German Americans are
AmericansThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
of
GermanThe German people are an ethnic group, in the sense of sharing a common German culture, descent, and speaking the German language as a mother tongue. Within Germany, Germans are defined by citizenship , distinguished from people of German ancestry...
descent. They form the largest self-reported ancestry group in the United States, outnumbering the
IrishIrish Americans are citizens of the United States who trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,495,800 Americans reported Irish ancestry in the 2006 American Community Survey. The only self-reported ancestral group larger than Irish Americans are German Americans...
and
EnglishEnglish Americans are citizens of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England. According to 2000 U.S census data, Americans reporting English ancestry made up an estimated 9.4% of the total U.S...
. They account for 50 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population.
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
and
TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
have the largest populations of German origin, although upper Midwestern states, including
North DakotaNorth Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America; on the Canadian border halfway between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. North Dakota is the 19th largest state by area in the U.S.; it is the 3
rd least populous, with just over 641,481 residents as...
and
WisconsinWisconsin is one of the fifty U.S. states. Located in the north-central United States, Wisconsin is considered part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the...
, have the highest proportion of German-American population.
The first
GermansThe German people are an ethnic group, in the sense of sharing a common German culture, descent, and speaking the German language as a mother tongue. Within Germany, Germans are defined by citizenship , distinguished from people of German ancestry...
to arrive in the New World settled in the colony of
Jamestown, VirginiaJamestown, located on Jamestown Island in the Virginia Colony, was founded on May 14, 1607. It is commonly regarded as the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States of America, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke. It was founded...
, in 1608. It wasn’t until the 1680s, however, that significant numbers arrived, settling primarily in
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and
PennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a state located in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States...
.
ImmigrationAmerican immigration refers to the movement of non-residents to the United States...
continued in substantial numbers during the nineteenth century, with some eight million immigrants coming from Germany. The largest number of arrivals were between 1840 and 1900. Some arrived seeking religious or political freedom, others for economic opportunities greater than those in
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
, and others simply for the chance to start fresh in the
New WorldThe New World is one of the names used for the non-Afro-Eurasian parts of the Earth, specifically the Americas and possibly Australia. When the term originated in the late 15th century, the Americas were new to the Europeans, who previously thought of the world as consisting only of Europe, Asia,...
.
German Americans have been influential in almost every field, from science to architecture, industry, sports, and entertainment. Some, like
Brooklyn BridgeThe Brooklyn Bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States, stretching 5,989 feet over the East River, connecting the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn...
engineer
John A. RoeblingJohn Augustus Roebling was a German-born civil engineer famous for his wire rope suspension bridge designs, in particular, the design of the Brooklyn Bridge.-Early life:...
or architect
Walter GropiusWalter Adolph Georg Gropius was a German architect and founder of the Bauhaus School who, along with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier, is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modern architecture....
, left behind visible landmarks. Others, like
Albert EinsteinAlbert Einstein was a theoretical physicist. His many contributions to physics include the special and general theories of relativity, the founding of relativistic cosmology, the first post-Newtonian expansion, explaining the perihelion advance of Mercury, prediction of the deflection of...
and
Wernher von BraunWernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun was a German American rocket physicist and astronautics engineer, becoming one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Germany and the United States...
, set intellectual landmarks. Still others, like
Babe RuthGeorge Herman Ruth, Jr. , also popularly known as "Babe" Ruth, "The Bambino", and "The Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from –...
,
Lou GehrigHenry Louis "Lou" Gehrig was an American baseball player in the 1920s and 1930s, chiefly remembered for his prowess as a hitter, his consecutive games-played record and its subsequent longevity, and the pathos of his farewell from baseball at age 36, when he was stricken with a fatal disease...
,
Jack NicklausJack William Nicklaus , also known as "The Golden Bear", is regarded by many to be the greatest professional golfer of all time. Nicklaus, who holds the record for the most victories in major championships , was continuously ranked as the world's number one golfer on McCormack's World Golf...
, and
Leonardo DiCaprioLeonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio is an American actor and film producer whose career rose with his role in the television sit-com Growing Pains....
became prominent athletes and actors.
German-American celebrations are held throughout the country, one of the most well-known being the
German-American Steuben ParadeThe German-American Steuben Parade is an annual parade held in various cities across the United States. The New York City parade is held every third Saturday in September. It was founded in 1957 by German-American immigrants who, being part of the largest ethnic group in the United States, wanted...
in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
, held every third Saturday in September. There are also major annual events in
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
, Cincinnati, Milwaukee,
St. LouisSt. Louis is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. With an estimated population of 354,361 in 2008, it is the principal municipality of Greater St. Louis, population 2,866,517, the largest urban area in Missouri and sixteenth largest in the United States...
and other cities. Like many other immigrants that came to the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
overwhelming number of people of German or partial German descent have essentially become Americanized.
17th century
The first English settlers arrived at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, and were accompanied by the first German American, Dr. Johannes Fleischer. He was followed in 1608 by five glassmakers and three carpenters or house builders.
The first permanent German settlement in what became the United States was
Germantown, PennsylvaniaGermantown is a neighborhood in the Northwest Philadelphia section of the city of Philadelphia, about 7-8 miles northwest from the center of the city. The neighborhood is rich in historic sites and buildings from the colonial era, a few of which are open to the public.Germantown stretches for about...
, founded near Philadelphia on October 6 1683.
18th century
Large numbers of Germans migrated from the 1680s to 1760s. They migrated to America for a variety of reasons. The two causes for the migration were push factors
: worsening opportunities for farm ownership in central Europe, persecution of some religious groups, and military conscription; and pull factors: better economic conditions, especially the opportunity to own land. Typically, they paid for their passage by selling their labor for a period of years as
indentured servantAn indentured servant is a laborer under contract to an employer for a fixed period of time, typically three to seven years, in exchange for their transportation, food, clothing, lodging and other necessities...
s.
Large sections of
PennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a state located in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States...
and
upstate New YorkUpstate New York is the region of New York State north of the core of the New York metropolitan area.-Definition:There is no clear or official boundary between Upstate New York and Downstate New York, but the term "Upstate" is sometimes used to refer to the whole of the state besides New York City...
attracted Germans. Most were
LutheranLutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the teachings of the 16th century German reformer Martin Luther. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
or
German ReformedThe Reformed churches are a group of Christian Protestant denominations formally characterized by a similar Calvinist system of doctrine, historically related to the churches that first arose especially in the Swiss Reformation led by Huldrych Zwingli and soon afterward appeared in nations...
; many belonged to small religious sects such as the Moravians and
MennoniteThe Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...
s.
German CatholicsThe German Catholic Church, part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, is under the leadership of the Pope, curia in Rome, and the Conference of the German Bishops. The current president of the conference is Robert Zollitsch, the archbishop to Freiburg, the country's second largest diocese with...
did not arrive in number until after the war of 1812.
In 1709 Protestant Germans from the Pfalz or Palatine region of Germany built rafts and traveled down the
RhineThe Rhine is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe, at , with an average discharge of more than ....
to
RotterdamRotterdam ; city and municipality in the Dutch province of South Holland, situated in the west of the Netherlands. The municipality is the second largest in the country, with a population of 584,046 as of January 2007...
. They lived in shantytown shacks with reed roofs in winter. The Dutch took up a collection to help them subsist until they could travel by ship to
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
. In London the Palatine families lived in tent cities in parks until Protestant Queen
Anne StuartAnne became Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702, succeeding her brother-in-law, William III of England and II of Scotland...
could help them get to her colonies in America. Four
American IndianNative Americans in the United States is the phrase that describes indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of...
kings were visiting London at that time. The
MohawkMohawk" are an indigenous people of North America originally from the Mohawk Valley in upstate New York to southern Quebec and eastern Ontario. Their current settlements include areas around Lake Ontario and the St Lawrence River in Canada...
king offered to share land in the
Mohawk valleyThe Mohawk River is a long river in the U.S. state of New York. It is the largest tributary of the Hudson River. The Mohawk flows into the Hudson in the Capital Region, a few miles north of the city of Albany, New York. The river is named for the Mohawk Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy...
of New York. The trip was long and difficult to survive because of the poor quality of food and water aboard ships and the infectious disease
typhusEpidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...
, or Palatine fever. Many immigrants, particularly children, died before reaching America in June 1710.
