American reacts to The Untold History of German America (Deutschamerikaner)

[@ralfbauerfeind8236]

The German name "Eisenhauer" (literally [iron beater]) could be a synonym name for a Schmied [blacksmith] (Schmid, Schmidt,… -> [Smith])

[@Born.Toulouse]

Not necessarily. The name could also mean a miner ("Hauer") in an (iron) ore mine. I don't know which etymology is correct here though.

[@napoleonfeanor]

@@Born.Toulouse That's what I thought,too.

[@vinninator6187]

​@@Born.Toulouse actually you're both correct, Eisenhauer was used for both miners and smiths in medieval Germany

[@alexanderblume5377]

@@Born.Toulouse >Deine Interpretation ist zutreffender.

[@gregorygant4242]

@@Born.Toulouse Hau ab ! Lol, lol ! I think that means get lost in German.

[@stevemcgowen]

What shocks me is so many of German heritage in US America and USA still can't make good beer.

[@philippprime6844]

Those who have achieved nothing in Europe have emigrated to the USA. So it makes sense that this also applies to beer brewers.

[@Cydonius1701]

Prohibition destroyed a lot of what seem to have been promising breweries, IIRC

[@kimmyx3345]

I laughed harder than I should have 😅

[@Murad-q9p1q]

@@philippprime6844 That's not true at all. Most german people who migrated to `murica had religious reasons. You have to take the time, when those people migrated, into account. There was no "middle class". There were peasants, nobility and the catholic church.

[@kisakisakura6663]

Or bread. They really need more Bäckers and Bauern as well es Bräuer there.

[@MolnarG007]

Don't worry we know about Indiana. From the Spielberg movies. Uses whip, and got his name from their dog.

[@klarasee806]

😂👍

[@janh.9841]

I was under the impression that Indiana is deprecated today as a term and replaced by Native American or so 🤔

[@klarasee806]

@ 😂🤣😂

[@xrecix]

and don't forget the TV-Show The Middle

[@CavHDeu]

Indy 500

[@tim8067]

In the movie Sleepy Hollow the "headless hessian" played by Christopher Walken is a reference to those hessians that were sold to fight for the Britains. I'm a hessian too, but still wearing my head.

[@dutote]

Looking at your profile pic, not 100 % sure, but you are probably a Hessian. MfG

[@ThomasMeier-z6m]

Hälst Du Deinen Kopf auch voller Stolz und würdevoll hoch? Warte bis der beklatschte Ali kommt und ihn Dir abschlägt. Grüße eines 3/4 Badeners und 1/4 Hessens (1 Opa kam aus Frankfurt) aus dem Sächsischen Exil!

[@tenbear5]

Probably more than that. In Britain, after the Roman invasion, German tribes occupied the Island as they did most of Europe. Most Brits aren’t even close to what were the indigenous celts: both the Saxons & Angles were Germanic.

[@WereDictionary]

"well yeah my ancestors are grom england but THEIR ancestors were angles and saxons so Im really 1/4096th Frisian"

[@tenbear5]

@@WereDictionary very possible. My mother is German, my father is a celt… i can only be 50%

[@nomaam9077]

4:39 - And most English people also have German ancestry because they are descendants of Anglo-Saxons. 🤷‍♂🤷‍♂

[@albundy7718]

Technically true. About half of England have some german DNA because the two germanic tribes "Angeln" and "Sachsen" conquered half the country about 1000 years ago.

[@wildesherz19222]

Vikings are not german 😊

[@wildesherz19222]

Prinz Charles kommt vom deutschen Adel. Hause Coburg und Gotha.

[@LettersFromAFriend]

Turns out there is only one ethnicity in the world and it's German.

[@nomaam9077]

@@wildesherz19222 Yes, Vikings are North Germanic tribes and the southernmost Viking settlement is Haithabu and that is in Germany.

[@i-klaus]

Best of all: The "Speak American" poster. That says it all.

[@fixzeichner5592]

Many of your politicians have German ancestors, as you can tell from their names. For example, Rumsfeld, Schulz, Kissinger, Walz, Trump, Eisenhower=Eisenhauer, Schwartzkopf and even Obama's mother had German ancestors. Many military men from American history also had German roots. General Custer's ancestors were probably called Küster. Many greetings from Saxony.

[@gregorygant4242]

Some of those individuals were really great guys (sarcastic).

[@fixzeichner5592]

@@gregorygant4242 True, we Germans don't have to be very proud of some of them.

[@michaelgiertz-rath7994]

@@fixzeichner5592 Especially Custer. His little stint against some tribes of native americans didn't do good on his career ;-) Back in the CW, both sides had germans in their ranks. Interestingly enough however, the majority of germans were found in the Union army. They even got their own german regiments, but in the end, they all considered themselves americans first, heritage X second.

[@Rob_Otter]

It's really impressive how connected the US and Germany are when you look at the emigration history of the Germans. My grandfather (on my father's side) came from Wisconsin and had his roots in an originally German family that emigrated from Germany to the USA in the mid-19th century. He was a paratrooper in WWII, became German POW, where he met a German Red Cross nurse - my future grandma. He told me a few times about how difficult it was for the two of them... On the side of my grandmother's family, who were real Nazis and whose daughter was now dating an “occupier”. And on the other side, an originally German family, who just didn't want to have any connection to anything German after the war, but who now had a son who was dating a “Nazi brat”. Be that as it may, for me it was always super exciting to get to know both sides (US/GER) and to compare them with each other. And there were certainly worse ways to spend your school vacations than in the USA :D

[@Asto508]

That's actually a very lovely story, thanks for sharing.

