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Ironically, my neighborhood was largely German just 30 years earlier. By the 1980s when I was growing up, it had transitioned to mostly Black with an Italian and Puerto Rican population.
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.
So then you must also equally hate the Japanese and the Russians?
And why stop there? How about equally hating the British, French, Belgians, Spanish, Dutch, (and probably some other countries escaping me right now) during their colonial periods.
Or how about the native groups of any country for their treatment of one another (China, Cambodia, Vietnam, North America, Central America, South America, Australia, Africa, etc).
Do you see a pattern here? Pick a time period, a war, an event, and you will find one group acting atrociously towards another. That is general human behavior. Throughout history, no one country or groups of people are all sunshine and puppy dogs as far as their behavior towards others.
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.
Well guess that is why streets all over the USA are flooded with BMWs, Mercedes-Benz, Audis and Volkswagen automobiles. Homes are filled with Miele, Bosch, and other German appliances, oh and don't forget those that pay vast sums for Persil detergent. And so it goes.....
As for what Germany did to the USA (WWI and WWII) you need to read your history again. Outside of a few incidents (sinking of the Lusitania) Germany had no quibbles with the USA and tried to avoid provoking that country into joining said wars. Aside from a few (feeble) attempts on American soil the USA was spared having WWII brought to its home soil. On the seas however that was another matter but sadly that is what happens when you declare war upon another country. Ditto for the fighting and so forth in Europe and elsewhere.
Yes, Germany did horrible things during WWII, but so did the France, Holland, Austria, Poland and several other European countries. All promptly hid behind the skirts of "we were invaded/occupied" as some sort of excuse for their behavior. France to this day remains largely conflicted (and their society largely tries to ignore) about their role in WWII.
So spare one your righteous indignation. Germans born after WWII and certainly post 1970's have nothing to do with WWII no more than whites born after a certain period in the USA are to blame for the slavery of African-Americans.
As for doing "horrible things" Americans have the remarkable capacity to be very selective on that subject. Despite being explicitly and expressly warned against the USA meddled and launched wars in Iran, Afghanistan and other parts of the Middle East. Leaving aside the deaths of thousands of civilians and hundreds of US military those actions have created exactly what the USA was warned against; unstable governments and legions of radicals bent on terrorism.
So then you must also equally hate the Japanese and the Russians?
Where will it end?
Let me answer that with a comment my grandfather made that fought in Bastogne only to be shipped over to Okinawa "on his way home". The Japanese were finally paid back in retribution for their war on us. The only satisfaction the Americans were able to witness was the firebombing of Dresden. And to add further insult, we rebuilt their country.
There was some but World War I had largely mitigated this. There were hundreds of German language schools in the United States before the first world war. There's this myth that in the days of yore, immigrants came from Europe and immediately shed their native languages. Not so. And it did not end with the next generation. Second- and third-generation immigrants from Germany who only spoke German were not at all uncommon in the decades before World War I, especially in strongholds of German immigrants.
But then came the war. Nine decades before the 'freedom fries' embarrassment of awhile back, sauerkraut was rechristened 'liberty cabbage' in many places. Berlin, Michigan, was renamed, as were many other cities with names of German origin. Orchestras stopped playing Wagner.
German-Americans got the message loud and clear. Speaking German was no longer politically correct. They did what they had to do.
Prohibition was in part largely launched by Protestant Americans who found the drinking habits of Germans shocking. That is their beer gardens and drinking same literally at every meal or social gatherings including at picnics and even on Sunday. From the North East through the Mid-West breweries founded by Germans made many quite wealthy.
From German point of view it was the same as many from the old country; for hundreds of years beer and ale were the preferred drink (even to children) due to lack of clean water. It would be some time before the work of Lister and others proved a direct link between germs and disease, but persons long knew that drinking "bad" water made one ill. The alcohol content of fermented beverages kills off the bad germs and largely keeps them at bay. For the British and others another source of "good fluids" would be any sort of drink made from boiled water such as the various teas or things like barely water.
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.
You should become an avid reader of the history of American slavery, Jim Crow, lynching and burning Black Americans. A little self-loathing never hurt anyone.
The G-A Bund was a traitorous organization. Yet, despite the fact that their membership rolls were secret, the organizers were well known, and nevertheless this group was allowed to operate through the period of the war including holding numerous summer camps that were basically Nazi ideology indoctrination camps. These camps were not out in the boonies somewhere, many of them were within an hour or two drive of New York City.
While they didn't engage in violence, their tactics were eerily reminiscent of how radical jihadist organizations today infiltrate moderate mosques. In this case through insinuating themselves in German-American fraternal clubs, business clubs, German language newspapers, etc.
Apparently, notable German-American celebrities including actors, businessmen, and pro athletes declared an anti-Nazi stance in the leading newspapers of the day in an effort to repair or redeem the status of German-Americans.
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