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Few know it but Texas has a large German population, and during WWII German-Americans were interred in Crystal City, TX. right along side the Japanese and Italians. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJGPF3WzMso
There were tensions, but they were mostly between soldiers with a rural or small-town background (often Southerners and usually Protestant) vs. mostly Catholic and Jewish urbanites. As a descendant, I'm very glad that that the war ended before that company could see combat.
The British were fanatic about "regimentalizing" both conscripts and professional troops. There were no thrown together companies. Professional troops had served in the same battalion for most of their careers. Conscripts were placed in battalions by ethnicity or raised from the same collection of rural villages or urban areas.
Thus a British conscript served nearly exclusively with men who shared his language (rural welsh and some highland scots), or his accent, life experiences and usually his religion etc.
Few know it but Texas has a large German population, and during WWII German-Americans were interred in Crystal City, TX. right along side the Japanese and Italians. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJGPF3WzMso
My family was German and in Texas at the time but luckily they were not interred.
My parents were German. They left Germany after WWI, met in the US and married here. My father went in the army in WWII, but not to Europe. He was in the Philippines. My mother worked in the Navy parachute loft in San Diego. (I think WWII was a closer call than many think. My father was in his mid-30's when he went in. And he became a sergeant. My father was a good man but he never struck me as having sergeant qualities.)
My uncle, my mother's brother, might have been a different story. He was younger than my father, a better leader of men. Yet he was never drafted. It could be that they knew something about him and doubted his loyalty. I wouldn't interpret this as anti-German sentiment, rather as caution.
I remember when some kids on the schoolyard found out I was half German. My new nickname was 'Hitler', I got my as5 handed to me a few times and there was a large swath of the school grounds I had to avoid unless I wanted further beatdowns.
Today it does seem to be very different. Although the Nazi era is not forgotten, it seems that Germany's current reputation is of being a very enlightened society.
I found it most interesting in talking to a native local historical society docent of Germanic heritage in Fredericksburg, TX a couple of years ago that locals of proudly German descent during WWII did not suffer internment similar to those of Japanese descent during WWII. Instead, they were instructed to desist with their German language-only school instruction and publications, and other overtly pro- Germanic patriotic observances.
She informed me that many proudly mostly spoke only German up into the 1970's.
I remember when some kids on the schoolyard found out I was half German. My new nickname was 'Hitler', I got my as5 handed to me a few times and there was a large swath of the school grounds I had to avoid unless I wanted further beatdowns.
Today it does seem to be very different. Although the Nazi era is not forgotten, it seems that Germany's current reputation is of being a very enlightened society.
Furthermore, there were large parts of the US which were dominated by German-Americans.
If German-Americans had been interned that would have left Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Milwaukee empty....
Milwaukee? At that time Milwaukee had a large percentage of Polish, Italian, Irish and African-American. Emptying the city from those with German descent would only have filled the void with any others in a very short time.
Just to add that I cannot see the anti-German resentment ending in the US anytime soon. I am a millennial that is an avid reader of the history of the World Wars. The more I learn and understand what they did to the US and the world, the more disgusted I am with their people.
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