German Americans
Baron Steuben by Peale, 1780
Frederick Muhlenberg
John Jacob Astor
Bruce Willis by Gage Skidmore
John Boehner official portrait
John Steinbeck 1962
Streep san sebastian 2008 2
Total population

17.1% of the U.S. population (2009)

Regions with significant populations
United States Throughout the entire United States

Plurality in the Midwestern states[3][4]


American English and German


P christianity.svg Christian:
Protestant (Lutheran, Reformed, Mennonite, Amish, and others)
Roman Catholic

Star of David.svg Jewish

Related ethnic groups

Austrian Americans
Swiss Americans
Pennsylvania Dutch
German diaspora
German Canadians

German Americans (German: Deutschamerikaner) are citizens of the United States who were either born in Germany or are of German ancestry. They comprise about 50 million people,[1] making them the largest ancestry group ahead of Irish Americans, African Americans and English Americans.[5] They comprise about 1/3 of the German diaspora all over the world.[6][7][8]

None of the German states had New World colonies. Not until the 1670s did the first significant groups of German immigrants arrive in the British colonies, settling primarily in New York and Pennsylvania. Immigration continued in very large numbers during the 19th century, with some eight million arrivals from Germany. They were pulled by the attractions of land and religious freedom, and pushed out of Europe by shortages of land and religious or political oppression.[9] Many arrived seeking religious or political freedom, others for economic opportunities greater than those in Europe, and others simply for the chance to start fresh in the New World. The arrivals before 1850 were mostly farmers who sought out the most productive land, where their intensive farming techniques would pay off. After 1840, many came to cities, where "Germania"—German-speaking districts—soon emerged.[10][11][12]

German Americans established the first kindergartens in the United States,[13] introduced the Christmas tree tradition,[14][15] and originated popular American foods such as hot dogs and hamburgers.[16]

German American celebrations are held throughout the country, one of the most well-known being the German-American Steuben Parade in New York City, held every third Saturday in September. There are also major annual events in Chicago, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and other cities. Like many other immigrants that came to the United States, an overwhelming number of people of German or partial German descent have essentially become Americanized.


Early historyEdit

Colonial era

The first English settlers arrived at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, and were accompanied by the first German American, Dr. Johannes Fleischer. He was followed in 1608 by five glassmakers and three carpenters or house builders.[17] The first permanent German settlement in what became the United States was Germantown, Pennsylvania, founded near Philadelphia on October 6, 1683.[18]

John Jacob Astor


Large numbers of Germans migrated from the 1680s to 1760s, with Pennsylvania the favored destination. They migrated to America for a variety of reasons;[18] Push factors involved worsening opportunities for farm ownership in central Europe, persecution of some religious groups, and military conscription; pull factors were better economic conditions, especially the opportunity to own land, and religious freedom. Often immigrants paid for their passage by selling their labor for a period of years as indentured servants.[19]

Large sections of Pennsylvania and upstate New York attracted Germans. Most were Lutheran or German Reformed; many belonged to small religious sects such as the Moravians and Mennonites. German Catholics did not arrive in number until after the war of 1812.[20]


In 1709, Protestant Germans from the Pfalz or Palatine region of Germany escaped conditions of hardship, traveling first to Rotterdam and then to London. Anne, Queen of Great Britain, helped them get to her colonies in America. The trip was long and difficult to survive because of the poor quality of food and water aboard ships and the infectious disease typhus. Many immigrants, particularly children, died before reaching America in June 1710.[21]



Louisiana's Cote des Allemands

John Law organized the first colonization of Louisiana with German immigrants. Of the over 5,000 Germans initially immigrating primarily from the Alsace Region as few as 500 made up the first wave of immigrants to leave France in route to the Americas. Less than 150 of those first indentured German farmers made it to Louisiana and settled along what became known as the German Coast. With tenacity, determination and the leadership of D'arensburg these Germans felled trees, cleared land, and cultivated the soil with simple hand tools as draft animals were not available. The German coast settlers supplied the budding City of New Orleans with Corn, Rice, eggs and meat for many years following.






Two waves of German colonists in 1714 and 1717 founded a large colony in Virginia called Germanna,[23] located near modern-day Culpeper, Virginia.


German immigrants also settled in other areas of the American South, including around the Dutch (Deutsch) Fork area of South Carolina,[20] and Texas, especially in the Austin area.