The
PalatineGerman Palatines were natives of the Rhineland-Palatinate region of Germany. Through much of the 17th century and into the 18th, the region was embroiled in constant warfare among various factions and invaded by French troops, which resulted in famine and widespread devastation. Refugees were...
immigration of about 2100 people who survived was the largest single immigration to America in the colonial period. Most were first settled along the
Hudson RiverThe Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. It rises at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains, flows past Albany, and finally forms the border between New York City and New Jersey at its mouth before emptying into...
in work camps, to pay off their passage. By 1711, seven villages had been established in New York on the
Robert LivingstonRobert Livingston the Elder was a New York colonial official, and first lord of Livingston Manor. He married Alida Schuyler in 1679. He was the father of nine children, including Philip, Robert and Gilbert...
manor. In 1723 the Germans became the first Europeans allowed to buy land in the
Mohawk ValleyThe Mohawk Valley region of the U.S. state of New York is the area surrounding the Mohawk River, sandwiched between the Adirondack Mountains and Catskill Mountains....
west of
Little FallsLittle Falls is a town in Herkimer County, New York, United States. The population was 1,544 at the 2000 census. The town is named after a waterfall located nearby.The Town of Little Falls has on its eastern end a small city called Little Falls...
. One hundred homesteads were allocated in the Burnetsfield Patent. By 1750, the Germans occupied a strip some long along both sides of the
Mohawk RiverThe Mohawk River is a long river in the U.S. state of New York. It is the largest tributary of the Hudson River. The Mohawk flows into the Hudson in the Capital Region, a few miles north of the city of Albany, New York. The river is named for the Mohawk Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy...
. The soil was excellent; some 500 houses were built, mostly of stone, and the region prospered in spite of Indian raids.
HerkimerHerkimer is a town in Herkimer County, New York, United States, southeast of Utica. It is named after Nicholas Herkimer. The population was 9,962 at the 2000 census.The town contains a village also called Herkimer...
was the best-known of the German settlements in a region long known as the "German Flats."
The most famous of the early German Palatine immigrants was editor
John Peter ZengerJohn Peter Zenger was a German-born American printer, publisher, editor, and journalist in New York City. He was defendant in a landmark legal case in American jurisprudence that determined that truth was defense against charges of libel.-Facts of the case:John Peter Zenger owned the second 2...
, who in colonial New York City led the fight for freedom of the press in America. A later immigrant,
John Jacob AstorFor other pages relating to Astor, see John Jacob Astor John Jacob Astor , born Johann Jakob or Johann Jacob Astor, was the first prominent member of the Astor family and the first multi-millionaire in the United States...
, who came from Baden after the Revolutionary War, became the richest man in America from his fur trading and real estate investments in New York City.
Two waves of German colonists in 1714 and 1717 founded a large colony in
VirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" because it is the birthplace of eight U.S. presidents. The geography and climate of the state are shaped by the Blue...
called
GermannaGermanna was a German settlement in the Colony of Virginia, settled in two waves, first in 1714 and then in 1717. Virginia Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood encouraged the immigration by advertising in Germany for miners to move to Virginia and establish a mining industry in the colony.The...
, located near modern-day
Culpeper, VirginiaCulpeper is an incorporated town in Culpeper County, Virginia, United States. The population was 9,664 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Culpeper County. Culpeper is part of the Culpeper Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Culpeper County...
. Large German settlements were also formed in
North CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties...
, especially west of what is now
Winston-SalemWinston-Salem is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Winston-Salem is the county seat and largest city of Forsyth County and the fourth-largest city in the state. Winston-Salem is the second largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region and is home to the tallest office buildings in the...
. There were also many German settlers around the Dutch (Deutsch) Fork area of
South CarolinaSouth Carolina is a U.S. state that borders Georgia to the south and North Carolina to the north. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence from the British Crown during the American Revolution. The colony was...
.
A thriving population of Germans lived upriver from New Orleans,
LouisianaThe State of Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state divided into parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. They were attracted to the area through pamphlets such as J. Hanno Deiler's "Louisiana: A Home for German Settlers."
The
StudebakerStudebaker Corporation, or simply Studebaker , was a United States wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 under the name of the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company, the company was originally a producer of wagons for farmers,...
brothers, forefathers of the wagon and automobile makers, arrive in Pennsylvania in 1736 from the famous blade town of
SolingenSolingen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the northern edge of the region called Bergisches Land, south of the Ruhr area, and with a 2005 population of 162,685 is the second largest city in the Bergisches Land...
. Their blacksmith trade would be influential for their family through the years and eventually for America. Their wagons drove the frontiersmen westward, their cannons provided the
Union ArmyThe Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
with artillery strength in the
American Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
, and their automobile company became one of the largest in America, although never eclipsing the "Big Three", and was a factor in the
war effortIn politics and military planning, a war effort refers to a coordinated mobilization of society's resources—both industrial and human—towards the support of a military force...
and in the industrial foundations of the Army.
Between 1742 and 1753, roughly 1,000 Germans settled in Broad Bay, Massachusetts (now
Waldoboro, MaineWaldoboro is a town in Lincoln County, Maine, in the United States. The population was 4,916 at the 2000 census. Waldoboro is a picturesque fishing and resort town.-History:...
). Many of the colonists fled to
BostonBoston is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England"...
,
Nova ScotiaNova Scotia is a Canadian province located on Canada's southeastern coast. It is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. Its capital, Halifax, is a major economic centre of the region. Nova Scotia is the second-smallest province in Canada with an area of...
, and
North CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties...
after their houses were burned and their neighbors killed or carried into captivity by
Native AmericansNative Americans in the United States is the phrase that describes indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of...
. The Germans who remained found it difficult to survive on farming and eventually turned to the
shippingShipping has multiple meanings. It can be a physical process of transporting goods and cargo, by land, air, and sea. It also can describe the movement of objects by ship.Land or "ground" shipping can be by train or by truck...
and
fishingFishing is the activity of catching fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
industries.
The tide of German immigration to
PennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a state located in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States...
swelled between 1725 and 1775, with many immigrants arriving as
redemptionerRedemptioners were European immigrants, generally in the 18th or early 19th century, who gained passage to America by selling themselves into indentured servitude to pay back the shipping company which had advanced the cost of the sea voyage...
s or indentured servants. By 1775, Germans constituted about one-third of the population of the state. German farmers were renowned for their highly productive animal husbandry and agricultural practices. Politically, they were generally inactive until 1740, when they joined a
QuakerThe Religious Society of Friends is a religious movement, whose members are known as Friends or Quakers. The roots of this movement are with some 17th century Christian English dissenters, but today the movement has branched out into many independent national and regional organizations, called...
-led coalition that took control of the legislature, which later supported the
American RevolutionThe American Revolution is the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America at first rejected the governance of the Parliament of Great Britain, and later the British monarchy itself, to become the sovereign United States of...
. Despite this, many of the German settlers were
loyalistsLoyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain during and after the American Revolutionary War. They were often referred to as Tories, Royalists, or King's Men by the Patriots, those that supported the revolution...
during the Revolution possibly because they feared that their royal land grants would be taken away by a new republican government, or because of loyalty to a British German monarchy who had provided the opportunity to live in a liberal society The Germans, comprising
LutheranLutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the teachings of the 16th century German reformer Martin Luther. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
s,
ReformedThe Reformed churches are a group of Christian Protestant denominations formally characterized by a similar Calvinist system of doctrine, historically related to the churches that first arose especially in the Swiss Reformation led by Huldrych Zwingli and soon afterward appeared in nations...
,
MennoniteThe Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...
s,
AmishThe various Amish or Amish Mennonite church fellowships are Christian religious denominations that form a very traditional subgrouping of Mennonite churches. They are best known for their simple living, plain dress and resistance to the adoption of many modern conveniences...
, and other sects, developed a rich religious life with a strong musical culture. These Germans came to be known as the
Pennsylvania DutchThe Pennsylvania Dutch are the descendants of Germanic peoples who emigrated to the U.S. , from Germany and The Low Countries prior to 1800. The Dutch are generally regarded as one of several Germanic peoples...
(from Deutsch). There were few German Catholics in Pennsylvania before the 1810s.
