They fled to the United States about 1900. Yep the reformation was just getting started.
I think your comparisons between the horrors of the Catholic church pre reformation and what your Catholic parents endured before they fled to the Protestant country of America from 1900 Germany, are not what I’m talking about.
Why didn’t they go to the almost 100% Catholic nation that borders us?
Your timeline is a little off. The need to flee Germany because of the Reformation ended in 1648 with the Peace of Westphalia. What you are referring to is Wilhelmian Germany’s anti-Catholic bias, blame Bismark, not Luther. If Austria won in 1866, your family would not have needed to flee. Another thing you should blame, the needle rifle.