Mohammed the Persian

What happened to the Germans who lived abroad, in Canada/America/Britain or (most intriguingly) in France during the Wars ?

Deported ?
Sent to camps ?
Put on trial ??
Hated by the General Public as being public enemy #1 ?

beorna

In 1914 the german language was forbidden to speak in Russia in public. In 1915 there was a pogrom against germans in Moscow. It was followed by the ban of german newspapers and books and in the last step Germans were expropriated and deported to Sibiria.
In WWII 1.2 million germans were deported, some hundred thousands died. But the discrimination began already before WWII by stalinistic terror against "spies" and "enemies of the soviets"
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As far as I know made 26 US-states laws against the use of the german language. germans were discriminated and some even lynched. Many Germans changed their names and tried to show a very "American behaviour".
In WWII ca. 11,000 germans were interned, some thousands deportated to Germany, even children, allthough born in the USA. But the situation was better than in WWI.

AlpinLuke

Mah, a sister of my German great grandmother migrated to US after WW I. She bought a ranch there and from the letters she wrote to my great grandmother it doesn't seem that living in Montana presented troubles for her during WW II.

The rest of my German roots, during WW II was in Italy, so I cannot bring to the discussion other pertinent personal recalls. [Italy and Germany were allied during WW II as we all know].

Potemkin505

My understanding is that, once the US entered WWII, many Germans were interviewed and investigated to see if they had links to the Nazi party. However, on the whole it appears that they were treated quite equitably by the US authorities. The Japanese did not get such a fair hearing, with many being interred and with much property seized.

irishcrusader95

many second generation germans fought for the allies and seem to have gotten on well. the main thing here is that unlike japanese, germans are still racially the same as most americans so it was easier to accept them then japanese of which there was a lot of racism against. though of course there was a lot of anti german hate as Beorna mentions and of the deportations of ethnic germans in the soviet union of which many died. i can recall how when the invasion of SU began one NKVD officer in a report said that so far no on in the german speaking regions had come forward about catching spies or dissenters so with medieval logic he concluded that they must be hiding them all.

beorna

yes, it was quite easy to change your name from Müller to Miller, from Fleischer to Butcher or something like this, for japanese this way was not open.

pikeshot1600

"many second generation germans fought for the allies and seem to have gotten on well."

General of the Army D. D. Eisenhower. *****

Fleet Admiral C. W. Nimitz. *****

General R. L. Eichelberger. ****

General C. A. Spaatz. ****

Admiral of the Fleet H.R.H. Louis (etc.) Mountbatten, nee Prince Louis of Battenberg.

,,,and a few million others. (Not all 2nd gen., but the picture is clear.)

beorna

yes, the situation was different for the migrants, dependeing on where they lived, how long they were there, their social position....
There was not a german hunting in WWII in the USA. so here the situation was much better than during WWI

dimmit

This is a topic for which I have a particular interest. My paternal family is very German and immigrated to the US in 1848 (they were 48’ers). They lived in an area and in small towns where almost everyone else was German and people spoke German at home. For example, my father (who was born in 1939), spoke German at home and is still fluent.

During WWI, my grandfather (who’s family owned a small grocery shop), attempted to enlist in the Army and was rejected because of his German name and his heritage. Many other German American families at that time “Americanized” their names but my family refused. Gangs of mostly young men from neighboring towns that were not predominately German actually came into the town during WWI and vandalized stores, etc. My family’s store was firebombed in one of those attacks.

This was simply one small part of a larger, anti-German attitude in the United States that had been lingering for some time. WWI marked a significant turning point. For example, if one looks at old beer advertisements from before WWI, many of them emphasized German themes (Bavarian-clad men, etc.). Many of the major brewers in the United States were of German heritage but once WWI started almost all of them dropped the German themes and Americanized their advertising. The distinctive eagle in the Budweiser brand is a product of this time period I believe.

Anyway, as was mentioned WWII was much different. Some Germans were interred and I am sure that military intelligence was crawling all over communities like where my family grew up, but, as mentioned, by that time many of the high ranking leaders in the US military were of German heritage. Admiral Nimitz, by example, was actually from a town in the same German area as my family.

dimmit

Most of the Germans interred in the United States during WWII were members of the German-American Bund (a wing of the Nazi Party in the United States) and were fairly recent immigrants.
For the Japanese, it was a different story and much more widespread.