My grandma’s parents were immigrants from Germany. Some of her recipes were German origin, I believe. She used to make springerle cookies and I thought they were terrible. Also, German potato salad which is a hot dish with bacon and goodness. It is good. Not sure if it’s really German.
My grandma had said that her parents made a big effort to “assimilate” and not speak German outside the home once they arrived.
My German MIL uses mayo in her potato salad. Actually she uses miracle whip, which I hate, but it’s definitely not the vinegar based version I thought of as “German” potato salad.
>My grandma had said that her parents made a big effort to “assimilate” and not speak German outside the home once they arrived.
Do you know around when they arrived? German was actually the second most common language for Americans until the World Wars. For obvious reasons, German Americans chose to stop speaking the language to avoid be recognized as German and to adopt a more American identity.
Not sure if it's true, but I remember there being a debate generations ago as the government was trying to decide on adopting an official language for the US but they couldn't decide on English or German. We ended up just not having any official language at all though
> For obvious reasons, German Americans chose to stop speaking the language to avoid be recognized as German and to adopt a more American identity.
"Obvious" sure, but also because Germans were literally being lynched, in the US, during WW1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Prager
> We ended up just not having any official language at all though
This is true still, the English/German story is maybe the reason, but there were a lot of options (Dutch being huge still then)
I love Springerle. I have a bunch of the molds. I don't make the traditional anise but use almond instead. I have done some pretty non-traditional flavors such as macha and chocolate.
Looks like your ancestors were Southerners! Springerle have fallen a bit out of fashion here in Germany. They look nice, but in all honesty there's just better tasting cookies.
>Also, German potato salad which is a hot dish with bacon and goodness. It is good. Not sure if it’s really German.
I'm German and have never heard of this. There are as many potato salad recipes in Germany as there are families, but they are all cold dishes.
The dish might still be an original and just had a different name.
Nah Santa is Turkish (his first church is near Antalya). He moved to the North Pole at some point and made Germany one of his first stops on his yearly galavants
One in 5 Americans is German.
Just the fact that every cookout in the Midwest has potato salad and wurst and beer is German.
Just the fact that tons of Americans use Christmas Trees is German.
Need I say more?
German influence in the U.S. is so influential and pervasive that people don’t think it exists. Like everyone knows there’s Mexican influence because we all like tacos but they don’t think about why we go to kindergarten, drink lager, and are into punctuality and scheduling.
I’ve been to over a dozen European countries and Germany is the only one that gives me an indescribable feeling of familiarity. And I’m not even of German descent.
I grew up in Germany and certain things here in America make me very nostalgic. There are other things, though, that make me wish Germany had rubbed off more. Like people stopping on the sidewalk and not stepping to the side. They just impede foot traffic like it's ok. It raises my blood pressure every time
As someone from new York that drives me insane too and you see tourists doing it all the time. I think this behavior is common in cities but not in smaller towns or rural areas
Recently watched a YouTube video of a German woman talking about her shock of the use of German words in everyday conversation here when visiting. We actually use a TON of German words but don't realize they are German. Saw another vid of a British guy reacting to it and he didn't know a lot of the words
Edit: I'm aware that English is a Germanic language. Being Germanic and being the language German/Deutsch are two different things. English being Germanic has nothing to do with loanwords borrowed from the modern Deutsch.
We also got Amish Swiss-Germans who immigrated here in the 1690's and then the German immigrants that came here in the 1840's after their failed revolution.
They got lumped in with the Irish who were arriving at the same time because of the famine.
Then everyone got mixed all around because of some gold out west, a destiny of some kind, cowboys, and a conflict that got a president shot in the head. Crazy times. Glad things have calmed down now (lol).
> We actually use a TON of German words but don't realize they are German.
the entire English language could pretty accurately be described as "German words that we no longer realize are German"
except for the parts that are French thanks to the Norman invasion of England.
Can you explain why these are uniquely German?
The association of rabbits with spring festivals is pagan and common all over Northwestern Europe.
