Posted on 10/18/2017 9:20:01 AM PDT by Jewbacca
A fascinating collection of photos have resurfaced showing the hardships faced by German-Americans at the brutal height of the First World War. As Europe was ravaged by fighting, German immigrants in the US suffered harassment, internment, lynchings - and even the humiliation of being tarred and feathered.
Although a little-remembered part of history today, America was wracked by the fear and paranoia that swept from coast to coast during the Great War.
The United States declared war on Germany in April 1917 and helped lead the Allies to victory. But before that, many Americans were terrified of the German threat growing on the other side of the world.
This collection of pictures reveals the full extent of war hysteria and open hostility towards all things German that erupted across the nation.
Before the war broke out, America had welcomed German immigrants and regarded them highly. German was the second most widely spoken language in the country and there were over 100 million first and second-generation German-Americans living in the United States, with many of them involved in the thousands of German organizations across the country.
The United States embraced them and the German language became an established part of the high school curriculum.
But when the war broke out and Germany became the enemy of the Allies abroad, the American government began calling on its people to reject their German-American neighbors.
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
We’ll never know. They had the upper hand for most of the war, occupying territory in allied countries while those allies grabbed their colonies. The status quo favored them.
When the US entered the war, France asked for only men; they had no shortage of weapons, but had lost much of a whole generation of men. Many of those remaining were refusing to fight, and were only whipped into shape by Petain’s executions. Germany would encounter those problems a year later, but in 1917 they were OK.
The manner in which that war ended made Hitler’s conspiracy theories credible to most Germans; they surrendered while still occupying most of Belgium and part of France, after beating Russia and Serbia. It was impossible to convince them they’d lost “fair and square”, and when Hitler blamed the labor unrest/”general strike” in 1918 on communists (led by Jews) it seemed more palatable to the average German than accepting they’d simply lost on their own merits (and failures).
There were TWO World War I’s? When did the second World War I begin?
The English blockade was broken when the Eastern Front collapsed; the food stopped by the blockade was now available in Russia (especially the Ukraine). Again, I honestly believe that the surrender of Russia forced the US government’s hand because we realized there was simply no way for the Triple Entente to win anymore. Even if they weren’t crushed, they were done; the defensive positions favored the Central Powers (on occupied land), and Austria-Hungary was saved completely (not just keeping its minorities in line, but actually occupying Serbia since 1915). Turkish losses on the Arabian peninsula were minor in military terms, and again those could be changed with the troops freed up in southern Russia (Turkey’s primary battleground, involving their actual homeland rather than that of the Arabs to the south).
Nice to have this POV. Germans are usually fair game no matter what the topic.
My mother’s family “suffered” in Baltimore for their German background. Ours were (still sort of are, until last year) a prominent pork-processing/packing company in town and everyone knew them. But Germans were persona-non-grata for WWI and the business suffered.
Later, as mom said, there was no problem during WWII. When Germans were much more of a threat as fascists. I think people just heaved a big yawn when it came up so shortly later, along with perhaps a bit of regret knowing that WWI really didn’t mean anything, and was an asinine war over nothing.
But my more-German (came here as a baby) father’s father actually went to Europe to fight.
Well, we still have Berlin, MD.
Where the legendary Stephen Decatur (also has a million towns named for him) was raised, and where the legendary Man o’War was broken into tack for racing (in the aftermath of the war).
Interesting; possible but German Shepherds were only just trickling into this country after being here only about a decade (new breed). It was WWI that would bring them here in droves with soldiers’ stories and a couple guys who found they could make money showing off their dogs’ talents in the new-fangled motion-picture industry.
What IS interesting is the German Shepherd Dog Club of America (1913) changed its name to Shepherd Dog Club of America due to the hatred.
Fast forward c. 2010, the GSDCA was puzzled that they were having legal documentation trouble.
Turns out with NYC they never went back and changed the name back to GERMAN Shepherd Dog C of A. They were according to NYC still just “Shepherd Dog Club”!
True story. I was still a member when this came up in the magazine.
The infrastructure was fine (as the Spring Offensive of 1918 demonstrated); the breakdown of the social order was much more of a concern. As far as cakes and wine, the resources of Russia were now available to the Central Powers; the German starvation stories of WWI, while real enough, actually worsened AFTER the armistice (because Britain didn’t immediately lift the blockade). At the same time, there is plenty of data to suggest that the U-boat strategy against Britain was reaping dividends for Germany; they had rationing as well.
To be continued; I’m off to bed. Thanks for an interesting discussion; FRegards!
Glad to converse with someone else who reads history.
I noticed that also. How foolish!
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.
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.
The British, French, Italians, Romanians, and whomever else got sucked into the conflict would never have been able to cope with the German (and Austrian) strength freed up when the Russian war effort collapsed. Just as in WWII, in WWI most of the German manpower was in the east, and on all fronts the Germans had their adversaries outgunned. The only thing that prevented a Central Powers victory was the American Expeditionary Force.
Same here; thanks.
That’s how I read it, but we’ll never know.
Wisconsin’s Bob La Follette Jr (son of Fighting Bob) was a popular figure in Minnesota too. It was a a big Minnesota stir when Joe McCarthy beat La Follette in the Republican primary for US Senate from Wisconsin.
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.
Evidently the poodle who wrote this article and the "Royal" red inbreds associated with his/her/its "news"paper need to be reminded of that.
https://twitter.com/harveyday94?lang=en
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/h94day
"The group can trace its origins back to launch of the mid market national newspaper the Daily Mail by Harold Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere, and his elder brother, Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe, in 1896.[4] It was incorporated in 1922 and its shares were first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1932. Harmsworth, who had been elevated to the peerage as Lord Rothermere, was editorially sympathetic to Oswald Mosley[4] and the British Union of Fascists and he wrote an article, "Hurrah for the Blackshirts", in January 1934.[5] Referring to Adolf Hitler's proposed invasion of Czechoslovakia, Rothermere, again writing in the Daily Mail, said in 1938 that "Czechs were of no concern to Englishmen".[6]"
That UK Mail?
Harvey, Lord Rothermere, and Co. might want to check their own pink glaz hoyz before they start throwing "tragic" stones across the pond.
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