German Jews immigrated to the American South throughout the 19th century until the early 20th century. They formed small German-Jewish communities in many parts of the South, especially in cities and towns, where they most often worked as local and regional merchants, cattle/livestock dealers, agricultural commodity traders, bankers, and business owners. Henry Lehman, who founded Lehman Brothers in Alabama with his brother, is a particularly prominent example of such a German-Jewish immigrant. German Jews settled in cities such as Charleston, South Carolina, where they founded the first Reform synagogue (Congregation Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim) in the country. German Jews also settled in other Southern cities and towns, where they built German-Jewish synagogues.

New England

Between 1742 and 1753, roughly 1,000 Germans settled in Broad Bay, Massachusetts (now Waldoboro, Maine). Many of the colonists fled to Boston, Nova Scotia, and North Carolina after their houses were burned and their neighbors killed or carried into captivity by Native Americans. The Germans who remained found it difficult to survive on farming, and eventually turned to the shipping and fishing industries.[25]


The tide of German immigration to Pennsylvania swelled between 1725 and 1775, with immigrants arriving as redemptioners or indentured servants. By 1775, Germans constituted about one-third of the population of the state. German farmers were renowned for their highly productive animal husbandry and agricultural practices. Politically, they were generally inactive until 1740, when they joined a Quaker-led coalition that took control of the legislature, which later supported the American Revolution. Despite this, many of the German settlers were loyalists during the Revolution, possibly because they feared their royal land grants would be taken away by a new republican government, or because of loyalty to a British German monarchy who had provided the opportunity to live in a liberal society.[26] The Germans, comprising Lutherans, Reformed, Mennonites, Amish, and other sects, developed a rich religious life with a strong musical culture. Collectively, they came to be known as the Pennsylvania Dutch (from Deutsch).[27][28][29] Etymologically, the word Dutch originates from the Old High German word "diutisc" (from "diot" "people"), referring to the Germanic "language of the people" as opposed to Latin, the language of the learned (see also theodiscus). Only later did the word come to refer to the people who spoke the language.[30] Other Germanic language variants for "deutsch/deitsch/dutch" are: Dutch "Duits", Yiddish "daytsh", Danish "tysk", Norwegian "tysk", and Swedish "tyska".[31] ). There were few German Catholics in Pennsylvania before the 1810s.[32]


When the American Revolutionary War broke out, Britain made arrangements with German princes to hire some 30,000 "Hessian" soldiers to fight against the American army. The largest group came from the country of Hesse, and the soldiers are often referred to as Hessians. Many became prisoners on American farms, some of whom permanently settled in America.[34]


19th centuryEdit

German population 1872

German population density in the United States, 1872




The cities of Milwaukee, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Chicago, New York, and Baltimore were favored destinations of German immigrants. Also, the Northern Kentucky area was a favored destination. By 1900, the populations of the cities of Cleveland, Milwaukee, Hoboken, and Cincinnati were all more than 40% German American. Dubuque and Davenport, Iowa had even larger proportions, as did Omaha, Nebraska, where the proportion of German Americans was 57% in 1910. In many other Northern cities, such as Fort Wayne, Indiana, German Americans were at least 30% of the population.[25][37] Many concentrations acquired distinctive names suggesting their heritage, such as the "Over-the-Rhine" district in Cincinnati and "German Village" in Columbus, Ohio.[38]


Whereas half of German immigrants settled in cities, the other half established farms in the Midwest. From Ohio to the Plains states, a heavy presence persists in rural areas into the 21st century.[20][40] Few Germans settled in the Deep South, apart from some in New Orleans.[41]


The Wahrenberger House in Austin served as a German-American school.[42]




Germans from Russia

Temporary quarters for Volga Germans in central Kansas, 1875



Civil War

Sentiment among German Americans was largely anti-slavery, especially among Forty-Eighters.[36] Hundreds of thousands of German Americans volunteered to fight for the Union in the American Civil War (1861–1865).[45] The Germans were the largest immigrant group to participate in the Civil War; over 176,000 U.S. soldiers were born in Germany.[46] A popular Union commander among Germans, Major General Franz Sigel was the highest-ranking German officer in the Union Army, with many German immigrants claiming to enlist to "fight mit Sigel".[47]








Many Germans in late 19th century America were anarchists or other types of socialists.[51] Six of the eight defendants in the Haymarket Affair were German, and Germans played a significant role in the early American labor movement. Relatively few German Americans held office, but the men voted once they became citizens. In general, the Protestants and Jews leaned toward the Republican party and the Catholics were strongly Democratic. When prohibition was on the ballot, the Germans voted solidly against it. They strongly distrusted moralistic crusaders, whom they called "Puritans", including the temperance reformers and many Populists. The German community strongly opposed Free Silver, and voted heavily against crusader William Jennings Bryan in 1896. In 1900, however, many German Democrats returned to their party and voted for Bryan, perhaps because of President William McKinley's foreign policy.[52]

World WarsEdit


World War I war propaganda bond posters depicted caricatures of Germans.

