@@Chrisb.reactsthe USA set up concentration camps for all Japanese citizens during ww2 after Japan attacked the USA. The concentration camps were meant to capture axis spy’s but they instead ended up locking American citizens. The USA feared Japanese or axis spy’s in its borders. After the war, the USA gave all Japanese citizens Reparations for the harsh treatment of Japanese Americans in ww2. Although the USA reaction and treatment to the Japanese was more fear rather than hate.
@@Chrisb.reacts you are not to blame for something you had no power over. Many nations had terrible pasts during history and we need to learn from it but not Live guilty of it I think.
I'm an American. I had family that died in the holocaust as well. I do not in any way hold any modern German citizens responsible for those atrocities. Nor should the German people bear any guilt for the actions of past generations that they had no ability to influence. Considering the recent US slant towards facism, I can understand better what happened in Germany in the early 20th century.
Same here. I haven’t yet figured the % . Like the candy Almond Joy and Mounds. “Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t. As much as I like almonds, I like dark chocolate more. My family on Mom’s side are German, so maybe I use gesundheit more often?
The Midwest is a huge place maybe in your little part "we" might be just as likely to say that but in other parts of the Midwest "we" are just as likely to have never heard the word at all
In Oklahoma (near Muskogee Oklahoma), there was a POW camp for german POWS during WWII. There are articles on Google about the camps and first-hand interviews of the POWS. Many of them actually decided to stay in the US after the war. The interviews described how well they were treated and fed. My uncle was the main cook for the camp. He told us that he had never cooked a bad meal for them. He cooked just as well for them as he did for US soldiers and cooked just as well for his own family. My aunt and uncle met at that POW camp. My aunt lived in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and she went to a dance held at the POW camp!! That's how they met and married. Also, they adopted 2 German orphans (my cousins) when they were stationed in germany!!!
My father guarded German POWs at Camp Forrest, Tennessee. The prisoners were fed better than their guards. The U.S. was overly-scrupulous about observing the Geneva Convention, at least before May of '45.
The same type of situation happened in Hartford, WI. There was a POW camp set up on the outskirts of town near the Zivko's Ballroom. The German prisoners were held there and the locals were mostly German descent themselves. My first construction employer was a kid back then and he remembered the local women bringing the POWs food to eat. Many of the Germans stayed and settled down there.
Germans POWs were treated a lot better than black Americans. They were allowed to go to the near town, and enjoy amenities that blacks wished they could enjoy too as a "free" men.
Im from Pennsylvania and I can say there is definitely a good amount of German heritage and culture still here today. Especially in the Amish communities.
The fact that Pittsburgh kept the h at the end of its game when most other cities and towns dropped it because of antigerman feelings from WWI says a lot.
My Grandfather's family came from Germany and they settled in York PA. He was Amish and when he joined the Navy he was ex-communicated from all of his family. Our family tree stops at him.
There are huge pockets of German immigrants/ German cultural influence here in the USA. My son randomly came across a girl from Germany. They met because he was looking up a friend from high school online, and she just so happened to have the same name, a continent apart. She didn’t even speak English. But my ADHD son has magic superpowers that he attained from his hyperactivity, which includes the gift of perseveration. So he used his God given gift to perseverate in a good way- he taught her to speak English. He would not give up. He was relentless in teaching her, because he found her so beautiful. Today she lives here in the USA, and is married to my son, and speaks English so well, that people think she’s just another American. ♥️
I am a Mexican-American, but I also have German ancestry! My German ancestry comes from my father's side of the family, though his family came from Spain. I always wondered where my white skin (I have VERY pale skin) came from. Anyway, many years ago, I went with my father to Mexico to bury his mother. That's when I was introduced to my great-uncle. He was a little old man (he was 97 years old) had white skinned like me and had the bluest eyes I've ever seen. I was SO happy to see him. I was really happy to finally meet a family member who looked like me (except for the blue eyes, I have dark brown eyes). Chris, I'm glad to have come across your channel. Cheers!
Here is what most people don’t know. Before WW1. Many Germans came to America 🇺🇸 and established themselves and brought other Germans here. It was easy for them to assimilate this way. In Chicago there is an area called “Humboldt Park” which has a statue of the German astronomers Victor Von Humboldt. Most of the people who lived in the north of the United States were from Europe. Predominantly Germany and france and in the south they were mainly Scottish,Irish,Scots-Irish,ulster Scots,English and of course the left over Spanish. Germans also migrated to the Caribbean and South America. Jamaica,puerto Rico and I think a few their countries have places named germantown. In the Midwest Oktoberfest is huge and in Chicago there is a German festival on Randolph st. However despite all of this. During WW2 having a German name wasn’t to popular in America so many immigrants changed their names. I never knew I was German until I did a family genealogy. Also there are many Amish and Mennonite people who came from Germany and they speak high German.
My mother's mother was 2nd generation German (Brennis) born in around 1880 and married to a Swiss German immigrant in 1912, My french ancestors got to Quebec, in the late 1680/90s.
My mother's family, Fuerbach, immigrated to the United States in or about 1750.They were processed in Philadelphia. My father's ancestors, Hutchins, immigrated to the US at about the same time. They were processed in New York. Both family groups were predominantly farmers.
I am from Southwest Ohio and there is quite a bit of German influence around here. I have German ancestry as my mother's grandparents immigrated here from Germany. I am not fluent in German but can have simple conversations in German. My father's family came from Ireland. There is actually a small town ten miles from me named Germantown with a lot of German influence and heritage. Best wishes.
There's a lot of *Amish* people who live in Pennsylvania, and their Bibles are taught & written in German. They live a VERY different lifestyle from 90% of Americans! They still use 🐎 horse & buggies/carriages to get around, they sew their own clothes, make their own food, build their own homes & hand crafted furniture. They have their own wood working sheds, grocery stores and do all of their own farming! I'm told that they live a very simple & very private life...and have their own tight knit community.
I grew up outside of chicago, dated a girl who was the only one in her family not born in Germany. Milwaukee Wisconsin is known for having the largest Oktoberfest in the U.S. The town I lived in had a German Club, and they would put on a really nice oktoberfest event.
I grew up in Cincinnati - elementary school in many neighborhooods was taught in German until about third grade. And my brother once pretended that he could only speak German in an ice cream parlor in Clifton, and it turned out that the woman behind him in the line was fluent in German, as was the cashier.
Now in the U.S it is common for people to do genealogical research. I have friends who learn that they predominantly have German ancestors. At one time, it was common for immigrants to try to assimilate as quick as possible into American life. They found records of last names being changed to sound more English. German heritage runs so deep in majority of the U.S. My mother is from Munich. She married an American. I still study the origins of Germany and the German language. English has a major Germanic influence.
She forgot one other Beer...In 1873, German immigrants Adolph Coors and Jacob Schueler from Prussia immigrated to the United States and established a brewery in Golden, Colorado, after buying a recipe for a Pilsner-style beer from a Czech immigrant William Silhan.....Which became Coors Beer....which led to Coors
My mother’s family were German but came here from Odessa. If you google “Germans who emigrated to America from Ukraine”. You will see that a vary large number of them came to the USA and settled in the DAKOTAS; my mother was born in North Dakota. My German speaking uncles all fought against Germany. Until the last few years I never tell anyone I am half German because I saw the films. the ones in 1958 that were shown on National television that Eisenhower had taken when they freed the camps b
Feli is wrong about Germantown. The settlers in Germantown were German. Pennsylvania has a very rich history of settlers coming over from Germany. The majority were farmers, but there were also stone masons and carpenters. York had the highest number of German communities after 1741, with the majority of the settlers being from Bavaria. York also had a large population from Hesse, the Rhineland, and the Pfalz areas. I live in a town that was settled by Germans in 1814, and was named after Hochspeyer; but the name was Anglicized to Highspire. The migration in the 1800’s was mainly to the eastern part of Pennsylvania, whereas the migration in the 1700’s was to South Central Pennsylvania. My ancestor migrated from Bavaria to Pennsylvania in 1741 and settled in Hellam Township in York. I’m 9th generation Bavarian-Pennsylvanian. My family stopped speaking their native language in the late 1800’s, so I may not speak the language, but that doesn’t make me any less Bavarian since they kept the culture alive and well through the generations due to the close-knit German/Bavarian communities. Different continent, same culture. 😉 Feli has probably never stepped a foot in PA but she’d feel right at home here.
americans tend to know where their ancestors came from because we are so mixed as a country. Every corner of the world has some sort of representation here. We are all american, but some come from Nigeria, Germany, Ireland, and so many other countries. Each community tends to keep some of the culture, even 5 generations removed. My ancestory is german and irish mostly. The German side of the family kept some german traditions. I have made sausage and we view alcohol like Europeans. If a kid can see over the table, they are offered a beer. Most american culture is far different from what I have seen. My grandmother learned english as a second language even tho she was probably 3rd or 4th generation. My german is survival level. I could order food in germany, but I never got conversational.
My first time going to Germany the guy looked at my passport and said ahhh you German. I said well I am American but my ancestors are German. He said nooo you are German. I got a very German last name.
Nearly all nationalities that have come to this country have had a trial of adversities. For the most part, mutual respect was established. We still have a long road ahead, but we're closing the distance together.
My g g grandparents went to Chicago and with their cousins became the largest rose and carnation growers in the world at that time, they had hundreds of thousands of square feet of greenhouses, early 1900s. These people did not do anything on a small scale. They came to the US with nothing and died wealthy.
I'm counted under the German ancestry and I'm only 52 percent German based on my dna test so a lot of it is definitely partial decent mixed with some other European ancestry's like Scandinavian, British, Eastern European, etc.
@@JamesHoffa1Nobody said that and of course blacks and Latinos are American, if they were born here or were naturalized. Don’t put words in people’s mouths, please.
Post WWII story. The German vineyards were decimated after the war, but many Missouri vineyards, which produce German wines sent their grape seeds to Germany to regrow their Grape production. German wines were produced heavily in Missouri from German settlers who brought their grapes with them. So the Grapes were able to be reproduced in Germany with the same lineage.
That's cool. I'm addition to helping de-radicalize Germans, the US was also able to help restore German culture through vineyard cultivars! I wonder if it was Grüner Veltliner or something else - such a nice refreshing wine.
There is this saying “Indianapolis” is the northern most southern city because of their accents. Southern Indiana and Illinois share the same accents as Kentucky, Tennessee or southern Missouri. According to the US census the south officially includes West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Delaware, Maryland and Florida. Missouri is debatable, Missouri is a border state like Delaware, West Virginia and Maryland. Historically Missouris political leaning and loyalty stands with the Southern USA 🇺🇸. Even during the civil war Lincoln feared border states like Maryland, Missouri, Kentucky and even states like Illinois might leave the union. Lincoln imprisoned the entire Maryland state legislature in the civil war until after the war was over.
@@tHEdANKcRUSADER Fun fact: Kentucky, Delaware and Maryland were the only Union states to vote for the Southern Democrat sympathizer during the Civil War, while West Virginia and Missouri were close calls.
@@brettbaranowski1616 that’s depending on of course who you ask. US regions are subjective and doesn’t really paint a good or clear picture of the religious, cultural, racial or ethnic diversity of the USA.
I’m actually Native American, Navajo and Apache, my great grandmother said that her parents were friends with Germans in Fredricksburg Tx, in fact they traded goods and were very good friends.
Fun fact: Texas tried to take the territory’s of New Mexico and Utah during the civil war, however California and Navajo forces were quick to stop them. With the Texas invasion, New Mexico and Utah joined the Union against the confederates.
@jesserodriguez8504 I'd hope so with a name like Fredericksburg. Just like how I live around area's such as Bismarck, Karlsruhe, New Leipzig, Neudorf, and Strasburg....you kinda know if you have the same ancestry just based on town names or last names.
We travel north every winter to go to a ice carving and snow shaping festival in a Michigan town called "Frankenmuth" (a.k.a. "Little Bavaria"). Teams and individuals from around the world come to compete and observe the festivities. They have the worlds largest year round Christmas shop. They also have a massive glockenspeil clock, and old world style architecture everywhere. There's probably videos of the various Frankenmuth festivals on here.
Yeah. After the British Isles, I'd say German is probably the second biggest ancestory/culture influence in the US. After that, I imagine the third biggest would depend on where you live, with it being either African, Mexican, or Asian. I could be wrong, but that is my understanding.
@@liarwithagun America- discovered by Columbus, named after Amerigo Vespucci, Giovanni Caboto (aka) John Cabot brought the English exploration, settlement of modern America. Modern cement, Capitalism, Universities, Banks, Opera, Ballet, Western civilization...Roman/Italian inventions.
