Why Are German-Americans Not Considered "Volksdeutsche"? / German-Americans and Their Lack of Interest in Their Roots

[Rothhammer]

While I admire your pride in your heritage, you and your close friends are a minority. Most people I know that are of german ancestry have no sense of ethnic pride, they may acknowledge that they are german, but they don't do anything of the matter.

I hate to say it, but that's been my experience. Next to none show pride, and when I state the facts or am asked the origins of my name and proudly say Germany, I get questioning glances and nazi jokes. I'm tired of it. We have the same right to our heritage as anyone else does to theirs. Heck, even my wife OF GERMAN DECENT wanted to argue about me hanging a German and a Bavarian flag proudly in our home. She called me a racist.

[Naglfari]

Wow it is interesting to see perspectives in other parts of the country. I didn't know it was that bad.

Come vacation in Pennsylvania especially Lancaster Country. You will be up to your ears in German culture.

http://www.padutchcountry.com/index.asp yeah a lot from this webpage is geared to tourists and my be to touristy but a lot of the old PA Deutsch is alive and well.

In fact the Amish and Mennonites have moved westward so look for a local Amish community in your state and you will find traditional Germans.

I know it is hard to find but it is there to be found and very rewarding when you do.

[Goomer]

It does seem rare for most mainstream anglophile americans to have any pride in their heritage. They will at most maybe know what their ancestry is, but being proud or acknowledging their background seems very rare. I have noticed however the most recent immigrants are most proud. Norwegians like myself seem the most proud in the USA as for germanics. Whenever I mention I am norwegian many norwegian americans (pure) will mention how they are proud of being norwegian and are 100% or something. However I never hear people say they are proud of being german in particular. Probably because most norwegians here today came in the last century while many germans came to the new world 200 to 150 years ago and had to change their names to be more anglofied because of the 2 world wars we had.

entire cities in the US were renamed because they sounded too german during ww1 and germans with the surname Schmidt would be converted to Smith because of political reasons.

As I see it. Europe colonized Africa fucked it up. Europe colonized the Americas and in some cases fucked it up. And in the end America colonizes Europe politically and fucks it up.

I know a lot of whites here in America that have no clue what their ancestry is, and don't seem to care about it.

Despite the fact my family are a mishmosh of NW European, at the very least I can say my mom always made a point of telling us about our ancestry. My dad never really talked much about it, but he sure embraced his German/Irish roots by the way he behaved

[Schopenhauer]

In general, I don't think most White Americans really think of themselves as anything other than Americans, except maybe the Irish and the Italians.

After all, America is their home and English their language.

[norseking]

Funny you should bring this up right now, as there is small city close to me that has thousands of German flags flying everywhere, and this goes on for a whole month.

I was there yesterday afternoon, they have a 4 day street fest, just to celebrate there German heritage and there are even several stores that sell German goods.

This is the court house:



If you don't believe it is real, I guess I use that as a excuse to drive over there and take even more pictures.

While I believe that this exists I just don't see german pride like this in many regions of the United States. Maybe in certain locations the people are more cultured to where their roots are, but everyone I have met who is of german ancestry doesn't care and say all germans are nazis and stuff. It is very true that in the US if you claim to be proud of your heritage, most bigots will tell you you are wrong to be proud and a racist nazi. Im not sure if that is for everyone but it seems to be for everyone I have met.

[SpearBrave]

While I believe that this exists I just don't see german pride like this in many regions of the United States. Maybe in certain locations the people are more cultured to where their roots are, but everyone I have met who is of german ancestry doesn't care and say all germans are nazis and stuff. It is very true that in the US if you claim to be proud of your heritage, most bigots will tell you you are wrong to be proud and a racist nazi. Im not sure if that is for everyone but it seems to be for everyone I have met.

Norseking where I live more than 50% of the people have German surnames, while I very much know that is not the case across the US, there are plenty of pockets where people are proud of their roots. There are festivals it seems everywhere. I don't remember the exact number, but I think 60% of white Americans have German ancestry.

It might be our duty to wake these Germanic Americans up and be proud of their heritage.

[Huginn ok Muninn]

While I believe that this exists I just don't see german pride like this in many regions of the United States. Maybe in certain locations the people are more cultured to where their roots are, but everyone I have met who is of german ancestry doesn't care and say all germans are nazis and stuff. It is very true that in the US if you claim to be proud of your heritage, most bigots will tell you you are wrong to be proud and a racist nazi. Im not sure if that is for everyone but it seems to be for everyone I have met.

The cure for someone telling you that is to beat the living shit out of them. Not that I'm advocating such a thing, of course.

[TXRog]

In general, I don't think most White Americans really think of themselves as anything other than Americans, except maybe the Irish and the Italians.

After all, America is their home and English their language.

I can't (and won't) speak for my fellow Texans here on the forum brother Schopenhauer, but as for me, I am a TEXAN first and an American second (distant second at that).

The Lone Star State is rich in Germanic culture. As I have stated on previous comments, many Germans immigrated to Texas in the 1850's (in fact there is an excellent documentary series about this very subject that was recently broadcast on Public Television). There are German festivals and a dialect from the time of these immigrants is still spoken in many towns which they settled - New Braunfels, Castroville, Helotes, and (are you ready?) "New Berlin".

[Goomer]

This thread reminds me of my tween years. Back then, my best friend was a *Nice Jewish Girl* of the Ashkenazi persuasion. She used to tell me NOT to tell anyone I had German ancestry, because that made me a Nazi. Of course, there was a mob rules mentality at the time, in that most of the girls I knew were Jewish and tended to stick together.

Other than that, I do not recall feeling shame over my German ancestry. I WILL admit to feeling my fair share of white guilt, even though I was born a few years after passage of The Civil Rights Act of 1964.

[Hellstrom]

Half the 51 million claiming German ancestry in America are probably over 4-6 ethnicities. That's why you don't probably see much German culture. Most of them are mixed and normaly side up with w/e they are more of or whatever appeals to them more. It can't be compared to the Mexicans who have only just begun coming here in large numbers. German Americans been here for a long time. Had no religion as an excuse to keep racial purity like the Italians or Irish. They've been here long enough to inter marry with other Americans. Half of them are probably everything from British isles descent to slavic & med.