[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Jewbacca, great family story.

President Woodrow Wilson declared that German-Americans were to be treated as 'alien-enemies' and that they should reject their German identity if they were to be accepted in US society.

Not surprising that he did that, what a jackbooted fascist **** he was.

Marne, Michigan is a tiny little place, and home to the annual Berlin Fair. The fair preserves the original name of the village, which was changed during WWI to that of a river in France reputed to have stopped the German advance. Around these parts most people of German immigrant origin more or less changed their nationality to Dutch, which has stuck with West Michigan to this day. I recall reading that, in the 1980 census in Michigan, of people listing an ethnic background, the largest single one, believe it or not, was German, and I don't doubt that it is true, and even more true that people even knew at the time.

The US is probably more German than it is English, which is weird, until you do some genealogy and see the sizes of those Pennsylvania Dutch (Deutsch) families generation after generation, and notice also how many Irish, Scottish, Dutch, and even a trace of French people populated the "English" colonies prior to 1776. :^) And a remarkable number of Precolumbian tribal people assimilated and intermarried -- that's something that's been emerging, that kind of ancestry was often deliberately obscured and kept from outsiders (and insiders, a lot of the time).

One of my favorite scenes in "The Crossing" is when one of the English-speaking Penn Dutch soldiers speaks to General Washington about wanting to discuss the presence of the Hessians in advance, so they won't be nervous, as they regarded the Hessians as "the devil".

Even the Hessians did not all go back after their mercenary service was over here -- of the 30,000 or so Hessians, fully ten percent deserted and became US citizens, and others deserted after capture, because they knew a good deal when they saw one, and frankly they had no real future back home. Hessian troops took part in pretty much every major battle during the American Revolution, and the fact that so many German-origin people already lived in North America (and for the most part continued to speak German at home, right up until about 1900, no joke, one of my g-g-gma had a German language Bible, which is about ten feet from here right now) made it an appealing prospect. I don't think the Germans of Germany had any idea what a crap idea it was to fight two wars against us. :^)

Who Do You Think You Are? Rob Lowe looked so optimistic just before the ad break, right after they told him his ancestor had served under Colonel Rall, poor Rob had no idea what else they were about to tell him, and obviously had never heard of Rall and who he was. Dynamite episode, btw:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DzftWglLV0

[SunkenCiv]

The US and Canada were also the place where German POWs often wound up, largely because they would be undermotivated to try to escape. Also, in places like rural Michigan, and Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana, there were plenty of German-speaking US citizens who needed fill-behind farm help, and a good many German soldiers had rural roots and the kinds of skills needed. Same went on in WWII -- a friend's father spent over a year as a POW (not sure, may have been more, he may have been bagged in Africa). After the war ended and he could travel again, he went back to Germany to wrap up some personal business, probably selling assets and whatnot, then returned to the US and became a citizen, passing away in the mid-1960s.

[Jewbacca]

I have an acquaintance who worked on the new Wonder Woman movie.

I have not seen the movie, but I understand some pagan “diety” (Ares, I believe) was the behind-the-scenes bad guy. He was English and persuaded the English to push things a certain way. (Not like the Germans got a pass, though. They were just as bad.)

Wonder Woman dispatched him, only for him to apparently reappear elsewhere.

There was a scene cut that was supposed to be an “after credits” scene. Ares appears in the form of a German, talking to a painter — who was a youngish Hitler. Ares whispers in his ear “you know, the reason you can’t sell paintings is the Jews. They control the critics and the art markets.”

They decided this was too controversial, especially since the lead actress was Israeli.

I personally think that would have been a fantastic scene.

[the OlLine Rebel]

There is no ethnic group ever in America that was as big in immigration as Germans. Nor any greater in genetic influence.

But you wouldn’t know that. Germans never tended to toot their own horns and even with “neighborhoods”, worked more to blend in than stand out. As a result, you won’t see much reference to them in movies, e.g., in the entire life of the industry. Meanwhile....IrishIrishIrish, and plenty of Italians.