World War I anti-German sentimentEdit

During World War I, German Americans were sometimes accused of being too sympathetic to the German Empire. Former president Theodore Roosevelt denounced "hyphenated Americanism", insisting that dual loyalties were impossible in wartime. A small minority came out for Germany, or ridiculed the British (as did H. L. Mencken). Similarly, Harvard psychology professor Hugo Münsterberg dropped his efforts to mediate between America and Germany, and threw his efforts behind the German cause.[53]

The Justice Department attempted to prepare a list of all German aliens, counting approximately 480,000 of them, more than 4,000 of whom were imprisoned in 1917-18. The allegations included spying for Germany, or endorsing the German war effort.[54] Thousands were forced to buy war bonds to show their loyalty.[55] The Red Cross barred individuals with German last names from joining in fear of sabotage. One person was killed by a mob; in Collinsville, Illinois, German-born Robert Prager was dragged from jail as a suspected spy and lynched.[56] A Minnesota minister was tarred and feathered when he was overheard praying in German with a dying woman.[57]

In Chicago, Frederick Stock temporarily stepped down as conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra until he finalized his naturalization papers. Orchestras replaced music by German composer Wagner with French composer Berlioz. In Cincinnati, the public library was asked to withdraw all German books from its shelves.[58] German-named streets were renamed. The town, Berlin, Michigan, was changed to Marne, Michigan (honoring those who fought in the Battle of Marne). In Iowa, in the 1918 Babel Proclamation, the governor prohibited all foreign languages in schools and public places. Nebraska banned instruction in any language except English, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the ban illegal in 1923 (Meyer v. Nebraska).[59] The response of German Americans to these tactics was often to "Americanize" names (e.g. Schmidt to Smith, Müller to Miller) and limit the use of the German language in public places, especially churches.[60]

World War IIEdit

Between 1931 and 1940, 114,000 Germans moved to the United States, many of whom—including Nobel prize winner Albert Einstein—were Jewish Germans or anti-Nazis fleeing government oppression.[61] About 25,000 people became paying members of the pro-Nazi German American Bund during the years before the war.[62] German aliens were the subject of suspicion and discrimination during the war, although prejudice and sheer numbers meant they suffered as a group generally less than Japanese Americans. The Alien Registration Act of 1940 required 300,000 German-born resident aliens who had German citizenship to register with the Federal government and restricted their travel and property ownership rights.[63][64] Under the still active Alien Enemy Act of 1798, the United States government interned nearly 11,000 German citizens between 1940 and 1948. Civil rights violations occurred.[65] An unknown number of "voluntary internees" joined their spouses and parents in the camps and were not permitted to leave.[66][67][68]

President Franklin D. Roosevelt sought out Americans of German ancestry for top war jobs, including General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, and USAAF General Carl Andrew Spaatz. He appointed Republican Wendell Willkie as a personal representative. German Americans who had fluent German language skills were an important asset to wartime intelligence, and they served as translators and as spies for the United States.[69] The war evoked strong pro-American patriotic sentiments among German Americans, few of whom by then had contacts with distant relatives in the old country.[20][70]

Number of German Americans
Year Number

Contemporary periodEdit




After 1970, anti-German sentiment aroused by World War II faded away.[75] Today, German Americans who immigrated after World War II share the same characteristics as any other Western European immigrant group in the U.S. They are mostly professionals and academics who have come for professional reasons. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and reunification, Germany has become a preferred destination for immigrants rather than a source of migrating peoples.[76]



In the 1990 U.S. Census, 58 million Americans claimed to be solely or partially of German descent.[77] According to the 2005 American Community Survey, 50 million Americans have German ancestry. German Americans represent 17% of the total U.S. population and 26% of the non-Hispanic white population.[78]



Distribution of German Americans according to the 2000 Census

California, Texas (see German Texan) and Pennsylvania have the largest numbers of German origin, although upper Midwestern states, including Ohio, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and the Dakotas, have the highest proportion of German Americans at over one-third.[79]



