German Americans in World War Two?

Question

German Americans make a great amount of the American people. In ww2, were they allowed to fight in the army? If so, how much could they have been, and how did they feel?
George Aderholt, Sammy Holtz and Fred Mahler shooting on Johann Mueller and Franz Schmidt sounds kinda awkward...

Answer 1

The question goes back to WWI, when many Schmidts became Smiths and Bekkers became Bakers. Racism against German families was very bad, in some areas. My father's family came to America from Switzerland in 1819. We were here for four generations before the Great War, yet we were mistrusted. Things changed, for the better, by WWII. The lists of U.S. Generals and Admirals are filled with names such as Eisenhower, Nimitz and Spaatz.

Answer 2

Many of Germany's jewish scientists actually immigrated to the U.S. prior to the war. They then helped the U.S. develope the atom bomb. The two most recognizeable names from that group are probably Einstein and Oppenhiemer.

In general there did not seem to be the same stigma on American Germans as there was on American Japanese people. First, very often the "german" Americans had been here for several generations and no longer even spoke german. They were also white and intermarried with other ethnic groups here in the U.S. until they were nearly indistinguishable from the rest of the population. There were also many many more of them here making rounding them all up impractical even if you could definitively tell who was really German.

The Japanese on the other hand for the most part still lived in ethnic enclaves, hadn't been here nearly as long, and tended not to marry outside the Japanese community. This made them much more obviously noticeable. Also the fear of attack on the west coast from Japan was much greater than concern about a direct assault on the East coast by Germany since Great Britain was in the way.

Answer 3

I think that one only need to look at some of the famous names of WWII. What kind of name do you think Eisenhower is?

I think in WWII it was different than in WWI. In WWI there was a city in Ontario called Berlin. It was renamed Kitchener. Also the British Monarchy was called the House of Hanover, as George the First was German. They renamed the royal family too the present day Windsor,

Answer 4

Yes, read Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut junior, a German American and a great writer.

Answer 5

My family fled Germany just after WW 1 and when WW 2 came around my father, 4 uncles, and even 1 of my aunts served with honor in the American army.

My aunt was a translator, and was at a concentration camp when it was liberated. My uncle was wounded when his bomber was shot down over Germany.

They said they were treated just like everyone else by there fellow soldiers/sailors.

Answer 6

Yes, many German Americans fought in the war. For the most part, they were as accepted as any other soldier. Occasionally there was suspicion, especially toward those who spoke the language or were recent immigrants. But German speakers were also prized as translators. Most of them felt proud to be standing up to tyranny.

Answer 7

i'm really not sure how they would have felt about fighting in the war, i mean, there was a draft in world war II, so i don't know if those men with german ancestry were skipped over by the draft, or were used to fight. i think you'd have to ask a surviving german american from that era about how people viewed them, & how they felt about fighting against the germans.