[@stevefoulston]

Texas German is a group of German language dialects spoken by descendants of mid-19th century German settlers, Texas Germans. They settled the Texas German Country, running from Houston to the Hills Region, and founded the towns of Bulverde, New Braunfels, Fredericksburg, Boerne, Pflugerville, Walburg and Comfort in the Texas Hill Country; Muenster in North Texas; and Schulenburg, Brenham, Industry, New Ulm and Weimar in East Texas. Texas German is unusual in that most German Texans continued to speak German in their homes and communities for several generations after settling in the state. Peace out.

[@alicemilne1444]

I thought Brenham was an odd name for Germans to choose, as the suffix "ham" is typically English. So I looked it up. Turns out that the original community was called Hickory Grove and was one of the Old Three Hundred settlements dating back to the 1820s and 1830s. It was renamed Brenham after a local Anglo-American physician and made county seat in 1844. So it wasn't founded by Germans, although the first German immigrants started arriving there in 1846.

[@Citizen-1a]

I’m German, and it turns out I have also some Scottish and Irish ancestors. I think the notion of anyone anywhere claiming to be 100% German or English or French or whatever is probably inherently flawed. Depends are far back you chose to consider.

[@HerbertGünther-t2n]

No bro my aunt studied ancestry and she researched our family history until the 11th century.

[@Safia91]

Most of germans are only german and can trace their ancestry back hundreds of years.

[@itssogood69]

Ein sehr kluger Gedanke! Wir sind auf Erden alle Brüder und Schwestern

[@deinauge7894]

​@@HerbertGünther-t2nAnd she found all ancesters, 30 generations deep?😂😂 Or just 1 or 2 lines?

[@HerbertGünther-t2n]

@@deinauge7894 a lot of lines but not all. Turns out we are actually ancestors of karl the great and one of his mistresses lol.

[@TheKacey87]

22:06 "And, as always, thank you for watching. This was Mason and goodbye."

[@Drachselhuberjoschi_1]

Indiana,the Bielefeld of America😜😜😜... Hey,we know Indiana Jones....

[@wernerclarssen2939]

LOL😂

[@desperadox7565]

But Indiana is real.

[@visionsofcody1]

Hey I live near Bielefeld and I‘ve been there numerous times. So… if Bielefeld isn‘t real, where the heck was I then? LOL 😳

[@breadbaker]

@@visionsofcody1 I have a colleague that claims he was born in "Bielefeld"... since this is impossible I just think he is a spy. I like him though and I don't want to blow his cover.

[@visionsofcody1]

@@breadbaker haha…yeah be a good pal, don‘t do that! 😉

[@eurorpeen]

I live in Luxembourg, I am Belgian, one of my grandmother was German, I have family in New Jersey.... nobody is just from one place

[@eucitizen78]

There is a reason that there are not so many immigrants from England. They immigrated to place in the British Empire like Australia or New Zealand.

[@claudiakarl7888]

Or were brought there as prisoners.

[@eucitizen78]

@@claudiakarl7888 true

[@DamnOldAlready]

I guess this is from all european cultures: No, you are not German, italian, Spanish, Portugese, Scandinavian, Irish or what ever. You are just Americans.

[@Facthuntcentral]

You're just ignorant. I'm a proud Scots-Belgian American with some French and Norwegian ancestry, always will be.

[@BambuleJack]

@@Facthuntcentral He said cultures. You are coming from a genetical standpoint, which thought through would make us all african. At least thats what modern science supposes. That damn old guy up there was speaking about people, who merged to a group and advanced to live in their way, have certain traditions, stories and events. I´m going to guess here, fogive me if im wrong but i think you didnt actually go to all of these places your genetic statistic showed you. Also i am sure if you ever were to visit france, you pretty fast would feel and see the differences between you and the french people, maybe feeling pretty american in one of your "home countries"

[@eurorpeen]

@@Facthuntcentral you are American, I am Belgian

[@DamnOldAlready]

@@Facthuntcentral Yeah, and I am an partial proud Homo erectus-neanderthalensis-sapien. OMG.

[@Fochest0r]

20:58 I think a great role in the German interest in native American culture play the novels written by Karl May. A German writer who never (up until he wrote the novels, later he visited) was in America but told great tales of adventures of a German dude in the Wild West. Many of his novels were written in prison. I don't think these stories are well known in the US, but if you ever heard of Old Shatterhand and Winnetou, he would be the author. He was alive from 1842, I believe, and most of the well-known novels were published in the late 1800s. He also published some novels about adventures in the Middle East / Persia.

[@napoleonfeanor]

Kurdistan* ;)

[@deinauge7894]

​@@napoleonfeanorand arabia, egypt, sudan etc.

[@napoleonfeanor]

@@deinauge7894 The latter two being in Africa but I don't know all.

[@tuluguag]

There is another reason for that. Our germanic ancestors lived the same lifestyle like the natives did. Until the roman invasion. 1500 - 1800 years ago. Even the religon was somewhat similar until we were forced into christianity.

[@thomasfranz6467]

Even without Karl May, the way of life of native Americans was heavily romanticized in German romaticism. It symbolized a connection with nature, but also the supernatural, which was exactly what this movement was about.

[@irminschembri8263]

12.41 : Couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the police car of the City of New Ulm which is a partner city of our twin town of Ulm-Neu-Ulm here in Germany. Especially as my niece who was a police officer in Neu-Ulm was invited to visit the New Ulm police and vice versa.

[@janh.9841]

🥴

[@gregorygant4242]

Oh ,Albert Einstein's birth place Ulm , is that right not Neu-Ulm the first one ? I think Ulm has a great cathedral there too or am I wrong about that ?

[@irminschembri8263]

@@gregorygant4242 You are right on both counts and the Gothic Ulmer Münster has the tallest tower/steeple in the world, too. 👍 And in case you are interested in history, it's the birth place of Marlene Dietrich and Hans and Sophie Scholl as well. Best regards from an Ulmer Spatz ( sparrow).🙂

[@gregorygant4242]

@@irminschembri8263 Is it taller than the Cologne cathedral that's very beautiful too which one is older? I don't know who Sophie Scholl is who is she is that during WW II times ? Sorry ,I'm a 1971 guy an Englander I don't know that much about WW II history . I was born during the filming of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory in Munich in 1971 with the great Gene Wilder, great children's movie. "Everything inside my factory here is edible ". "Let me in I'm starving ! " Lol, lol .