Thousands of
German soldiersEthnic Germans served on both sides of the American Revolutionary War. Many supported the Loyalist cause and served as allies of Great Britain, whose King George III was also the Elector of Hanover...
came to the United States to support King George III, Elector of Hanover and King of
Great BritainGreat Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island. With a population of about 59.6 million people, it is the third most populated island on Earth. Great Britain is surrounded by over 1000 smaller...
in the
American Revolutionary WarThe American Revolutionary War , also sometimes known as the American War of Independence, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen united former British colonies in North America, and concluded in a global war between several European great powers...
. The largest group came from
HesseHesse is a state of Germany with an area of and just over six million inhabitants. The state capital is Wiesbaden. Hesse's largest city is nearby Frankfurt am Main.Hesse contributes the largest share to the Rhine Main Area....
, and the soldiers are often referred to as Hessians. Many of the POWs who had fought as British auxiliaries settled in America because the
Continental CongressThe Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that became the governing body of the United States during the American Revolution...
lacked the money to send German prisoners back to Europe.
In the 1790 U.S. census, the first taken by the new country, Germans are estimated to have constituted nearly 9% of the white population in the United States.
19th century
Heavy German immigration to the United States occurred between 1848 and
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
, during which time nearly six million Germans immigrated to the United States. From 1840 to 1880 they were the largest group of immigrants. Following the
Revolutions of 1848 in the German states"Germany" at the time of the Revolutions of 1848 was a collection of 39 states loosely bound together in the German Confederation. As nationalist sentiment crystallized into resistance to the traditional political structure, repeated calls for freedom, democracy and national unity came to threaten...
, a wave of political refugees fled to America, and became known as
Forty-EightersThe Forty-Eighters were Europeans who participated in or supported the revolutions of 1848 that swept Europe. In Germany, the Forty-Eighters favored unification of the country, a more democratic government, and guarantees of human rights...
. They included professionals, journalists, and politicians. Prominent names included
Carl SchurzCarl Schurz was a German revolutionary, American statesman and reformer, and Union Army General in the American Civil War...
and
Henry VillardHenry Villard was an American journalist and financier who was an early president of the Northern Pacific Railway.-Early life and education:...
.
Cities
The cities of Milwaukee, Cleveland, St. Louis,
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
,
New YorkNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
, and Baltimore were favored destinations. By 1900, the populations of the cities of
ClevelandCleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately 60 miles west of the Pennsylvania border...
, Milwaukee,
HobokenHoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2000 United States Census, the city's population was 38,577. The city is part of the New York metropolitan area and contains Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the region...
, and Cincinnati were all more than 40% German American.
DubuqueDubuque is a city in and the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. In 2008, its population was estimated at 57,250, making it the eighth-largest city in the state and the county's population was estimated at 92,724.The city lies at the junction of...
and
DavenportDavenport is a city located along the Mississippi River in Scott County, Iowa, United States. Davenport is the county seat of and largest city in Scott County. As of the 2000 census, the city had a population of 98,359 and is Iowa's third-largest city. Davenport is one of the Quad Cities, along...
,
IowaIowa is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland." It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of...
, had even larger proportions, as did Omaha, Nebraska, where the proportion of German Americans was 57% in 1910. The
Over-the-RhineOver-the-Rhine, sometimes shortened to OTR, is a neighborhood in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is believed to be the largest, most intact urban historic district in the United States. Over-the-Rhine was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 17, 1983 with 943 contributing buildings...
neighborhood in Cincinnati was one of the largest centers.
In the mid 1800s, German immigrants and German Americans increased rapidly in numbers in Milwaukee, known as "the German Athens." When they entered city politics in great numbers, they became a vanguard among that city's
Social Democratic Party (Socialists)The Social Democratic Party of America was a short-lived political party in the United States and a predecessor to the Socialist Party of America.-Forerunners:...
. They were heavily engaged in growing industries. Germans created the beer brewing industry under the
PabstPabst Brewing Company is an American company that dates its origins to a brewing company founded in 1844 by Jacob Best and by 1889 named after Frederick Pabst. It is currently the holding company contracting for the brewing of over two dozen brands of beer and malt liquor from defunct companies...
,
SchlitzThe Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company was an American brewery based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its namesake beer, Schlitz, was known as "The beer that made Milwaukee famous" and famously advertised with the slogan "When you're out of Schlitz, you're out of beer".The company was founded by August Krug...
,
MillerMiller Brewing Company merged with Coors Brewing Company on July 1, 2008, to become MillerCoors. Prior to the joint venture, Miller Brewing was the second largest brewing company in the United States behind Anheuser-Busch and was based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It was owned by SABMiller...
, and
BlatzThe Valentin Blatz Brewing Company was an American brewery based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It produced Blatz Beer from 1851 until 1959 when the label was sold to Pabst Brewing Company.-History:...
family brands. German Americans in Milwaukee also brought their strong support of education, establishing schools and teacher training seminaries (Töchter-Institut) to prepare students and teachers in proper German language training. By the late 19th century, the Germania Publishing Company was established, a publisher of books, magazines, and newspapers in German. In many other Northern cities, such as
Fort Wayne, IndianaFort Wayne is a city in the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Allen County. As of 2008, the city had an estimated population of 251,591, ranking it the 73
rd largest city in the nation. It is the second largest city in Indiana, after Indianapolis...
, German Americans were at least 30% of the population.
By 1900,
Columbus, OhioColumbus is the capital and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. It is the county seat of Franklin County, although parts of the city also extend into Delaware and Fairfield counties...
was about half German American. Most established homes on the south side of Columbus, an area now known as the
German VillageGerman Village is a historic neighborhood just south of downtown Columbus, Ohio. It was settled by a large number of German immigrants in the mid 1800s, who at one time comprised as much as a third of the population of the entire city. On December 30, 1974, it was added to the National Register...
District.
While half went to cities, the other half went to farms in the Midwest. From Ohio to the Plains States the census maps show a heavy presence in rural areas into the 21st century.
In the
SouthSouth is one of the cardinal directions and is opposite to the north.By Western convention, the bottom side of a map is south; the southern direction has azimuth or bearing of 180°....
, Texas attracted many Germans who entered through Galveston, both those who came to farm and later immigrants who more rapidly took industrial jobs in cities such as Houston and also in
Louisville, KentuckyLouisville is Kentucky's largest city and county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's estimated population as of 2008 was 713,877 , with a population of 1,244,696 in the Louisville...
. As in Milwaukee, Germans in Houston built the brewing industry. By the 1920s, the first generation of college-educated German Americans were moving into the chemical and oil industries.
Few Germans went to the
Deep SouthThe Deep South is a descriptive category of the cultural and geographic subregions in the American South. Historically, it is differentiated from the "Upper South" as being the states which were most dependent on plantation type agriculture during the antebellum period...
, apart from some in New Orleans.
Texas
The Germans did not form a uniform bloc--they were highly diverse and drew from all sectors of European society, except that very few aristocrats or upper middle class businessmen arrived. For example, consider Texas, with about 20,000
German TexanGerman Texans is an ethnic category that includes residents of the state of Texas with German ancestry who identify with the term. This identification may include cultural agreements—German language, German cuisine, feasts, music, hard work, frugality, and close family ties. From their first...
s in the 1850s (
from Handbook of Texas Online):
- The Germans who settled Texas were diverse in many ways. They included peasant farmers and intellectuals; Protestants, Catholics, Jew
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
s, and atheists; PrussiaPrussia was a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries this state had substantial influence on German and European history...
ns, SaxonsThe Saxons were a confederation of Old Germanic tribes. Their modern-day descendants in Lower Saxony and Westphalia and other German states are considered ethnic Germans ; those in the eastern Netherlands are considered to be ethnic Dutch; those in north...
, Hessians, and AlsatiansAlsace is the fourth-smallest of the 26 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the sixth-most densely populated region in France , with 222 inhabitants per km²...
; abolitionists and slaveholders; farmers and townsfolk; frugal, honest folk and ax murderers. They differed in dialect, customs, and physical features. A majority had been farmers in Germany, and most arrived seeking economic opportunities. A few dissident intellectuals fleeing the 1848 revolutions"Germany" at the time of the Revolutions of 1848 was a collection of 39 states loosely bound together in the German Confederation. As nationalist sentiment crystallized into resistance to the traditional political structure, repeated calls for freedom, democracy and national unity came to threaten...
sought political freedom. Traditional Lutherans from Saxony and some WendsSorbs also known as Wends, Lusatian Sorbs or Lusatian Serbs, are a Slavic people settled in Lusatia, a region on the territory of Germany and Poland.Sorbs are divided into two groups:...
