How German is American?

Hallo!

To be fair, I came into reading this article not expecting much. While I knew there were many German influences on American culture (the language being the most common, but the food as well) I knew almost nothing about German culture as it was pre or post-WW2, and thus had a difficult time connecting it to how America is today. What really struck me in this article was how integrated German culture was, and has become, with American culture. I had absolutely no idea that German was taught in any kind of public school, which I guess is kind of ignorant of me. Also, I guess it never occurred to me to think of America as a culture which has arisen from the various groups who emigrated here, rather than as an entity to which groups emigrated to, despite all the propaganda about the U.S. being so multi-cultural.

Something I found quite interesting was the section concerning the Amish and the roots of Pennsylvanian Dutch. Although I had previously heard of the Amish, I had no idea they had any relation to German at all. In addition, I never knew that they spoke anything other than English, which just goes to show how culturally aware I am.

Also quite interesting was the section on Jewish emigrants. Although I am Jewish, and had a vague idea that many Jews came from German-speaking countries (especially with the abundance of Yiddish), we never talk about the 'German Jews' who came to America. It's always the 'European Jews' or something like that. Although many German influences remain within the American-Jewish culture, it is extremely rare that they will ever be explicitly mentioned...

In short, this article was quite an eye-opener, just in the sense of making me think about things that I really hadn't paid any attention to before. While it would seem easy to notice the influences of an culture, German influences have become so integrated as to be unnoticeable, except for a random word here or there (Zeitgeist and Schadenfreude, to be precise).

Auf Wiedersehen!

How German is American?

I understand this story have none connection with German American, but I just love this movie so much so I want to write about it:)

a picture from movie Bambi, Disney

   I first saw the movie Bambi when I was in kindergarten. Sitting in front of the TV with other little kids, I was intoxicated by the beautiful(schön) scene of the big(groβ) forest where Bambi lived in. The conversation between Bambi and his friends(Freunde) always made me laugh. And the harmonious life Bambi had with his mother made me feel warm and sweet.

  The story about Bambi is pretty similar to Lion King. Bambi was born in a beautiful (schön) forest. But his mother(Mutter) was killed by the hunters when he was young. He was taken away by his father and when he grew up. He came back to the forest he used to live and found his true love.

  So many people and I always believe that the topic of Bambi's story is about protecting the environment. However, after reading the book "how German can be American", I found out that the original topic of this story is actually about Jew's struggling in this world. From the story, and the real world, we can tell that just like other races, Jew was born in a very peaceful environment. However the conflict between Jew and other races made them lose their land and become vagrants. At the last part of the story, Bambi finally come back to the forest, shows the dream of the author that is the Jews finally come back to where they lived and live a harmonious life they deserve.

  This story was banned in Austria, due to some reason I don't know. But the movie is still worth to watch:)

How German is American?

In the article published by the Max Kade institute I was prompted with numerous examples of how German has influenced American culture, and vice versa. This symbiotic relationship really began in the mid 1800's, when Germans began emigrating to the United States in record numbers. I had never learned (or perhaps I learned and forgot) the motivation for the mass immigration during this period. The author identifies a primary motivator: land. It was at this time that, what one might call 'cross-culturization', really began. And, although I normally think of the U.S. as being the sole perpetrator of stereotyping groups of people, both sides were guilty. Fictionalized descriptions of American Indians spread quickly to Germany.

These sorts of characterizations were not all that spread across the Atlantic. For example, one fact I really had never learned was that a group of German-Americans, the Milwaukee Turners, were responsible for the development of gymnastics as a sport in the U.S. I also did not know that in the early 20th century, many churches in states such as Wisconsin held services exclusively in German. This might have been the most surprising fact I learned - perhaps because I do not live in an area where a large part of the population identifies themselves as German.

Finally, I had always assumed that the decline of recognition of German heritage only a result of World War I and II. But, the declining recognizable German heritage appears to be a more recent phenomenon. In the article, the author points out that there has been a dramatic increase in people who simply identify themselves as 'American'. Perhaps it is this, the increasing recognition of the U.S. as home rather than the place from which one's family emigrated, that is decreasing recognition of German heritage.