[@irminschembri8263]

@@gregorygant4242 Hi Gregory. You made me laugh ! The Ulmer Münster is a tick taller than the Dome in Cologne and roughly the same age. And Hans and Sophie Scholl were students who distributed anti-Hitler flyers at the university in Munich and paid for that with their lives. Greetings to an Englander who is a chocoholic like me. 😁

[@DenUitvreter]

I recently learned the Amish call the non Amish Americans the English, I guess they simply name them after their language. Which is very 1500's, but I guess for Germans also still very 1800's. The English of course did not only allow immigrants from other European countries in, they also let them stay. NYC was still very much a Dutch speaking city in the early 19th century, allthough half of the population wasn't even ethnically Dutch on arrival.

[@tommay6590]

You also have to bear in mind that the British monarchs starting with George I were Germans themselves, they kept all their German possessions and titles and more important here also had a lot of their German subject move over to England, where there met an Anglo-Saxon population that as the names suggest were rooted in the Germanic territories of Angeln (modern day German/Danish border area) and Saxony (modern day Lower Saxony, capital Hannover, where 1000 years later George I came from). So quite a number of “English” were of German ancestry themselves.

[@klarasee806]

Not all with the name Smith or Fisher in the USA were formerly Schmidts or Fischers of course, since Smith and Fisher have always been common English names. Eisenhauer, however, is a purely German name.

[@NeverMind439]

That's a source I want to see, because I think that Smith or, ESPECIALLY, Fisher are derived from the German names.

[@thomasfranz6467]

@@NeverMind439 there's a ton of Smiths in England for example... Sure, many German Schmidts probably changed their names to Smith, but that doesn't mean that all Smiths are German.

[@LTDominator-fo1he]

Funfact: Whole Great Britain has german ancestors even the royal family IS in fact german. Great Britain united under Anglosaxons formerly Saxons, Sachsen or Saxa.

[@karstenstormiversen4837]

Well you must think about the English names also is made more English sounding since Britain was settled by the Anglo Saxons before the Normanns invaded the Islan in 1066!

[@klarasee806]

⁠@@NeverMind439Why do you think that? Fishing and smithing are not unique to Germany 😂 Almost every country has its own variations of them. The famous Ferrari is the Italian equivalent of Schmidt/Smith, for example. Also a famous version is Ferrero in Spain. In Poland it‘s Kowalski. The Netherlands have Smid or Smit (not because they changed our Schmidt, but because Smith is a traditional profession there too, and so these names derived from their term for it: Smid. Germans were not the only ones who fought with iron swords 😉 For Fischer/Fisher we have Pescador in Spain and Portugal, Pescatore in Italy, Fiskare in Sweden, Rybak in Poland, Visser in the Netherlands, Fisker in Danmark and Norway,… It‘s the same with Müller/Miller. These are simply very traditional professions that turned into last names. You can find this phenomenon all over the world. You asked for sources, so: According to "A Dictionary of English Surnames" by P.H. Reaney and R.H. Wilson, Smith and Fisher are old English occupational names that originated in the Middle Ages. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, both names have been documented in England since the 13th century. The National Archives in the UK contain medieval tax lists in which both names appear frequently. Historical censuses show that Smith was already the most common English name in the 14th and 15th centuries because the profession of blacksmith was extremely popular in England. Do you need more sources? In the past, names often described the role of the person in the community. That's the whole secret behind it 🤷‍♀️

[@GiavanniGabrieli]

Texas German is an interesting dialect. As a German myself, it is easy to understand. Some of the grammatical specialties and pronuncations of words are also present in the dialect that is sproken in the region where I live. And unfortunatelly, it is one of the many dialects, that go exstinct.

[@Hinnerk888]

Check : Boing is a German Name, came from 59174 Kamen to Düsseldorf, and Theo Wenz with his Family to USA.

[@Sim-one6988]

THIS is a very fascinating video for us. My fiancé comes from Longview (TX) and I from Aachen, (Germany). We both visited a restaurant here in germany called Lousiana, it also served Cajun cuisine such as jambalaya, he knew it because he was born next to Lousiana in north-east Texas and I knew it because my German hometown is only 2 hours by car away from france. The world is that small 😅❤ I think we american/german are a good mix, our unborn daughter will learn both languages ​​and grow up in two cultures that are very similar.

[@simonman3042]

I'm Irish, live in the Halifax UK. Halifax, UK is twinned with Aachen, Germany. Since 1949, an exchange has taken place each year either to Aachen from Halifax or to Halifax from Aachen. Mostly with activities including social, cultural, sporting, and business exchanges. 😊

[@Sim-one6988]

​​@@simonman3042Oh, I didn't know that, that's also very interesting. Ireland is incredibly beautiful even if you live in England ❤now. I love playing the violin and here too there is a great connection to Texas because fiddling with dancing clearly has Irish influences👏👏👏😊But I'll find out more about 1949, that's what interests me now.

[@tryptophan5313]

Glückwunsch, und euch beiden eine tolle Zukunft 🥂

[@Sim-one6988]

@tryptophan5313 Dankeschön, from Jim& Sim🥰🥰🥰

[@gregorygant4242]

Wasn't Aachen French before it became a German city ? Just curious.

[@Germanistan]

He mentions the Hessians that fought "against us", but he did not mention that almost half a million Germans also fought for the Union in the American Civil war. He also did not mention Baron von Steuben, a German general who basically created the US Army.

