German American
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German Americans are common in the U.S. Light blue indicates counties where persons of German ancestry form the largest plurality. |
German Americans are citizens of the
United States of
German ancestry. Around eight million German
immigrants have entered the United States since its inception, with the majority arriving between 1840 and 1920. German immigrants arrived for a wide variety of reasons, making them the largest group of immigrants coming to the U.S., outnumbering even the
Irish and
English.
Some arrived seeking religious or political freedom, others for economic opportunities greater than those in Germany, and others simply for the chance to start afresh in the
New World.
California and
Pennsylvania have the largest
German populations, with over six million Germans residing in the two states alone.
Numbering almost 43 million, German Americans are the largest self-reported ethnic group in the United States, as of the
2000 U.S. Census.[
1]
German Americans migrated to America for a variety of reasons. The four primary causes for Germans seeking a new life in America include economic conditions, religious freedom, authoritarian government in Germany, and (in the 19th century) the long military service requirements in Germany.
Palatine migration to
New York turned out to be the largest single immigration to America in the colonial period. By 1711, for example, seven villages had been established in New York on the Robert Livingston manor. By 1750, the Germans occupied a strip some 12 miles long along the left bank of the Mohawk River. The soil was excellent; some 500 houses had been built, mostly of stone; and the region prospered in spite of Indian raids. Herkimer was the best-known of the German settlements in a region long known as the "German Flats." The most famous figure was editor
John Peter Zenger, who led the fight for freedom of the press in America. Later
John Jacob Astor, a German immigrant from Baden, became the richest man in America from his fur trading.
The first German settlement in Pennsylvania was founded in
1683. The tide of German immigration to Pennsylvania swelled between 1725 and
1775, with many immigrants arriving as
redemptioners. By 1775, Germans constituted about one-third of the population of Pennsylvania. The German farmers were renowned for the highly productive animal husbandry and agricultural practices. Politically there were inactive until 1740, when they joined a Quaker-led coalition that took control of the legislature, which generally supported the the
American Revolution. The Germans, comprising
Lutherans,
Reformed,
Mennonites,
Amish, and other sects, developed a rich religious life with a strong musical culture. There were few or no German
Catholics or
Jews in Pennsylvania before about
1800.
A large German colony in
Virginia called
Germanna was located near
Culpeper and was founded by two waves of colonists in 1714 and 1717. Many Germanna descendants took part in the Revolution and later were on the moved west to
Kentucky and beyond.
Between 1742 and 1753, roughly 1,000 Germans settled in
Broad Bay, Massachusetts (now
Waldoboro, Maine). This area was part of a large land grant held by colonist Samuel Waldo. His emissary, Sebastian Zouberbuhler, another Swiss emigrant, made a number of recruiting trips to Germany. The first group of German settlers arrived at Broad Bay on the ship Lydia on 24 September 1742. Three more ships arrived between 1751 and 1753. Many of the colonists fled to
Boston,
Nova Scotia, and
North Carolina after their houses were burned and their neighbors killed or carried into captivity by Native Americans. The Germans who remained found it difficult to survive on farming and eventually turned to the shipping and fishing industries.
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.
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German population density in the United States, 1872. |
Heavy German immigration to the United States occurred between
1848 and
World War I, during which time nearly six million Germans immigrated to the U.S. The great cities of
Chicago,
Detroit, and
New York were favored destinations. By 1900, the cities of
Cleveland,
Milwaukee,
Hoboken and
Cincinnati were all over 40% German.
Dubuque and
Davenport Iowa had even larger proportions. The
Over-the-Rhine neighborhood in Cincinnati was one of the largest German American cultural centers. In many other cities, such as
Fort Wayne, Indiana,
Richmond, Virginia, German Americans were at least 30% of the population. About half went to cities, the other half went to farms in the Midwest; by the 20th century they were the predominant rural element in much of the
Midwest.
Following the
revolutions in German states in 1848, a wave of political refugees went to the United States and became known as
Forty-Eighters. Their most prominent leader was
Carl Schurz.
Present population
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Top US Ancestries as of 2000. |
German Americans are the largest self-reported ethnic group in the United States today.