, went for religious freedom. The Saxons founded the Missouri Synod, which remains a leading German American denomination.
- The German settlements in Texas reflected their diversity. Even in the confined area of the Hill Country
The Texas Hill Country is a region of Central Texas, USA, that features rolling, somewhat rugged, hills that consist primarily of limestone. It also includes the Llano Uplift and the second largest granite monadnock in the United States, Enchanted Rock, which is located north of Fredericksburg...
, each valley offered a different kind of German. The LlanoThe Llano River is a tributary of the Colorado River, approximately 105 mi long, in central Texas in the United States. It drains part of the Edwards Plateau in Texas Hill Country northwest of Austin....
valley had stern, teetotaling German MethodistsMethodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to Reverend John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement in the Anglican Church. His younger brother...
, who renounced dancing and fraternal organizations; the PedernalesThe Pedernales River is a tributary of the Colorado River, approximately long, in central Texas in the United States. It drains an area of the Edwards Plateau, flowing west to east across the Texas Hill Country west of Austin...
valley had fun-loving, hardworking Lutherans and Catholics who enjoyed drinking and dancing; and the GuadalupeThe Guadalupe River runs from Kerr County, Texas to San Antonio Bay on the Gulf of Mexico. The river is a popular destination for rafters and canoers. Larger cities along the river include New Braunfels, Kerrville, Seguin, Gonzales, Cuero, and Victoria...
valley had atheist Germans descended from intellectual political refugeeUnder the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, a refugee is a person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted on account of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of their nationality,...
s. The scattered German ethnic islands were also diverse. These small enclaves included LindsayLindsay is a town in Cooke County, Texas, United States, along U.S. Route 82. The population was 788 at the 2000 census.-History:In 1887 the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad constructed a line from Gainesville to Henrietta that passed through the site that would become Lindsay. The story of its...
in Cooke County, largely WestphaliaWestphalia is a region in Germany, centred on the cities of Arnsberg, Bielefeld, Bochum, Detmold, Dortmund, Gelsenkirchen, Hagen, Minden and Münster and included in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia....
n Catholic; Waka in Ochiltree CountyOchiltree County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2005, the United States Census Bureau estimated its population to be 9,385, an increase from the figure of 9,006 recorded in the 2000 census. The county seat is Perryton. The county is named for William Beck Ochiltree, who was the...
, Midwestern MennoniteThe Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...
; HurnvilleHurnville is an unincorporated community on Farm to Market Road 1197 eight miles north of Henrietta in north central Clay County, Texas, United States.-History:...
in Clay County, Russian GermanThe German minority in Russia and the Soviet Union was created from several sources and in several waves. The 1914 census puts the number of Germans living in Russian Empire at 2,416,290. In 1989, the German population of the Soviet Union was roughly 2 million. In the 2002 Russian census, 597,212...
Baptist; and Lockett in Wilbarger CountyWilbarger County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2005, the United States Census Bureau estimated that the population was 13,896, down from 14,676 in 2000. The county seat is Vernon. Wilbarger is named for Josiah Pugh Wilbarger and Mathias Wilbarger, two early...
, Wendish Lutheran.
Civil War
Hundreds of thousands of German Americans volunteered to fight for the
UnionDuring the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty-three states which were not part of the secession attempt by the 11 states that tried to form the Confederacy...
in the
American Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
(1861-1865). Most had settled in northern states and no doubt adopted local attitudes. Having gone through their own revolution, many Germans had a strong revulsion against
slaverySlavery is a form of forced labor in which people are considered to be the property of others. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive compensation...
. This was reflected in an incident on January 1, 1861, when the mostly German crowd made such a disturbance at a slave sale at the
St. LouisSt. Louis is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. With an estimated population of 354,361 in 2008, it is the principal municipality of Greater St. Louis, population 2,866,517, the largest urban area in Missouri and sixteenth largest in the United States...
courthouse that the sale price couldn't go above $8.00. The demonstration marked the last slave auction in St. Louis. Many Germans could see the parallel between slavery and
serfdomSerfdom is the socio-economic status of unfree peasants under feudalism, and specifically relates to Manorialism. It was a condition of bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe...
in the old fatherland. The Germans were among the largest immigrant groups to participate in the Civil War: roughly 516,000 (23.4% of all Union soldiers) were German Americans, and about 216,000 were born in Germany. 36,000 of these native-born Germans enlisted from New York. Behind the Empire State came
MissouriMissouri is a state in the Midwest region of the United States bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. Missouri is the 18th most populous state with a 2008 estimated population of 5,911,605. It comprises 114 counties and one independent city....
with 30,000 and
OhioOhio is a Midwestern state of the United States. The thirty-fourth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the seventh-most populous with nearly 11.5 million residents...
with 20,000. A popular Union commander among Germans, Major General
Franz SigelFranz Sigel was a German military officer and immigrant to the United States who was a teacher, newspaperman, politician, and served as a Union major general in the American Civil War.-Early life:...
was the highest-ranking German American officer in the
Union ArmyThe Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
, with many German immigrants claiming to enlist to "
fight mit Sigel."
- A Missouri man had once written the Confederate
The Confederate States of America was a separatist political entity existing between 1861 to 1865, established by eleven southern slave states of the United States of America, each of which had previously declared their secession from the United States...
authorities that all they had to do to get rid of the Saint Louis Unionists was destroy the local breweries and seize all the beer: "… By this means the Dutch [Germans] will all die in a week and the Yankees will then run from this State."
-
-
- - M. Jeff Thompson
Meriwether Jeff Thompson was a brigadier general in the Missouri State Guard during the American Civil War...
of Missouri
The identification of Germans with the Unionist-
AbolitionistAbolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and emancipate slaves in western Europe and the Americas. The slave system aroused little protest until the 18th century, when rationalist thinkers of the Enlightenment criticized it for violating the rights of man, and Quaker and other evangelical...
persisted into the 1870s in the so-called "Mason County War" in
TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
. "Germans" were identified as Unionists while "Americans" were predominantly pro-Confederate. The conflict claimed some dozen lives before petering out. Now it is known chiefly because of the famous outlaw
Johnny RingoJohn Peters Ringo , better known as Johnny Ringo, was a cowboy who became a legend of the American Old West because of, among other things, his affiliation with the Clanton Gang in the era of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, in Tombstone, Arizona...
's participation on the anti-German side.
Voting
Relatively few Germans held office, but the men voted once they became citizens.
In general, the Protestants and Jews leaned toward the Republican party and the Catholics were strongly DemocraticThe Third Party System is a term of periodization used by some historians and political scientists to describe a period in American political history from about 1854 to the mid-1890s that featured profound developments in issues of nationalism, modernization, and race...
. If prohibition was on the ballot, the Germans voted solidly against it. They strongly distrusted moralistic crusaders, who they called "Puritans." This included the temperance reformers and many
PopulistsThe People's Party, later erroneously also known as the Populist Party was a short-lived political party in the United States in the late 19th century. It flourished particularly among western farmers, based largely on its opposition to the gold standard...
. The German community strongly opposed inflation and
Free SilverFree Silver was an important political issue in the late 19th century and early 20th century United States about whether to have an inflationary monetary policy by "free coinage of silver"; its supporters were called silverites...
, and voted heavily against crusader
William Jennings BryanWilliam Jennings Bryan was the Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States in 1896, 1900 and 1908, a lawyer, and the 41st United States Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wilson. One of the most popular speakers in American history, he was noted for a deep, commanding voice...
in 1896. In 1900, however, many German Democrats returned to their party and voted for Bryan, perhaps because of President
William McKinleyWilliam McKinley Jr. was the 25th President of the United States, and the last veteran of the American Civil War to be elected to the office....
's foreign policy.
Assimilation and World War I anti-German sentiment
After two or three generations, German Americans adopted mainstream American customs—some of which they heavily influenced—and switched their language to
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
. As one scholar concludes, "The overwhelming evidence … indicates that the German-American school was a bilingual one much (perhaps a whole generation or more) earlier than 1917, and that the majority of the pupils may have been English-dominant bilinguals from the early 1880s on." By 1914 the older members were attending German-language church services while the younger members were attending English services (in Lutheran, Evangelical and Catholic churches). In German parochial schools, the children spoke English among themselves, though some of their classes were in German. In 1917–18, after the US entry into WWI on the side of the British, nearly all German language instruction ended, as did most German-language church services.