[@Verfassers]

Korrekt

[@SlimNesbitt-p6s]

I am German and some of my ancestors emigrated to Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Ohio. Unfortunately, I have to say that freedom is not as important in America as the Americans do. See the oppression of American citizens of German descent and the persecution of the German language. This led to a falsification of history as people of German descent denied their German roots from then on. Where is America's great freedom? In your history, many ethnic groups were oppressed because of their origins. (African Americans, Chinese, Native Americans, Mexicans, Germans, Japanese). Some of them still are today. America, the freest country in the world???

[@Asto508]

Wer hat denn in deinen Kaffee geschifft?

[@SlimNesbitt-p6s]

@@Asto508 Ich trink kein Kaffee

[@mariusbcc7391]

Louisinna was bought by the americans from french in the 18th century so it makes sense

[@Michael_from_EU_Germany]

Louis = king of France

[@Joseph-ax999]

I'm totally German on my father's side Within 2 generations all my German ancestors spoke plattdeutsch and immigrated between 1870 and 1890. They settled around Grand Island Nebraska which had a German language newspaper until 1920, The Grand Island Anzeiger und Herold. According to the 1880 census over 80% of the residents of that area claimed Germany as their country of origin.

[@snickepie95]

Louisianian city names are literally french. New Orleans (Orleans is a french city), Baton Rouge, Metairie, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Bossier City, LaPlace, Chalmette, Thibadaux, Opelousas, ...

[@we73]

One of my ancestors founded the Gruen Watch Company at the end of the 19th century, which was the largest watch manufacturer in the USA at the end of the 19th century and up until the 1920s. They also invented the first wrist watches. They went there because America had the largest market for it.

[@Al69BfR]

7:50 I‘m still convinced that it was Hessian soldiers and their language who brought that rolling „r“ into the American language that is typical for American English. A Hessian tourist group in Dublin was once believed to be Americans by other guests in that pub, because their mumbling at the table sounded like American English to them. 😊

[@sr-nw3kr]

Herborn twich? Might make sense 😂

[@AnnetteLudke-je5ll]

Merkenbach rolling "r"??? Love it!!!! 😄😄😄

[@PeterBuwen]

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they wrote a doctoral thesis in German (or at least with a German translation) in the USA, because German was an important language of science at the time.

[@fb3634]

the spanish as biggest second languaga might be beside the immigration also because florida used to be spanish colony and texas and california used to be part of mexico in the past ^^

[@Bob-jm8kl]

I'm about 1/16 German. We have good genealogical knowledge on my mom's side. They were Hessians from the Holy Roman Empire and migrated to New York colony in 1710, where they worked in Royal the shipyards until they paid off their debt. Then they moved upstate New York. I'm mostly English. My dad immigrated to the US in 1962, and on my mom's side there were settlers to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1642. Much of the rest on my mom's side are Norwegians who came over in the 1880s.

[@pixelbartus]

On one hand this is an interesting topic, but if someone uses randomly phrases like "pure ancestory" i lose every trust in the source immediately. This is something you could not say in germany

[@hummel6364]

12:55 "What happened?" he asks... I wonder if the video will mention the cultural extermination of Germans in Amerika during the time of the first and second big kerfuffle. They did to Germans in the lower 48 the same thing they did to Japanese on Hawaii and in California.

[@AndreaHausberg-yt5qx]

Now we're curious what your ancestry is 😅 and btw anglo-saxon is also German. Anglo=Angeln and Saxons (Sachsen) are northern Germans tribes that went over to England. There are some cool videos about indo European tribe developement. Worth watching.

[@gregorygant4242]

Um ,I don't think that the Englander would want to hear or even accept that statement today . The only thing German that they like are the German cars nothing much else really .

[@bookllama8158]

White English people aren't exclusively decended from the Angles and the Saxons though. They are also decended from various celtic tribes like the Britons, as well as the Normans (French) and the Vikings.

[@nigelanscombe8658]

Plenty of “Anglo Saxons” believe that they are the indigenous people of Britain. 😆😆😆

[@mytwocents2817]

@@bookllama8158 You mean the welsh (which again is the old german expression for foreign still used today often in conection with the french and given to the welsh by the Angeln an the Saxon) as well as the scottish and the irish not so much the english. England derives from the Angeln the germanic tribe and means the land of the Angeln so mostly decends from them and to some extend the normans.

[@Holgi1904]

Aaah, by the way: New York City‘s former name was New Amsterdam

[@hula691]

My parents came to Niagara Falls from Germany in the 1950’s. I am German and Scandinavian. I have a strong attachment to German culture and Germany. Always hoped to live there someday.

[@sehrgrossesglied5000]

Lol , the US german flag is hilarious. Love it

[@torstenkersten8566]

I am 62 years and still cannot find words which would be able to describe what it is to be german. But it should be relatively close to an experience in socialisation and a way to debate your cultural heritage - as this is the major impact on the german society after WWII. History and genetics tell us that so many different people have left some genetic material in these lands, that genetics isn't helpful in determination either. We are a mix of celts, slaws, germanic tribes, romans, vikings, french and british, mongol and hungarian, turks and you can't find a reliable resolution to spot 'the german' in that mix. From a cultural background we are still a patchwork of dialects and local folklore haven't been a nation until mid 19th century but been divided in >50 different entities. People from Germany emigrated over the centuries in all parts of the world, contributed to the societies there, but often formed a local cultural bubble too. We grant the offspring of those emigrants to become germans again, if they wish. And we welcome people from all over the world to join our society if they can subscribe to our values. The older I become the more I think being german can give you a certain spirit and peace of mind - especially if I look around in the early 21st century and compare how people are doing all over the globe. In our national anthem we sing about, how we stick together in brotherhood to maintain the luck. In the best case being german is a spirit. In the worst case it's just a tag.