According to the 2000 U.S. census, 47 million Americans are of German ancestry. German Americans represent 16% of the total U.S. population and 24% of the non-Hispanic
white population. Only 1.5 million of these speak German.
Of the four major U.S. regions, German was the most-reported ancestry in the Midwest, second in the
West, and third in the
Northeast and
South regions. German was the top reported ancestry in 23 states, and it was one of the top five reported ancestries in every state except
Maine and
Rhode Island.
Diversity
The immigrants were as diverse as Germany itself, except that very few aristocrats or upper middle class businessmen arrived. For example, consider Texas, with about 20,000 Germans 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, Jews, and atheists; Prussians, Saxons, Hessians, and Alsatians; abolitionists and slaveowners; 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 sought political freedom, but few, save perhaps the Wends, went for religious freedom. The German settlements in Texas reflected their diversity. Even in the confined area of the Hill Country, each valley offered a different kind of German. The Llano valley had stern, teetotaling German Methodists, who renounced dancing and fraternal organizations; the Pedernales valley had fun-loving, hardworking Lutherans and Catholics who enjoyed drinking and dancing; and the Guadalupe valley had atheist Germans descended from intellectual political refugees. The scattered German ethnic islands were also diverse. These small enclaves included Lindsay in Cooke County, largely Westphalian Catholic; Waka in Ochiltree County, Midwestern Mennonite; Hurnville in Clay County, Russian German Baptist; and Lockett in Wilbarger County, Wendish Lutheran.
Religious affiliations
Immigrants from Germany in the
1800s brought many different religions with them. The largest numbers were generally Catholic or Lutheran, although the Lutherans were themselves split several ways. The more conservative groups comprised the
Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod and the
Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Other Lutherans formed a complex checkerboard of synods, most of which in 1988 merged, along with Scandanavian synods, into the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Still other Lutherans were descendants of the united "Evangelical Church" in Germany; most congregations of the united/evangelical heritage are now part of the
United Church of Christ. Aside from Lutherans, German Reformed Protestants comprised another large Protestant group, also now part of the
United Church of Christ. Many immigrants joined quite different churches from those in Germany, especially the
Methodist church.
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1850 census map shows Lutheran population. Nearly all were German since few Scandinavians had arrived yet. |
Before 1800 communities of Amish, Mennonites, and
Hutterite had formed and are still in existence today. Some still speak dialects of German, including
Pennsylvania German. Others immigrants were secular, rejecting formal religion. Many middle class Jewish immigrants became peddlers and storekeepers in small towns.
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
Detroit,
Chicago,
Kansas City,
Cleveland,
Indianapolis,
Minneapolis-St. Paul,
St. Louis,
Cincinnati,
Louisville,
Richmond, Virginia, and
Milwaukee. The following list shows specifically German neighborhoods and areas that are now largely extinct. (It focuses on urban areas and does not include the rural areas extending from western
New Jersey and
Upstate New York to the
Great Plains that were, or still are, heavily German.)
*
Irvington, New Jersey*
Hoboken, New Jersey*
Over-the-Rhine,
Cincinnati, Ohio*
Yorkville, Manhattan*
Woodhaven, Queens*
Ridgewood, Queens*
College Point, Queens*
Glendale, Queens*
Bushwick, Brooklyn*
Gerritsen Beach, Brooklyn*
Williamsburg, Brooklyn*
Lindenhurst, New York*
Rahway, New Jersey*
Lincoln Square, Chicago*
Foggy Bottom,
Washington, D.C.After two or three generations in America the Germans assimilated to American customsand switched their language to English. 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 1880's on." [
2] 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, nearly all German language instruction ended, as did most (but not all) German language church services.
During
World War I, German Americans, especially those born abroad, were sometimes accused of being too sympathetic to the
German Empire.
Theodore Roosevelt denounced "hyphenated Americanism" and insisted that dual loyalties were impossible in wartime. A small minority came out for Germany, including
H. L. Mencken, who believed the German democratic system was superior to American democracy. Likewise Harvard psychology professor
Hugo Munsterberg dropped his efforts to mediate between America and Germany and threw his efforts behind the German cause.
See his obituary. Several thousand vocal opponents of the war were imprisoned.[
3] Thousands were forced to buy war bonds to show their loyalty. One man was killed in Illinois. Some Germans during this time "Americanized" their names (e.g.