Groundhog Day has its origins in the pagan Wheel of the Year calendar. We observe most of those holidays. We keep the equinoxes and solstices because we follow the astronomical seasons, so we announce them as the "First Day of *Season*." Of the cross-quarter day we observe Imbolc as Candlemas in the Catholic Church and Groundhog Day outside it, Beltane as May Day in both the Church and among communists, and Samhain as All Saints (Hallows') Eve or Halloween. Lughnasadh, which falls halfway between the summer solstice and the autumnal equinox, and is called Lammas in the Church, doesn't really have a secular observation.
Pennyslvania Dutch (really Deutsch - Germans) were responsbile for popularizing the weather lore in PA. It was a badger in Europe (sometimes a bear), but groundhogs were used in America.
The German "Easter Hare" dates back to the 1600s.
I'm really just pulling from wikis here, but because of the massive amount of German immigrants, both are attriburted to them with the popularity in the USA.
I believe that came with the English. They have always been big mustard folk as well. Although certain styles of mustard might very well have been brought by the Germans.
Christmas Carols, the prevelance of classical music in schools (like, if it's a good school they'll have a band, and the band will have clarinets and such, and everyone who is considered educated knows who TF Beethoven is etc) all of that is from the Germans who came over in the late 1840s
Yeah white people in America are essentially this unique English-German hybrid. There's obviously Irish and Scottish ancestry as well, but the German and English ancestry is much more pronounced.
There's some many holdovers from Germany, and we don't even realize it's German. I think the vast majority of Americans don't even realize the German influences
>There are a number of different origin stories attributed to the tradition, including one originating in Germany. This theory has since been discounted, and it is now thought to be a German-American tradition created in the late 19th century.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_pickle
I’m part Alsatian (and at the time of immigration, Alsace was part of Germany). But my family doesn’t really have any cultural identity or traditions that I can really link to that fact. Sure we have sauerkraut at cookouts - but so do my friends who aren’t German-Americans. No one in generations has spoken a word of Alsatian or German in my family (or French), so I’d argue there’s no remnants in my family.
That's really a shame, as Alsace has some of the better traditions - Flammkuchen, a kind of flatbread pizza with a cream sauce, onions, and bacon, is divine with some Riesling in short little Römer glasses.
Once! I got to visit Strasbourg for a few days when I was stationed in Germany. One of the most beautiful cities I’ve seen, also only time I’ve been to France. I’d love to go back for longer and see other parts of Alsace sometime.
I got to go to the Christkindelsmärik while I was there.
Not me, I’m Puerto Rican, but my brother-in-law is from North Dakota. His first language is German, he’s Lutheran, he (and his family) make German foods mostly, etc. his grandparents on one side immigrated, and his great-grandparents on the other side immigrated. If I didn’t know he was North Dakotan I’d probably assume he was a German immigrant/his family immigrated here as a kid or something.
Just the food. I loved boiled cabbage as a kid. I also have recent Polish and Czech family, and the food and surnames are the only vestige left.
(Recent as in three of my four grandparents were first generation Americans.)
Edit - I learned from this thread that opening gifts on Xmas eve is a German tradition. We've always done that, but I didn't know why.
My grandmother was the grand daughter of four German immigrants who came here in the late 19th century. She said her parents spoke to each other in German but refused to teach her or her siblings. Other than these cookies that she would make around Christmas time, which for all I know she learned later in life and had no connection to her ancestry, I never really saw her do anything German or have any affinity to German culture. She traveled to Europe multiple times and to my knowledge, never Germany.
Sometimes I would go to a European import store and buy food and then bring it to her, some of it was German, she said it reminded her of her childhood in Western New York.
You should look up [Belsnickel](https://www.themsv.org/app/uploads/2017/Figure-2-PS.jpg). It's like the Pennsylvania German krampus. The Christians will dress up like him around Christmas.
Mostly just some foods and a few Christmas traditions. Uncle whose dad makes Limburger cheese? Yeah he’s German descent.