[@matthiasbehrendt6112]

Every real German belongs to a German tribe. It doesn't matter how important that tribe is for the persons everyday live such as customs, dialect, traditions or place of living. Maybe you don't even notice the persons tribe because he speaks Standard German without a dialect, has a very globalized lifestyle and doesn't live where he was born. But every real German will be able to tell you which tribe he belongs if he is asked and he will correct you if you make a false guess. Since many traditions are limited to family space such things might not be visible for non-relatives. All differences within us between North and South, East and West, inland or borderland, coast or montains, rural or urban, traditional Protestant or Catholic will often disappear if you look on specific characteristics of the tribes as they are commonly very homogenous in themselves. Whenever someone is considered a member of a German tribe he will be considered to be German by other tribes even if they are completely different.

[@aliasWas]

Waiting for Ryan to get one of these heritage tests and being revealed that he is of german descent. Maybe his obsession comes from deep down inside.. 🥔

[@felixccaa]

I just watched a movie telling the story about some german settlers coming to Texas and getting into fights over land with native americans Comanches - they said ( in he movie ) those german settlers were the only ones who signed a treaty with the Comanches and to this day did not break it Llano county I think is the place

[@achimschroter8046]

Lay back. Indiana is well known in Germany and most could pretty exactly put the finger on it on an unmarked map

[@meinereiner1773]

There are a couple of cities that are named after German cities/towns and names like New Brunswick (after Braunschweig, Brunswick is an older German name for it), bismarck (German nobility, for example the former Reichskanzler/Chancellor Bismarck) or Altoona (after the town of Altona, part of the city of Hamburg nowadays). Maybe there are a lot more, for example with named ending with -haven (for Hafen = shipyard), -berg (for Berg = mountain), -burg (Burg = castle) or -heim (Heim = home).

[@DJone4one]

There are not only many German-Americans. Even some American cities are actually named after German cities. Bremen, for example, exists 12 times in America.😂

[@ViviNorthbell]

that also goes for district names of major german cities. Like for instance ALTONA (wich is a district in Hamburg) , I saw the name Altona in New Jersey and in Pennsy. I drove by a few Bremen, Hamburg and even Frankfort (of course misspelled) in different states. Funny.

[@henner7371]

​@@ViviNorthbell Altona, has been an independant City with a population of more than 200000 until it was integratet into the city of Hamburg in 1938.

[@ViviNorthbell]

@@henner7371 ja und? weiß ich.

[@henner7371]

@@ViviNorthbell ich wollte damit nur erklären, dass Orte namens Altona in Nordamerika eben nicht nach einem Hamburger Stadtteil sondern zu jener Zeit nach dem Dorf/der Stadt Altona benannt wurden.

[@fromgermany271]

There was „Neu Ulm“ on that yellow „Polizei“ car.

[@KathrinHausermann]

Amish are not only German but also of Swiss descendents.

[@Everlast81-x1j]

You do a very Good Job. Greetz from BAVARIA

[@aidekhia81]

Erbarmen, zu spät, die Hesse kommen!

[@Somewhere.in.Cologne]

Was kommt denn da für´n wüster Krach aus Frankfurt, Darmstadt, Offenbach? Was lärmt in Kassel, Gießen und Wiesbaden bloß so gnadenlos? ;)

[@praeceptor]

Was hatn da de Babba da?

[@dieZera]

You are aware the Windsors are basically German? :D Prince Phillip was also German - Battenberg / Glücksburg.

[@fromgermany271]

Battenberg switched to Mountbatten. Like the Drumpfs anglicized their name.

[@dieZera]

@fromgermany271 I know

[@claudiakarl7888]

For those who consider themselves German: No, you’re not German. You’re USAmerican. You just have German ancestors.

[@jangolombiewski1271]

01:10 Die Sache ist auch die englische Kultur ist eng verwandt mit der deutschen Kultur, England ist das Land der Angeln und Sachsen.

[@MichaelBurggraf-gm8vl]

New Orleans = Nouvelle Orleans; Orléans is an important city on the banks of the river Loire about 100 km south of Paris; Louisiana: was much larger originally; named after the French king Louis XIV "Le Roi du Soleil" (King of the Sun, or the Sun among Kings) who is a prime example for an absolutistic king. Absolutism was a political and religious concept/theory/ideology explaining and justifying absolute power of a ruling monarch, to some extent as part of a divine order of the world.

[@klaus-peterkubiak7795]

John Denver (John Deutschendorf) Doris Day (Doris Kappelhoff) James Garner (Baumgarner) Christopher Walken Hugh O'Brian (Hugh Charles Krampe) Linda Ronsstadt Clark Gable all of German ancestry

[@mdcuber2152]

I did know where Indiana is

[@nbgsteff]

"..but so few people speak German today what happened.." WW2 happened

[@Drachselhuberjoschi_1]

💪💞Love this,this was an interesting Video!

[@eastfrisian_88]

I have a more distant part of the family who emigrated first to Nebraska and then to Iowa, all farmers and converts to Baptism. My grandpa's cousin (I think 2nd cousin) died in 2012, was born in my home village and emigrated shortly afterwards, when I found his obituary with a photo due to family research I was very shocked, it was a doppelganger of my grandpa. The obituary also said that he liked to ride motorcycles when he was young (my grandpa did too), he was even in WW II in Germany and when I told my dad about it, he said that my grandpa (born in 1932 and nine years younger than his cousin) told me how his distant cousin from America was visiting after the war and they joked about how similar they looked. There are more descendants from my mother's side in Canada (an uncle there wanted to bring her over to Toronto to raise her because the couple was childless, but my mother didn't want to) and I must have had two great-uncles in Australia, but unfortunately the trail is completely lost there.

[@mhilgi5139]

actually there are many towns near Evansville in Indiana that have german names: Darmstadt, Elberfeld, Haubstadt, Stendal, Huntingburg, Hochgesang and many more.

