Name a few things German-Americans went through during ww1?

How were they treated?


What names were they called?


Were their houses vandalized?


And more?!?!

Name a few things German-Americans went through during ww1?
It was a little tougher for German Americans durring World War II than World War I. America realy did not get too involved very deeply in World War I. Mainly just Volounteers went over during World War I and fought and not in a very big capacity. My Grandparents came from Germany to America in 1936 just as Hitler was coming to power. They lived in the German section of Chicago. My Grandfater told me in 1941 The FBI came to him while doing a job (He was a Painter) and took him in and interogated him for about 4 hours. They asked him if he knew certain people names and places and once they were satisfied they released him. He was never bothered again. I personal think the FBI were picking recently moved Germans at random and questioning them. My mom and her brother when they went to school in the late 40's early 50's were called a few names here and there, like Nazi and a few other names. What people back then and some stll today, don't understand just because you are German, dosen't mean your a Nazi !! and also alot of Americans Durring World War I and World War II were less tolerant of Germans, because about 40% of the make up of America back then were made up of German decsent. There was a History Channel episode on this subject and also on German Prisoners in Concentration Camps here in America durring World War II. It didn't consist of Germans that lived here (unlike like the Japanese prison camps that were made up of Japanese Americans that lived here on our soil), but German Prisoners from the German Afrika Corps under Rommel). There were no more room in the Gereman Prisoner of War camps throughout England and Europe so they brought them here to America. There were several camps but the 3 big ones were in Colorodo, Georgia and Texas where they kept the German officers. The German prisoners were so well taken care of they were shocked. They were taken care better as prisoners than their own country when they were fighting on the lines. The Officers lived praticaly in luxury. Each officer got their own cottage. German POW's were treated very different than the Japanese POW's, for 2 good reasons. One, was that because a great part of America and it's culture was made up of German descent and Japan attacked Ameria directly where Germany did not. Discovery and the History Channel shows this Episode every so often. It is a quite interesting watch.
Reply:Germany was not our enemy in WW1. You got the wrong war.
Reply:It seems that Scrappy5 didn't take history in school! Or else he is from Austria or Turkey!





Of course it depends on various things, such as how long the people had lived in the US, Canada, or Britain, or how "German" they seemed to the community. All in all,


German-Americans felt very uneasy. Many families changed their names to something English sounding, such as Schwartz to Black, or spell it more "English", such as Schoen to Shane. In the movie, "Back to the Future", Doc Brown tells Marty that his family came from Germany, but during WWI, they changed their name from "von Braun" to "Brown".





I'm sure people had insulting nicknames for German-Americans. An old person I knew said it was common to say "What the Hun!" instead of "What the Hell!", because Hun was a nickname for Germans.





My grandfather was born in Germany, but moved to England as a young man, married an English woman, and had 5 kids there. Although he had lived in England for over 10 years and was a responsible community member, he was a German citizen and Germans were not trusted. He was made to live in an internment camp with other Germans, in 1914 when the war began. It was very hard on his family because he had to leave them and his job. My grandmother somehow made a deal with whoever was in charge, that he could get out if he left the country. She applied for visas for the US. In 1915, she and the kids left for the US, and in 1916, he was able to join them. Otherwise, he would have had to stay in there until 1919. Fortunately, he was able to get a very good job in NYC. They made a good life, had four more kids, including my dad.





Following up what Tiger says below... His info is excellent. It made me think of stories my father-in-law told. He was from a German family in Canada and during WWII, they signed up to have German POWs come to their house for dinner on Sundays. Since his family spoke "sorta" German, the Canadian government thought it was a good idea to let the German guys see how people really live over here and learn to like democracy.
Reply:History Channel episode on this subject and also on German Prisoners in Concentration Camps here in America durring World War II. It didn't consist of Germans that lived here (unlike like the Japanese prison camps that were made up of Japanese Americans that lived here on our soil), but German Prisoners from the German Afrika Corps under Rommel). There were no more room in the Gereman Prisoner of War camps throughout