During
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
, German Americans, especially those born abroad, were sometimes accused of being too sympathetic to the
German EmpireThe German Empire is the name commonly used in English to describe Germany from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871 to 1918, when it became a German republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of Wilhelm II .The term Second Reich...
. Teddy Roosevelt denounced "
hyphenated AmericanIn the United States, the term hyphenated American is an epithet commonly used from 1890 to 1920 to disparage Americans who were of foreign birth or origin, and who displayed an allegiance to a foreign country. It was most commonly used to disparage German Americans or Irish Americans who called...
ism" and insisted that dual loyalties were impossible in wartime. A small minority came out for Germany, including
H. L. MenckenHenry Louis "H. L." Mencken , was an American journalist, essayist, magazine editor, satirist, acerbic critic of American life and culture, and a student of American English...
, who believed the German democratic system was superior to American democracy. Similarly,
HarvardHarvard University is a private university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and currently comprises ten separate academic units...
psychologyPsychology is an academic and applied discipline involving the systematic, and sometimes scientific, study of human or animal mental functions and behavior...
professor
Hugo MünsterbergHugo Münsterberg was a German-American psychologist. He was one of the pioneers in applied psychology, extending his research and theories to Industrial / Organizational , legal, medical, clinical, educational and business settings. Münsterberg encountered immense turmoil with the outbreak of the...
dropped his efforts to mediate between America and Germany and threw his efforts behind the German cause.
Several thousand vocal opponents of the war were imprisoned. Thousands were forced to buy war bonds to show their loyalty. The
Red CrossThe American Red Cross is a humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief and education inside the United States, and is the designated U.S...
barred individuals with German last names from joining in fear of sabotage. One man was hanged in
IllinoisIllinois , the 21st state admitted to the United States of America, is the most populous and demographically diverse Midwestern state and the fifth most populous state in the nation...
, apparently for no other reason than that he was of German descent. The killers were found not guilty of the crime and the hanging was called an act of patriotism by a jury. A
MinnesotaMinnesota is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. The twelfth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.2 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the...
minister was
tarred and feathered"Tarred and Feathered" is a song by English punk rock band Dogs and is featured on their debut album, Turn Against This Land. Released on November 28, 2005, it was the fifth and final single taken from the album.-Track listing:#"Selfish Ways" - 3:22...
when he was overheard praying in German with a dying woman. Some Germans during this time "Americanized" their names (e.g. Schmidt to Smith, Müller to Miller) and limited their use of the
German languageGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
in public places. Newspapers also printed blacklists of names of Germans, including their addresses, headlined as
German Enemy Aliens.
In Chicago
Frederick StockFrederick Stock was a German conductor and composer.-Biography:Stock was born in Jülich, Germany and given his early musical education by his army bandmaster father...
temporarily stepped down as conductor of the
Chicago Symphony OrchestraThe Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...
until he finalized his naturalization papers. Orchestras replaced music by
WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director and essayist, primarily known for his operas...
with
Berlioz Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande Messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation...
on programs. In Cincinnati, reaction to
anti-German sentimentAnti-German sentiment is defined as a fear or hatred of Germany, its people, and the German language.-Russia:In the 1860s Russia experienced an outbreak of Germanophobia, mainly restricted to a small group of writers in St. Petersburg who had united around a right wing newspaper...
during World War I caused the public library of Cincinnati to withdraw all German books from its shelves. German-named streets were renamed. For example, in Indianapolis, Germania Avenue was renamed
PershingGeneral of the Armies John Joseph Pershing, Honorary GCB; September 13, 1860 – July 15, 1948, was a general officer in the United States Army. Pershing is the only person to be promoted in his own lifetime to the highest rank ever held in the United States Army—General of the Armies General of the...
Avenue — for a World War I general of German descent. In
IowaIowa is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland." It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of...
, the 1918
Babel ProclamationIowa's Governor William L. Harding took the Anti-German Sentiment in the wake of WWI further than any other state and issued the so-called "Babel Proclamation" on May 14, 1918...
made speaking foreign languages in public illegal.
NebraskaNebraska is a state located on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha....
banned instruction in any language except English, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the ban illegal in 1923 (
Meyer v. NebraskaMeyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390 , was a U.S. Supreme Court case which held that a 1919 Nebraska law prohibiting the teaching of foreign languages to school children before high school unconstitutionally violated the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.-Facts:Robert T...
).
World War II
Between 1931 and 1940, 114,000 Germans moved to the United States, many of whom—including Nobel prize winner
Albert EinsteinAlbert Einstein was a theoretical physicist. His many contributions to physics include the special and general theories of relativity, the founding of relativistic cosmology, the first post-Newtonian expansion, explaining the perihelion advance of Mercury, prediction of the deflection of...
—were
Jewish GermansJews have lived in Germany, or "Ashkenaz", at least since the early 4th century, through both periods of tolerance and spasms of antisemitic violence, culminating in the Holocaust and the near-destruction of the Jewish community in Germany and much of Europe, the subsequent division of Germany and...
or
anti-NazisAnti-fascism is the opposition to fascist ideologies, organizations, governments and individuals. Most major resistance movements during World War II were anti-fascist....
fleeing government oppression. About 25,000 people became paying members of the pro-Nazi German American Bund during the years before the war. Germans aliens were the subject of suspicion and discrimination during the war, although prejudice and sheer numbers meant they suffered as a group generally less than
Japanese Americanare Americans of Japanese heritage, either born in Japan or their descendents. Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities, but in recent decades have become the sixth largest group at roughly 1,204,205, including those of mixed-race or...
s. The
Alien Registration Act of 1940The Alien Registration Act or Smith Act of 1940 is a United States federal statute that makes it a criminal offense for anyone toIt also required all non-citizen adult residents to register with the government; within four months, 4,741,971 aliens had registered under the Act's provisions.The Act...
required 300,000 German-born resident aliens to register with the Federal government and restricted their travel and property ownership rights. Under the still active
Alien Enemy Act of 1798The Alien and Sedition Acts were four bills passed in 1798 by the Federalists in the 5th United States Congress, who were waging an undeclared naval war with France, later known as the Quasi-War. They were signed into law by President John Adams...
, the United States government
interned nearly 11,000 German immigrantsGerman American Internment refers to the detention of people of German ancestry in the United States during World War II. Many of the detainees were American citizens.-World War II:...
between 1940 and 1948. Most were not American citizens. Some of these were United States citizens; some were the parents of active military men. Civil rights violations occurred. Five hundred were arrested without warrant. Others were held without charge for months or interrogated without benefit of legal counsel. Convictions were not eligible for appeal. An unknown number of "voluntary internees" joined their spouses and parents in the camps and were not permitted to leave.
President
Franklin D. RooseveltFranklin Delano Roosevelt , the only U.S. President elected to more than two terms, was a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
did not hesitate to name Americans of German ancestry to top war jobs, including General
Dwight D. EisenhowerDwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was a five-star general in the United States Army and the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. During the Second World War, he served as Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe, with responsibility for planning and supervising the...
, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, and General Carl Andrew Spaatz. He appointed Republican
Wendell WillkieWendell Lewis Willkie was a corporate lawyer in the United States and was the Republican Party nominee for the 1940 presidential election, although he had never previously had an elected political office....
as a personal representative. German Americans who had fluent German language skills were an important asset to wartime intelligence, and they served as translators and as spies for the United States. The war evoked strong patriotic sentiments among German Americans, few of whom by then had contacts with distant relatives in the old country.
German Americans in post-war years
In the aftermath of
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, millions of
ethnic Germans were expelledBy the end of World War II, most of the German population fled or was expelled from areas outside the territory of post-war Germany and post-war Austria, including:...
from nations in
eastern EuropeEastern Europe is a region lying in the Eastern part of Europe. The term is highly context-dependent and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
, including the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
,
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
,
CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
,
RomaniaRomania is a country located in Southeastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory...
,
HungaryHungary , in English officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state...
and
YugoslaviaYugoslavia is a term that describes three political entities that existed successively on the Balkan Peninsula in Europe, during most of the 20th century.The first country to be known by this...
. Most resettled in Germany, but others came as
refugeeUnder the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, a refugee is a person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted on account of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of their nationality,...
s to the United States in the late 1940s and established cultural centers in their new homes. Some
Danube SwabiansThe Danube Swabians is a collective term for Germans who lived in the former Kingdom of Hungary, especially in the Danube River valley. Because of differential development within the territory settled, the Danube Swabians cannot be seen as a unified people...