[@AstoranSolaire]

12:53 I get the feeling that the minor disagreement of the early forties has something to do with that.

[@patrickoehrle4686]

Ryan, are you German?

[@alwynemcintyre2184]

In Australia there is no "social security" tax, our taxes are divded up by the government. I think about a 1/3 of our taxes are used for various social security streams.

[@PuNicAdbo]

12:56 I tell you what happened. Back then we were told that in the new world it would be better and there is a new opportunity for us. But now days 😌 in the last 30 years or even more we figured that America become worse and worse and dies nor reflect our decision and style of living. And now it is vice-versa. You US Americans all move to Germany.

[@Michael_from_EU_Germany]

Alle = Federal Statistical Office of Germany: "How many Americans live in Germany? In contrast, around 125,800 people with US citizenship were living in Germany in 2023. That was 29% more than ten years earlier. In 2013, just under 97,600 Americans were still living in Germany."

[@Mike111174]

i am from rhineland-palatinate

[@6h483]

s schäänschde land was es gibt

[@eurorpeen]

Dutch are from the Netherlands

[@Rick2010100]

Not in the USA. There, some North German immigrants are declared Dutch because their North German dialect is very similar to the Dutch language. In Friesland, which stretches across Germany and the Netherlands, they speak more or less the same dialect. The language area even extends beyond Friesland, in the north from Rotterdam to the Polish border.

[@eurorpeen]

@Rick2010100 oh you know I am from EU ? Yes ? Letzeburgisch is the main language where I live and it s also a German dialect. I am Belgian and Dutch is my second language, well the dialect of Dutch we speak mostly in Brussels. I don't speak German, English and Italian are more than enough to fill my brain

[@HansNederland]

@@Rick2010100 Yes, the frisian people lived from the north of France to Denmark. There close to Denmark in Germany an area is called Nordfriesland.

[@castingtherunes3285]

And please notice: Germanic tribes from Northern Germany, Netherlands and Danmark conquered England in the 5th century. Geneticists have found out that the current English DNA is half German. So white US America is really very, very German.

[@HansNederland]

Yes an no. No because the irish are not germanic. The scots are half, sort of. And naturally the italians are also not german (do we call italians white?).

[@michaelgiertz-rath7994]

@HansNederland Italy seems to have two very distinct groups of people. Some are more southern-looking (latin) and others look more caucasian. I consider the caucasian looking portions "Romans" (Citizens of Rome) and the other ones "Italians". Of course, this is not true ;-) I always use it in a friendly context to people from Italy I know very well and explain why I think so should I get asked.

[@HansNederland]

@@michaelgiertz-rath7994 The very north of now Italy was Austria, they lost it to Italy after WW1. People living there are real germanic people (now mixed, more or less). The original romans (750 before Christ) were a tribe that was part of the latin people. The latins lived only in west-middle-Italy, to the north there were the Etruscans (nobody knows were they came from), to the south (Napels) was Greek and then a lot of other groups. Just f.y.i., I just wanted to write it down, you gave me an excuse, ha ha.

[@juhe1984]

The domestic affairs guy of Richard nixon, who helped to stage Watergate was called Ehrlichmann, which translates literally to "Honest man"....

[@sibyllefreytag2040]

Two of my husbands great great aunts went in the 1920 from Gensungen, a little village in Hessen to Auburn, Indiana. They married farmers.

[@achtistmacht]

Grüsse aus Hessen Deutschland Greetings from Hesse Germany

[@MichaEl-rh1kv]

Germany sent emigrants to the whole world over the centuries. During medieval times Germans migrated mainly eastwards (East Germany, Silesia, the southern coast of the Baltic Sea). The disaster of the 30 Years' War in the first half of the 17th century killed not only around a third of the population (some regions repopulated by migrants from Switzerland, Tyrol and Sweden), but also turned the Holy Roman Empire in a failed state, consisting of dozens of small states, which hindered the recovery of the economy. This was amplified by French annexations under Louis XIV, followed by the formal abolishment of the Empire in the Napoleonic wars, and then by the suppression of democratic and republican movements by Prussia and other actors. During the 17th and 18th century there were also many refugees for religious reasons, mostly Protestants, especially from France and Salzburg (then an independent state governed by a prince-bishop); many of them settled in Prussia and Brandenburg, some also in Baden and Hesse, some went to North America. In the 18th century Hungary (ruled by Habsburg) and Russia (ruled by the dynasty founded by German-born Catherine the Great) succeeded in pushing back the Ottoman Empire; they recruited settlers from poorer regions in Germany to resettle the conquered lands with new villages and towns. The Tambora eruption in Indonesia 1815 caused two "years without summer" and massive famines in Europe; many Germans emigrated to Ukraine and Georgia (the country, not the state), some also overseas. 1845-1865 was then the first main wave of German and German-Jewish emigration to the USA (and to Australia), caused (among other things) by the Californian gold rush, the failed "March revolution" 1848/49 and Bavarian laws regarding the registration of Jewish citizens. Another smaller wave occurred in the 1880s. In the beginning 19th century and especially after WW I the main target of emigration became Argentina and southern Brazil. During the Nazi regime also many emigrated; about 10,000 exiles from Austria and Germany fought e.g. in the British army. After WW II emigrants went mainly to Australia and South America.

[@ryanj2052]

There were camps for German-Americans. I think only for the first world war. I think the number of detainees was lower, but it's still basically not discussed.

[@der_greis_ist_heissl2816]

Henry Alfred Kissinger was born in germany as Heinz Alfred Kissinger. ;)

[@fromgermany271]

Madeleine Albright, or Albrecht. Recht right

[@hermannschaefer4777]

Immigrants from Hessen and Kurpfalz but also Northern Germany (Ostfriesland) are quite a big part of what is now the region around the great lakes.