@@liarwithagun WRONG.... There were more people of Germanic countries that immigrated to the USA than ANY other ethnic group... Germanic Countries... Germany wasn't even a unified state until 1871. Learn more... Germanic speaking peoples and Countries are not limited to modern day Germany.
I am one of the many decedents of the Texas Germans. The Comanche tribe inhabited the hill country north of San Antonio and were conflicting heavily with the Mexican and Texan civilization as it follow the rivers from the coast to modern San Antonio. The citizens of San Antonio, having respect for the Heashian troops that fought for the British, sent recruiters to Germany for colonists. San Antonio became ringed by a series of german speaking towns, such as new Braunfields, and Fredericksburg.
The term "Midwest" is because of the location of the Mississippi River. Everything West of the Mississippi is "The West". Oregon, Idaho, and Washington are called "The Pacific Northwest" because of the Pacific Ocean. California is just California because the rest of the country hates them. Then you have "The Southwest". Some people include Texas in the Southwest, but I don't. Texas is it's own thing all by itself. Texas has some big German communities along with a lot of Czech communities.
I was amazed myself while traveling through Texas at the strong German presence there. San Antonio is about as un-German sounding as you can get but there are German restaurants and shops all over. Shiner beer, brewed in Texas was co-founded by a man named Kosmos Spoetzl. Nun, wie viel mehr Deutscher can you get?
Beer makers dude. Adolf Coors. Henry Wienhards. Schlitz, Miller etc. But in Oregon in 1985 the post prohibition laws changed and craft beers were reborn to rival europe.
Baron von Steuben is credited with turning the Continental Army into a professional and disciplined fighting force. His influence was so great, he is considered one of the fathers of the United States Army. He was a very interesting character. George Washington made Baron von Steuben a Major General in the Continental Army, and was one of Washington's most trusted advisors during the war. After the war, Baron von Steuben was made a US citizen and granted an estate in New York. Baron von Steuben died on November 28, 1794 in a New York town that bears his name. Steuben, NY is still there to this day, and the Baron's grave is a national memorial and historic site located in Remsen, NY.
If that number seems high, remember that there are more Irish- Americans than actual Irish people in Ireland, and more Scottish- Americans than actual Scots in Scotland. 43 million German-Americans is a very believable number!
The city of Chicago alone is reputed to have more ethnic Poles than Poland itself. If that's not the case any more, add in the 2nd largest Polish population in America (Milwaukee, WI) and the title will be secure.
German American here from North Dakota. Grew up in a German ethnic farming town. My last name is Richter pretty much everyone had german last names strobel, Mueller, stober ,Freud, schuh mertz ect ect. My great uncle lived in a town in ND and I kid you not named New Leipzig. Also have Strausburg, Hamburg, and many more.
Ahhh no. But there is a rewriting of American history from America's enemies within. But Gen Z wouldn't be able to distinguish fact from fiction sense they have been taught but indoctrinated.
My dad was orphaned in 1930. He was taken in by relatives of his mother, who lived in a tiny Kansas town called Westphalia, where everyone spoke German, ate German food, and read German papers. He and his 3 brothers had to learn German to even talk to their cousins, but when WWII began, suddenly, the entire town became AMERICAN. No more German conversations, food, or newspapers, though several of his cousins became translators for German POW's. The town has disappeared now, with nothing left but the ruins of three Lutheran churches, two graveyards, and the old school where my father was educated in German.
My family is German too and settled in northern Oklahoma, all of the wheat farmers .They also stopped speaking German in church and in town. Most of that area was all German speaking until WW2 . Some of the churches and schools were burned down .
Yeah Germany going Nazi did no one any good and destroyed millions of peaceful contributing Germans. The Weimar Republic though had a lot to love. Germany acknowledged and rejected the evil and is an example in doing so for countries that still haven't dealt with the past like (cough) RuzZia.
My German ancestor was a slave. He was sold to the British by the Germans and then sent to America to fight the colonists during the Revolutionary War. Upon arrival, he turned on his "owners" and fought the British alongside the colonists. I am very proud of my family history!
@@PersonalStash420 probably a reference to the so-called Hessians, soldiers who were hired out to the British by German states. Unlike mercenaries or indentured servants, they didn't have individual contracts. I'm not sure if it's true for the Hessians, but the British army and navy at the time were notorious for the practice of 'press-ganging' where unemployed men or men who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time were forced into the military, onto ships, etc.
@@paulbedichek5177 Wikipedia entry Hessians (soldiers) calls them auxiliaries not mercenaries because they didn't have individual contracts. But doesn't explain how the Hessians entered their service in their respective German states. If it was voluntary, it would be akin modern military deployments to other nations. But as mentioned, British military at the time employed press gangs or if prisoners were forced to join it becomes closer to slavery. Idk.
A surprising fact is that there is a Texas dialect of German. And to this day there are limited number of German speaking people. A notable example of this was Admiral Chester Nimitz who was from Texas and German was his first language not English.
It's not. it's what people REPORT because they think it's boring to be English. The largest single ethnic group in the U.S. is English. You can also look at the numbers of people who immigrated here from Germany (about the same as the Ulster Scots). They were a minority compared to the English already here and the English still moving here.
@@morgankelly9725 I think you're confusing the language with ethnicity. If you knew anything about American or British history, you'd know this isn't based on "reporting," this is fact well researched and documented. You're also assuming the English outbred the Germans when the majority of American last names are either Scotish/Irish or German, and many German last names sound English because of the shared language root. The majority of European migrants came from Germany, Scotland, and Ireland, and THEN English further down on the list. And don't try to tell me I'm wrong because I've SEEN the records, I've SEEN the documents, and I've SEEN the census reports and I've seen how many migrants came from where at certain points in time because the US kept *meticulous* records after the founding, and the colonies kept pretty good records of newcomers as well. I study both anthropology and genealogy and have done genealogical research for about 30 years. German is the most populous European ethnicity, NOT English, followed by Scottish and Irish because Britain would send droves of 'convicts' to the colonies. The Germans came because of religious freedom en mass because persecution has been a common theme for centuries. English had a relatively small migration population because Britain wanted English to be the ones building colonies, but they failed to get very many volunteers, then they resorted to convicts and forced migration. The Americas was a destination for *second sons* (and third/fourth etctr) of English nobles as it allowed them to carve out a name and fortune for *themselves*, but it was not a popular destination for the average English person who likely couldn't afford the trip and weren't so desperate (y'know, being English and not being oppressed in their own country) to indenture themselves to make the trip, which often left the indentured servants "owing" for life depending on who bought the debt. And really, the "English still moving here?" I live in Wales now and haven't seen a large mass of English leaving the island recently.
That’s often why Americans ask people “what are you”? Because everyone is a mix of something yet most of us know where we came from. My great grand parents came from Poland and Slovenia. I’m also from Chicago where we joke the holy immigrant trilogy is the Irish, Polish, and Italian 😂
From all the *European nations. That's what made this country great. As non-Europeans begin to come, every negative statistic rises, and the lines on the graphs keep getting lower.
The suppression of the German language was real. My grandfather, born in 1918 of Austro-Hungarian descent spoke German at home. He went to a catholic school in Chicago, a Nun asked him a question in German, and when he responded in German the Nun slapped him in the face. He ended up serving as a volunteer in Patton’s 3rd Army as a translator. He was a participant in what today we’d call an enhanced interrogations. He also was part of liberating a concentration camp. After the war he became devoutly religious, wouldn’t talk about the war and claimed he couldn’t remember how to speak German.
I had an uncle who became a Catholic priest here in Wisconsin, and his order (Capuchin) was instructed in German rather than English. We'll, Latin, too.
True, but that would be American, with German ancestry. If you say you are German, even people in the USA are likely to think you are a German citizen.
@@bl8388 ……nope, not in my area. As an American, I know how people use the term in my area. American is a nationality, not an ancestry. In the US, “I’m Irish” denotes Irish ancestry. If someone said “I’m German” and has an accent, you might then ask “from Germany?” which yes, the person can then be confused but language use is different country to country, obviously. The only true ancestral Americans are native Americans and they will state “Native American” and then usually give their tribe like Navajo, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Blackfoot etc. Only 2.9% of American citizens are Native Americans. It’s simply how this nation uses the term, nothing more. In Germany, over 85% are ethnic Germans. In Ireland, over 75% are ethnic Irish. Even in France, 69% are ethnic French so often, the question would not need to be asked but “I’m Irish” or “Are you Polish?” is just a holdover from massive influx of immigrants to the US in the 19th and early 20th century. It was a way to find common ground. It was also important in a country where people tended to live by ethnic groups. Little Italy, Chinatown, were areas where an O’Malley might not be very welcome but he could go to Hells Kitchen or here in my area the old Irish area is still called Irish Row. Someone named Carlucci or Dobroski might not be welcomed with much gusto. I’m thankful it’s different now. In my area we have different races, ethnic groups etc and it’s still talked about as “I’m Italian and Polish” or “I am Cherokee and Norwegian”. The collective meaning is one of ancestry, not nationality. The assumption is you are an American. It’s just American culture and American use of the language, despite what Europeans say.
I'm always amazed at how little is taught in Europe about the early Europeans that came to this new land and helped build this country. Germans, Polish, Chinese, Japanese, Irish, Brits, Italians.....and to this day, the descendants of those very same early immigrants STILL inhabit a lot of the same areas that they did back then.
@@nicholasrucinski1651 I was a history major in high school. Partly because I had an outstanding teacher all 4 years and partly because history is just my thing. I was taught a lot about my European ancestors. Dates, names, events....history isn't for everyone I get it, maybe I'm an exception but I paid attention.
@@BrLoc school does a little bit of each it's just usually 1-2 days because trying to go through it all could take a week just on one region, as well school there are different history books for teaching like east coast vs west coast since different things happened so each book goes more in depth on which area. it's just there is too much for most people in a way like if you spent 1 week for each ancestor English, scotch, Irish, Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Greek, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Swiss, Turk that would be 16 weeks alone or 3.6 months
You gotta understand America is still very young. The Spanish colonized a great portion of America. Most of America was just the East Coast in its infancy. And America was pretty much stolen from the Native Americans... The true people of America are the native Americans, everyone else is an immigrant.
She forgot the German heritage of President Dwight Eisenhower, who earlier was the American General in command of American forces in Europe in World War 2.
@@johndunkelburg9495 Nimitz was CINCPAC or Commander in Chief Pacific after Kimmel. There is a Pacific War museum near his Fredericksburg Texas hotel/home.
I think also Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt were german. I know a lot of the old money families are too like the Vanderbilts, the Hearsts, and the Rockefellers. there is also Pulitzer, Koch and Newhouse and Milliken families.
@@oliviawolcott8351 The Roosevelts, like all the old Knickerbocker families, are of old Dutch descent from the original settlers of New Amsterdam who remained after the British took over and renamed the place New York.
This girl lives fairly close to me in Cincinnati. This city was basically founded by Germans. One of our neighborhoods is "Over the Rhine" because the people who lived here were reminded of their previous homeland by the view of the Ohio River from that part of town. There are still remnants of that German heritage to be found around the city, but many things like street names were changed during WW1. We still have the largest Oktoberfest in the world, though.
@@TheMrPeteChannel I've watched some of her videos & she def hasn't lost her accent. It's VERY apparent when she speaks German or pronounces German words in an otherwise English sentence. She's clearly managed to not only become fluent in English, hard enough as it is, but also do so in the accent of a native speaker from the USA. Probably had super good ESL teachers.
My husband's paternal grandparents came from Germany in the 1880s to the Cincinnati area. There are relatives even today in southwestern Ohio, but his grandparents eventually moved to Batesville, Indiana (in the southeast part of the state). There was a considerable German population in Batesville also.
Based on the original Munich Oktoberfest, it is billed as the largest Oktoberfest celebration in the United States and second largest in the world. Sorry no cigar.
The Battle of Germantown was a major engagement in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War. It was fought on October 4, 1777, The British Victory Locked up Washington's Army for a few years till the Southern Millia could break through
As first generation American, I experienced a lot of anti-German prejudice. I was always called a NAZI and had my home vandalized. Yeah... it wasn't fun as a kid.
There's about 100 million German speakers globally last I checked. Most ate in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Belgium but lots of communities outside those countries too in Europe and plenty of expats, immigrants, and visa holders.
