John Borger Kapitel

Being a German-American citizen myself, I found this article very interesting. I am myself someone who has grown up without knowing that much about my culture, even though I am fifty percent German. While my dad is currently pursuing this culture, as shown by his upcoming trip to Germany, my brothers and I have not really been exposed to this as of yet.  I know that my family came here six generations ago, and like so many other German speaking immigrants, ended up in the Midwest. They were probably also guided to America by some form of advertising about land and such, possibly in a similar agreement that the banks had with railroad companies back then, but I can't be sure. What is for sure is that there has been a dramatic loss of culture within my family and taking this class is a way for me to retain what is still left and discover new frontiers on the culture boundaries. I do feel that the anti-German sentiment in World War One may have played a factor in the down playing of our culture throughout the generations. As the article said, this may be the root reason behind why so many Germans, despite their position in America, have let their culture go unnoticed. I know that for myself I used to be uncertain about telling people I was German because of the past and the jokes they would make. But one thing that I was glad to hear was that Germans did not make their "Little Germanies" and such over here in America. While I like the idea of visiting a Little Italy or something like that as a tourist destination, as far as community building, that really puts up some barriers between people. I am glad that Germans were able to integrate into life in America without forming exclusive pacts, somethings that I would like to retain as I continue my quest to rediscover my own culture.

John Borger German 101 Section 2 Mate Bojti