, for instance, ethnic Germans who had maintained language and customs after settlement along the
DanubeThe Danube is the longest river in the European Union and Europe's second longest river after the Volga.The river originates in the Black Forest in Germany as the much smaller Brigach and Breg rivers which join at the German town Donaueschingen, after which it is known as the Danube and flows...
in Hungary, later Yugoslavia (now
SerbiaSerbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a country located in both Central and Southeastern Europe. Its territory covers the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and central part of the Balkans...
), immigrated to the U.S. after the war.
From the 1970s on, time abated the anti-German sentiment aroused by World War II. Today, German Americans who immigrated after World War II share the same characteristics as any other Western European immigrant group in the U.S. They are mostly professionals and academics who have come for professional reasons. Germany has been a preferred destination for immigrants rather than a source of migrating peoples.
In the 1990 U.S. Census, 58 million Americans claimed to be solely or partially of German descent. According to the 2005 American Community Survey, 50 million Americans have German ancestry. German Americans represent 17% of the total U.S. population and 26% of the non-Hispanic
whiteWhite people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
population.
About 1.5 million Americans speak German today. In 1860-1917 German was widely spoken in German neighborhoods; see
German in the United StatesBefore World War I, more than 6% of American schoolchildren received their primary education only in German. Although more than 49 million Americans claim they have German ancestors, according to the 2005 American Community Survey, more than 96% of them speak English at home and in total only 1.38...
. There is a false myth, called the
Muhlenberg legendThe Muhlenberg legend is a popular urban legend in the United States and Germany. According to the legend, Frederick Muhlenberg kept German from becoming an official language of the United States. At the heart of this legend is a vote in the United States House of Representatives in 1794, in which...
, that German was almost the official language of the U.S. There was never any such proposal. The U.S. has no
official languageAn official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other territory. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration. However, official status can also be used to give a...
, but use of German was strongly discouraged during
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
and fell out of daily use in many places.
There are about 5 million German Americans in the Heritage Society
Germans from RussiaThe German minority in Russia and the Soviet Union was created from several sources and in several waves. The 1914 census puts the number of Germans living in Russian Empire at 2,416,290. In 1989, the German population of the Soviet Union was roughly 2 million. In the 2002 Russian census, 597,212...
, who came from
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, many via Canada, to the United States. Other nationality sources of German-Americans are
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
; followed by
ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
,
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
and
ChileChile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, South America known for notable German immigrant colonies and communities.
Of the four major U.S. regions, German was the most-reported ancestry in the Midwest, second in the
WestU S WEST, Inc. was a Regional Bell Operating Company, one of seven "Baby Bells" that were spawned by the antitrust breakup of AT&T in 1983. It provided telephone and data service to several Pacific Northwest and mountain states. It was acquired by Qwest Communications International on June 30, 2000...
, and third in both the
NortheastThe Northeastern United States is a region of the United States. According to the definition used by the United States Census Bureau, the Northeast region consists of nine states: the New England states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut; and the...
and the
SouthThe Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, Down South, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive region in the southeastern and south-central United States...
. German was the top reported ancestry in 23 states, and it was one of the top five reported ancestries in every state except
MaineThe State of Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordering the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, New Hampshire to the southwest, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is the northernmost portion of...
and
Rhode IslandRhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
.
Religious affiliations
German immigrants who arrived before the nineteenth century tended to be members of the "Evangelical Church" in Germany. They created the
ReformedThe Reformed Church in the United States is a Protestant Christian denomination in the United States. The present RCUS is a conservative, Calvinist denomination. It affirms the principles of the Reformation: Sola scriptura , Solo Christo , Sola gratia , Sola fide , and Soli Deo gloria...
denomination (especially in New York and Pennsylvania), and the
EvangelicalThe Evangelical Synod of North America was a Protestant Christian denomination in the United States existing from the mid-1800s until its 1934 merger with the Reformed Church in the United States to form the Evangelical and Reformed Church...
denomination (strongest in the Midwest), which are now part of the
United Church of ChristThe United Church of Christ is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination principally in the United States, generally considered within the Reformed tradition. The UCC formed in 1957 with the union of the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches...
. Many immigrants joined different churches from those that existed in Germany. Protestants often joined the
MethodistThe United Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination which traces its roots back to the evangelical, holiness, revival movement of John and Charles Wesley within the Anglican Church. As such, the church's theological orientation is decidedly Wesleyan. It contains both liturgical and...
church.
Before 1800, communities of
AmishThe various Amish or Amish Mennonite church fellowships are Christian religious denominations that form a very traditional subgrouping of Mennonite churches. They are best known for their simple living, plain dress and resistance to the adoption of many modern conveniences...
,
MennoniteThe Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...
s, Moravians and
HutteriteHutterites are a communal branch of Anabaptists who, like the Amish and Mennonites, trace their roots to the Radical Reformation of the 16th century. Since the death of their founder Jakob Hutter in 1536, the beliefs of the Hutterites, especially living in a community of goods and absolute...
s had formed and are still in existence today. Some still speak dialects of German, including Pennsylvania German, informally known as
Pennsylvania DutchThe Pennsylvania Dutch are the descendants of Germanic peoples who emigrated to the U.S. , from Germany and The Low Countries prior to 1800. The Dutch are generally regarded as one of several Germanic peoples...
(from Deutsch). The Amish, who were originally from southern Germany and
SwitzerlandSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
, arrived in Pennsylvania during the early 18th century. Amish immigration to the United States reached its peak between the years 1727 and 1770. Religious freedom was perhaps the most pressing cause for Amish immigration to Pennsylvania, which became known as a haven for persecuted religious groups.
The Hutterites are another example of a group of German Americans who continue a lifestyle similar to that of their ancestors. Like the Amish, they fled persecution for their religious beliefs and came to the United States in 1870. Today Hutterites mostly reside in
MontanaMontana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of the state contains numerous mountain ranges; other 'island' ranges are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
,
the DakotasThe Dakotas is a collective term used around the world that refers to the U.S. states of North Dakota and South Dakota together. The term has been used historically to describe the Dakota Territory, and is continued to be used to describe the collective heritage, culture, geography, fauna,...
, and
MinnesotaMinnesota is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. The twelfth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.2 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the...
, and the western provinces of
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Hutterites continue to speak
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
. Most are able to speak Standard German in addition to their dialect.
Immigrants from Germany in the mid- to late-1800s brought many different religions with them. The most numerous were Lutheran or Catholic, although the Lutherans were themselves split among different groups. The more conservative Lutherans comprised the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod and the
Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran SynodThe Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod is a North American Confessional Lutheran denomination of Christianity. Characterized as theologically conservative, it was founded in 1850 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As of 2005, it had a baptized membership of over 398,000 in more than 1,200 congregations in...
. Other Lutherans formed a complex checkerboard of synods. In 1988 most of these merged, together with Scandinavian-based synods, into the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in AmericaThe Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is a mainline Protestant denomination headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA officially came into existence on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three churches and currently has about 4,633,887 baptized members...
.
Some 19th century immigrants, especially the "48ers", were secular, rejecting formal religion. About 250,000 German Jews had arrived by the 1870s, and they sponsored reform synagogues in many small cities across the country. About 2.0 million Eastern European Jews arrived from the 1880s to 1924, bringing more traditional religious practices.
German American influence
Germans have contributed to a vast number of areas in American culture and technology.
Baron von SteubenFriedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin von Steuben, also referred to as the Baron von Steuben, Prussian aristocrat and military officer who served as inspector general and Major general of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War...