My grandma lived next to a German couple and anytime we would visit grandma, the German couple would have us over and spoil us with all kinds of German chocolates
My parents are only 1st generation Americans, as their parents & grandparents immigrated from Germany to Baltimore, MD in the 1880's. They spoke fluent German, but refused to teach their children (my parents) their native tongue, wanting to prevent discrimination while growing up here in the USA. As a little girl, I asked my Grandfather Kraft to teach me German, but he insisted we spoke only English, saying "We are Americans now"! He only spoke his native language after drinking beer at parties, lol. Prost! 🇩🇪
Same here, my mothers family is German. We still have sauerkraut with Thanksgiving dinner and there are restaurants in Baltimore that you get sauerkraut with your Thanksgiving dinner here still. In 1900 the first language spoken in Baltimore MD was German, not English. One of my closest friends is Pennsylvania Dutch-yes all German. I will show my cousins this video for sure. Thanks for sharing!!
My husband had the same experience. They were not allowed to learn German so the only words the children knew were affectionate nicknames and cursewords.
My Norwegian grandparents also refused to teach their children to speak Norwegian. I remember my grandfather saying “You are American! “ whenever any of us asked him how to say something in Norwegian. I know a little because I still have family in Norway.
Yes and Pflugerville. And Schertz and new Berlin and neiderwald, and gruene. I'm about 20 miles from New braunfels in a town with alot of "germans" as well.
@@ccbarr58 Schulenburg used to have this amazing restaurant that had German food and sold different types of bread to take with you. My family always stopped there for lunch when we were heading to Houston. Heart-broken when it closed down (unless it moved locations).
We have a huge German city here in Michigan, called Frankenmuth. It’s awesome. The ethnic food is outstanding. It’s a proud part of my German heritage 🫡
Yay Frankenmuth! I grew up around there in Saginaw County and I have so many fond memories of the Bavarian Festival and Zehnder’s Snowfest! I still spend a day in Frankenmuth whenever I visit my family in the area. My mother’s side of my family is entirely of German ancestry, and my dad’s side is partially so. I also spent 6 weeks in Germany years ago and I’ve always loved German culture and been proud of my German heritage too! 🙂👍🏻
Been a while since I was in Frankenmuth,,, good chicken. :-) I don't remember if it was Zehnders or the Bavarian Inn, but they had a place near the interstate where you could pop off I-75 and get your chicken fix. "Freeway Fritz" it was called.
I am from Wisconsin, near Milwaukee. There is still a city in Wisconsin called Germantown. We love our beer and our bratwurst. We celebrate Oktoberfest every year and are proud of our German heritage.
@@michelehenne2477 I landscaped there. In all those towns. I worked out of Lebanon IL lived in Highland. Highschool in Evil I finally escaped IL . My soul had a tiny bit left. It's returning. I will drive through Il but NEVER! NEVER! RETURN. The other states that are NO GO. NY OR CA WA IL .
If you weren't aware, Milwaukee was called the "America's German Athens". My dad's ancestors immigrated to there after leaving polish Prussia in the 1870's. But they didn't like city life and ended up buying a farm west of Wausau.
Country Fried or Chicken Fried Steak (CFS) in Texas was invented by Germans and Austrians who missed Wiener Schnitzel. Veal was hard to find so they took the abundant Texas beef, cut it thin, pounded it very flat, fried it, and added a peppery cream sauce like we see today. There were no mushtooms or onions in the cream sauce like in Germany.
You, sir are exactly right. I have a cookbook I found in Fredericksburg, Tx that showed the transition from pork to beef due to the hot climate. Pork would go bad to soon. Multiple families formed a "mess" and would portion out a slaughtered animal so that it could be prepared and consumed before spoilage. Chicken Fried Steak and Schnitzel is something I try to partake on occasion.
My husband’s grandmother spoke German in her home and elementary school, in West Texas. This stopped at school over time between WWI and WWII. She visited Germany in the 1990s, and could be understood. However, they found her dialect very quaint, as if she were a time traveller.
My mother spoke it as a young person. I took it in college and somehow started out with a marked Swabian accent, which is where my father’s family also came from.
Yes, this happened in my family, also. My gr-grandparents quit speaking German during WWII. I often wonder what it must have been like to be Germans in America during two wars in your own lifetime, both with your relatives in the old country.
Germantown was founded by my 13th great grandfather, who started Germantown. He was the first Mennonite Bishop in America and created the first paper mill in North America.
Its so insane to hear people talk about "13th" great grandfater. I was born in Sweden, and all DNA tests shows just a tiny area in north of Sweden. Im nothing else just that tiny part lol, not even southern or middle of Sweden. But I apparently have a shitton of "relatives" in USA
@@Chrisb.reacts I reads a bit about this town and I am trully amazed. This town has a lot beautiful places to visit. And thi castle loks so beautiful. Not to far. Only 10 hours in car. I difinitelly I have to visit this beautiful town. My goal for future
Double Fun Fact: King George VI technically abused his power as King and had orders issued to some British units to go to Blankenburg Castle and get the private valuables, furniture, etc of the Duke of Brunswicks, a relative of King George VI, and get them out of there before the Soviets showed up to take over as the area was to be in the Soviet area of occupation. For much more in depth info ua-cam.com/video/mHNKcsu3MuU/v-deo.html
Wisconsin is VERY German. I am an middle aged guy who is German-American. So were most of the people I grew up with. A lot of the old folks (great grandparents) still spoke German with one another. They came to Wisconsin and moved into German neighborhoods in Milwaukee. In fact, my grandmother told me that a couple guys went back to Germany to go fight for Germany in World War 2.
My dad's sister married a German-American from Milwaukee who had a small swastika tattooed on the inside of his wrist. He never fought for Germany in World War II, but there was apparently some pressure on him to sympathize with the Nazi cause.
No matter where you come from there is a town in America where people from your country have made a home for themselves. Thats the strength of America.
Cool I want to visit Mexico because I need to escape USA. It's unaffordable and cruel and dumb here. Peace to Mexico and Germany and everyone else haha
1 man from Croatia made the biggest impact. But, even then, Irish kinda built most😂 at least literally. Company and profit wise, definitely German. Americans love their beer!
The German diaspora is much larger than most modern Germans seem to realize. The US is an obvious case where millions came over, but Germans immigrated to every part of North and South America and plenty of other places besides, and their influence is everywhere if you know where to look. A few examples? The most well-known form of Mexican music, Norteño (also known as Mariachi music) is just German Polka with Spanish lyrics and a couple of instruments added. The only beer that China exports, Tsingtao, is named after the city it is brewed in, which was once a German colony. In fact, the original Tsingtao brewery is one of the very first things the German authorities built when they took over Tsingtao (now called Qingdao), and the German architecture and styling of the buildings of the city make modern Qingdao a popular domestic tourism destination for young Chinese people. In my town in the American mid-West, nearly half of the population is descended from Volga Germans who fled persecution in the Soviet Union in the 1920s, bringing an odd mix of German and Russian cuisine and culture with them. In Namibia (formerly Deutsch-Südwestafrika) there is a very strong strain of German influence, and even a couple of ethnic groups descended from German colonists and Schutztruppe who still speak German and identify with German culture first and foremost to this day. There are loads of other examples out there - enough to fill whole essays! - but the point is, Germans went everywhere, and everywhere they went they brought German words, German ideas, German culture and German work ethic with them, and their influence can be felt even in the modern day.
Mexico has fewer than 200 000 german and german descendants in Mexico today for a population of 127 million. That about 0,15% of Mexicans today. The gemran influence and migration in mexico is anecdotal and very small.
@@Alejojojo6 🙄I never said it was large influence or that it was millions upon millions of Germans. I pointed out (correctly) that a number of Germans emigrated to Mexico, and also (correctly) that they had a noticeable cultural impact that can be seen and felt today. None of what you said actually contradicts anything I said, so now I'm just left here wondering why you even felt the need to respond.
I grew up in Central Missouri. We say "gesundheit" instead of bless you and one of the oldest jokes in the area is, "I didn't know who to vote for, so I just picked a good German name and went with that."
I'm from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, we are the top of the German triangle in the Midwest! We are famous for being the Brew City where all the famous German brewers started the biggest breweries in the world, we have Usinger's and Klement's sausages, the best in the world!!! We have one of the most famous German restaurants in the world called Mader's established in 1902, the Red Baron's dining table and many effects from his home are there along with decades of history & incredible German cuisine!!! After WWII Ladish Corporation was given Hitler's Hammers which are the biggest forging hammers in the world which are still used today, they shake the ground for a mile around every time they're used, the base of them sits 4 stories into the ground!!! We have many other famous German companies here like Siemans!!! We have a massive festival every year called German fest and we also have a city called Germantown!!! My grandfather told me when he was a kid they had German POWs working on the farm , they weren't Nazis, they were just guys caught up at a bad place in a bad time, he said they were really nice and worked like mules, and one of them was a watch maker and he was brilliant and he had great conversations with him!!! The city of Milwaukee was built with the strong backs of German, Irish and Polish immigrants!!!
Grutzwurst, I have an old German American 1900 circa recipe book my grandpa pretty well followed. The first item on the recipe called to boil off all the flesh from one pigs head. Stuff is awesome. never ever tell your non-German friends what is in until after they have ate it. But really being a pigs head is hard to come by in town now we just sub in a cheap pork roast which does not require such a big pot. Lotsa allspice.
My Maiden name is Vogler. My Vogler ancestor came from Bünde in 1866 and settled in St. Louis, Missouri. I live near St. Louis to this day and encounter German last names daily. While it's true that teaching children German and German language newspapers ceased during World War I, many kept their German last names including my own family. Other German immigrants in my family tree include Schilli, Fischer, Siebert, Knollman, Kirchner, Hurlbrink, Baldauf and many more. Ich spreche auch Deutsch und lerne täglich Deutsch auf Duolingo.
I don't speak any German but I think you said you speak German and learned written German from Duolingo? I think the influence is subtle but it just became a part of America.
@@eatonkuntzEnglish has a lot of German influence, which makes a lot of sense considering where the Angles and Saxons came from. Anglish, now English, brought a ton of Germanic language influence. So it's actually even older of an influence than people might think. German is easier for a lot of English speakers to learn because the languages really do share a lot of influence going all the way back. Even the names of the days of the week in English have Germanic names for the Old Norse gods. Tuesday is Tirs day, Wednesday is Woden's day, Thursday is Thor's day, Friday is Frigg's day. English really is the language of languages. It borrows and steals from so many other languages. There's Greek and Latin, there's French and German, there's Spanish. And even Arabic and Asian languages influencing English. Well, and the British Empire played a hand in colonizing the world with the language as well. But the rise of American technology has been a major boost as well. I think one reason English has become such a global language and been so successful throughout history, is how easily it adopts and shares words so readily.
I am from Minnesota and my Dads side of the Family is 100 % German. He is from the 4th generation of Germans living here going back to the early 1800's. My Moms side is 100% Norwegen and they have also been in MN for the same number of generations. Mn has a lot of people from both of those countries.
My grandparents came to the USA via Ellis island in 1919. They felt that they should only talk English, this is why I never hear it or learned to speak German.
In Texas we have these German towns…. New Ulm, Frelsburg, Bleiblerville, Oldenburg, Weimar, Schulenburg, Gruene, New Braunfels, Boerne, Fredericksburg, and Luckenbach
And that just towns with german names. Other towns were german... but the town didn't have a german name. Like Cypress, Texas, and Tomball, Texas. With prominent names like Treichel, Huffmeister, Telge, Hilleguiest, Hillibrandt, Klein, Mueschke, Borgstedt, Schultz, Fenske, Jurgen and many more... the roads were named after the families that farmed there. So, Fenske Road led to the Fenske families farm.
I am 50% of German ancestry. All four of my paternal great-grandparents were German immigrants to Cincinnati, Ohio in the 1870's and 1880's. My maiden name is Knauper, and most of my German ancestors came from around the Osnabruck area. I am very, very proud of my German heritage. My husband is 50% of Italian heritage. This shows you one of the greatest things about the U.S. - we are truly a "melting pot" of cultures, representing the world!
My father's mother was from straight off the boat from Germany around the same time in Cincinnati. She married my Canadian (French) grandfather so I grew up listening to all kinds of German and French sayings coming from the old man, but I grew up in Dayton and lots of German immigrants there as well. There's a Germantown southwest of Dayton as well. Maybe closer to Cincinnati...I never measured it. I'm heading back up that way later this summer to visit family and pickup a bunch of Gliers geotta. My grandmother's geotta was to die for. 😅
My German ancestry started from a Hessian Soldier in the late 1770's during the American Revolutionary War. He was from Bleichenbach, Germany and settled in Pennsylvania
I am from Pennsylvania. My German ancestors in Pennsylvania came very early (1725 ish). They were Hessians from the Rhine Valley region. I also have Germanic heritage from Limbaugh, which was the part of the Austrian-Hungarian at the time(1913). It is now in Slovakia. They came to Cincinnati, Ohio. Many knew each other from (the old country). The area where they lived was called Groesbeck. My grandmother used to make a dish called spatzli. German was essentially the official language of Pennsylvania in the early days. When the United States was formed they were going to have two official languages; German and English, but ultimately there is no official language.
