Editing Anti-German sentiment (section)

=== United States ===

==== Pre-independence Era ====
In the [[Province of Pennsylvania|Pennsylvania Colony]] during [[British America]], [[Anglo-Americans]] held much anti-German sentiment. The sentiments against the Palatine settlers, commonly referred to as the [[Pennsylvania Dutch]] (or Pennsylvania Germans), were deeply rooted in cultural biases and economic competition. Anglo-Americans in the Pennsylvania Colony viewed the Palatines with suspicion and often derided their language, customs, and religious practices. The Palatines, predominantly German-speaking Protestants from the [[Palatinate (region)|Palatinate]] region of present-day Germany, arrived in Pennsylvania seeking religious freedom and economic opportunities in the early 18th century.<ref>{{cite news |date=14 May 2013 |title=Fear of Immigrants Is as Old as America Itself |url=https://abcnews.go.com/ABC_Univision/fear-immigrants-america/story?id=19177944 |work=ABC News |language=en}}</ref> [[Benjamin Franklin]]'s complaints about the Palatine refugees in his work ''Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind (1751)'': 
{{blockquote|Why should the '''Palatine boors''' be suffered to swarm into our settlements, and by herding together establish their language and manners to the exclusion of ours? Why should Pennsylvania, founded by the English, become a colony of ''aliens'', who will shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us instead of us Anglifying them, and will never adopt our language or customs, any more than they can acquire our complexion.}}

==== Post-independence Era ====
{{further|Fries's Rebellion}}
Pennsylvania was a major state and a former colony that saw an attraction and influence of German immigrants from the colonial era. A key event where German-Americans faced hardships was during the [[Fries's Rebellion]]. The participants in Fries's Rebellion were primarily German-speaking farmers, many of whom were recent immigrants or descendants of German immigrants. Their cultural and linguistic differences may have contributed to perceptions of them as outsiders or "other" by some in the broader American society. The rebellion was primarily a response to the federal government's enforcement of a new direct tax, commonly known as the Direct Tax of 1798 or the House Tax. President [[John Adams]] granted pardons to Fries and several others who had been convicted of treason. Adams was motivated by the more specific constitutional interpretation of treason. He later remarked that the rebels were "obscure, miserable Germans, as unfamiliar with our language as they were with our laws," and suggested that they were being manipulated by prominent figures in the opposing political party.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chernow |first=Ron |title=Alexander Hamilton |publisher=Penguin |year=2004 |location=New York, NY |pages=578}}</ref>

[[File:Screen-Shot-2021-02-16-at-1.webp|thumb|"1850s political cartoon by John H. Goater: Irish and German caricatures 'stealing an election' with chaos at the 'Election Day Polls', fueling fears of immigrant political power."]]

In the 19th century, the mass influx of [[German Americans#19th century|German immigrants]] made them one of the largest European group of [[Americans]] by ancestry. This wave of migration triggered the formation of [[Nativism (politics)|nativist]] and reactionary movements which were similar to those movements which exist in the contemporary [[Western world]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2 April 2019 |title=When German Immigrants Were America's Undesirables |url=https://www.history.com/news/anti-german-sentiment-wwi}}</ref> These would eventually culminate in 1844 with the establishment of the [[Know-Nothing Party|American Party]], which had an openly [[xenophobic]] stance. One of many incidents described in a 19th-century account included the blocking of a funeral procession in New York by a group who proceeded to hurl insults at the pallbearers. Incidents such as these led to more meetings of Germans who would eventually form fraternal groups such as the [[Sons of Hermann]] in 1840, which was founded as a means to "improve and foster German customs and the spread of benevolence among Germans in the United States".<ref>Albert Clark Stevens, ''The Cyclopædia of Fraternities'', 2nd ed., New York: Treat, 1907, [https://books.google.com/books?id=H-K3AAAAIAAJ&dq=Philip+Merkel&pg=PA282 p. 283]</ref>