, a former
PrussiaPrussia was a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries this state had substantial influence on German and European history...
n officer, led the reorganization of the U.S. Army during the
War for IndependenceThe American Revolutionary War , also sometimes known as the American War of Independence, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen united former British colonies in North America, and concluded in a global war between several European great powers...
and helped make the victory against British troops possible. The
Steinway & SonsSteinway & Sons, also known as Steinway, is an American and German manufacturer of handmade pianos, founded in 1853 in New York City, by German immigrant Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg . The company's growth led to the opening of a factory and employee village in what is now Astoria, Queens, followed...
piano manufacturing firm was founded by immigrant
Henry E. SteinwayHenry E. Steinway was a German piano manufacturer and the founder of Steinway & Sons.Steinway was born Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg in Wolfshagen im Harz, Germany, and had a hard and poor childhood, because by the age of 15, his mother, father, and all of his siblings were dead from disease and...
in 1853. German settlers brought the
Christmas treeThe Christmas tree is a decorated artificial or living tree, a popular tradition associated with the celebration of Christmas. Normally an evergreen coniferous tree that is brought into a home or used in the open, a Christmas tree is decorated with Christmas lights and colourful ornaments during...
custom to the United States. The
StudebakerStudebaker Corporation, or simply Studebaker , was a United States wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 under the name of the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company, the company was originally a producer of wagons for farmers,...
s built large numbers of wagons used during the Western migration; Studebaker, like the
DuesenbergDuesenberg was an Auburn, Indiana based luxury automobile company active in various forms from 1913 to 1937, most famous for its high-quality passenger cars and record-breaking roadsters.-History:...
brothers, later became an important early automobile manufacturer.
Carl SchurzCarl Schurz was a German revolutionary, American statesman and reformer, and Union Army General in the American Civil War...
, a refugee from the unsuccessful first German democratic revolution of 1848 (see also
German ConfederationThe German Confederation was the association of Central European states created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to serve as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, which had been abolished in 1806. In 1848, revolutions by liberals and nationalists occurred in an attempt to...
), served as U.S.
Secretary of the InteriorThe United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior.The US Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Ministries of the Interior as used in other countries...
.
After World War II,
Wernher von BraunWernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun was a German American rocket physicist and astronautics engineer, becoming one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Germany and the United States...
, and most of the leading engineers from the former German V-2 rocket base at
PeenemündePeenemünde is a village in the northeast of the German part of Usedom island. It stands near the mouth of the Peene river, on the easternmost part of the German Baltic coast. The area includes the 1992 :commons:Historisch-technisches Informationszentrum Peenemünde, an Anchor Point of the...
, were brought to the U.S. They contributed decisively to the development of U.S. military rockets, as well as rockets for the
NASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program. NASA was established by the National Aeronautics and Space Act on July 29, 1958, replacing its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for...
space program.
The influence of
German cuisineGerman cuisine is a style of cooking derived from the nation of Germany. It has evolved as a national cuisine through centuries of social and political change with variations from region to region. The southern regions of Germany, Bavaria and Swabia share many dishes. Ingredients and dishes vary...
is seen in the
cuisine of the United StatesThe cuisine of the United States is a style of food preparation derived from the United States of America. The cuisine has a history dating back before the colonial period when the Native Americans had a rich and diverse cooking style for an equally diverse amount of ingredients...
throughout the country, especially regarding pastries, meats and sausages, and above all, beer.
FrankfurtersA hot dog is a moist sausage of soft, even texture and flavor, often made from advanced meat recovery or meat slurry. Most types are fully cooked, cured or smoked. It is often placed hot in a special purpose soft, sliced hot dog bun...
(or "wieners", originating from Frankfurt am Main and
ViennaVienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 10th largest city by...
, respectively),
hamburgerA hamburger is a sandwich consisting of a cooked patty of ground meat, usually beef, placed in an open bun or between two slices of bread...
s,
bratwurstA bratwurst is a sausage usually composed of veal, pork or beef.The name is German, derived from Old High German brätwurst, from brät-, which is finely chopped meat and -wurst, or sausage...
,
sauerkrautSauerkraut is finely shredded cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria, including Leuconostoc, Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus. It has a long shelf-life and a distinctive sour flavor, both of which result from the lactic acid that forms when the bacteria ferment the sugars in...
, and
strudelA strudel is a type of sweet layered pastry with a filling inside, that became well known and gained popularity in the 18th century through the Habsburg Empire.Strudel is most often associated with the Austrian cuisine, but is also a traditional pastry in...
are common dishes. German bakers introduced the
pretzelA pretzel is a bread pastry of Medieval European origin that has the shape of a three looped knot or twisted braid. Pretzels are either soft or hard. Hard pretzels have evolved into a variety of shapes from knotted loops to straight "pretzel sticks"...
. Germans have almost totally dominated the
beerBeer is the world's oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic beverage and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from cereal grains—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize , and rice are widely...
industry since 1850.
Milwaukee was once the home to four of the world's largest German breweries (Schlitz, Blatz, Pabst, and Miller), and was the number one beer producing city in the world for many years. The historic German Milwaukee Brewery, located in "Miller Valley" at 4000 West State Street, is the oldest still-functioning major brewery in the United States.
Almost half of all current beer sales in the United States can be attributed to German immigrants, Capt. A. Pabst, Eberhard Anheuser and Adolphus Busch, who founded
Anheuser-BuschAnheuser-Busch Companies, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev, is the largest brewing company in the United States. The company operates 12 breweries in the United States and nearly 20 in other countries...
in
St. LouisSt. Louis is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. With an estimated population of 354,361 in 2008, it is the principal municipality of Greater St. Louis, population 2,866,517, the largest urban area in Missouri and sixteenth largest in the United States...
in 1860.
One of the areas in which the influence of German cuisine is strongest is the small town Midwest.
German-American celebrations, such as
OktoberfestOktoberfest is a 18-day festival held each year in Munich, Germany, running from late September to early October. It is one of the most famous events in Germany and the world's largest fair, with some six million people attending every year, and is an important part of Bavarian culture...
,
German-American DayGerman-American Day is a holiday in the United States, observed annually on October 6. The holiday, which celebrates German heritage, commemorates the date in 1683 when 13 German families from Krefeld near the Rhine landed in Philadelphia. These families subsequently founded Germantown,...
and
Von Steuben DayVon Steuben Day is a holiday traditionally held on a weekend in mid-September , celebrating Baron Friedrich von Steuben, who arrived in the United States as a volunteer offering his services to General George Washington, and is generally considered the German-American event of the year...
are held regularly throughout the country. One of the largest is the
German-American Steuben ParadeThe German-American Steuben Parade is an annual parade held in various cities across the United States. The New York City parade is held every third Saturday in September. It was founded in 1957 by German-American immigrants who, being part of the largest ethnic group in the United States, wanted...
in New York City, held every third Saturday in September. There are also major annual events in Chicago's
Lincoln SquareLincoln Square, located on the North Side of the city of Chicago, Illinois, is one of 77 well-defined Chicago community areas. Greater Lincoln Square encompasses the smaller neighborhoods of Ravenswood Gardens, Ravenswood, Bowmanville, Budlong Woods and Lincoln Square...
neighborhood, a traditional a center of the city's German population, in Cincinnati, where its annual
Octoberfest Zinzinnati is the largest
OktoberfestOktoberfest is a 18-day festival held each year in Munich, Germany, running from late September to early October. It is one of the most famous events in Germany and the world's largest fair, with some six million people attending every year, and is an important part of Bavarian culture...
outside of Germany and in Milwaukee, which celebrates its German heritage with an annual
German FestGerman Fest is an ethnic festival in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the Henry Maier Festival Park, on the Lake Michigan lakefront. The genesis of German Fest occurred when Mayor Henry Maier challenged the local German-American community during a speech on May 20th, 1980, at the 20th Anniversary of the...
.
Skat, the most popular
card gameA card game is any game using playing cards as the primary things with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games...
in
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
, is also played in areas of the United States with large German American populations, such as
WisconsinWisconsin is one of the fifty U.S. states. Located in the north-central United States, Wisconsin is considered part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the...
and
TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
.
German American presidents
There have been two presidents whose fathers were of German descent:
Dwight EisenhowerDwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was a five-star general in the United States Army and the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. During the Second World War, he served as Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe, with responsibility for planning and supervising the...
(original family name
Eisenhauer and maternal side is also German/Swiss) and
Herbert HooverHerbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted government intervention under the rubric "economic...
(original family name
Huber). Presidents with maternal German ancestry include
Richard Milhous NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States and is the only president to resign the office. He was also the 36th Vice President of the United States ....
(Nixon's maternal ancestors were Germans who anglicized
Melhausen to Milhous). Other presidents with one or more German ancestors include
John TylerJohn Tyler, Jr. was the tenth President of the United States and the first to succeed to the office following the death of a predecessor....
,
George W. BushThe Bush family is a prominent American family. Along with many members who have been successful bankers and businessmen, across three generations the family includes two U.S. Senators, one Supreme Court Justice, two Governors, one Vice President and two Presidents...