[@fromgermany271]

And from Palatine the Heinz family who makes ketchup and from the same city that other family, that used ketchup as a wall paint. 😂

[@tobiasmuth2372]

When Trump's grandparents emigrated to the USA, the Palatinate was Bavarian. It belonged to the Kingdom of Bavaria

[@fromgermany271]

@@tobiasmuth2372 Which was part of the „Deutsches Reich“ since 1871. It was somehow the „royal“ version of today’s „Bundesland“.

[@tobiasmuth2372]

@@fromgermany271 The Bavarian Kingdom from 1806 to 1918. Bavaria only became a 100% member of the German Empire (1st Republic) after the First World War. Bismarck was unable to get King Wilhelm and King Leopold to agree on who should lead the German Empire. Bavaria therefore had a special status (independence). The Bavarian Empire including the Palatinate remained. This also applies to our own legislation and citizenship, independent foreign policy and even our own embassies. Trump's grandfather emigrated twice and was expelled from the Palatinate the second time - no longer having residency rights. In 1906 he no longer received “Bavarian citizenship”. That in what was then the Palatinate!

[@hellemarc4767]

Yes, names like Eisenhower (Eisenhauer = iron beater) or Smith (Schmidt = blacksmith), Müller (Miller), Fischer, Bowman (Baumann = construction worker), Bower (Bauer = farmer) etc. are occupational surnames, that appeared during the Middle Ages. Other surnames are based on places where people lived (like e.g. Busch/Bush), physical appearance, nicknames...

[@subraumtransmissionen]

Without the Germanic tribes, there would be no English language as we know it today. While modern English has absorbed many influences from Latin, French, and Norse, its core structure and origins are undeniably Germanic. Greetings from Germany :) ps: One day we realize that all of us humans are a colorful mix.

[@umitdemirbas7111]

Zuckerberg, Blaustein, Stein, Stern, Rosenberg, Gold, Goldmann, Ariel, All German ✡️ names ☝🏼 So, which Germans are we talking about now?😁

[@CoL_Drake]

there wasnt that many english coming to america because it was mostly minorities or people who was in famine and religious problems. so alot irish for the famine, and alot germans like nearly all because of the religious problems in germany because they were of one or another minority sekt of christianity. in early usa there was a debate if english or german should be the national language and german just "died out" in fasion with the world wars.

[@germaniatv1870]

4:42 You are correct, it is very strange. One reason was the Woodrow Wilson Administration, which licked the boots of the British Empire and wanted English to dominate the USA. In 1914 38% of the USA spoke German, which was the majority. At the end of World War 1 nobody dared to speak German again. The Germans founded Germantown in Pennsylvania in 1688 already and from there the anti-slavery movement (aimed at Britain) started and took off. Washington fought the Revolutionary Battle of Germantown against the British. Friedrich the Great sent Washington a elegant dress-sword and a note saying: from world oldest General to worlds best General-Friedrich. Bismarck donated a few German trees for a Union Monument in the USA... im only scatching the surface here 🙂 The untold and forgotten history of German America will blow your mind. Then the question arises: Why did we (the USA) fight the Germans in ww1, for British interest? Why did we (the USA) repeat the same task in ww2? Historically, Britain is the arch-Enemy to the USA. The best friends of the USA have always been the Germans, from day one.

[@napoleonfeanor]

France used to be the closest ally of the USA. Wilson campaigned on not going to war lol. The numbers you cite are a bit too high and even that is not the majority. Most of them also learned English and many mixed.

[@germaniatv1870]

​@@napoleonfeanor In 1917, US Civil War veteran General Isaac R. Sherwood made an unsuccessful appeal to the US Congress reminding them of England's attack on the US during the Civil War. He warned that the American people would go to war "as an ally of the only nation in Europe that has always been our enemy, and against the nation which has always been our friend". He was right. Today the German language is the third most prevalent language in the U.S., being spoken quite frequently in 13 states. It was a German-language paper, Der Pennsylvanische Staatsbote that on July 5, 1776, was the first paper to report the American Declaration of Independence, and it did so in German translation. English readers would have to wait a day later to read the English text in The Pennsylvania Evening Post. The 38% make sense if you look at the population census, the Schools, News Papers and Librarys built by German settlers arriving at least in early 16 hundred. They now list "English" as number one in the USA, followd by German, which is a bit tricky if you dig deeper. - Yes, Wilson made promisses not to enter war against Germany but as soon as he was in office he shut down German brewerys, schools, librarys, news papers, bars and in many cases tried to rout out the german language. - The Bable Proclamation under Woodrow Wilson banned the German language. That means the USA declared total war against the Germans, out of the blue sky, for British (arch-enemy) interest. Germans hid in cellars to speak, learn, teach and read in German in ww1 in the USA. Tarring, flogging, feathering of German-Americans for no reason at all and internment-labor & deportation camps for German-Americans in ww1 in the USA. Prohibition was especially targeted at Brewerys (German) and Whisky (Irish), also the Bakerys and even Milk production ect. The Wilson Administration ran down the USA in 1917/18. - Thus, Washington did not fight the Revolutionary Battle of Frenchtown, he fought the battle of Germantown, aka Freedoms Backyard, where the anti-slavery movement started, signed on paper by German settlers. 🙂 Yes, 38% of Germans and German speakers in the USA before Woodrow Wilson hit office is very possible and very close. I think its quite accurate. 🙂

[@martinmatte1518]

@@napoleonfeanor you would wonder, if you track the real scale of german heritage - even some Brits had german ancestors. The whole royal family had german ancestors as well, including the Queen (Sachsen/Gotha) xD

[@Michael_from_EU_Germany]

@@martinmatte1518 Charles is the last UK king to have more than 50% German DNA. His son William will be the first to have more English DNA than German.