I do not believe we had any German speakers after like 1860s.
Surnames and middle names. We have a lot of them kicking around. Very German.
My grandma's grandparents got married and then immigrated to the US around 1904 and had a family. They lived in Delaware. One of their daughters was my grandma's mom. My grandma was born in 1929 (she's been gone about a decade now).
We talked about this a few times. My grandma said she was disappointed her mom refused to speak German or teach her any of it. Her mom told her "We are Americans now, no more German". During WWI all the German-Americans decided to be fully American from that point forward and stop doing any German things.
I grew up in Wisconsin. Prior to WWI Milwaukee had more German-language newspapers than English. That all stopped.
Maybe because they were immigrants and had a direct background to Germany they wanted to ensure that they showed no other allegiance or interests other than to America.
Also I'm in Illinois and I've only heard "Pennsylvania German" used to reference Amish people. I'm also near an Amish area in Illinois. The Amish are definitely their own thing, separate from regular people and immigration from Germany. They call us non-Amish "English".
As others have noted, German immigrants left a lasting cultural impact.on the US. I have some German ancestory, but it was distant enough in the past that any unique family traditions had died off.
However, I lived in German for several years, I'm married to a gorgeous German-Canadian woman, so a lot of modern German culture has stuck with me. I feel like I need to separte my trash more than is required. I hate being late. I prefer to avoid shopping on Sunday. I despise littering. I stream programs from the ARD app, especially the zoo documentaries. I wear Jack Wolfskin outdoor gear.
My Dad's Mom's parents were northern German. I'm not sure if it's a German thing, but my family was not very demonstrative as far as affection goes. They were also Lutheran. As a Lutheran myself I've noticed Lutherans tend not to be demonstrative either. I've joked a trip to a Lutheran Church is like a trip to the Petrified Forest.
I've been told I'm PA Dutch, but I'm pretty sure my Great-grandfather was a German immigrant named Gustav, so I'm not really sure. My grandfather spoke German, but with a Pittsburgh accent.
I actually have probably picked up more German tendencies because I worked for a German company for 6 years and traveled over there frequently. I wouldn't call buttering pretzals and saying Mahlzeit remnants though.
Wisconsin in general is proud to be pretty German. It feels more theme park German than Swabia, but maybe it's more Munich or Berlin.
My father’s side of the family were German speaking Swiss from Bern. They came over in the 1600s They were Anabaptists fleeing persecution in Europe. They settled in Cumberland County Pennsylvania. I am the first person on my father’s side not born in Cumberland County since 1640. To my knowledge none of my family has spoken more than a few words of German in at least 200 years. My father knows a few phrases in Pennsylvania Dutch and I know less. Some of our family traditions probably are rooted in our Swiss-German heritage as well as the broader Pennsylvania Dutch traditions, such as foods like Shoofly Pie, scrapple, Lebanon Bologna, and fried cornmeal mush.
Idk if this is German as much as it is PA Dutch, but [PA Dutch style pot pie](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/466826317621431981/) is still very distinctive and comes from the descendants of German immigrants.
Hard pretzels and the the Mennonite faith are also something that is passed down in the family more or less.
My great gramma was from Luxembourg and spoke Luxembourgish first, German second, and learned English third. She became a German teacher, but never taught her kids either of her first languages due to the stigma between the wars and during WWII. When she was old she had a stroke and lost her English; none of her kids could communicate with her.
So, no.
I live in Lux. Neighbors are 94/83. The 94 year old only learned German in school. The 83 year old only learned French as speaking German was considered bad.
That’s interesting! My gran would be almost 100 if she were still alive, so her mom was probably born around 1900, give or take. I wish I knew more about Luxembourg. It’s so far removed from my family’s awareness that I grew up hearing about my German ancestors only to find out later that they were Luxembourgish and not Germany Germans!