====World War I====
{{see also|American entry into World War I}}
[[File:Doings of the Duffs (December 8, 1917).jpg|thumb|alt=An old black and white comic strip. Two characters are talking about a clown that was bought for a birthday present. One character smashes the doll because it was made in Germany.|A 1917 [[comic strip]] in which the character smashes a clown doll present because it was made in Germany|244x244px]]
[[File:Mae Marsh, as a Belgian girl, and A. C. Gibbons as a German soldier, in Goldwyn's all-star Liberty Loan picture, "Stake - NARA - 516486.tif|thumb|A scene from Goldwyn's all-star Liberty Loan picture, "Stake Uncle Sam to Play Your Hand" (1918), with [[Mae Marsh]] as a Belgian girl, and A. C. Gibbons as a German soldier]]
[[File:WWIHunNatlArchives.jpg|thumb|1918 bond posters with germanophobic slogans|291x291px]]
<!--[[File:World War I US Army Air Service Recruiting Poster1.jpg|thumb|upright|A [[United States Army Air Service|USAAS]] recruiting poster, depicting a bald eagle confronting the Kaiser's ''[[Reichsadler]]'']]-->
[[File:Bremen Pershing Covington 2021.jpg|thumb|upright|A sign in [[Covington, Kentucky]], notes that a street name was changed from Bremen Street to [[John J. Pershing|Pershing]] Avenue due to "anti-German hysteria" during World War I.]]
[[File:Harry R. Hopps, Destroy this mad brute Enlist - U.S. Army, 03216u edit.jpg|thumb|''Destroy this mad brute''—[[Propaganda in the United States#World War I|U.S. WWI propaganda poster]] ([[Harry Ryle Hopps|Harry R. Hopps]]; 1917). This poster was released in 1917 by [[Harry Ryle Hopps]], portraying Germany as a gorilla invading the United States, having conquered continental Europe.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=rziXfHf2L1gC&pg=PA68 |page=68 |title=Picture This: World War I Posters and Visual Culture |author= Pearl James |publisher=U of Nebraska Press |year=2009|isbn=978-0803226951}}</ref>]]

After the revelation of the [[Zimmermann Telegram]] partly sparked the American declaration of war against Imperial Germany in April 1917, German Americans were sometimes accused of being too sympathetic to Germany. Former president [[Theodore Roosevelt]] denounced "[[hyphenated American]]ism", while also insisting that dual loyalties were impossible.

A vocal source of criticism of Theodore Roosevelt and [[Woodrow Wilson]]'s "anti-hyphen" ideology and particularly to their demands for "100% Americanism" came, quite understandably, from America's enormous number of [[White ethnic]] immigrants and their descendants. Criticism from these circles occasionally argued that "100% Americanism" really meant [[Anglophilia]] and a [[Special Relationship]] with the [[British Empire]], as particularly demonstrated by demands for tolerating only the [[English language in the United States]]. In a letter published on 16 July 1916 in the ''[[Minneapolis Journal]]'', Edward Goldbeck, a member of [[Minnesota]]'s traditionally very large [[German-American]] community, sarcastically announced that his people would "abandon the hyphen", as soon as [[English-Americans]] did so. Meanwhile, he argued, "Let the exodus of [[White Anglo-Saxon Protestants|Anglo-Americans]] start at once! Let all those people go who think that America is a new England!"<ref>Carl. H. Chrislock (1991), ''The Watchdog of Loyalty: The Minnesota Commission of Public Safety during World War I'', [[Minnesota Historical Society]] Press. pp. 21, 337.</ref>

A much smaller minority of [[German Americans]] came out openly for Germany. Similarly, Harvard psychology professor [[Hugo Münsterberg]] dropped his efforts to mediate between America and Germany, and threw his efforts behind the German war effort.<ref>[http://www.earlham.edu/%7Edominel/obituary.htm Hugo Münsterberg's obituary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101228010415/http://www.earlham.edu/%7Edominel/obituary.htm |date=28 December 2010 }}.</ref>

The Justice Department attempted to prepare a list of all German aliens, counting approximately 480,000 of them.<ref name="Enemy Keeper">{{Cite conference |last=Yockelson |first=Mitchell |author-link=Mitchell Yockelson |date=April 1998 |title=The War Department: Keeper of Our Nation's Enemy Aliens During World War I |url=http://net.lib.byu.edu/~rdh7/wwi/comment/yockel.htm |conference=Society for Military History Annual Meeting |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017120403/http://net.lib.byu.edu/~rdh7/wwi/comment/yockel.htm |archive-date=2007-10-17 |via=Brigham Young University}}</ref> The Committee of Internment of Alien Enemies recommended sending them to internment camps, though the idea was opposed by the War Department and the Attorney General.<ref name="German in Wisconsin">{{Cite journal |last=Grady |first=Lee |date=2018 |title=America's "Alien Enemies": Registering as German in Wisconsin During World War I |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26541163 |journal=[[The Wisconsin Magazine of History]] |volume=102 |issue=2 |pages=4–17 |jstor=26541163 |issn=0043-6534 }}</ref> More than 4,000 German aliens were imprisoned in 1917–1918. The allegations included spying for Germany and endorsing the German war effort.<ref name="Enemy Keeper" />

