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German-Americans

German Americans are the largest ethnic group in the US. Approximately 60 million Americans claim German ancestry. German American loyalty to America's promise of freedom traces back to the Revolutionary War. Nevertheless, during World War II, the US government and many Americans viewed German Americans and others of "enemy ancestry" as potentially dangerous, particularly recent immigrants. The Japanese American WWII experience well known. Few, however, know of the European American WWII experience, particularly that of the German Americans. The government used many interrelated, constitutionally questionable methods to control those of enemy ancestry, including internment, individual and group exclusion from military zones, internee exchanges for Americans held in Germany, deportation, "alien enemy" registration requirements, travel restrictions and property confiscation.

The human cost of these civil liberties violations was high. Families were disrupted, reputations destroyed, homes and belongings lost. Meanwhile, untold numbers of German Americans fought for freedom around the world, including their ancestral homelands. Some were the immediate relatives of those subject to oppressive restrictions on the home front. Pressured by the US, many Latin American governments arrested at least 4,050 German Latin Americans. Most were shipped in dark boat holds to the United States and interned. At least 2000 Germans, German Americans and Latin Americans were later exchanged for Americans and Latin Americans held in Germany. Some allege that internees were captured to use as exchange bait.

Some Fought, Some Died And Some. . .

Righting An Old Wrong

Most Americans probably know that thousands of Japanese-Americans were rounded up and interned as potential subversives during World War II because of their ancestry. What many may not know is that at least 11,000 German-Americans, some from Wisconsin, were also put in labor camps for the same flimsy reason. Our government has formally recognized that its Japanese-American citizens got a raw deal more than 50 years ago, but no such consolations have been offered to the German-Americans who were victimized by the war at home.

That is an oversight that Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) has promised to correct. Shortly after the new Congress convenes next year, he will introduce a measure to officially recognize the injustice suffered during the war by German-Americans and other Europeans in this country. Feingold says the details have yet to be worked out, but a blueprint for appropriate legislation is a measure enacted this fall as a GOP gift-cum-boost to Rep. Rick Lazio (R-N.Y.), then engaged in a Senate election campaign against Hillary Rodham Clinton. That bill called on the Justice Department to identify, as best it could, Italian-Americans who were interned, deported and mistreated during World War II, and it required the president to acknowledge that a major injustice had occurred.

Feingold is showing considerable courage in leading this effort; many people, Jews and others, remember and resent the atrocities meted out by Germans during World War II. There can be no forgiving and forgetting these atrocities. A few of the detainees probably were Nazi sympathizers, but the overwhelming majority were not. Many of the facts are terrifying:

1. On the basis of hastily drawn and patently unconstitutional laws, homes were raided and ransacked by the FBI. Parents were arrested and hauled off to one of more than 50 labor camps in Texas, North Dakota and elsewhere. Some brought their families with them, others could not. Children were left to fend for themselves.

2. The accused, often only semi-fluent in English, had no right to counsel and could not contest the proceedings against them or question accusers. Many had fled Germany to escape these star-chamber tactics only to encounter them in the land where they hoped to find democracy. Jobs were forfeited, reputations ruined, dreams dashed.

3. Many not imprisoned were deported back to Germany. The hapless deportees included not only naturalized U.S. citizens, but their American-born children. A few were Jews fleeing Nazi persecution. Some were beaten and arrested by the Gestapo.

Some who lived through this terror have written books that chronicle their days and nights of torment. But their plight has never attracted widespread attention. Why not? Former Judge Fred Kessler, one of several Milwaukeeans who got Feingold's attention, says many victims wanted to forget the past. Others, aware of anti-German resentment caused by the Holocaust, wanted to avoid publicity. They are beginning to seek recognition now, Kessler believes, partly because of growing interest in an accounting of past injustices. Holocaust claims have been brought against Switzerland. Some African-American leaders have sought reparations for the descendants of slaves. It is in this context that German-Americans are asking, "What about us?"

About 2.2 million people in Wisconsin, more than 45% of the state's population, claim German ancestry. That is the highest percentage of any state in the union. "We don't want reparations," says Frank Schmitz, president of the German-American Society of Wisconsin. "We don't even want an apology. What we want is official recognition of what happened." That recognition will come 50 years too late. But, thanks to Feingold and others, it appears to be on the way.

Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Dec. 1, 2000.

July 1943: Dad holding Snookie and Raymond Lee Jake holding Shirley and Louise July 1944 (l to r): Back - Uncle Jake, Aunt Maxine, Aunt Bertie Aunt Grace, Uncle Julius, Judy, Uncle Raymond; Front - Edward Lee, Uncle Ernest, Dad, Raymond Lee Grandma holding Shirley June 1945: Dad and Bill Dad, Grandma...... Dad, Grandma......

July 1943: Dad, Uncle Jake - ??? July 1943: Dad & Uncle Jake holding Snookie & Mary Louise July 1944: Uncle Ernest, Aunt Maxine, Dad & Edward Lee Dad and Grandma

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