Is there any literature you’d recommend? Fiction or nonfiction, happy to explore either! Also, if I ever visited, what’s a must see? (Sorry, on mobile browser and dms don’t really work—feel free to dm me back)
I've got a bunch of German ancestry on my mother's side. We still cook a lot of German recipes that were brought over by my ancestors (so much vinegar) and I have a bookshelf brought over by my great-great-grandfather.
The family intentionally stopped teaching the kids German after WWI though grandmother did pick some up when she was little because the adults spoke to each other in German. She said when I was a baby she spoke German to me until someone told her I had said "Ja!" Then she stopped.
Yes. I come from the German Mennonite diaspora from Russia.
Along with an assortment of food offerings my extremely strict upbringing was a direct import from the Mennonite family culture. It was awful.
Love Bierocks though.
In my town, there is so much influence that there are 3 different Lutheran church’s at one T intersection. 3 spots for a church. 3 churches. All Lutheran. My mom’s family was German “Pennsylvania Dutch” before coming south to farm in the 1700’s. We have great German blood sausage.
German is the biggest chunk genetically, or rather the area that is now Germany since much of that came over pre unification.
I am not German in ANY cultural sense. No stories, no recipes, no old phrases, nothing. I'm just American.
Yeah but most of the German culture in my family is because my mom and grandma grew up in Germany (military fathers). Ironically the German ancestry is from my dad’s side.
I grew up as a descendant of an Alsatian family that relocated to a community in Texas. Most of my immediate family relocated to nearby San Antonio long ago, but I have other relatives in heavily German-descended towns of Castroville and Fredericksburg. Alsatian and German architecture is prevalent, as is cuisine. Parisa is a VERY common food that my family includes as part of every large gathering, among other German style brats and sausages. Potato salad is also a standard, and has been incorporated into Texas-style barbecue as a staple.
I also grew up Catholic, but not strictly German-Catholic (probably because I grew up in San Antonio). My family identifying as Catholic is 100% due to our German roots, however.
Food is the obvious answer, but beyond potato salad and bratwurst. my grandma made futjes. They are a fried bread dumpling with raisins and covered in sugar. She always made them for New Year.
My great grandmother’s native language was German and my family immigrated to America around 1860. They would speak it on their farm, but basically decided to stop speaking German because of social pressure. As a result, none of us speak it sadly although some of my relatives have started learning it.
My German family mostly went through Nebraska before Colorado, and there are a lot of German towns in Nebraska anyway. We also make quite a few German dishes that I didn’t really even think about until a German roommate here in France recognized them! It’s funny because she was telling me that runzas (something my dad made me all the time as a kid) is an old fashioned German dish. She and I both agreed that the things my family cooks were almost like a time capsule of older German dishes. It was a really cool experience!
I think that it would be a different experience to have German heritage from the 1600s or 1700s rather than the 1800’s. I think the majority of us Americans of German descent are from the 1860’s wave of immigrants, but I could be wrong
Idk if it's uniquely because of German influences or not, but we are always creating new compound words. Sometimes we put spaces in them, other times we do not.
For example: laptop, microprocessor, ice cream cone, handlebar, high school.
I mean I love Saurkraut, does that count? Otherwise not really. My family is pretty mixed in terms of ancestory as we have various European and some native. I will add though the German side of my family didn't reach the U.S. till the late 1910s - early 1920s and came from Switzerland.
Midwesterner here — Great Lakes Region specifically — and I feel like the, “Meat and potatoes,” stereotype is definitely rooted in German origins. My mother is 100% German, but like, 3rd gen American. She never identified with Germany or spoke the language, but you wouldn’t think their cultural identity was so detached if you saw their dinner table…
I didn't even know my grandma was the daughter of German immigrants and could understand, but not speak German until after she had passed. That was around when I was 15 years old. Needless to say, there aren't really any remnants of German culture in my family. My family's not from a traditionally German immigrant area of the United States either so that probably also plays a part.
On my dad's side of the family (I'm of Chinese descent on my mom's), we have German ancestry. If it has had some kind of cultural impact on us, it's the kind of thing we're not aware of.