When the United States entered the war in 1917, some German Americans were looked upon with suspicion and attacked regarding their loyalty. Propaganda posters and newspaper commentary fed the growing fear. In Wisconsin, a Lutheran minister faced suspicion for hosting Germans in his home, while a language professor was [[tarred and feathered]] for having a German name and teaching the language.<ref name="German in Wisconsin" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=April 1, 1918 |title=Professor of Northland Tarred and Feathered |url=https://content.wisconsinhistory.org/digital/collection/tp/id/47208/ |access-date=February 8, 2024 |work=[[Ashland Daily Press]] |via=[[Wisconsin Historical Society]]}}</ref> The [[American Red Cross|Red Cross]] barred individuals with German last names from joining in fear of sabotage. One person was killed by a mob; in [[Collinsville, Illinois]], German-born [[Robert Prager]] was dragged from jail as a suspected spy and lynched.<ref name="Hickey">{{Cite journal |last=Hickey |first=Donald R. |date=Summer 1969 |title=The Prager Affair: A Study in Wartime Hysteria |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40191045 |journal=[[Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society]] |volume=62 |issue=2 |pages=126–127 |jstor=40191045 }}</ref> Some aliens were convicted and imprisoned on charges of sedition for refusing to swear allegiance to the United States war effort.<ref>{{cite news |last=Robbins |first=Jim |date=3 May 2006 |title=Silence Broken, Pardons Granted 88 Years After Crimes of Sedition |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50C17FC355B0C708CDDAC0894DE404482 |access-date=30 July 2010 |newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> Thousands were forced to buy war bonds to show their loyalty.<ref>{{Citation |url=http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/1/|title=Get the Rope! Anti-German Violence in World War I-era Wisconsin|access-date=1 August 2008 |work=History Matters|publisher=George Mason University}}</ref>

In [[Chicago]], [[Frederick Stock]] was forced to step down as conductor of the [[Chicago Symphony Orchestra]] until he finalized his naturalization papers. Orchestras replaced music by German composer [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]] with French composer [[Hector Berlioz|Berlioz]]. After [[xenophobia|xenophobic]] ''[[Providence Journal]]'' editor [[John R. Rathom]] falsely accused [[Boston Symphony Orchestra]] conductor [[Karl Muck]] of refusing to play ''[[The Star-Spangled Banner]]'' and triggered a [[trial by media]] in October 1917, Muck and 29 of the orchestra's musicians were arrested and [[German-American internment|interned]] in [[Fort Oglethorpe (prisoner-of-war camp)|Fort Oglethorpe]], Georgia, until well after the Armistice.

In [[Nashville, Tennessee]], [[Luke Lea (senator)|Luke Lea]], the publisher of ''[[The Tennessean]]'', together with "political associates", "conspired unsuccessfully to have the German-born [[Edward Bushrod Stahlman|Major Stahlman]] declared an "alien enemy" after [[World War I]] began."<ref name="tennencyclopediabanner">{{cite web|last1=Sumner|first1=David E.|title=Nashville Banner|url=http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=965|website=The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture|publisher=[[Tennessee Historical Society]] and the [[University of Tennessee Press]]|access-date=20 December 2017}}</ref> Stahlman was the publisher of a competing newspaper, the ''[[Nashville Banner]]''.<ref name="tennencyclopediabanner"/>

The town, Berlin, Michigan, was renamed [[Marne, Michigan]] (in honor of those who fought in the [[First Battle of the Marne|Battle of the Marne]]). The town of Berlin, Shelby County, Ohio, changed its name to its original name of [[Fort Loramie, Ohio]]. The city of [[Germantown, Tennessee|Germantown]] in Shelby County, [[Tennessee]], temporarily changed its name to Neshoba during the war.