By percentageEdit

  1. North Dakota 46.8
  2. Wisconsin 43.9
  3. South Dakota 44.5
  4. Nebraska 42.7
  5. Minnesota 38.4
  6. Iowa 35.7
  7. Montana 27.0
  8. Ohio 26.5
  9. Wyoming 25.9
  10. Kansas 25.8
  11. Pennsylvania 25.4
  12. Missouri 23.5
  13. Indiana 22.6
  14. Colorado 22.0
  15. Oregon 20.5
  16. Michigan 20.4
  17. Illinois 19.6
  18. Idaho 18.8
  19. Washington 18.8
  20. Maryland 15.7
  21. Arizona 15.6
  22. Delaware 14.3
  23. Alaska 14.2
  24. Nevada 14.1
  25. West Virginia 14.0
  26. Kentucky 12.7
  27. Oklahoma 12.6
  28. New Jersey 12.6
  29. Florida 11.8
  30. Virginia 11.7
  31. Utah 11.5
  32. New York 11.2
  33. Texas 9.9
  34. California 9.8
  35. Connecticut 9.8
  36. New Mexico 9.8
  37. North Carolina 9.5
  38. Arkansas 9.3
  39. Vermont 9.1
  40. New Hampshire 8.6
  41. Maine 8.6
  42. South Carolina 8.4
  43. Tennessee 8.3
  44. Georgia 7.0
  45. Louisiana 7.0
  46. Massachusetts 5.9
  47. Hawaii 5.8
  48. Alabama 5.7
  49. Rhode Island
  50. District of Columbia 4.8
  51. Mississippi 4.5
Nationwide: 15.2

By absolute numberEdit

  1. California 5,517,470
  2. Pennsylvania 3,491,269
  3. Ohio 3,231,788
  4. Illinois 2,668,955
  5. Texas 2,542,996
  6. Wisconsin 2,455,980
  7. Michigan 2,271,091
  8. New York 2,250,309
  9. Florida 2,270,456
  10. Minnesota 1,949,346
  11. Indiana 1,629,766
  12. Missouri 1,576,813
  13. Washington 1,319,975
  14. Iowa 1,169,638
  15. New Jersey 1,092,054
  16. Colorado 1,090,983
  17. North Carolina 1,020,432
  18. Arizona 977,613
  19. Virginia 973,438
  20. Maryland 937,887
  21. Kansas 856,348
  22. Oregon 811,780
  23. Georgia 757,769
  24. Nebraska 738,894
  25. Kentucky 638,231
  26. Tennessee 612,669
  27. Oklahoma 531,375
  28. South Carolina 425,455
  29. Louisiana 403,222
  30. Massachusetts 402,176
  31. Connecticut 365,727
  32. Arkansas 358,764
  33. West Virginia 354,704
  34. Nevada 338,717
  35. South Dakota 334,068
  36. Idaho 317,536
  37. Utah 313,733
  38. Alabama 354,259
  39. North Dakota 290,452
  40. Montana 282,130
  41. New Mexico 219,278
  42. Mississippi 172,456
  43. Wyoming 144,972
  44. Delaware 133,757
  45. New Hampshire 124,430
  46. Alaska 121,832
  47. Maine 109,401
  48. Hawaii 83,967
  49. Vermont 67,706
  50. Rhode Island
  51. Dist. of Columbia 27,450
Nationwide: 42,841,569[81]

German-American communitiesEdit


Communities with high percentages of people of German ancestryEdit

The 25 U.S. communities with the highest percentage of residents claiming German ancestry are:[84]

  1. Monterey, OH 83.6%
  2. Granville, OH 79.6%
  3. St. Henry, OH 78.5%
  4. Germantown, IL (township) 77.6%
  5. Jackson, IN 77.3%
  6. Washington, OH 77.2%
  7. St. Rose, IL 77.1%
  8. Butler, OH 76.4%
  9. Marion, OH 76.3%
  10. Jennings, OH and Germantown, IL (village) 75.6%
  11. Coldwater, OH 74.9%
  12. Jackson, OH 74.6%
  13. Union, OH 74.1%
  14. Minster, OH and Kalida, OH 73.5%
  15. Greensburg, OH 73.4%
  16. Aviston, IL 72.5%
  17. Teutopolis, IL (village) 72.4%
  18. Teutopolis, IL (township) and Cottonwood, MN 72.3%
  19. Dallas, MI 71.7%
  20. Gibson, OH 71.6%
  21. Marshfield, Fond du Lac County, WI 71.5%
  22. Santa Fe, IL 70.8%
  23. Recovery, OH 70.4%
  24. Brothertown, WI 69.9%
  25. Herman, Dodge County, WI 69.8%