New Ulm, Minnesota, located 90 miles southwest of the Twin Cities, was proclaimed by results of the 2000 Census as “the most German town in America.” Many residents trace their German ancestors back through generations in this city settled largely by German immigrants in the nineteenth century.
Great channel! I am an American and Polish dual citizen born in Ohio and married an American-German girl. German and Polish influence is everywhere in the Midwest.
There's literally a "King of Prussia, PA." However, strangely enough the town is named for the King of Prussia Inn founded in 1719... by Welsh Quakers.
I’m 68 years old. I went to a Catholic school from grades 1-9. Most of the school kids were German, Irish, Scottish, Polish, or Scandinavian.. I was adopted but after doing my DNA I found that I’m a third British isles mix, a third polish, and a third German. My adoptive parents are dad German and mom Swedish. My mom learned how to cook certain German recipes. My dad swore that German made items are the best . We had a German barometer next to our door I knew the German words on it. I picked up a little here and there. I took it in high school but don’t remember much. . I’m from Minnesota and my dad grew up in a small German town. There really are a lot of Germans in this country as well as German influences and foods as well. This country has many different people from all over the world. That’s one thing that I love about our country.
I'm of Austrian-German-Jewish descent, my ancestor came over in 1849 from Krakow when it was still under Austrian control. He ended up serving as a field doctor in the US army fighting during the Civil War over here. His people all settled in Minnesota eventually where a lot of other German and Scandinavian families ended up.
As an American Civil War buff, I can tell you that more Germans fought on the side of the Union than any other ethnic group. About 200,000 German-born soldiers (about 10% of all soldiers) fought against the Southern Confederates along with about 250,000 first generation German-Americans (over another 13%). German American soldiers from the Upper Midwest made up the majority of men who helped General Grant capture Vicksburg, MS. I am proud to have two 3X great-grand-uncles who were in that battle, both born in Germany. German Americans also fought as General Sherman marched toward Atlanta, GA, and the sea. Another of my German-born 3X great-grand-uncles, Werner Deutermann, was captured by the Confederates and died at the infamous Andersonville Prison in Georgia. God bless him. Of course, a good many German-Americans who lived in the South fought for the Confederacy, but the majority of men with German ties fought for the Union in the North.
You end up fighting for the team you found yourself in. There is really not much choice, you get rounded up, given a rifle and told to march. When you think about it, this is true always.
Very true, my great, great, great grandfather, on my grandmother through my dad side of the family, was in the Wisconsin 6th Infantry division during the Civil War. He was wounded at the Battle of Chancellorsville. I myself am a 4th generation german-american through my grandfather on my dad's side of the family.
Did Feli really say “ Sur-vee” instead of the correct “ SUR- veh.”?! I also heard a little BALL-tee- more.” I’m in shock; her pronunciation is usually so so good.
This is totally random, but you have such a very friendly face. Genuinely. When it's resting, it looks calm and interested, not sad or concerned or blank. I think I tend to look slightly concerned or even bored when I'm focused. But you look kind. It's really sweet.
I have German heritage on both sides of my family. My Pop, my mom’s dad is a full blooded German, from Pennsylvania, and his family has been here so long, he’s not sure when they got here. We know they were here well before the civil war, because a few of them served in the Union Army, and they may go back as far as the American Revolution in the 1770’s. My brother and I definitely got the German mechanical gene from him, he can build or fix anything, and taught us to do the same. He loves Volkswagens and worked on them for a living in the 60’s lol. We all love beer and sausages, and faith is important to us. I’d love to go to Germany one day, being a big WW2 nerd, I’d love to see some of the battle sites in Germany, France, and Belgium. Anyways, Greetings from New Jersey.
I live next to a town called New Braunfels, Texas. It was very common to hear German spoken all the time there into the 1970s and 80s. It is becoming less and less prevalent since then. But even today, churches have two services - English and German. This part of Texas was setled by Germans in the 1830s and 1840s. Many of my parent's friends didn't learn to speak English until they went to school.
My ancestors are from Ireland and Germany, those German ancestors came here after WW1 ( stuff in Germany was getting a bit bad - the writing was on the wall). I don't say I'm German or Irish, no one int he U.S. says they are another nationality, but we do take great pride in our past and where out ancestors come from, no matter where. Some people here seem to forget that the U.S. IS a nation of Immigrants. Only the indigenous peoples, native to this continent can say otherwise. We'd be more likely to tell you what state IN the U.S. we live in; as one from NY state - there are a lot of people with German background in the northeast of the U.S. It's similar for Irish background here in the U,.S. there are more people who live here (who have Irish ancestors) than Irish people who live in Ireland (due to the Potato famine - which is why my ancestors on that side moved here !). By now both these background groups are so incorporated into what is "American" here in the U.S. that they are not considered "ethic" groups anymore - they're just a part of the American tapestry as all people here are. IMO.
shit even the "native" Americans were very likely not native to north America, in fact over practically the entire human population are immigrants to a point.
Lawrence Welk, a big band orchestra leader, was born in 1903 in a German speaking town, Strasberg, North Dakota, USA.,. Lawrence Welk spoke with an accent his entire life. Watch a video of The Lawrence Welk show.
My father-in-law came to Wisconsin from Hamburg with his mother after WWII (after escaping a Soviet camp) & settled in Milwaukee, where there is a large German population. Because of this my son speaks fluent German.
Wisconsin roots here. I thought I was 100% German, but AncestryDNA has me at only 61%. My mother spoke German until she went to school. My surname came from Lippe (notice my Lippe Rose.) My only granddaughter was born in Tubinginen, Germany!
I live in Cincinnati OH and Over the Rhine is a wonderful place to go. We are all immigrants here in the USA. Look at all the German words that are commonly used to this day in the USA
I sneezed on a train in Germany & a (German) woman said gesundheit. It made me laugh because I momentarily forgot that it's a real word & it just sounded so surreal with the German pronunciation (I had the same reaction in Czech Republic when people would say "Ok" in the middle of speaking rapid Czech. It's just weird to suddenly understand one random word.)
I'm an German American Jew. My great grandparents escaped Hitler's massacre. Glad I found your channel.
And votes for Democrats probably...😅
Great to hear from you. I hope you could forgive Germany for what they wanted to do to your ancestors :)
@@Chrisb.reactsthe USA set up concentration camps for all Japanese citizens during ww2 after Japan attacked the USA. The concentration camps were meant to capture axis spy’s but they instead ended up locking American citizens.
The USA feared Japanese or axis spy’s in its borders. After the war, the USA gave all Japanese citizens Reparations for the harsh treatment of Japanese Americans in ww2.
Although the USA reaction and treatment to the Japanese was more fear rather than hate.
@@Chrisb.reacts you are not to blame for something you had no power over. Many nations had terrible pasts during history and we need to learn from it but not Live guilty of it I think.
I'm an American. I had family that died in the holocaust as well. I do not in any way hold any modern German citizens responsible for those atrocities. Nor should the German people bear any guilt for the actions of past generations that they had no ability to influence.
Considering the recent US slant towards facism, I can understand better what happened in Germany in the early 20th century.
I grew up in the Midwest, and we are just as likely to say, "gesundheit," as we are to say, "bless you," when someone sneezes.
Same here. I haven’t yet figured the % . Like the candy Almond Joy and Mounds. “Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t. As much as I like almonds, I like dark chocolate more.
My family on Mom’s side are German, so maybe I use gesundheit more often?
Depends where you live. Only 10% of Chicagos population is of German descent, in Detroit it’s only 6%.
Same, but New England!
The Midwest is a huge place maybe in your little part "we" might be just as likely to say that but in other parts of the Midwest "we" are just as likely to have never heard the word at all
@@ryanlaymon2329 like in Chicago 😂 which speaks mainly just Spanish and English with some Polish, Arabic and Russian.
In Oklahoma (near Muskogee Oklahoma), there was a POW camp for german POWS during WWII. There are articles on Google about the camps and first-hand interviews of the POWS. Many of them actually decided to stay in the US after the war.
The interviews described how well they were treated and fed. My uncle was the main cook for the camp. He told us that he had never cooked a bad meal for them. He cooked just as well for them as he did for US soldiers and cooked just as well for his own family. My aunt and uncle met at that POW camp. My aunt lived in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and she went to a dance held at the POW camp!! That's how they met and married. Also, they adopted 2 German orphans (my cousins) when they were stationed in germany!!!
That's beautiful❣
My father guarded German POWs at Camp Forrest, Tennessee. The prisoners were fed better than their guards. The U.S. was overly-scrupulous about observing the Geneva Convention, at least before May of '45.
The same type of situation happened in Hartford, WI. There was a POW camp set up on the outskirts of town near the Zivko's Ballroom. The German prisoners were held there and the locals were mostly German descent themselves.
My first construction employer was a kid back then and he remembered the local women bringing the POWs food to eat. Many of the Germans stayed and settled down there.
My Grandfather was in a POW Camp in the South of the US he surrendered to the US Army in North Africa in WW 2
Germans POWs were treated a lot better than black Americans. They were allowed to go to the near town, and enjoy amenities that blacks wished they could enjoy too as a "free" men.
Im from Pennsylvania and I can say there is definitely a good amount of German heritage and culture still here today. Especially in the Amish communities.
The fact that Pittsburgh kept the h at the end of its game when most other cities and towns dropped it because of antigerman feelings from WWI says a lot.
My Grandfather's family came from Germany and they settled in York PA. He was Amish and when he joined the Navy he was ex-communicated from all of his family. Our family tree stops at him.
There are huge pockets of German immigrants/ German cultural influence here in the USA.
My son randomly came across a girl from Germany. They met because he was looking up a friend from high school online, and she just so happened to have the same name, a continent apart. She didn’t even speak English. But my ADHD son has magic superpowers that he attained from his hyperactivity, which includes the gift of perseveration. So he used his God given gift to perseverate in a good way- he taught her to speak English. He would not give up. He was relentless in teaching her, because he found her so beautiful.
Today she lives here in the USA, and is married to my son, and speaks English so well, that people think she’s just another American. ♥️
She is now just another American, awesome.
I am a Mexican-American, but I also have German ancestry! My German ancestry comes from my father's side of the family, though his family came from Spain. I always wondered where my white skin (I have VERY pale skin) came from. Anyway, many years ago, I went with my father to Mexico to bury his mother. That's when I was introduced to my great-uncle. He was a little old man (he was 97 years old) had white skinned like me and had the bluest eyes I've ever seen. I was SO happy to see him. I was really happy to finally meet a family member who looked like me (except for the blue eyes, I have dark brown eyes). Chris, I'm glad to have come across your channel. Cheers!
In San Antonio, some of the very earliest immigrants were Spanish who came from the Canary Islands. We're talking early like 1730s.
Your German heritage is not necessarily the reason for your pale skin. Most Germans aren’t even that pale. That’s the Brits
The accordion, still used in Mexican music, is evidence of German influence in the Southwest.
Here is what most people don’t know. Before WW1. Many Germans came to America 🇺🇸 and established themselves and brought other Germans here. It was easy for them to assimilate this way. In Chicago there is an area called “Humboldt Park” which has a statue of the German astronomers Victor Von Humboldt. Most of the people who lived in the north of the United States were from Europe. Predominantly Germany and france and in the south they were mainly Scottish,Irish,Scots-Irish,ulster Scots,English and of course the left over Spanish. Germans also migrated to the Caribbean and South America. Jamaica,puerto Rico and I think a few their countries have places named germantown. In the Midwest Oktoberfest is huge and in Chicago there is a German festival on Randolph st. However despite all of this. During WW2 having a German name wasn’t to popular in America so many immigrants changed their names. I never knew I was German until I did a family genealogy. Also there are many Amish and Mennonite people who came from Germany and they speak high German.
My mother's mother was 2nd generation German (Brennis) born in around 1880 and married to a Swiss German immigrant in 1912, My french ancestors got to Quebec, in the late 1680/90s.
My mother's family, Fuerbach, immigrated to the United States in or about 1750.They were processed in Philadelphia. My father's ancestors, Hutchins, immigrated to the US at about the same time. They were processed in New York. Both family groups were predominantly farmers.