In [[Philadelphia|Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]], the offices of a pro-German socialist newspaper, the ''[[Philadelphia Tageblatt]]'', were visited by federal agents after war broke out to investigate the citizenship status of its staff<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lynskey|first=Bill|date=January 2007|title=Reinventing the First Amendment in Wartime Philadelphia|url=https://journals.psu.edu/pmhb/article/download/58981/58707|journal=Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography|volume=131|pages=57–58}}</ref> and would later be raided by federal agents under the powers of the [[Espionage Act of 1917]], and six members of its organization would eventually be arrested for violations of the Espionage Act among other charges after publishing a number of pieces of pro-German propaganda.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kazal|first=Russell|title=Becoming Old Stock: The Paradox of German-American Identity|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2004|pages=188}}</ref>

German street names in many cities were changed. German and Berlin streets in Cincinnati became English and Woodward.<ref name="cincy">Kathleen Doane. [http://cincinnati.com/blogs/ourhistory/2012/06/06/anti-german-hysteria-swept-cincinnati-in-1917/ "Anti-German hysteria swept Cincinnati in 1917"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140120043547/http://cincinnati.com/blogs/ourhistory/2012/06/06/anti-german-hysteria-swept-cincinnati-in-1917/ |date=20 January 2014 }}. ''The Cincinnati Enquirer'', 6 June 2012. Accessed 15 February 2013.</ref> In Chicago, Lubeck, Frankfort, and Hamburg Streets were renamed Dickens, Charleston, and Shakespeare Streets.<ref name="simpson">Jack Simpson. [http://www.newberry.org/german-street-name-changes-bucktown-part-i "German Street Name Changes in Bucktown, Part I"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200722161750/http://www.newberry.org/german-street-name-changes-bucktown-part-i |date=22 July 2020 }}. Newberry Library.</ref><ref>Leslie V. Tischauser, ''The Burden of Ethnicity The German Question in Chicago, 1914–1941'' (1990)</ref> In New Orleans, Berlin Street was renamed in honor of [[John J. Pershing|General Pershing]], head of the American Expeditionary Force.<ref name=murrin>{{cite book | last = Murrin | first = John M. | title = Liberty, Equality, Power: A History of the American People | publisher = Harcourt Brace College | year = 1998 | page = 784 | isbn = 978-0-15-508098-0 }}</ref> In Indianapolis, [[Otto von Bismarck|Bismarck]] Avenue and [[Germania]] Street were renamed Pershing Avenue and Belleview Street, respectively in 1917,<ref name=IUPUI>{{cite web|title=A Timeline of Faith and Community: Near Westside, 1830 to 1995|url=http://www.polis.iupui.edu/RUC/Neighborhoods/NearWestside/NWSTimeline.htm|website=T Polis Center|publisher=[[Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis]]|access-date=20 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304061705/http://www.polis.iupui.edu/RUC/Neighborhoods/NearWestside/NWSTimeline.htm|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> Brooklyn's Hamburg Avenue was renamed Wilson Avenue.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan: A Historical Guide|last=Durante|first=Diane|publisher=NYU Press|year=2007|pages=156}}</ref>

Many businesses changed their names. In Chicago, German Hospital became Grant Hospital; likewise the German Dispensary and the German Hospital in New York City were renamed [[Lenox Hill Hospital]] and [[Wyckoff Heights Hospital]] respectively.<ref name="simpson"/> In New York, the giant Germania Life Insurance Company became [[The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America|Guardian]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20190523075450/https://www.guardianlife.com/glife11pp/groups/camp_internet/@stellent_camp_website_glife_corpcomm_edits/documents/report/guardian2009annualreportfin.pdf Guardian 2009 Annual Report], p. 2; Anita Rapone, The Guardian Life Insurance Company, 1860–1920: A History of a German-American Enterprise (New York: New York University Press, 1987); Robert E. Wright and George David Smith, Mutually Beneficial: The Guardian and Life Insurance in America (New York: New York University Press, 2004).</ref> At the [[Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House|US Customs House in Lower Manhattan]], the word ''Germany'' on a shield held by one of the building's many figures was chiseled over.

