The
Holocaust instigated by the German Nazis during WWII was a tragedy that
shook the World. Often a reference point for the study of genocides,
and arguably a “uniquely unique” genocide in and of itself, the
Holocaust forced the world to question group murders and suppression.
The American homefront was incredibly sheltered and skirmish-free within
this World War, which took the lives of approximately 60 million
people. After the war our country prospered while counterparts in
Eurasia took years recovering their national identities and economies.
Yet on American soil an unrecognized movement towards cultural genocide
against German-Americans took place during WWII, where citizens of
German descent would be victims to undue political and cultural
persecution from the Government as well as neighbors. I argue that the
conflict does not reach genocide, but does approach it given the actions
taken by the Federal government and communities.
Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor the environment in the U.S.
changed for German-Americans drastically. Neighbors treated them with
distrust, and they were often turned away from their communities.
Concurrently, the United States set in place a number of internment
camps for citizens and aliens of German descent, made possible by a
loose interpretation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. These camps
functioned much like the ghettos that Nazis forced Jews into before the
final solution.
Outside
of camp-life, aspects of German culture that had been integrated into
American culture were quickly suppressed. Just as the French fry
recently debuted as “Liberty fries” in opposition to French politics,
during the war the hamburger became the “liberty sandwich”, and
sauerkraut was called “freedom cabbage” in order to further American
Patriotism and eschew any link to the German enemy. Likewise, there was a
movement to bar the performance of German classical music, and a
parallel movement to get more Americans conducting orchestras instead of
foreigners. Serge Koussevitzky, the conductor of the Boston Symphony
Orchestra was suspended for refusing to change a concert program
including Ludwig van Beethoven. This movement to bar and delegitimize
German culture in America was an integral part to the American war-time
propaganda machine.
World War II, seen in the eyes of Americans through government
propaganda, popular films and comic books, was depicted as “the Good
War”. It was said to be the last war to “make sense”; Democracy vs.
Fascism, Totalitarianism vs. the Four Freedoms, Good vs. Evil. But
perhaps it shouldn’t be so black and white. The U.S. have never
recognized or apologized for their internment of German-Americans, or
their attempt to cripple German traditions and culture in the United
States. While American actions against German-Americans might not
constitute genocide, perhaps if the war had reached a more critical level, more actions would have been deemed necessary? Germany did not jump to the Final Solution. And though the number of Germans and
German-American citizens only reached 1/10 the total of Japanese
incarcerated in camps, they underwent the same struggle, and should also
receive adequate recognition from the United States. I have adhered to the Honor Code on this Assignment.
-Dan King
What an interesting blog post. I never knew German-Americans actually faced internment camps during World War II, although I knew they faced broader forms of persecution. I would argue that what you describe as a “movement to cultural genocide” was not limited to American soil nor was it limited to wartime years. American involvement in Germany after World War II indicates cultural attitudes similar to what you have described manifested significantly differently.
ReplyDeleteAs the cold war began shortly after the end of World War II, West Germany became increasingly important to American interests as a bastion against communism. However, the Allied-Occupied German economy had been crippled by its wartime losses and reparation payments. The Marshall plan established by the United States to aid European economies to prevent the spread of communism arguably played a significant role in West Germany’s Wirtschaftswunder, but American influence in Germany was by no means universally positive. On the contrary, American presence in Germany assumed a form of benign imperialism in which German culture was actively discouraged. This trend is clearly visible in the film industry of the BRD. In American-occupied Germany, films were considered an ideal mode to re-educate the German populace to become good, capitalist quasi-Americans. Because American films had not played under the Third Reich, American film studios had a large backlog of films to draw from. These films proved immensely successful in Germay – so successful, in fact, that they effectively destroyed Germany’s native film industry. For several decades, German film was reduced almost exclusively to sentimental Heimatsfilme that were largely incapable of competing with American films. Not until the rise of New German Cinema in the late ‘60s would the West German Film industry begin to attain any degree of international success.
Although I would hardly call the American political and (later) economic presence in post-war Germany “genocide”, it does share certain motivations – namely the destruction of a culture considered dangerous to the dominant powers. However, the fact that damage to German culture did not amount to genocide begs the question: what degree of importance can one place on destruction of culture when in other ways the group in power is largely beneficial? In this case, fairly little, but Germans were also relatively enthusiastic participants in America’s economic presence.