Large communities with high percentages of people of German ancestryEdit

U.S. communities with the highest percentage of residents claiming German ancestry are:[85]

  1. Dubuque, Iowa 43%
  2. Fargo, North Dakota 43%
  3. Madison, Wisconsin 29%
  4. Green Bay, Wisconsin 29%
  5. Levittown, Pennsylvania 22%
  6. Erie, Pennsylvania 22%
  7. Cincinnati, Ohio 19.8%
  8. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 19.7%
  9. Columbus, Ohio 19.4%
  10. Beaverton, Oregon 17%

Communities with the most residents born in GermanyEdit

The top 25 U.S. communities with the most residents born in Germany are:[86]

  1. Lely Resort, FL 6.8%
  2. Pemberton Heights, NJ 5.0%
  3. Kempner, TX 4.8%
  4. Cedar Glen Lakes, NJ 4.5%
  5. Alamogordo, NM 4.3%
  6. Sunshine Acres, FL and Leisureville, FL 4.2%
  7. Wakefield, KS 4.1%
  8. Quantico, VA 4.0%
  9. Crestwood Village, NJ 3.8%
  10. Shandaken, NY 3.5%
  11. Vine Grove, KY 3.4%
  12. Burnt Store Marina, FL and Boles Acres, NM 3.2%
  13. Allenhurst, GA, Security-Widefield, CO, Grandview Plaza, KS, and Fairbanks Ranch, CA 3.0%
  14. Standing Pine, MS 2.9%
  15. Millers Falls, MA, Marco Island, FL, Daytona Beach Shores, FL, Radcliff, KY, Beverly Hills, FL, Davilla, TX, Annandale, NJ, and Holiday Heights, NJ 2.8%
  16. Fort Riley North, KS, Copperas Cove, TX, and Cedar Glen West, NJ 2.7%
  17. Pelican Bay, FL, Masaryktown, FL, Highland Beach, FL, Milford, KS, and Langdon, NH 2.6%
  18. Forest Home, NY, Southwest Bell, TX, Vineyards, FL, South Palm Beach, FL, and Basye-Bryce Mountain, VA 2.5%
  19. Sausalito, CA, Bovina, NY, Fanwood, NJ, Fountain, CO, Rye Brook, NY and Desoto Lakes, FL 2.4%
  20. Ogden, KS, Blue Berry Hill, TX, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, FL, Sherman, CT, Leisuretowne, NJ, Killeen, TX, White House Station, NJ, Junction City, KS, Ocean Ridge, FL, Viola, NY, Waynesville, MO and Mill Neck, NY 2.3%
  21. Level Plains, AL, Kingsbury, NV, Tega Cay, SC, Margaretville, NY, White Sands, NM, Stamford, NY, Point Lookout, NY, and Terra Mar, FL 2.2%
  22. Rifton, NY, Manasota Key, FL, Del Mar, CA, Yuba Foothills, CA, Daleville, AL. Tesuque, NM, Plainsboro Center, NJ, Silver Ridge, NJ and Palm Beach, FL 2.1%
  23. Oriental, NC, Holiday City-Berkeley, NJ, North Sea, NY, Ponce Inlet, FL, Woodlawn-Dotsonville, TN, West Hurley, NY, Littlerock, CA, Felton, CA, Laguna Woods, CA, Leisure Village, NJ, Readsboro, VT, Nolanville, TX, and Groveland-Big Oak Flat, CA 2.0%
  24. Rotonda, FL, Grayson, CA, Shokan, NY, The Meadows, FL, Southeast Comanche, OK, Lincolndale, NY, Fort Polk South, LA, and Townsend, MA 1.9%
  25. Pine Ridge, FL, Boca Pointe, FL, Rodney Village, DE, Palenville, NY, and Topsfield, MA 1.8%






The spiritual beliefs of Johann Conrad Beissel (1690–1768) and the Ephrata Cloister - such as the asceticism and mysticism of this Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, group - are reflected in Beissel's treatises on music and hymns, which have been considered the beginning of America's musical heritage.[90]