Many schools stopped teaching German-language classes.<ref name="cincy"/> The City College of New York continued to teach German courses, but reduced the number of credits that students could receive for them.<ref>[http://digital-archives.ccny.cuny.edu/archival-collections/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Archival-Finding-Aid.pdf CCNY Archival Finding Aid], p. 81.</ref> Books published in German were removed from libraries or even burned.<ref name="cincy"/><ref>[http://saukcountyhistory.org/wwidisplay.html "World War One 1914 – 1918"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140514195343/http://saukcountyhistory.org/wwidisplay.html |date=14 May 2014 }}. Sauk County Historical Society. {{full citation needed|date=July 2015}}</ref> In [[Cincinnati]], the public library was asked to withdraw all German books from its shelves.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.enquirer.com/century/loc_cincinnatis_century5.html |title=Cincinnati's Century of Change |publisher=Enquirer.com |access-date=14 May 2014}}</ref> In Iowa, in the 1918 [[Babel Proclamation]], [[governor of Iowa|Governor]] [[William L. Harding]] prohibited the use of all foreign languages in schools and public places.<ref>{{Cite web|date=5 June 2018|title=Babel Proclamation, May 1918|url=https://iowaculture.gov/history/education/educator-resources/primary-source-sets/immigration-regulation-response-and/babel-proclamation|access-date=5 October 2021|website=IDCA|language=en|archive-date=26 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191026183809/https://iowaculture.gov/history/education/educator-resources/primary-source-sets/immigration-regulation-response-and/babel-proclamation|url-status=dead}}</ref> Nebraska banned instruction in any language except English, but the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] ruled that the ban was illegal in 1923 (''[[Meyer v. Nebraska]]'').<ref>Meyer v. Nebraska, [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=CASE&court=US&vol=262&page=390 262 U.S. 390] (1923). {{full citation needed|date=July 2015}}</ref>

Some words of German origin were changed, at least temporarily. [[Sauerkraut]] came to be called "liberty cabbage",<ref name="murrin"/> [[German measles]] became "liberty measles", [[hamburger]]s became "liberty sandwiches"<ref name=murrin/> and [[dachshund]]s became "liberty pups".<ref name=ford>{{cite book |last=Ford |first=Nancy Gentile |title=Issues of War and Peace |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=2002 |isbn= 978-0-313-31196-3 }}</ref>

In parallel with these changes, many German Americans elected to [[anglicize]] their names (e.g. Schmidt to Smith, Müller to Miller). Many state governments also sought to coercively limit the use of the [[German language in the United States]] in public places and most especially inside churches.<ref>John A. Hawgood, ''The Tragedy of German-America: the Germans in the United States of America During the Nineteenth Century- and After'' (1940)</ref>

Ethnic German Medal of Honor winners were American [[United States Army Air Service|USAAS]] [[Flying ace|ace pilots]] [[Edward Rickenbacker]] and [[Frank Luke]]; German-ethnicity DSC winners who also served with the USAAS in Europe included [[Joseph Frank Wehner]] and [[Karl John Schoen]].

====World War II====
{{See also|Internment of German Americans}}
[[File:Restaurant operator Fred Horak of Somerville, 1939.jpg|thumb|320px|[[Prague]]-born restaurant owner Fred Horak of [[Somerville, MA]] putting up a sign barring<br />German customers from entering his property until<br />"[[Hitler]] the Gangster" returns the lands seized from [[Czechoslovakia]], 18 March 1939]]
Between 1931 and 1940, 114,000 Germans and thousands of Austrians moved to the United States, many of whom{{snd}}including, e.g., Nobel prize winner [[Albert Einstein]], [[Lion Feuchtwanger]], [[Bertold Brecht]], [[Henry Kissinger]], [[Arnold Schoenberg]], [[Hanns Eisler]] and [[Thomas Mann]]{{snd}}were either [[History of the Jews in Germany|Jewish Germans]] or [[anti-fascism|anti-Nazis]] who were fleeing Nazi oppression.<ref>[http://www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass/GermAmChron.htm A German-American Chronology], adapted from: ''The German Americans: An Ethnic Experience'' by LaVern J. Rippley and Eberhard Reichmann.</ref> About 25,000 people became paying members of the pro-Nazi [[German American Bund]] during the years before the war.<ref>[http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005684 German American Bund], United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C.</ref> The [[Smith Act|Alien Registration Act of 1940]] required 300,000 German-born resident aliens who had German citizenship to register with the Federal government and restricted their travel and property ownership rights.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://judiciary.senate.gov/member_statement.cfm?id=964&wit_id=85|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080829095922/http://judiciary.senate.gov/member_statement.cfm?id=964&wit_id=85|url-status=dead|title=Wayback Machine|archivedate=29 August 2008|website=judiciary.senate.gov}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Committee on the Judiciary |date=30 June 2005 |title=H.R. 3198 [109th&#93;: Wartime Treatment Study Act |url=http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h109-3198 |access-date=14 May 2014 |publisher=Govtrack.us}}</ref> Under the still active [[Alien and Sedition Acts|Alien Enemy Act of 1798]], the United States government [[German American internment|interned nearly 11,000 German citizens]] between 1940 and 1948. An unknown number of "voluntary internees" joined their spouses and parents in the camps and were not permitted to leave.<ref>{{cite web |date=7 September 2001 |title=German Internment Camps in World War II |url=http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1153895 |access-date=14 May 2014 |publisher=Everything2.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=8 April 2004 |title=The lost voices of Crystal City |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3607871.stm |access-date=14 May 2014 |work=BBC News}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=German American Internees in the United States during WWII by Karen E. Ebel |url=http://www.traces.org/timeline.aftermath.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140131015908/http://www.traces.org/timeline.aftermath.html |archive-date=31 January 2014 |access-date=14 May 2014 |publisher=Traces.org}}</ref> With the war ongoing in Europe but the U.S. neutral, a massive defense buildup took place, requiring many new hires. Private companies sometimes refused to hire any non-citizen, or American citizens of German or Italian ancestry. This threatened the morale of loyal Americans. President Franklin Roosevelt considered this "stupid" and "unjust". In June 1941, he issued [[Executive Order 8802]] and set up the [[Fair Employment Practice Committee]], which also protected Black Americans.<ref>{{cite book |author=John W. Jeffries |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c-NVDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA97 |title=Wartime America: The World War II Home Front |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2018 |isbn=9781442276505 |page=97}}</ref>