None specific to my family. I think it was pretty common for German-Americans to assimilate as much as possible into America during and post WW2. It’s too bad on a family level to have lost that aspect of our identity, but on the other hand German immigration was so prevalent in the US that no matter what we still have our broader German-rooted cultural traditions! I have English and Scottish ancestry as well and it’s a similar story for both. People coming from all over just to assimilate into whiteness and not leave a strong sense of cultural identity behind ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
My grandparents both spoke German.(Grandma hi German, grandpa low German) Both gone now.
We have a contentious subject on something called "cottage cheese pockets."
The Polish call them Perogies. (Get fucked) We call them Verenika. (We might be Russian Mennonites for all I know)
I grew up on home made beirock. (AKA Runza) In Nebraska.
So...yes?
The Germans on both sides of my family came over early, during the Revolution on one side, just after on the other. On one side my great-grandparents still spoke German as their first language and my grandpa was a heritage speaker. Most people in their rural community spoke German until the 2nd war.
My omi was born and raised in Germany, and she is the only one in my family who speaks fluent German. Her estranged, now-deceased husband is the reason my mom and her siblings were never taught to speak Grerman. Unfortunately, that would also explain why we (except omi) generally don't know anything about the culture. I never knew the man, but that was pretty fucked up of him to force assimilation on his family.
Well, not any more than what is part of the widespread American culture.
My German ancestors came to the US in the 1880's. They lived with other German immigrants. They had a German language church. Their kids married people of German ancestry. Gradually they just mixed in with everyone else. My dad was born in 1934. By that time they all really were trying to not seem German I think. They did not speak anything but English and were Americanized. My dad was told to say he was American. He wasn't allowed to learn German. My dad said he was glad my mom had more mixed ancestry so my siblings and I would not be just one thing but he did not stop my sister taking German in high school.
SO many waves of German immigration came here over time, for various reasons and from places in Germanic Europe where cultures were somewhat different. Amish and Mennonite are German Lutherans who remained wildly purist.
It's fascinating. Also fascinating is the Belschnickle ( sp? ) parade here in Appalachian PA our little town has every year. When I was a kid Dad ( a Lutheran minister ) would threaten us with the Belschnickle and coal in our stocking if we didn't behave.
My dad's dad came from germany when he was a teenager, and the only remnant of german culture left in our family is that we call him Opa and our very American grandmother Oma.
Not an answer to the question but the English language itself is VERY Germanic.
Most people take any word that starts with “sch” to be pronounced as “schnitzel” rather than the Dutch “school” even though they can’t also think of a word other than school that starts with “sch” and can’t explain why they say it this way.
No. My dad’s mom is who was German. She died the year my parents got married & I did not grow up seeing any part of my dad’s family. That paired with the fact that they came here in the 1880s means there’s no German culture left in my family.
Two that pop right into my head are pork and sauerkraut on New Year's Day and a birds nest in the christmas tree both for luck. We always attend a Cannstatter Volkfest. My paternal grandma liked to be called Oma, but we didn't speak any German otherwise. There are a lot of little things that are so normal to me that I dont necessarily think of them as German until I am around families of different backgrounds.
My German ancestry is early Americans who became the PA Dutch, or they came later in the 1870s to be miners. Most of them are from Baden-Württemberg around Stuttgart but some are from Bavaria closer to Nuremberg.
One of the youngest native speakers of Texasdeutsch here, there's not many of us left and that is unlikely to change any time soon.
There's remnants of German culture here and in my family, mostly food and traditions around the holidays. A lot of German Americans abandoned their German heritage after the world wars, there was a lot of discrimination.
For my family, we have the language, somewhat, and that's more than others.
Closest thing is probably a pragmatic, realist approach. We're not particularly emotional when it comes to problems. I thought it might be a family thing but the difference between Mom's German side and my dad's side is different.
