had undermined morale at home when the army was still winning the fight in the field. This was of course far from the truth, for the German army was collapsing by November 1918 and much of the navy was already in mutiny. But thousands of Germans, unwilling to believe that defeat was inevitable after 1917, accepted the

First of all, one bad thing is that World War I increased intolerance in the US. Before Wilson’s speech to Congress to ask them to declare war on Germany, he told a New York journalist, “Once we lead this people into war, they’ll forget there ever was such a thing as tolerance.” During the war America spread anti-German propaganda to convince men to join the war or accept the draft. This caused the American people to despise the Germans, including the ones among them. They burned German books, ended German church services, banned the playing of German music, and more. The ending of WWI also caused a resurgence in the popularity of the Klu Klux Klan. This is because the American people were scared of anything alien, anything different from them.

In examining great social and cultural changes in the modern West, many specific events come to mind: the Renaissance and the Reformation, the “discovery” of the Americas, industrialization, and World War Two. One such event, often overlooked, is the “Great War”, 1914-1918. Like every people affected by the expanse of this war, Germans were deeply affected and forever changed. As a social, cultural, and psychological reaction to World War I, the German people created the Weimar Republic, leading to a drastic change in German society and culture. To best understand these changes, a comprehensive analysis of World War I, before, during, and after, is necessary.