[@Kristina_S-O]

I just checked a list of towns and cities in Indiana 😊 and couldn't find too many German names. Well, there are Altona, Bremen, Oldenburg. Apparently a good number of settlers came from the north of Germany. East Germantown, that name is pretty obvious, I guess. And a bunch of names thar could be German or not, like Hagersville, Millhousen, and Munster. The majority of towns have names of British or native American origin though.

[@Martin83223]

Grüße aus Hessen! :)

[@hannessteffenhagen61]

Smith is sometimes an anglicisation of Schmidt, but unsurprisingly the English also had Smith as a name anyway, so it's not like everyone called Smith has German roots.

[@CRYOKnox]

That Germanized American Flag just gives me the creeps. Dont no what it is...

[@Jan-i-tor]

Those in the old english colonies tend to identify as american because of the birthplace of the USA and the tea party. The West is more Independent and not tied to those events, therefore more identification to their origins.

[@Kathrin24-e7m]

The famous Pilgrim Fathers were of English origin (Mayflower 1620). On the other hand the English may have preferred to dominate America by means of finances. It was indeed the "City of London" which created the American "Corporation" in 1871, as America unfortunately was broke after the Civil War, which meant dominance over the US Dollar. Kennedy wanted to end this, but they would not let him. I am from Hessen/Germany (from Kassel to Frankfurt and Bavarian border.) and we speak hessisch (hessish, different dialects in Hessen, a state of the German Federation). Americans call this area "Hesse" (hessi). I love your videos, Ryan, you are great and so charming 😘!

[@Kivas_Fajo]

That was Illinois btw., not Indiana.

[@Virtutymilitar]

You guys bought Louis(the French king Louis it was named after)iana from the FRENCH!

[@clemenshampel]

There is a urban rumor that once the USA once considered to introduce German as a state language. Fortunately this did not happen. Just imagine how they would have ruined the German language.

[@Justforvisit]

Good thing that flag is not under german jurisdiction or official, since in Germany, bearing the coat of arms on the flag is only allowed for police forces / stations and direct representatives of the country like a court house or the Bundestag. Everybody else who is not directly working for the state would commit a misdemeanour in using it, according to § 124 of the Gesetzes über Ordnungswidrigkeiten ( = Law about Misdemeanours).

[@macschomo]

Don't forget, at that time were the King of Great Britain always German (Hannover).

[@Holgi1904]

It might surprise you, but over 99% of the US-population has its roots in Europe 😉

[@djaxup]

That flag looks awesome tbh 😂

[@B-A-L]

The irony about Americans claiming that if it wasn't for them in WW2 Britain would be speaking German, which is completely untrue, is that if it wasn't for the British they'd all be speaking German which is fact!

[@OpaSpielt]

18:03 New Orleans in Louisiana, that's pretty obvious French origin. In France, there's the city Orleans. It's written the same but pronounced very differently. Btw, about 40% of the English language itself is from French origin, I just learned from a linguistic specialist's video. 😉 Very interesting topic. Thank you from Germany. Have a nice day 👋🏻👴🏼

[@HansNederland]

Whole Louisiana was French. Napoleon sold it to the USA. Napoleon was in war with the English.

[@barriehull7076]

“Gesundheit” is a German word that is used as an interjection to wish someone good health, particularly after they sneeze. It is made up of the words gesund (“healthy”) and -heit (“-hood”).

[@Marina45711]

"-heit" is not a word but a suffix that turns the adjective „gesund“ (healthy) into a noun - Gesundheit=Health.

[@helenewei4232]

"what's your ancestry" is a question that is such a wild and unheard question for Europeans 😂 we all lost tracks and don't even know what to say because how would you even categories this? Kingdoms? Tribes? Cultural or ethical groups? Countries that didn't exist then or exist only now? But like do you mean in the last 2-4 generations? This would totally take hours to answer if you even remembered all the nationalitys or origins of your family

[@fromgermany271]

Back then a long time ago we all left that one valley in Africa.

[@tnaplastic2182]

12:55 "What happened?" I ought to remember that it's called "WW II"!

[@barriehull7076]

Wikipedia: Smith is an occupational surname[3] originating in England. It is the most prevalent surname in the United Kingdom,[1][4] the United States, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand,[5] and the fifth most common surname in the Republic of Ireland. In the United States, the surname Smith is particularly prevalent among those of English, Scottish, and Irish descent, 2,442,977 Americans shared the surname Smith at the time of the 2010 census,[8] and more than 500,000 people shared it in the United Kingdom as of 2006.[9] At the turn of the 20th century, the surname was sufficiently prevalent in England to have prompted the statement: "Common to every village in England, north, south, east, and west";[10] and sufficiently common on the (European) continent (in various forms) to be "common in most countries of Europe".[11] The use of Smith as an occupational surname dates back to Anglo-Saxon times, when inherited surnames were still unknown: Ecceard Smith of County Durham, North East England, was recorded in 975.[12]

[@nbb5029]

maybe u will be a star in germany as james bray lol

[@morganfreeman8618]

Maybe your name-giving ancestor had the german name "Weiß", as he had bright (blond or grey) hair or was an orphan (Waise).

[@svenpedersen9140]

04:45 in. Wow, yes ! I never realized until right now that I have never ever heard an american saying that he is english or partly english or even from "english descent". We hear all the time here in europe (when talking with americans of course) that they are actually or partly Italian, Irish, Scotish, Polish etc, but never english... and thinking about it, french !! Humm, maybe something to do with the "revolutionnary" war (with the French and English)... maybe you could help answering that ??

[@HansNederland]

A lot of families in the Appalachian Mountains are living there already for more than 400 years. I understand that they say that they are American. And yes, I know that the natives of America are the indians. And I know that it can be troublesome that people from europe call themselves Americans. But still I understand these families also. Nobody has a feeling anymore with the european country. And for the Germans? Most german families came less than 200 years ago. So yes, understandable that they "remember" Germany better.