The Imperial government in Berlin promoted German culture in the U.S., especially music. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the preponderance of German music on American symphony stages went hand in hand with the Kaiser's agenda for Germany's global expansion. After Germany's unification in 1871, German cultural diplomacy aimed increasingly to convince Anglo-American elites of the superiority of German culture to win political allies in the United States. A steady influx of German-born conductors, including Arthur Nikisch and Karl Muck, spurred the reception of German music in the United States, while German musicians seized on Victorian Americans' growing concern with 'emotion'. The performance of pieces such as Beethoven's Ninth Symphony established German serious music as the superior language of feeling, filling audiences with awe for the superiority not just of German art, but also of Germany in general - precisely the respect for German greatness and emotionalism that William II wanted to convey.[94]





Bundesarchiv Bild 137-005795, Deutsche Zeitungen in Nordamerika

German newspapers in North America, 1922

As for any immigrant population, the development of a foreign-language press helped immigrants more easily learn about their new home, maintain connections to their native land, and unite immigrant communities.[96] By the late 19th century, Germania published over 800 regular publications. The most prestigious daily newspapers, such as the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung, the Anzeiger des Westens in St. Louis, and the Illinois Staats-Zeitung in Chicago, promoted middle-class values and encouraged German ethnic loyalty among their readership.[97] The Germans were proud of their language, supported many German-language public and private schools, and conducted their church services in German.[98] They published at least two-thirds of all foreign language newspapers in the U.S. The papers were owned and operated in the U.S., with no control from Germany. As Wittke emphasizes, press. it was "essentially an American press published in a foreign tongue." The papers reported on major political and diplomatic events involving Germany, with pride but from the viewpoint of its American readers.[99][100] For example, during the latter half of the 19th century, at least 176 different German-language publications began operations in the city of Cincinnati alone. Many of these publications folded within a year, while a select few, such as the Cincinnati Freie Presse, lasted nearly a century.[101] Other cities experienced similar turnover among immigrant publications, especially from opinion press, which published little news and focused instead on editorial commentary.[102]

By the end of the 19th century, there were over 800 German-language publications in the United States.[103] German immigration was on the decline, however, and with subsequent generations integrating into English-speaking society, the German language press began to struggle.[104] The periodicals that managed to survive in immigrant communities faced an additional challenge with anti-German sentiment during World War I[105] and with the Espionage and Sedition Acts, which authorized censorship of foreign language newspapers.[106] Prohibition also had a destabilizing impact on the German immigrant communities upon which the German-language publications relied.[104] By 1920, there were only 278 German language publications remaining in the country.[107]




US census map of Lutheran churches - 1850

1850 census map shows Lutheran population. Nearly all were German, since few Scandinavians had arrived yet.

German immigrants who arrived before the 19th century tended to have been members of the Evangelical Lutheran Churches in Germany, and created the Lutheran Synods of Pennsylvania, North Carolina and New York. The largest Lutheran denominations in the U.S. today – the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod – are all descended from churches started by German immigrants among others. Calvinist Germans founded the Reformed Church in the United States (especially in New York and Pennsylvania), and the Evangelical Synod of North America (strongest in the Midwest), which is now part of the United Church of Christ. Many immigrants joined different churches from those that existed in Germany. Protestants often joined the Methodist church.[20] In the 1740s, Count Nicolas von Zinzendorf tried to unite all the German-speaking Christians - (Lutheran, Reformed, and Separatists) - into one "Church of God in the Spirit". The Moravian Church in America is one of the results of this effort, as are the many "Union" churches in rural Pennsylvania.

Before 1800, communities of Amish, Mennonites, Moravians and Hutterites had formed and are still in existence today. Some still speak dialects of German, including Pennsylvania German, informally known as Pennsylvania Dutch. The Amish, who were originally from southern Germany and Switzerland, arrived in Pennsylvania during the early 18th century. Amish immigration to the United States reached its peak between the years 1727 and 1770. Religious freedom was perhaps the most pressing cause for Amish immigration to Pennsylvania, which became known as a haven for persecuted religious groups.[109]

The Hutterites are another example of a group of German Americans who continue a lifestyle similar to that of their ancestors. Like the Amish, they fled persecution for their religious beliefs, and came to the United States in 1870. Today, Hutterites mostly reside in Montana, the Dakotas, and Minnesota, and the western provinces of Canada. Hutterites continue to speak German. Most are able to speak Standard German in addition to their dialect.[110]

Immigrants from Germany in the mid-to-late-19th century brought many different religions with them. The most numerous were Lutheran or Catholic, although the Lutherans were themselves split among different groups. The more conservative Lutherans comprised the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Other Lutherans formed a complex checkerboard of synods, most of which merged with Scandinavian-based synods in 1988, forming the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.[111]