I am from Southwest Ohio and there is quite a bit of German influence around here. I have German ancestry as my mother's grandparents immigrated here from Germany. I am not fluent in German but can have simple conversations in German. My father's family came from Ireland. There is actually a small town ten miles from me named Germantown with a lot of German influence and heritage. Best wishes.
There's a lot of *Amish* people who live in Pennsylvania, and their Bibles are taught & written in German.
They live a VERY different lifestyle from 90% of Americans!
They still use 🐎 horse & buggies/carriages to get around, they sew their own clothes, make their own food, build their own homes & hand crafted furniture. They have their own wood working sheds, grocery stores and do all of their own farming!
I'm told that they live a very simple & very private life...and have their own tight knit community.
I grew up outside of chicago, dated a girl who was the only one in her family not born in Germany. Milwaukee Wisconsin is known for having the largest Oktoberfest in the U.S. The town I lived in had a German Club, and they would put on a really nice oktoberfest event.
Im from Kansas and Nebraska and Kansas has lots of German heritage. It's where lots of Germans settled
Many of the Germans settled in Kansas are from the Volga region of Russia who immigrated during the Bolshavic
Many of my ancestors hail from Baden-Württemberg. My surname is Burkhart. Surname bearing ancestor came to the US in 1800.
I grew up in Cincinnati - elementary school in many neighborhooods was taught in German until about third grade.
And my brother once pretended that he could only speak German in an ice cream parlor in Clifton, and it turned out that the woman behind him in the line was fluent in German, as was the cashier.
Chris, you have a great channel and we will pass the word for you. Best of luck!!
Now in the U.S it is common for people to do genealogical research. I have friends who learn that they predominantly have German ancestors. At one time, it was common for immigrants to try to assimilate as quick as possible into American life. They found records of last names being changed to sound more English. German heritage runs so deep in majority of the U.S. My mother is from Munich. She married an American. I still study the origins of Germany and the German language. English has a major Germanic influence.
She forgot one other Beer...In 1873, German immigrants Adolph Coors and Jacob Schueler from Prussia immigrated to the United States and established a brewery in Golden, Colorado, after buying a recipe for a Pilsner-style beer from a Czech immigrant William Silhan.....Which became Coors Beer....which led to Coors
We celebrate Oktoberfest in Minnesota, although we usually have to celebrate it in September because October's too cold....
My mother’s family were German but came here from Odessa. If you google “Germans who emigrated to America from Ukraine”. You will see that a vary large number of them came to the USA and settled in the DAKOTAS; my mother was born in North Dakota. My German speaking uncles all fought against Germany. Until the last few years I never tell anyone I am half German because I saw the films. the ones in 1958 that were shown on National television that Eisenhower had taken when they freed the camps b
Feli is wrong about Germantown. The settlers in Germantown were German. Pennsylvania has a very rich history of settlers coming over from Germany. The majority were farmers, but there were also stone masons and carpenters.
York had the highest number of German communities after 1741, with the majority of the settlers being from Bavaria. York also had a large population from Hesse, the Rhineland, and the Pfalz areas. I live in a town that was settled by Germans in 1814, and was named after Hochspeyer; but the name was Anglicized to Highspire. The migration in the 1800’s was mainly to the eastern part of Pennsylvania, whereas the migration in the 1700’s was to South Central Pennsylvania. My ancestor migrated from Bavaria to Pennsylvania in 1741 and settled in Hellam Township in York. I’m 9th generation Bavarian-Pennsylvanian. My family stopped speaking their native language in the late 1800’s, so I may not speak the language, but that doesn’t make me any less Bavarian since they kept the culture alive and well through the generations due to the close-knit German/Bavarian communities. Different continent, same culture. 😉 Feli has probably never stepped a foot in PA but she’d feel right at home here.
americans tend to know where their ancestors came from because we are so mixed as a country. Every corner of the world has some sort of representation here. We are all american, but some come from Nigeria, Germany, Ireland, and so many other countries. Each community tends to keep some of the culture, even 5 generations removed. My ancestory is german and irish mostly. The German side of the family kept some german traditions. I have made sausage and we view alcohol like Europeans. If a kid can see over the table, they are offered a beer. Most american culture is far different from what I have seen. My grandmother learned english as a second language even tho she was probably 3rd or 4th generation. My german is survival level. I could order food in germany, but I never got conversational.
My first time going to Germany the guy looked at my passport and said ahhh you German. I said well I am American but my ancestors are German. He said nooo you are German. I got a very German last name.
I'm black from Pittsburgh PA and I grew up on German food because there are so many people of German decent there so German food is ubiquitous.
We also got one of the first Hofbrauhaus in the US there.
Nearly all nationalities that have come to this country have had a trial of adversities.
For the most part, mutual respect was established. We still have a long road ahead, but we're closing the distance together.
She forgot Michigan, which is mostly German as well.
Congress considered having federal laws printed in Deutsch und English. That's the basis
Recently did ancestory online, have German heritage going back to 1495… no joke, 9 grandpa Hans 😭
8:20 Disney Land is in "ANAHEIM" California! It's not "efficient" for us to wait for u to get the joke! 😮😜🤣🤣🤣👋 -🌴 just me in Palm Springs 🌴 😅❤
I don't have German ancestry. But I ate some German sausages awhile back.
Underrated breakfast food: German pancakes. Invented by German immigrants in America.
We still have October fest here in Cincinnati
there are Germantowns, literally named that, throughout the US, including more than one in Ohio
Love what you are doing
My g g grandparents went to Chicago and with their cousins became the largest rose and carnation growers in the world at that time, they had hundreds of thousands of square feet of greenhouses, early 1900s. These people did not do anything on a small scale. They came to the US with nothing and died wealthy.
I'm counted under the German ancestry and I'm only 52 percent German based on my dna test so a lot of it is definitely partial decent mixed with some other European ancestry's like Scandinavian, British, Eastern European, etc.
My mom's father is German. So i'm partial.
I'm German, also Irish and Scottish, i guess that makes me American.
blacks and latinos aren't though right? Your ancestors immigrated at the right time?
@@JamesHoffa1Nobody said that and of course blacks and Latinos are American, if they were born here or were naturalized. Don’t put words in people’s mouths, please.
Same, I'm German (about 40% DNA), Irish, Scottish, English, Jewish, French, and Scandanavian.
Me too
Mostly German ancestors, but also Scots-Irish! Some ancestors from England, Switzerland, Spain, Native American
Post WWII story. The German vineyards were decimated after the war, but many Missouri vineyards, which produce German wines sent their grape seeds to Germany to regrow their Grape production. German wines were produced heavily in Missouri from German settlers who brought their grapes with them. So the Grapes were able to be reproduced in Germany with the same lineage.
I didn’t know that. Very interesting. Thanks for sharing
Herrman
That's cool. I'm addition to helping de-radicalize Germans, the US was also able to help restore German culture through vineyard cultivars!
I wonder if it was Grüner Veltliner or something else - such a nice refreshing wine.
“The mid west is pretty east“ wait till you see how far NORTH the SOUTH actually goes 😂
There is this saying “Indianapolis” is the northern most southern city because of their accents.
Southern Indiana and Illinois share the same accents as Kentucky, Tennessee or southern Missouri.
According to the US census the south officially includes West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Delaware, Maryland and Florida.
Missouri is debatable, Missouri is a border state like Delaware, West Virginia and Maryland. Historically Missouris political leaning and loyalty stands with the Southern USA 🇺🇸.
Even during the civil war Lincoln feared border states like Maryland, Missouri, Kentucky and even states like Illinois might leave the union.
Lincoln imprisoned the entire Maryland state legislature in the civil war until after the war was over.
@@beasley1232
Lincoln said “hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky.”
@@tHEdANKcRUSADER Fun fact: Kentucky, Delaware and Maryland were the only Union states to vote for the Southern Democrat sympathizer during the Civil War, while West Virginia and Missouri were close calls.
the south isnt that far north at all what are you on about?
@@brettbaranowski1616 that’s depending on of course who you ask. US regions are subjective and doesn’t really paint a good or clear picture of the religious, cultural, racial or ethnic diversity of the USA.
I’m actually Native American, Navajo and Apache, my great grandmother said that her parents were friends with Germans in Fredricksburg Tx, in fact they traded goods and were very good friends.
Fun fact: Texas tried to take the territory’s of New Mexico and Utah during the civil war, however California and Navajo forces were quick to stop them.
With the Texas invasion, New Mexico and Utah joined the Union against the confederates.
@@beasley1232…..I’m from Texas and yes….we don’t always make the best decisions.
Fredericksburg Texas has Huge German Heritage you can tell just driving through
@jesserodriguez8504 I'd hope so with a name like Fredericksburg. Just like how I live around area's such as Bismarck, Karlsruhe, New Leipzig, Neudorf, and Strasburg....you kinda know if you have the same ancestry just based on town names or last names.
I'm a very small percent Mic Mac Indian on my mother's side. But I'm Pennsylvania Dutch mostly from my Father's side
We travel north every winter to go to a ice carving and snow shaping festival in a Michigan town called "Frankenmuth" (a.k.a. "Little Bavaria"). Teams and individuals from around the world come to compete and observe the festivities. They have the worlds largest year round Christmas shop.
They also have a massive glockenspeil clock, and old world style architecture everywhere.
There's probably videos of the various Frankenmuth festivals on here.
The German influence here in the US is still HUGE. People are very proud of their German heritage.
Except the germans hate us, we love Europe, but Europe absolutely hates Americans.
Yeah. After the British Isles, I'd say German is probably the second biggest ancestory/culture influence in the US. After that, I imagine the third biggest would depend on where you live, with it being either African, Mexican, or Asian. I could be wrong, but that is my understanding.
@@liarwithagun America- discovered by Columbus, named after Amerigo Vespucci, Giovanni Caboto (aka) John Cabot brought the English exploration, settlement of modern America.
Modern cement, Capitalism, Universities, Banks, Opera, Ballet, Western civilization...Roman/Italian inventions.
@@liarwithagun WRONG.... There were more people of Germanic countries that immigrated to the USA than ANY other ethnic group...
Germanic Countries... Germany wasn't even a unified state until 1871.
Learn more... Germanic speaking peoples and Countries are not limited to modern day Germany.
I am one of the many decedents of the Texas Germans.
The Comanche tribe inhabited the hill country north of San Antonio and were conflicting heavily with the Mexican and Texan civilization as it follow the rivers from the coast to modern San Antonio.
The citizens of San Antonio, having respect for the Heashian troops that fought for the British, sent recruiters to Germany for colonists.
San Antonio became ringed by a series of german speaking towns, such as new Braunfields, and Fredericksburg.
The term "Midwest" is because of the location of the Mississippi River. Everything West of the Mississippi is "The West". Oregon, Idaho, and Washington are called "The Pacific Northwest" because of the Pacific Ocean. California is just California because the rest of the country hates them. Then you have "The Southwest". Some people include Texas in the Southwest, but I don't. Texas is it's own thing all by itself. Texas has some big German communities along with a lot of Czech communities.
I was amazed myself while traveling through Texas at the strong German presence there. San Antonio is about as un-German sounding as you can get but there are German restaurants and shops all over. Shiner beer, brewed in Texas was co-founded by a man named Kosmos Spoetzl. Nun, wie viel mehr Deutscher can you get?
German immigrants were the greatest gift the US could ever ask for. Builders, engineers.. they did it all
Then a man from Croatia came and made the biggest impact
Beer makers dude. Adolf Coors. Henry Wienhards. Schlitz, Miller etc. But in Oregon in 1985 the post prohibition laws changed and craft beers were reborn to rival europe.
Don't you think every European immigrant that came over contributed to the future of the USA not just one people .
stupid
@@traceurs619Tesla? I love Tesla but the Germans literally built America alongside the Irish
@@traceurs619 Nope Serbia and his name was Tesla
Baron von Steuben is credited with turning the Continental Army into a professional and disciplined fighting force. His influence was so great, he is considered one of the fathers of the United States Army.
He was a very interesting character. George Washington made Baron von Steuben a Major General in the Continental Army, and was one of Washington's most trusted advisors during the war. After the war, Baron von Steuben was made a US citizen and granted an estate in New York.
Baron von Steuben died on November 28, 1794 in a New York town that bears his name. Steuben, NY is still there to this day, and the Baron's grave is a national memorial and historic site located in Remsen, NY.
Steubenville, OH, is also named after him, there's a big statue of him.
Is he the one who would yell at his officers in german and have his subordinate yell at them on english?
I live in Steuben County... also in his honor I believe
In chicago we have a large high school Von Steuben still beating his name till this day
Jawohl!
