Twice in this century, within a span of only 24 years, the rulers of America felt called upon to combat an alleged threat to democracy and world peace by waging a “holy war” in Europe, against the will of their people. Twice they repudiated their own founding ideals and drew on their inexhaustible resources to stand by the side of powers who had divided the world amongst themselves in brutal colonial wars – joining forces against a nation that had no possessions beyond its own borders after the First World War, and from which they had only gained benefits in the past.
In costly battles Germans had once contributed to winning young America’s independence from the British Crown. The nation’s subsequent development from primitive beginnings to a position of world leadership in industry and trade is unthinkable without the hard work, efficiency and high moral virtues of the German immigrants.
But the Germans, as numerically the largest ethnic group in the United States, were not only the driving force in America’s material development. Germans set the tone in education and research, and insofar as one can speak of American culture and American intellectual life, it was the enrichment brought by the Germans, with their naturally cheerful way of life and particularly their unparalleled patronage of music, that helped overcome the sterile Puritanism of Anglo-Saxon life, to the benefit of the entire nation.
The following accounts, which are based on the reports of well-known emigrants, shall give an idea of the scope of German achievements in America – and also of the betrayal committed by a power-hungry financial and political clique against the most honest, loyal and decent among their citizens, and against their native land.
Germans Helped Build America
Germans Helped Build America
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