Some 19th-century immigrants, especially the "Forty-Eighters", were secular, rejecting formal religion. About 250,000 German Jews had arrived by the 1870s, and they sponsored reform synagogues in many small cities across the country. About 2.0 million Eastern European Jews arrived from the 1880s to 1924, bringing more traditional religious practices.[112]


German speakers in the US
<center>Year <center>Speakers
1910a <center>2,759,032
1920a <center>2,267,128
1930a <center>2,188,006
1940a <center>1,589,040
1960a <center>1,332,399
1970a <center>1,201,535
1980[113] <center> 1,586,593
1990[114] <center>1,547,987
2000[115] <center>1,383,442

After two or three generations, German Americans adopted mainstream American customs—some of which they heavily influenced—and switched their language to English. As one scholar concludes, "The overwhelming evidence … indicates that the German-American school was a bilingual one much (perhaps a whole generation or more) earlier than 1917, and that the majority of the pupils may have been English-dominant bilinguals from the early 1880s on."[116] By 1914, the older members attended German-language church services, while younger ones attended English services (in Lutheran, Evangelical and Catholic churches). In German parochial schools, the children spoke English among themselves, though some of their classes were in German. In 1917–18, after the US entry into World War I on the side of the British, nearly all German language instruction ended, as did most German-language church services.[60]

About 1.5 million Americans speak German at home, according to the 2000 census. From 1860-1917, German was widely spoken in German neighborhoods; see German in the United States. There is a false myth, called the Muhlenberg legend, that German was almost the official language of the U.S. There was never any such proposal. The U.S. has no official language, but use of German was strongly discouraged during World War I and fell out of daily use in many places.[117]



"Assimilation" in this context means the steady loss of distinctive characteristics (especially language), as the Germans melted into a common American nationality. By 1910 German Americans had created their own distinctive, vibrant, prosperous German-language communities, called "Germania". According to historian Walter Kamphoefner, a "number of big cities introduced German into their public school programs".[119] Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Cleveland and other cities "had what we now call two-way immersion programs: school taught half in German, half in English".[119] This was a tradition which continued "all the way down to World War I."[119] According to Kamphoefner, German "was in a similar position as the Spanish language is in the 20th and 21st century"; it "was by far the most widespread foreign language, and whoever was the largest group was at a definite advantage in getting its language into the public sphere."[119] Kamphoefner has come across evidence that as late as 1917, a German version of the "The Star-Spangled Banner" was still being sung in public schools in Indianapolis.[119]

The transition to the English language was abrupt, forced by World War One. After 1917 the German language was seldom heard in public; most newspapers and magazines closed; churches and parochial schools switched to English. Film critic Roger Ebert has written how "I could hear the pain in my German-American father's voice as he recalled being yanked out of Lutheran school during World War I and forbidden by his immigrant parents ever to speak German again".[120] Youth increasingly attended high schools, where they mingled, in English, and dated (and later married) people of other ethnicities. The Catholic high schools were deliberately structured to commingle ethnic groups so as to promote intermarriage.[121] German-speaking taverns, beer gardens and saloons were all shut down by prohibition; those that reopened in 1933 spoke English. By the 1940s Germania had largely vanished outside remote areas and the Germans were thoroughly assimilated.[122]


Despite this assimilation, it is worth noting that a distinct German American ethnicity survived well into the mid-20th century in some places. Writing about the town of Hustisford, Wisconsin, Jennifer Ludden discusses Mel Grulke, who was born in 1941, with German his first language at home; "Grulke's great-grandparents immigrated to the U.S. in the late 1880s, yet three generations later, his farmer parents still spoke German at home, attended German language church services and chatted in German with shopkeepers when they brought their farm eggs into town to sell".[119] Bethany Lutheran Church in Hustisford offered German-language services into the 1970s.[119] Homer Rudolf, a man from North Dakota of German Russian descent, stated in 2004 that his maternal grandmother, who died in 1980 at the age of 90, "did not learn English".[124] As recently as 1990, one quarter of North Dakota's households included a German speaker.[125]

German American influenceEdit

Late-19th-century German-American buildings in Manhattan

Freie Bibliothek and Deutsches Dispensary.jpg
Little Germany House.jpg
<center>Deutsch-Amerikanische Schuetzen Gesellschaft (German-American Shooting Society) by William C. Frohne (1885) on St. Mark's Place in the East Village
Scheffel Hall 190 Third Avenue.jpg
<center>Scheffel Hall by Weber and Drosser (1894) on Third Avenue between 17th and 18th Streets, near Gramercy Park