If that number seems high, remember that there are more Irish- Americans than actual Irish people in Ireland, and more Scottish- Americans than actual Scots in Scotland. 43 million German-Americans is a very believable number!
The city of Chicago alone is reputed to have more ethnic Poles than Poland itself. If that's not the case any more, add in the 2nd largest Polish population in America (Milwaukee, WI) and the title will be secure.
German American here from North Dakota. Grew up in a German ethnic farming town. My last name is Richter pretty much everyone had german last names strobel, Mueller, stober ,Freud, schuh mertz ect ect. My great uncle lived in a town in ND and I kid you not named New Leipzig. Also have Strausburg, Hamburg, and many more.
So true! I'm named for the only non-German ancestor in our family tree, my Scot-Irish/Welsh Gr. Grandmother. ❣
Ahhh no. But there is a rewriting of American history from America's enemies within. But Gen Z wouldn't be able to distinguish fact from fiction sense they have been taught but indoctrinated.
@@xheraltPoland has 38 million people
My dad was orphaned in 1930. He was taken in by relatives of his mother, who lived in a tiny Kansas town called Westphalia, where everyone spoke German, ate German food, and read German papers. He and his 3 brothers had to learn German to even talk to their cousins, but when WWII began, suddenly, the entire town became AMERICAN. No more German conversations, food, or newspapers, though several of his cousins became translators for German POW's. The town has disappeared now, with nothing left but the ruins of three Lutheran churches, two graveyards, and the old school where my father was educated in German.
My family is German too and settled in northern Oklahoma, all of the wheat farmers .They also stopped speaking German in church and in town. Most of that area was all German speaking until WW2 . Some of the churches and schools were burned down .
@@NCrdwlfgood this United States not Nazi
Yeah Germany going Nazi did no one any good and destroyed millions of peaceful contributing Germans. The Weimar Republic though had a lot to love. Germany acknowledged and rejected the evil and is an example in doing so for countries that still haven't dealt with the past like (cough) RuzZia.
My German ancestor was a slave. He was sold to the British by the Germans and then sent to America to fight the colonists during the Revolutionary War. Upon arrival, he turned on his "owners" and fought the British alongside the colonists. I am very proud of my family history!
Was he a slave or an indentured servant?
@@PersonalStash420 probably a reference to the so-called Hessians, soldiers who were hired out to the British by German states. Unlike mercenaries or indentured servants, they didn't have individual contracts. I'm not sure if it's true for the Hessians, but the British army and navy at the time were notorious for the practice of 'press-ganging' where unemployed men or men who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time were forced into the military, onto ships, etc.
Hessians were mercenaries,not slaves.
@@paulbedichek5177 Wikipedia entry Hessians (soldiers) calls them auxiliaries not mercenaries because they didn't have individual contracts. But doesn't explain how the Hessians entered their service in their respective German states. If it was voluntary, it would be akin modern military deployments to other nations. But as mentioned, British military at the time employed press gangs or if prisoners were forced to join it becomes closer to slavery. Idk.
True American spirit!
The Largest single ethnic group in the US is German. There is so many german farming communities all throughout the US.
A surprising fact is that there is a Texas dialect of German. And to this day there are limited number of German speaking people. A notable example of this was Admiral Chester Nimitz who was from Texas and German was his first language not English.
And on a footnote, the German word for Skunk is "stinkkatze". That is the Texas German word.
That's not true. mexicans are.
It's not. it's what people REPORT because they think it's boring to be English. The largest single ethnic group in the U.S. is English. You can also look at the numbers of people who immigrated here from Germany (about the same as the Ulster Scots). They were a minority compared to the English already here and the English still moving here.
@@morgankelly9725 I think you're confusing the language with ethnicity.
If you knew anything about American or British history, you'd know this isn't based on "reporting," this is fact well researched and documented. You're also assuming the English outbred the Germans when the majority of American last names are either Scotish/Irish or German, and many German last names sound English because of the shared language root. The majority of European migrants came from Germany, Scotland, and Ireland, and THEN English further down on the list. And don't try to tell me I'm wrong because I've SEEN the records, I've SEEN the documents, and I've SEEN the census reports and I've seen how many migrants came from where at certain points in time because the US kept *meticulous* records after the founding, and the colonies kept pretty good records of newcomers as well. I study both anthropology and genealogy and have done genealogical research for about 30 years. German is the most populous European ethnicity, NOT English, followed by Scottish and Irish because Britain would send droves of 'convicts' to the colonies. The Germans came because of religious freedom en mass because persecution has been a common theme for centuries. English had a relatively small migration population because Britain wanted English to be the ones building colonies, but they failed to get very many volunteers, then they resorted to convicts and forced migration. The Americas was a destination for *second sons* (and third/fourth etctr) of English nobles as it allowed them to carve out a name and fortune for *themselves*, but it was not a popular destination for the average English person who likely couldn't afford the trip and weren't so desperate (y'know, being English and not being oppressed in their own country) to indenture themselves to make the trip, which often left the indentured servants "owing" for life depending on who bought the debt.
And really, the "English still moving here?" I live in Wales now and haven't seen a large mass of English leaving the island recently.
I am Scottish, German, Irish, Swedish and Cherokee. These United States of America are a blended version of the world.
Cool. I'm Scottish, German, Irish, _Dutch_ and Cherokee. You wouldn't happen to be from North Carolina, too, would you?
It's a gumbo of people
That’s often why Americans ask people “what are you”? Because everyone is a mix of something yet most of us know where we came from. My great grand parents came from Poland and Slovenia. I’m also from Chicago where we joke the holy immigrant trilogy is the Irish, Polish, and Italian 😂
Good mix
@@jeremyphillips7827right? I am.
We Americans owe so much to the bold and brave immigrants from all the nations, we are grateful to be able to call this our history and heritage
I agree. Its what really makes America so great is the melting pot of cultures.
Too bad we forget this with the Mexicans and Africans
It's why our motto is ‘E Pluribus Unum’. Out of many, one.
You Americans ARE immigrants 😂
From all the *European nations.
That's what made this country great.
As non-Europeans begin to come, every negative statistic rises, and the lines on the graphs keep getting lower.
The suppression of the German language was real. My grandfather, born in 1918 of Austro-Hungarian descent spoke German at home. He went to a catholic school in Chicago, a Nun asked him a question in German, and when he responded in German the Nun slapped him in the face. He ended up serving as a volunteer in Patton’s 3rd Army as a translator. He was a participant in what today we’d call an enhanced interrogations. He also was part of liberating a concentration camp. After the war he became devoutly religious, wouldn’t talk about the war and claimed he couldn’t remember how to speak German.
May his soul rest in peace. My grandparents would not speak German with us...they wanted us to be truly Americans. Lots of immigrants did this.
And others talk about reparations. LOL. We went on doing what we do, and we do it well. :). Our inner german survives.
That was a bad nun
I had an uncle who became a Catholic priest here in Wisconsin, and his order (Capuchin) was instructed in German rather than English. We'll, Latin, too.
Of course it wasn't fair, but this didn't only happen to German-Americans. Over 100,000 Japanese-Americans were *imprisoned* here during World War II.
In the USA, if someone says "I'm German" they could mean that their ancestors came from Germany.
They do mean they are of descent. Like Americans say they're Irish.
Yep, that’s exactly what we mean.
Yeah, there are 1,500 ethnic groups estimated to be in the USA so yes, that’s what they mean. Basically their DNA.
True, but that would be American, with German ancestry. If you say you are German, even people in the USA are likely to think you are a German citizen.
@@bl8388 ……nope, not in my area. As an American, I know how people use the term in my area. American is a nationality, not an ancestry. In the US, “I’m Irish” denotes Irish ancestry. If someone said “I’m German” and has an accent, you might then ask “from Germany?” which yes, the person can then be confused but language use is different country to country, obviously. The only true ancestral Americans are native Americans and they will state “Native American” and then usually give their tribe like Navajo, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Blackfoot etc. Only 2.9% of American citizens are Native Americans. It’s simply how this nation uses the term, nothing more. In Germany, over 85% are ethnic Germans. In Ireland, over 75% are ethnic Irish. Even in France, 69% are ethnic French so often, the question would not need to be asked but “I’m Irish” or “Are you Polish?” is just a holdover from massive influx of immigrants to the US in the 19th and early 20th century. It was a way to find common ground. It was also important in a country where people tended to live by ethnic groups. Little Italy, Chinatown, were areas where an O’Malley might not be very welcome but he could go to Hells Kitchen or here in my area the old Irish area is still called Irish Row. Someone named Carlucci or Dobroski might not be welcomed with much gusto. I’m thankful it’s different now. In my area we have different races, ethnic groups etc and it’s still talked about as “I’m Italian and Polish” or “I am Cherokee and Norwegian”. The collective meaning is one of ancestry, not nationality. The assumption is you are an American.
It’s just American culture and American use of the language, despite what Europeans say.
I'm always amazed at how little is taught in Europe about the early Europeans that came to this new land and helped build this country. Germans, Polish, Chinese, Japanese, Irish, Brits, Italians.....and to this day, the descendants of those very same early immigrants STILL inhabit a lot of the same areas that they did back then.
I’m always surprised about how little we are thought about our european ancestors
@@nicholasrucinski1651 I was a history major in high school. Partly because I had an outstanding teacher all 4 years and partly because history is just my thing. I was taught a lot about my European ancestors. Dates, names, events....history isn't for everyone I get it, maybe I'm an exception but I paid attention.
@@BrLoc in indiana world history pretty much starts at world war 1 and other then that we just have U.S. history
@@BrLoc school does a little bit of each it's just usually 1-2 days because trying to go through it all could take a week just on one region, as well school there are different history books for teaching like east coast vs west coast since different things happened so each book goes more in depth on which area.
it's just there is too much for most people in a way like if you spent 1 week for each ancestor
English, scotch, Irish, Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Greek, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Swiss, Turk
that would be 16 weeks alone or 3.6 months
You gotta understand America is still very young. The Spanish colonized a great portion of America. Most of America was just the East Coast in its infancy. And America was pretty much stolen from the Native Americans... The true people of America are the native Americans, everyone else is an immigrant.
She forgot the German heritage of President Dwight Eisenhower, who earlier was the American General in command of American forces in Europe in World War 2.
Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz of WWII fame was of Texan German heritage and hailed from Fredericksburg, TX.
@@johndunkelburg9495 Nimitz was CINCPAC or Commander in Chief Pacific after Kimmel. There is a Pacific War museum near his Fredericksburg Texas hotel/home.
I think also Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt were german. I know a lot of the old money families are too like the Vanderbilts, the Hearsts, and the Rockefellers. there is also Pulitzer, Koch and Newhouse and Milliken families.
@@oliviawolcott8351 The Roosevelts, like all the old Knickerbocker families, are of old Dutch descent from the original settlers of New Amsterdam who remained after the British took over and renamed the place New York.
Technically he was Swiss.
This girl lives fairly close to me in Cincinnati. This city was basically founded by Germans. One of our neighborhoods is "Over the Rhine" because the people who lived here were reminded of their previous homeland by the view of the Ohio River from that part of town. There are still remnants of that German heritage to be found around the city, but many things like street names were changed during WW1. We still have the largest Oktoberfest in the world, though.
She lost most of her accent!
@@TheMrPeteChannel I've watched some of her videos & she def hasn't lost her accent. It's VERY apparent when she speaks German or pronounces German words in an otherwise English sentence.
She's clearly managed to not only become fluent in English, hard enough as it is, but also do so in the accent of a native speaker from the USA. Probably had super good ESL teachers.
From Northwest Ohio. Lots of German immigration there, too.
My husband's paternal grandparents came from Germany in the 1880s to the Cincinnati area. There are relatives even today in southwestern Ohio, but his grandparents eventually moved to Batesville, Indiana (in the southeast part of the state). There was a considerable German population in Batesville also.
Based on the original Munich Oktoberfest, it is billed as the largest Oktoberfest celebration in the United States and second largest in the world. Sorry no cigar.
There are many Germantowns. I live twenty minutes from one here in Wisconsin. And I'm 50% German ancestry myself.
There's also a Germantown, Maryland.
I didn’t know this until recently, but there’s also a Germantown in Ohio.
Yeah and a New Berlin
Germantown, TN
The Battle of Germantown was a major engagement in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War. It was fought on October 4, 1777, The British Victory Locked up Washington's Army for a few years till the Southern Millia could break through
A lot of Germans forget how big Germany used to be prior to WW1. Losing two world wars definitely shrinks both population and borders, lol.
As first generation American, I experienced a lot of anti-German prejudice. I was always called a NAZI and had my home vandalized. Yeah... it wasn't fun as a kid.