,
George H. W. BushThe Bush family is a prominent American family. Along with many members who have been successful bankers and businessmen, across three generations the family includes two U.S. Senators, one Supreme Court Justice, two Governors, one Vice President and two Presidents...
, and
Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States. He is well remembered for his energetic persona, his range of interests and achievements, his model of masculinity, and his "cowboy" image. He was a leader of the Republican Party and founder of the short-lived Bull Moose Party...
.
German-American communities
Today, most German Americans have assimilated to the point that they no longer have readily identifiable ethnic communities, though there are still many metropolitan areas where German is the most reported ethnicity, such as Cincinnati,
ClevelandCleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately 60 miles west of the Pennsylvania border...
,
ColumbusColumbus is the capital and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. It is the county seat of Franklin County, although parts of the city also extend into Delaware and Fairfield counties...
, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis – Saint Paul, Pittsburgh, and
St. LouisSt. Louis is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. With an estimated population of 354,361 in 2008, it is the principal municipality of Greater St. Louis, population 2,866,517, the largest urban area in Missouri and sixteenth largest in the United States...
.
U.S. communities with high percentages of people of German ancestry
The 10 U.S. communities with the highest percentage of residents claiming German ancestry are:
- Monterey Township, Putnam County, Ohio
Monterey Township is one of the fifteen townships of Putnam County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 2,056 people in the township, 1,183 of whom lived in the unincorporated portions of the township.-Geography:...
83.6%%
- Granville Township, Mercer County, Ohio
Granville Township is one of the fourteen townships of Mercer County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 3,885 people in the township, 1,434 of whom lived in the unincorporated portions of the township.-Geography:...
79.6%%
- St. Henry, Ohio
St. Henry is a village in Mercer County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,271 at the 2000 census.-History:The village of St. Henry was first settled in 1836. The area consisted of virgin deciduous forests inhabited by wolves, deer and other forest fauna...
78.5%
- Germantown Township, Clinton County, Illinois
Germantown Township is one of fifteen townships in Clinton County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2000 census, its population was 1,990.-Geography:...
77.6%
- Jackson Township, Dubois County, Indiana
Jackson Township is one of twelve townships in Dubois County, Indiana. As of the 2000 census, its population was 2,070.-Geography:Jackson Township covers an area of 34.86 square miles; 0.05 square miles of this is water....
77.3%
- Washington Township, Mercer County, Ohio
Washington Township is one of the fourteen townships of Mercer County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 1,218 people in the township.-Geography:Located in the western part of the county, it borders the following townships:...
77.2%
- Saint Rose Township, Clinton County, Illinois
Saint Rose Township is one of fifteen townships in Clinton County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2000 census, its population was 1,319.-Geography:...
77.1%
- Butler Township, Mercer County, Ohio
Butler Township is one of the fourteen townships of Mercer County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 6,459 people in the township, 1,977 of whom lived in the unincorporated portions of the township.-Geography:...
76.4%
- Marion Township, Mercer County, Ohio
Marion Township is one of the fourteen townships of Mercer County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 2,969 people in the township, 2,605 of whom lived in the unincorporated portions of the township.-Geography:...
76.3%
- Jennings Township, Putnam County, Ohio
Jennings Township is one of the fifteen townships of Putnam County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 1,968 people in the township, 1,536 of whom lived in the unincorporated portions of the township.-Geography:...
and Germantown, IllinoisGermantown is a village in Clinton County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,118 at the 2000 census.-Notable people:Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst was born in Germantown on February 2, 1923.-Geography:...
75.6%
U.S. communities with the most residents born in Germany
The 10 U.S. communities with the highest proportion of residents born in Germany are:
- Lely Resort, Florida
Lely Resort is a census-designated place in Collier County, Florida, United States. The population was 1,426 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Naples–Marco Island Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
6.8%
- Pemberton Heights, New Jersey
Pemberton Heights is a census-designated place located within Pemberton Township, in Burlington County. As of the United States 2000 census, the CDP had a total population of 2,512.-Geography:...
5.0%
- Kempner, Texas
Kempner is a city in Lampasas County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,004 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Killeen–Temple–Fort Hood Metropolitan Statistical Area....
4.8%
- Cedar Glen Lakes, New Jersey
Cedar Glen Lakes is a census-designated place and unincorporated area located within Manchester Township, in Ocean County, New Jersey. As of the United States 2000 Census, the CDP population was 1,617.-Geography:Cedar Glen Lakes is located at ....
4.5%
- Alamogordo, New Mexico
Alamogordo is a city in, and the county seat of, Otero County in south-central New Mexico, United States. A desert community lying in the Tularosa Basin, it is bordered on the east by the Sacramento Mountains. It is the nearest city to Holloman Air Force Base...
4.3%
- Sunshine Acres, Florida
Sunshine Acres is a census-designated place in Broward County, Florida, United States. The population was 827 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Sunshine Acres is located at ....
4.2%
- Leisureville, Florida
Leisureville was a census-designated place in Broward County, Florida, United States, and now a neighborhood of Pompano Beach, Florida. The population was 1,147 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Leisureville is located at ....
4.2%
- Wakefield, Kansas
Wakefield is a city in Clay County, Kansas, United States. The population was 838 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Wakefield is located at ....
4.1%
- Quantico, Virginia
Quantico, Virginia is a town in Prince William County, located in Washington Metropolitan Area. It is totally surrounded by Marine Corps Base Quantico on three sides and the Potomac River on the fourth. Quantico is located south of the mouth of Quantico Creek on the Potomac. As of the 2000 census,...
4.0%
- Crestwood Village, New Jersey
Crestwood Village is a census-designated place and unincorporated area located within Manchester Township, in Ocean County, New Jersey. As of the United States 2000 Census, the CDP population was 8,392.-Geography:Crestwood Village is located at ....
3.8%
See also
- Austrian American
- Ethnic Germans
- European American
A European American is a person who resides in the United States and is either from Europe or is the descendant of European immigrants or founding colonists. Spanish Americans are the earliest European American group, with a continuous presence since 1565...
- German-American Heritage Foundation of the USA
The German-American Heritage Foundation of the USA is a national non-profit organization that promotes German language, culture, and heritage in the United States and works toward preserving the history of Americans of German ancestry in the building the United States...
- German American internment
German American Internment refers to the detention of people of German ancestry in the United States during World War II. Many of the detainees were American citizens.-World War II:...
- Germany – United States relations
- German-Americans in the Civil War
German-Americans in the American Civil War were the largest ethnic contingent to fight for the Union. More than 200,000 native Germans served in the Union Army, with New York and Ohio each providing ten divisions dominated by German-born men...
- German in the United States
Before World War I, more than 6% of American schoolchildren received their primary education only in German. Although more than 49 million Americans claim they have German ancestors, according to the 2005 American Community Survey, more than 96% of them speak English at home and in total only 1.38...
- German Palatines
German Palatines were natives of the Rhineland-Palatinate region of Germany. Through much of the 17th century and into the 18th, the region was embroiled in constant warfare among various factions and invaded by French troops, which resulted in famine and widespread devastation. Refugees were...
- German Texan
German Texans is an ethnic category that includes residents of the state of Texas with German ancestry who identify with the term. This identification may include cultural agreements—German language, German cuisine, feasts, music, hard work, frugality, and close family ties. From their first...
- Germans in Omaha, Nebraska
Germans in Omaha immigrated to the city in Nebraska from its earliest days of founding in 1854, in the years after the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states. They continued to immigrate to Omaha in large numbers later in the 19th century, when many came from Bavaria and southern Germany...
- History of Germany
The history of Germany begins with Germania, the name given by the Romans to the area north of the Danube and east of the Rhine up to the Vistula, which was inhabited mostly by Germanic tribes and some Celts, with Slavic tribes arriving centuries later. The victory of the Germanic tribes in the...
- Hyphenated American
In the United States, the term hyphenated American is an epithet commonly used from 1890 to 1920 to disparage Americans who were of foreign birth or origin, and who displayed an allegiance to a foreign country. It was most commonly used to disparage German Americans or Irish Americans who called...
- Immigration to the United States
American immigration refers to the movement of non-residents to the United States...
- List of German Americans
- Pennsylvania Dutch
The Pennsylvania Dutch are the descendants of Germanic peoples who emigrated to the U.S. , from Germany and The Low Countries prior to 1800. The Dutch are generally regarded as one of several Germanic peoples...
External links