President Roosevelt sought out Americans of German ancestry for top war jobs, including General [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], Admiral [[Chester W. Nimitz]], and General [[Carl Andrew Spaatz]]. He appointed Republican [[Wendell Willkie]] as a personal representative. German Americans who had fluent German language skills were an important asset to wartime intelligence, and they served as translators and as spies for the United States.<ref>{{cite web |date=23 April 2003 |title=US World War II Treatment of German Americans |url=http://www.traces.org/wartimepolicies.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022010133/http://www.traces.org/wartimepolicies.htm |archive-date=22 October 2014 |access-date=14 May 2014 |publisher=Traces.org}}</ref> The war evoked strong pro-American patriotic sentiments among German Americans, few of whom by then had contacts with distant relatives in the old country.<ref>Kathleen Conzen, "Germans", in Stephan Thernstrom, ed., ''Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups'' (1980), p. 407</ref><ref>Leslie V. Tischauser, ''The Burden of Ethnicity: The German Question in Chicago, 1914–1941'' (1990)</ref><ref>Don H. Tolzmann, ed., ''German Americans in the World Wars'' (2 vols. Munich, Germany: K.G. Saur, 1995).</ref>

The October 1939 seizure by the German [[pocket battleship]] ''[[DKM Deutschland|Deutschland]]'' of the US freighter [[SS City of Flint (1919)|SS ''City of Flint'']], as it had 4000 tons of oil for Britain on board, provoked much anti-German sentiment in the US.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pT8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA78 |title=LIFE |date=4 March 1940 |publisher=Time Inc |page=78 |issn=0024-3019}}</ref>

Following [[German declaration of war against the United States#Background|its entry into the War against Nazi Germany]] on 11 December 1941, the US Government interned a number of German and Italian citizens as enemy aliens. The exact number of German and Italian internees is a subject of debate.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sammons |first1=Jeffrey |title=Review: Were German-Americans Interned during World War II? A Question concerning Scholarly Standards and Integrity |url=http://www.gaic.info/history.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100301123425/http://www.gaic.info/history.html |archive-date=1 March 2010 |work=German American Internee Coalition |publisher=Gaic.info}}</ref> In some cases their American-born family members volunteered to accompany them to internment camps in order to keep the family unit together.<ref>{{Cite web |title=WWII Violations of German American Civil Liberties by the US Government |url=http://www.foitimes.com/internment/gasummary.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061206111439/http://www.foitimes.com/internment/gasummary.htm |archive-date=2006-12-06 |access-date=2006-10-30}}</ref> The last to be released remained in custody until 1948.<ref>{{cite web |title=German American Internee Coalition |url=http://www.gaic.info/history.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100301123425/http://www.gaic.info/history.html |archive-date=1 March 2010 |access-date=30 July 2010 |publisher=Gaic.info}}</ref>

In 1944, Secretary of the Treasury [[Henry Morgenthau Jr.]] put forward the strongest proposal for punishing Germany to the [[Second Quebec Conference]]. It became known as the [[Morgenthau Plan]], and was intended to prevent Germany from having the industrial base to start another world war. However this plan was shelved quickly, the Western Allies did not seek reparations for war damage, and the United States implemented the [[Marshall Plan]] that was intended to and did help [[West Germany]]'s [[Wirtschaftswunder|post war recovery]] to its former position as a pre-eminent industrial nation.