@@martinbraun2533yea kids of the country we had just fought dont fair well till we fight someone else.
There's about 100 million German speakers globally last I checked. Most ate in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Belgium but lots of communities outside those countries too in Europe and plenty of expats, immigrants, and visa holders.
@@martinbraun2533 Where did u grow up?
My grandma lived next to a German couple and anytime we would visit grandma, the German couple would have us over and spoil us with all kinds of German chocolates
My parents are only 1st generation Americans, as their parents & grandparents immigrated from Germany to Baltimore, MD in the 1880's. They spoke fluent German, but refused to teach their children (my parents) their native tongue, wanting to prevent discrimination while growing up here in the USA.
As a little girl, I asked my Grandfather Kraft to teach me German, but he insisted we spoke only English, saying "We are Americans now"! He only spoke his native language after drinking beer at parties, lol. Prost! 🇩🇪
Same here, my mothers family is German. We still have sauerkraut with Thanksgiving dinner and there are restaurants in Baltimore that you get sauerkraut with your Thanksgiving dinner here still. In 1900 the first language spoken in Baltimore MD was German, not English. One of my closest friends is Pennsylvania Dutch-yes all German. I will show my cousins this video for sure. Thanks for sharing!!
Similar situation here, but with Spanish.
My husband had the same experience. They were not allowed to learn German so the only words the children knew were affectionate nicknames and cursewords.
Ha ha, today if you go to Miami nobody speaks English but tourists.
My Norwegian grandparents also refused to teach their children to speak Norwegian. I remember my grandfather saying “You are American! “ whenever any of us asked him how to say something in Norwegian. I know a little because I still have family in Norway.
Texan here. I have to say that we are pretty proud of our German lineage as well, especially in the towns of Fredricksburg and New Braunfels
Yes and Pflugerville. And Schertz and new Berlin and neiderwald, and gruene. I'm about 20 miles from New braunfels in a town with alot of "germans" as well.
I'm "polish" tho.. the irony lol.
Love those towns.
Schulenberg, Yokum
@@ccbarr58 Schulenburg used to have this amazing restaurant that had German food and sold different types of bread to take with you. My family always stopped there for lunch when we were heading to Houston. Heart-broken when it closed down (unless it moved locations).
We have a huge German city here in Michigan, called Frankenmuth. It’s awesome. The ethnic food is outstanding. It’s a proud part of my German heritage 🫡
Yay Frankenmuth! I grew up around there in Saginaw County and I have so many fond memories of the Bavarian Festival and Zehnder’s Snowfest! I still spend a day in Frankenmuth whenever I visit my family in the area. My mother’s side of my family is entirely of German ancestry, and my dad’s side is partially so. I also spent 6 weeks in Germany years ago and I’ve always loved German culture and been proud of my German heritage too! 🙂👍🏻
Frankenmuth a Beautiful Town ( Oh yea Zenders ! )
Been a while since I was in Frankenmuth,,, good chicken. :-) I don't remember if it was Zehnders or the Bavarian Inn, but they had a place near the interstate where you could pop off I-75 and get your chicken fix. "Freeway Fritz" it was called.
@@jimsteele9261 lol both restaurants are actually owned by the Zehnders!
just saw images of Frankenmuth, I wish that type of architecture where all over the US, oh and especially the inns
I am from Wisconsin, near Milwaukee. There is still a city in Wisconsin called Germantown. We love our beer and our bratwurst. We celebrate Oktoberfest every year and are proud of our German heritage.
Lots of Germantowns , named that I mean
@@nunyalastname-ej8vlYep, I live near Germantown IL. We also have New Baden, New Mindon, Darmstadt, and Meppen. I have probably overlooked a few.
@@michelehenne2477 I landscaped there. In all those towns. I worked out of Lebanon IL lived in Highland. Highschool in Evil
I finally escaped IL . My soul had a tiny bit left. It's returning. I will drive through Il but NEVER! NEVER! RETURN. The other states that are
NO GO. NY OR CA WA IL .
New Berlin, pronounced the wisconsin way,
If you weren't aware, Milwaukee was called the "America's German Athens". My dad's ancestors immigrated to there after leaving polish Prussia in the 1870's. But they didn't like city life and ended up buying a farm west of Wausau.
Country Fried or Chicken Fried Steak (CFS) in Texas was invented by Germans and Austrians who missed Wiener Schnitzel. Veal was hard to find so they took the abundant Texas beef, cut it thin, pounded it very flat, fried it, and added a peppery cream sauce like we see today. There were no mushtooms or onions in the cream sauce like in Germany.
I live in TX. That’s my all time favorite food! Chicken fried steak and fried green beans!
You, sir are exactly right. I have a cookbook I found in Fredericksburg, Tx that showed the transition from pork to beef due to the hot climate. Pork would go bad to soon. Multiple families formed a "mess" and would portion out a slaughtered animal so that it could be prepared and consumed before spoilage. Chicken Fried Steak and Schnitzel is something I try to partake on occasion.
My husband’s grandmother spoke German in her home and elementary school, in West Texas. This stopped at school over time between WWI and WWII. She visited Germany in the 1990s, and could be understood. However, they found her dialect very quaint, as if she were a time traveller.
My bf gma was the pretty much the same. From Fredericksburg.
I was told my German was pretty good, but I had a horrible American accent.
My mother spoke it as a young person. I took it in college and somehow started out with a marked Swabian accent, which is where my father’s family also came from.
Yes, this happened in my family, also. My gr-grandparents quit speaking German during WWII. I often wonder what it must have been like to be Germans in America during two wars in your own lifetime, both with your relatives in the old country.
That was a very different country. One that no longer exists.
Germantown was founded by my 13th great grandfather, who started Germantown. He was the first Mennonite Bishop in America and created the first paper mill in North America.
Wow, that's fun to know. You should be very proud.
Hey! We're related :D I know who you're talking about, though his name escapes me right now.
@@randomlyentertaining8287
William Rittenhouse
There's a Germantown in Maryland, too, near Washington, D.C.
Its so insane to hear people talk about "13th" great grandfater. I was born in Sweden, and all DNA tests shows just a tiny area in north of Sweden. Im nothing else just that tiny part lol, not even southern or middle of Sweden.
But I apparently have a shitton of "relatives" in USA
Fun Fact: The Royal family in the UK had a German surname. They changed it to Windsor during WWI.
well actually the current UK monarch's father has a german surname, Mountbatten, they anglicized it
They come from my hometown were I lived as a child Coburg 😉
England, Germany, and Russia's monarchs were all cousins during WW1
@@Chrisb.reacts I reads a bit about this town and I am trully amazed. This town has a lot beautiful places to visit. And thi castle loks so beautiful. Not to far. Only 10 hours in car. I difinitelly I have to visit this beautiful town. My goal for future
Double Fun Fact: King George VI technically abused his power as King and had orders issued to some British units to go to Blankenburg Castle and get the private valuables, furniture, etc of the Duke of Brunswicks, a relative of King George VI, and get them out of there before the Soviets showed up to take over as the area was to be in the Soviet area of occupation.
For much more in depth info
ua-cam.com/video/mHNKcsu3MuU/v-deo.html
Wisconsin is VERY German. I am an middle aged guy who is German-American. So were most of the people I grew up with. A lot of the old folks (great grandparents) still spoke German with one another. They came to Wisconsin and moved into German neighborhoods in Milwaukee. In fact, my grandmother told me that a couple guys went back to Germany to go fight for Germany in World War 2.
My dad's sister married a German-American from Milwaukee who had a small swastika tattooed on the inside of his wrist. He never fought for Germany in World War II, but there was apparently some pressure on him to sympathize with the Nazi cause.
No matter where you come from there is a town in America where people from your country have made a home for themselves. Thats the strength of America.
Sadly some are now saying that is the weakness..How soon they forget!
NY has a neighborhood for everyone. 😂
@@pingamalingatrue...the real real agora of the world
Which makes it weird that immigrants are hated so much on todays America.. when we all come from immigrant families.
@@jennywells416Fact. I mean wtf.
Half German, half Mexican, and fiercely proud of both. Germans really did build America.
Cool I want to visit Mexico because I need to escape USA. It's unaffordable and cruel and dumb here. Peace to Mexico and Germany and everyone else haha
Hallo, 50% Mexican 18% English 13% Irish 10 % Wales 7% Swedish/Denmark and 2% german here
3/4 German here.
1 man from Croatia made the biggest impact. But, even then, Irish kinda built most😂 at least literally. Company and profit wise, definitely German. Americans love their beer!
I have German, English and Scottish ancestors. The Englishman wants a drink, the German wants it NOW, and the Scot wants YOU to pay for it!! 😊
The German diaspora is much larger than most modern Germans seem to realize. The US is an obvious case where millions came over, but Germans immigrated to every part of North and South America and plenty of other places besides, and their influence is everywhere if you know where to look.
A few examples? The most well-known form of Mexican music, Norteño (also known as Mariachi music) is just German Polka with Spanish lyrics and a couple of instruments added. The only beer that China exports, Tsingtao, is named after the city it is brewed in, which was once a German colony. In fact, the original Tsingtao brewery is one of the very first things the German authorities built when they took over Tsingtao (now called Qingdao), and the German architecture and styling of the buildings of the city make modern Qingdao a popular domestic tourism destination for young Chinese people. In my town in the American mid-West, nearly half of the population is descended from Volga Germans who fled persecution in the Soviet Union in the 1920s, bringing an odd mix of German and Russian cuisine and culture with them. In Namibia (formerly Deutsch-Südwestafrika) there is a very strong strain of German influence, and even a couple of ethnic groups descended from German colonists and Schutztruppe who still speak German and identify with German culture first and foremost to this day.
There are loads of other examples out there - enough to fill whole essays! - but the point is, Germans went everywhere, and everywhere they went they brought German words, German ideas, German culture and German work ethic with them, and their influence can be felt even in the modern day.
Florianopolis has the prettiest women in the western hemisphere. Pre-1930s German heritage folk are abundant in Florianopolis.
Mexico has fewer than 200 000 german and german descendants in Mexico today for a population of 127 million. That about 0,15% of Mexicans today. The gemran influence and migration in mexico is anecdotal and very small.
@@Alejojojo6 🙄I never said it was large influence or that it was millions upon millions of Germans. I pointed out (correctly) that a number of Germans emigrated to Mexico, and also (correctly) that they had a noticeable cultural impact that can be seen and felt today. None of what you said actually contradicts anything I said, so now I'm just left here wondering why you even felt the need to respond.
@@Alejojojo6 obviously
i always wondered why ranchero music sounded like polka
That is why US is called "The Melting Pot."
Exactly what I was thinking!
More like the septic tank with all the browns allowed to refugee here
I grew up in Central Missouri. We say "gesundheit" instead of bless you and one of the oldest jokes in the area is, "I didn't know who to vote for, so I just picked a good German name and went with that."
Lol
I'm from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, we are the top of the German triangle in the Midwest! We are famous for being the Brew City where all the famous German brewers started the biggest breweries in the world, we have Usinger's and Klement's sausages, the best in the world!!! We have one of the most famous German restaurants in the world called Mader's established in 1902, the Red Baron's dining table and many effects from his home are there along with decades of history & incredible German cuisine!!! After WWII Ladish Corporation was given Hitler's Hammers which are the biggest forging hammers in the world which are still used today, they shake the ground for a mile around every time they're used, the base of them sits 4 stories into the ground!!! We have many other famous German companies here like Siemans!!! We have a massive festival every year called German fest and we also have a city called Germantown!!! My grandfather told me when he was a kid they had German POWs working on the farm , they weren't Nazis, they were just guys caught up at a bad place in a bad time, he said they were really nice and worked like mules, and one of them was a watch maker and he was brilliant and he had great conversations with him!!! The city of Milwaukee was built with the strong backs of German, Irish and Polish immigrants!!!
Ah yes... Klement's Sausages. When I would head to Tennessee to visit a friend there he always requested 2 things, Klement's and Spotted Cow.
@@esh_414 Yes!!! Both we are famous for and they are both very good!!!!!!! 👍
Milwaukee, Beer LOL
@@roboparks I aint talking about Miller or Pabst... that stuff is water
Grutzwurst, I have an old German American 1900 circa recipe book my grandpa pretty well followed. The first item on the recipe called to boil off all the flesh from one pigs head. Stuff is awesome. never ever tell your non-German friends what is in until after they have ate it. But really being a pigs head is hard to come by in town now we just sub in a cheap pork roast which does not require such a big pot. Lotsa allspice.