The influence of German cuisine is seen in the cuisine of the United States throughout the country, especially regarding pastries, meats and sausages, and above all, beer. Frankfurters (or "wieners", originating from Frankfurt am Main and Vienna, respectively), hamburgers, bratwurst, sauerkraut, and strudel are common dishes. German bakers introduced the pretzel. Germans have been the dominant ethnic group in the beer industry since 1850.[20][128]

Milwaukee was once the home to four of the world's largest German breweries (Schlitz, Blatz, Pabst, and Miller), and was the number one beer producing city in the world for many years. Almost half of all current beer sales in the United States can be attributed to German immigrants, Capt. A. Pabst, Eberhard Anheuser and Adolphus Busch, who founded Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis in 1860.[129] Later German immigrants figured prominently in the rebirth of craft brews following prohibition, culminating in the microbrew movement that swept the U.S. beginning in the late 1980s.

German-American celebrations, such as Oktoberfest, German-American Day and Von Steuben Day are held regularly throughout the country. One of the largest is the German-American Steuben Parade in New York City, held every third Saturday in September. There are also major annual events in Chicago's Lincoln Square neighborhood, a traditional a center of the city's German population, in Cincinnati, where its annual Octoberfest Zinzinnati[130] is the largest Oktoberfest outside of Germany[131] and in Milwaukee, which celebrates its German heritage with an annual German Fest.[82] Many of the immigrants from Germany and other German-speaking countries came to Pennsylvania to what was then "Allegheny City" (now part of the North Side of the City of Pittsburgh). So many German speakers arrived, the area became known as "Deutschtown" and has been revived as such.[132][133] Within Deutschtown and since 1854, The Teutonia Männerchor has been promoting and furthering German cultural traditions.[134][135]


Notable German AmericansEdit

German Americans have been influential in almost every field in American society, including science, architecture, industry, sports, entertainment, theology, government, and the military.



Many German Americans have played a prominent role in industry and business, including John D. Rockefeller (Standard Oil), William Boeing (The Boeing Company), Walter Chrysler (Chrysler Corporation), Frederick and August Duesenberg (Duesenberg automobile Corporation), Studebaker brothers (Studebaker automobile Corporation), George Westinghouse (Westinghouse Electric Corporation), Levi Strauss (Levi Strauss & Co.), Charles Guth (PepsiCo Inc.), James L. Kraft (Kraft Foods Inc.), Henry E. Steinway (Steinway & Sons), Charles Pfizer (Pfizer, Inc.), Donald Trump (The Trump Organization), John Jacob Astor (Waldorf Astoria Hotels and Resorts), Conrad Hilton (Hilton Hotels & Resorts), Guggenheim family (Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation), (Guggenheim Partners), Marcus Goldman (The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.), Samuel Sachs (The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.), Lehman Brothers (Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.), Carl Laemmle (Universal Studios), Marcus Loew (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.), Harry Cohn (Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.), Herman Hollerith (International Business Machines Corporation (IBM)), Steve Jobs (Apple Inc.),[136][137] Eric Schmidt (Google Inc.), Peter Thiel (PayPal Inc.), Adolph Simon Ochs and Arthur Ochs Sulzberger (The New York Times), Charles Bergstresser (The Wall Street Journal), Al Neuharth (USA Today), Eugene Meyer (The Washington Post) etc.



Others, including Albert Einstein, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Wernher von Braun, John Peter Zenger, John Steinbeck, Kurt Vonnegut, Joseph Weizenbaum set intellectual landmarks, Neil Armstrong was the first human to land on the moon.

Still others, such as George Eyser, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jack Nicklaus, Doris Day, Marlene Dietrich, Johnny Weissmuller, Ernst Lubitsch, Walter Damrosch, John Denver, John Kay, Meryl Streep, Sandra Bullock, David Hasselhoff, Leonardo DiCaprio, Steven Spielberg became prominent athletes, actors, film directors or artists.[138]

German-American presidentsEdit

There have been two presidents whose fathers were of German descent: Dwight Eisenhower (original family name Eisenhauer and maternal side is also German/Swiss) and Herbert Hoover (original family name Huber). Presidents with maternal German ancestry include George Washington, Richard Milhous Nixon (Nixon's maternal ancestors were Germans who anglicized Melhausen to Milhous).[139] and Barack Obama,[140] whose mother's family comes from the South German village of Besigheim.[141]

See alsoEdit


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