Schmidt to
Smith) and limited their use of the
German language in public places. In Chicago
Frederick Stock temporarily stepped down as conductor of the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra until he finalized his naturalization papers. Berlioz replaced Wagner on programs. In Cincinnati, reaction to anti-German sentiment during World War I, caused the
Public Library of Cincinnati to withdraw all German books from its shelves. [
4] German-named streets were renamed [
5]. Nebraska banned instruction in any language except English but the
U.S. Supreme Court ruled the ban illegal in 1923 (
Meyer v. Nebraska), by which time the
nativist mood had largely subsided.
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Assimilation shown in 1921 cartoon |
114,000 Germans went to the United States between 1931 and 1940, many of whom were anti-Nazis fleeing government oppression. [
6] About 25,000 people became paying members of the pro-Nazi
German American Bund during the years before the war. [
7] German Americans who had been born overseas were the subject of some suspicion and discrimination during the war, although prejudice and sheer numbers meant they suffered as a group generally less than
Japanese Americans. The
Alien Registration Act of 1940 required 300,000 German born U.S. resident aliens to register with the federal government and restricted their travel and property ownership rights. [
8] [
9] Under the still active
Alien Enemy Act of 1798 the United States government interned nearly 11,000 German Americans between 1940 and 1948. Some of these were United States citizens. Civil rights violations occurred. 500 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. [
10] [
11] [
12][
13]
President
Franklin D. Roosevelt however kept his promise to German Americans that they would not be hounded as in 1917-18. Roosevelt made a deliberate effort to name prominent German Americans to top war jobs, including General
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Admiral
Chester Nimitz, General
Carl Spaatz, and Republican leader
Wendell Willkie. German Americans who had fluent German language skills were an important asset to wartime intelligence, serving as translators and even as spies for the United States. [
14] The war evoked complex reactions among German Americans at the time, many of whom severed relationships with relatives in Europe and downplayed their ethnic heritage to blend with prevailing American culture. [
15]
From the 1970s onwards, time had largely abated the anti-German sentiment produced by World War II. Today, recent German Americans share the same features as any other Western European immigrant group in the U.S. Mostly professionals, academics, and spouses, they reflect the changing nature of Europe as a preferred destination for immigrants rather than a source of migrating peoples. Although their numbers are far fewer than previous generations of German American immigrants, their personal and cultural ties to Germany and Europe are once again just as strong. [
16]
Germans have contributed to a vast number of areas in American culture and technology.
Baron von Steuben, a former
Prussian officer, led the reorganization of the
U.S. Army during the
War for Independence and helped make the victory against British troops possible. The
Steinway & Sons piano manufacturing firm was founded by immigrant
Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg in 1853. German settlers brought the
Christmas tree custom to the United States. The
Studebakers built large numbers of wagons used during the Western migration; Studebaker later became an important early automobile manufacturer.
Carl Schurz, a refugee from the unsuccessful first German democratic
revolution of 1848 (see also
German Confederation), served as U.S.
Secretary of the Interior.
Due to the developments in Germany leading from World War I and
World War II, many researchers of German (particularly German-
Jewish) origin left Germany due to economic problems or as a result of racial, religious, and political persecution. Probably the most famous of them was
Albert Einstein, known for his
Theory of Relativity.
After World War II,
Wernher von Braun, and most of the leading engineers from the former German rocket base
Peenemünde, were brought to the U.S. They contributed to the development of U.S. military rockets, as well as of rockets for the
NASA space program.
The influence of
German cuisine is seen in the
cuisine of the United States throughout the country. Frankfurters (aka Wieners, originating from
Vienna, then still being part of the German nation),
hamburgers,
bratwurst,
sauerkraut,
strudel are common dishes; some of these, like frankfurters and hamburgers, actually bear the names of German cities. Germans were important in the
beer and
wine industries. German bakers introduced the
pretzel. The revival of
microbreweries is partly due to instruction from German beer masters. See also
Lager Beer Riot. There are remnants left in the rural Midwest/
Cincinnati, Ohio is known for its German American festival
Zinzinnati, held annually. It is among the largest German American festivals in the U.S. Also
Oktoberfest celebrations are held throughout the country.