My Maiden name is Vogler. My Vogler ancestor came from Bünde in 1866 and settled in St. Louis, Missouri. I live near St. Louis to this day and encounter German last names daily. While it's true that teaching children German and German language newspapers ceased during World War I, many kept their German last names including my own family.
Other German immigrants in my family tree include Schilli, Fischer, Siebert, Knollman, Kirchner, Hurlbrink, Baldauf and many more.
Ich spreche auch Deutsch und lerne täglich Deutsch auf Duolingo.
I don't speak any German but I think you said you speak German and learned written German from Duolingo?
I think the influence is subtle but it just became a part of America.
@@eatonkuntzEnglish has a lot of German influence, which makes a lot of sense considering where the Angles and Saxons came from. Anglish, now English, brought a ton of Germanic language influence. So it's actually even older of an influence than people might think. German is easier for a lot of English speakers to learn because the languages really do share a lot of influence going all the way back. Even the names of the days of the week in English have Germanic names for the Old Norse gods. Tuesday is Tirs day, Wednesday is Woden's day, Thursday is Thor's day, Friday is Frigg's day.
English really is the language of languages. It borrows and steals from so many other languages. There's Greek and Latin, there's French and German, there's Spanish. And even Arabic and Asian languages influencing English.
Well, and the British Empire played a hand in colonizing the world with the language as well. But the rise of American technology has been a major boost as well.
I think one reason English has become such a global language and been so successful throughout history, is how easily it adopts and shares words so readily.
We might be related. My ancestors are named Vogelei.
I am from Minnesota and my Dads side of the Family is 100 % German. He is from the 4th generation of Germans living here going back to the early 1800's. My Moms side is 100% Norwegen and they have also been in MN for the same number of generations. Mn has a lot of people from both of those countries.
Technically all Scandinavian countries are Germanic tribes. So you would be 100 % German.
Thanks. That's very interesting. @@durantrza4856
@@durantrza4856not sure about Finland in this though... Norway and Sweden, yes.
I’m from Minnesota too. I live in New Ulm, a German heritage city.
My grandparents came to the USA via Ellis island in 1919. They felt that they should only talk English, this is why I never hear it or learned to speak German.
My great great grandparents were the same. Only allowed English to be spoken in their home.
Same here. My German ancestors were so proud to become American citizens that they wouldn't permit their children to learn the German language.
I can see they didn’t brush you up on your grammar skills tho 🙃
In Texas we have these German towns….
New Ulm, Frelsburg, Bleiblerville, Oldenburg, Weimar, Schulenburg, Gruene, New Braunfels, Boerne, Fredericksburg, and Luckenbach
Pflugerville and some people still speak German
@user-nr5ux7gr2g I was going to add Pflugerville. My spouse’s family, the Lissos, helped to settle that area. Many are still there.
@@khutchinsoncpa1 that’s so awesome!
And that just towns with german names. Other towns were german... but the town didn't have a german name. Like Cypress, Texas, and Tomball, Texas.
With prominent names like Treichel, Huffmeister, Telge, Hilleguiest, Hillibrandt, Klein, Mueschke, Borgstedt, Schultz, Fenske, Jurgen and many more... the roads were named after the families that farmed there. So, Fenske Road led to the Fenske families farm.
@@OkiePeg411 my great great grandfather last name was Hofmeister and it was changed to huffmaster when he arrived in the 1800s
I am 50% of German ancestry. All four of my paternal great-grandparents were German immigrants to Cincinnati, Ohio in the 1870's and 1880's. My maiden name is Knauper, and most of my German ancestors came from around the Osnabruck area. I am very, very proud of my German heritage. My husband is 50% of Italian heritage. This shows you one of the greatest things about the U.S. - we are truly a "melting pot" of cultures, representing the world!
My father's mother was from straight off the boat from Germany around the same time in Cincinnati. She married my Canadian (French) grandfather so I grew up listening to all kinds of German and French sayings coming from the old man, but I grew up in Dayton and lots of German immigrants there as well. There's a Germantown southwest of Dayton as well. Maybe closer to Cincinnati...I never measured it. I'm heading back up that way later this summer to visit family and pickup a bunch of Gliers geotta. My grandmother's geotta was to die for. 😅
My German ancestry started from a Hessian Soldier in the late 1770's during the American Revolutionary War. He was from Bleichenbach, Germany and settled in Pennsylvania
I am from Pennsylvania. My German ancestors in Pennsylvania came very early (1725 ish). They were Hessians from the Rhine Valley region. I also have Germanic heritage from Limbaugh, which was the part of the Austrian-Hungarian at the time(1913). It is now in Slovakia. They came to Cincinnati, Ohio. Many knew each other from (the old country). The area where they lived was called Groesbeck. My grandmother used to make a dish called spatzli.
German was essentially the official language of Pennsylvania in the early days. When the United States was formed they were going to have two official languages; German and English, but ultimately there is no official language.
DIDNT Benjamin Franklin went off about this ?
wait have you done one of those ancestry DNA kits because we seriously might be related?
@@tateranus4365 Yes. It shows colonial Pennsylvania, for one thing.
I burst out laughing when you said " Austrian painter".
That is one way to describe him!😵💫😮😵💫
New Ulm, Minnesota, located 90 miles southwest of the Twin Cities, was proclaimed by results of the 2000 Census as “the most German town in America.” Many residents trace their German ancestors back through generations in this city settled largely by German immigrants in the nineteenth century.
Great channel! I am an American and Polish dual citizen born in Ohio and married an American-German girl. German and Polish influence is everywhere in the Midwest.
Same in Pennsylvania
There's literally a "King of Prussia, PA."
However, strangely enough the town is named for the King of Prussia Inn founded in 1719... by Welsh Quakers.
Well the Welsh obviously would never give it an English name. That's like asking the Scots/Irish to name a town Cromwell Town.
@@darrenjones2933 What? They LOVE "Oliver Boy!"
I’m 68 years old. I went to a Catholic school from grades 1-9. Most of the school kids were German, Irish, Scottish, Polish, or Scandinavian.. I was adopted but after doing my DNA I found that I’m a third British isles mix, a third polish, and a third German. My adoptive parents are dad German and mom Swedish. My mom learned how to cook certain German recipes. My dad swore that German made items are the best . We had a German barometer next to our door I knew the German words on it. I picked up a little here and there. I took it in high school but don’t remember much. . I’m from Minnesota and my dad grew up in a small German town. There really are a lot of Germans in this country as well as German influences and foods as well. This country has many different people from all over the world. That’s one thing that I love about our country.
I'm of Austrian-German-Jewish descent, my ancestor came over in 1849 from Krakow when it was still under Austrian control. He ended up serving as a field doctor in the US army fighting during the Civil War over here. His people all settled in Minnesota eventually where a lot of other German and Scandinavian families ended up.
When you said "Wow, the midwest is pretty far East" I burst out laughing!
As an American Civil War buff, I can tell you that more Germans fought on the side of the Union than any other ethnic group. About 200,000 German-born soldiers (about 10% of all soldiers) fought against the Southern Confederates along with about 250,000 first generation German-Americans (over another 13%). German American soldiers from the Upper Midwest made up the majority of men who helped General Grant capture Vicksburg, MS. I am proud to have two 3X great-grand-uncles who were in that battle, both born in Germany. German Americans also fought as General Sherman marched toward Atlanta, GA, and the sea. Another of my German-born 3X great-grand-uncles, Werner Deutermann, was captured by the Confederates and died at the infamous Andersonville Prison in Georgia. God bless him.
Of course, a good many German-Americans who lived in the South fought for the Confederacy, but the majority of men with German ties fought for the Union in the North.
This is true.....here in the Texas Hill Country, where lots of Germans settled, a lot of them were in trouble for not supporting the Confederacy.
You end up fighting for the team you found yourself in. There is really not much choice, you get rounded up, given a rifle and told to march. When you think about it, this is true always.
Very true, my great, great, great grandfather, on my grandmother through my dad side of the family, was in the Wisconsin 6th Infantry division during the Civil War. He was wounded at the Battle of Chancellorsville. I myself am a 4th generation german-american through my grandfather on my dad's side of the family.
Did Feli really say “ Sur-vee” instead of the correct “ SUR- veh.”?!
I also heard a little BALL-tee- more.”
I’m in shock; her pronunciation is usually so so good.
This is totally random, but you have such a very friendly face. Genuinely. When it's resting, it looks calm and interested, not sad or concerned or blank. I think I tend to look slightly concerned or even bored when I'm focused. But you look kind. It's really sweet.
I have German heritage on both sides of my family. My Pop, my mom’s dad is a full blooded German, from Pennsylvania, and his family has been here so long, he’s not sure when they got here. We know they were here well before the civil war, because a few of them served in the Union Army, and they may go back as far as the American Revolution in the 1770’s. My brother and I definitely got the German mechanical gene from him, he can build or fix anything, and taught us to do the same. He loves Volkswagens and worked on them for a living in the 60’s lol. We all love beer and sausages, and faith is important to us. I’d love to go to Germany one day, being a big WW2 nerd, I’d love to see some of the battle sites in Germany, France, and Belgium. Anyways, Greetings from New Jersey.
I was surprised she didn't mention the U.S. Civil War German mercenaries that (mostly Union) men hired to do their stint in the war, for them.
I live next to a town called New Braunfels, Texas. It was very common to hear German spoken all the time there into the 1970s and 80s. It is becoming less and less prevalent since then. But even today, churches have two services - English and German. This part of Texas was setled by Germans in the 1830s and 1840s. Many of my parent's friends didn't learn to speak English until they went to school.
Look at the road names in Cypress, Texas, and Tomball, Texas. You will see a lot of them are German names.
I'm in San marcos, but alot of people here are of German descent.
Little Rocks bishop speaks English, Spanish, and German.
@@OkiePeg411 Huffmeister, Theiss - went to school with a lot of them (Spring High School).
I visited there about 8 years and floated down a beautiful spring fed river. It was very relaxing. Beautiful place.
My ancestors are from Ireland and Germany, those German ancestors came here after WW1 ( stuff in Germany was getting a
bit bad - the writing was on the wall). I don't say I'm German or Irish, no one int he U.S. says they are another nationality, but we do take
great pride in our past and where out ancestors come from, no matter where. Some people here seem to forget that the U.S.
IS a nation of Immigrants. Only the indigenous peoples, native to this continent can say otherwise.
We'd be more likely to tell you what state IN the U.S. we live in; as one from NY state - there are a lot of people with German
background in the northeast of the U.S.
It's similar for Irish background here in the U,.S. there are more people who live here (who have Irish ancestors) than Irish people
who live in Ireland (due to the Potato famine - which is why my ancestors on that side moved here !).
By now both these background groups are so incorporated into what is "American" here in the U.S. that they are not considered
"ethic" groups anymore - they're just a part of the American tapestry as all people here are. IMO.
shit even the "native" Americans were very likely not native to north America, in fact over practically the entire human population are immigrants to a point.
Lawrence Welk, a big band orchestra leader, was born in 1903 in a German speaking town, Strasberg, North Dakota, USA.,. Lawrence Welk spoke with an accent his entire life. Watch a video of The Lawrence Welk show.
Wow, I always assumed he was from Germany.
Wow! I never knew where his accent was from. Thanks!
Welk was of German from Russia descent... many very musical folk!!
My father-in-law came to Wisconsin from Hamburg with his mother after WWII (after escaping a Soviet camp) & settled in Milwaukee, where there is a large German population.
Because of this my son speaks fluent German.
Yeah there is actually quite a few old timers who are still fluent in German in the area. I'm learning myself
Wisconsin roots here. I thought I was 100% German, but AncestryDNA has me at only 61%. My mother spoke German until she went to school. My surname came from Lippe (notice my Lippe Rose.) My only granddaughter was born in Tubinginen, Germany!
I am scared to take a dna test just based off the fact that what if I am not actually 50% black 😭 I’d cry ong I would
I'm a German American too. My mother is a first generation from Schweinfurt Germany.
I live in Cincinnati OH and Over the Rhine is a wonderful place to go. We are all immigrants here in the USA. Look at all the German words that are commonly used to this day in the USA
The #1 thing to say in America when someone sneezes is Gesundheit.
I sneezed on a train in Germany & a (German) woman said gesundheit. It made me laugh because I momentarily forgot that it's a real word & it just sounded so surreal with the German pronunciation (I had the same reaction in Czech Republic when people would say "Ok" in the middle of speaking rapid Czech. It's just weird to suddenly understand one random word.)
I know that gesund is the German word for health. So to your health I guess.
'Bless you', by a country mile, is more common.
You severely overestimate that