Kultur 1: How German is American

How German is American, to someone who knows little to nothing of German, is an incredibly informative article. I also hadn't ever thought about the question at hand before reading the article, and I'm a little shocked that we have as much German influence as we do.

For instance I had no idea that the Amish community was actually originally started by German immigrants, or that Milwaukee was such a center of German culture in America. On my trip to Ohio to visit Oberlin for college auditions, my family drove through miles and miles of Amish country. I find it interesting that a tradition like theirs has survived through the years.

Also I hadn't thought about it before, but it makes perfect sense that German culture in the America's was stifled during World War I. The government had many anti-German propaganda posters meant to try and convince the people that the German's were the enemy. This caused many German Americans to drop their traditions for the time being.

The largest center of "American German-ism" that I have ever visited is a small tourist town called Frankenmuth. Frankenmuth is a small Michigan tourist town that caters to old German traditions. The architecture is meant to be close to that of old German buildings, there are shops like the Maus Haus which sells gourmet cheeses, and there is a large hotel/resort called the Bavarian Inn that boasts it has Bavarian hospitality. Bavaria is the small region in Germany that Frankenmuth tries to imitate.

Here is a picture of the Bavarian inn to give you an idea of what it looks like:



All in all the article was highly informative and educational.

Auf Wiedersehen!