German American presidents
There have been two presidents of the United States of America who were of German ancestry. One was
Dwight Eisenhower (this surname was originally spelled
Eisenhauer in Germany), the other was
Herbert Hoover (original family name
Huber).
*
Ethnic German*
German in the United States*
German-American relations*
History of Germany*
Immigration to the United States*
List of famous German Americans* Colman J. Barry,
The Catholic Church and German Americans. (1953)
* Angus Baxter,
In Search of Your German Roots. The Complete Guide to Tracing Your Ancestors in the Germanic Areas of Europe. Fourth Edition (2001)
* Thomas Cochran,
The Pabst Brewing Company: The History of an American Business (1948)
* Carol K. Coburn,
Life at Four Corners: Religion, Gender, and Education in a German-Lutheran Community, 1868-1945 (1992).
* Kathleen Neils Conzen,
Germans in Minnesota (2003)
* Dobbert, Guido .A. "German-Americans between New and Old Fatherland, 1870-1914". American Quarterly
19 ( 1967): 663-80. In JSTOR
* Ellis, M. and P. Panayi. "German Minorities in World War I: A Comparative Study of Britain and the USA." Ethnic and Racial Studies 17 ( April 1994): 238-59.
* Albert Bernhardt Faust. The German Element in the United States with Special Reference to Its Political, Moral, Social, and Educational Influence
2 vol (1909)]
* Jon Gjerde, The Minds of the West: Ethnocultural Evolution in the Rural Middle West, 1830-1917
(1997)
* Gleason, Philip. The Conservative Reformers: American Catholics and the Social Order
. (1968)
* Iverson, Noel. Germania, U.S.A.: Social Change in New Ulm, Minnesota
. (1966), emphasizes Turners
* Jensen, Richard. The Winning of the Midwest, Social and Political Conflict 1888-1896" (1971), focus on voting behavior of Germans, prohibition issue, language issue and school issue
* Johnson, Hildegard B. "The Location of German Immigrants in the Middle West".
Annals of the Association of American Geographers 41 (1951): 1-41. in JSTOR
* Jordon, Terry G.
German Seed in Texas Soil: Immigrant Farmers in Nineteenth-century Texas. (1966)
* Kazal, Russell A.
Becoming Old Stock: The Paradox of German-American Identity (2004) ethnicity and assimilation in 20c Philadelphia
* Kazal, Russell A. "Revisiting Assimilation: The Rise, Fall, and Reappraisal of a Concept."
American Historical Review 100 (1995): 437-71. in JSTOR
* Luebke, Frederick C.
Bonds of Loyalty: German Americans During World War I. (1974)
* Luebke, Frederick C. ed. Ethnic Voters and the Election of Lincoln
(1971)
* Luebke, Frederick. Immigrants and Politics: the Germans of Nebraska, 1880-1900.
(1969)
* O'Connor, Richard. German-Americans: an Informal History
. (1968), popular
* Henry A. Pochmann, and Arthur R. Schultz; German Culture in America, 1600-1900: Philosophical and Literary Influences
(1957)
* Roeber, A. G. Palatines, Liberty, and Property: German Lutherans in Colonial British America
(1998)
* Tatlock, Lynne and Matt Erlin, eds. German Culture in Nineteenth-Century America: Reception, Adaptation, Transformation
(2005)
* Thernstrom, Stephan ed. Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups
(1973)
* Tischauser, Leslie V. The Burden of Ethnicity The German Question in Chicago, 1914-1941
1990.
* Tolzmann, Don H., ed. German Americans in the World Wars
, vols. 1 and 2. Munich, Germany: K.G. Saur, 1995.
* Don Heinrich Tolzmann, The German-American Experience
(2000)
* Carl Frederick Wittke, The German-Language Press in America
(1957)
* Carl Wittke, Refugees of Revolution: The German Forty-Eighters in America
(1952)
* Carl Wittke, We Who Built America: The Saga of the Immigrant
(1939), ch 6, 9
* Wood, Ralph, ed. The Pennsylvania Germans''. (1942)
*
Catholic Encyclopedia article*
Reasons Germans Came to America*
German-American links from University of Cincinnati *
Early German American Religious History