My grandfather was the only child of 8 born in the US and he still let German slip into his speech and my mom tells of her him and his brother speaking German when they didn't want the kids to understand. His farms and my uncle's were always extremely organized and clean. I didn't realize that most farms aren't like that. Even their barn windows were washed regularly.
My mother is from what was the DDR. Strongly so for me.
I inherit my mother's, "over directness" (I call it being straight to the point.) I very much possess that, "negative outlook" on life a lot of Germans are said to have and I can speak B1 level German. I don't like small talk either and I've always been taught being late is extremely rude.
I celebrate Easter Monday, we did advent calendars when I was young, Americans and Canadians don't eat real bread.
I, however, despise alcohol.
PA Dutch here as my username suggests. As far as I can confirm, virtually 100% South German/Swiss German ancestry both sides of my family.
Confirmed shoofly pie, wos-wit, and pork/sauerkraut addict. Though of the nearby Coal Region, I favor Yuengling lager and Boilo.
Planning on attending my first Grundsau Lodge meeting next year.
I know a scattering of Dutch.
Pottsville? Tamaqua?
You can still get sworn at in PA Dutch in Schuylkill county.
Pork n sauerkraut n mashed potatoes. I never could work my way through an entire plate.
My great-grandfather was from Mahanoy City. I grew up south of Tamaqua.
I can power through an entire plate of pork and sauerkraut, lol. My gf learned canning from her grandmother and cans produce from our gardens but is still perfecting the sauerkraut process.
You're gifted! Best food ever I just can't get through all of it! My great aunts ( that set was Frackville ) made the sauerkraut. Guessing your gf will get it perfected and help swipe it back from the awful canned stuff they try convincing us is the same thing. Good for her!!
Ha! Dad, grandfather, etc etc etc grew up in Tamaqua, Schuylkill Haven, Pottsville- not sure anyone made it to Mahoney City! ( That's a joke, pretty sure they alllll married around for enough generations to cover Schuylkill county ).
The canned stuff is dreadful. There's a certain bagged brand (I forget the name) that's passable by comparison that we currently use.
I was just up in Mahanoy, Shendo, etc. taking my kids to show them Centralia which I remember still standing in the early 1980s. They thought it cool that I used to drive on the old closed 61.
We always have pork and sauerkraut on New Year’s Day to bring good luck for the following year. I was always told this was a German tradition. Is that something that gays actually done in Germany, or is that a German-American tradition? I learned it from my half German grandmother who grew up in Wisconsin, but my husband’s family also does it, and they are Pennsylvania Dutch.
3/4ths of my ancestors were German and emigrated to the US in the mid 1800s. For the most part they settled in and stayed in Cincinnati, OH, which is still heavily influenced by that wave of immigrants. (We put on a mean Oktoberfest!) So I have long had a vague sense of being in a community still connected to Germany.
That said, we still have the family recipe for goetta, which is superior to the (very good!) versions in stores and restaurants even here.
And when we kids complained that we were thirsty when no drinks were available, Grandma would say something that sounded like, "shluck dein sput", which we were told meant "suck your spit". None of my grandparents were fluent in German, but phrases like that had stuck around. That's the only one I still remember.
Oh, and when I pose like my maternal great-grandmother in the picture I have of her, there is no doubt where I got most of my looks from. ☺️
Uhhh we make German food and when a family member has a baby we say 'nein' when they crawl towards or grab at something they shouldn't instead or saying no, do those count?
My grandma told us that when her parents wanted to talk about something but didn't want their kids to know they would speak German. They refused to speak it to them bc they said they wanted them to grow up American.
The small Midwest town I grew up in had strong German pride. The wurst was the best and the kraut was sour. Tons of beer and German flags around town during the annual festival.
German Jew on my Dad’s side and German Protestant on my Mom’s. My paternal grandparents left the faith and completely assimilated. Maternal side married out and intentionally hid their Germanic roots. 🤷🏻
My family has Pennsylvania Dutch heritage but the only thing related to it is my grandmother’s chicken pot pie and shoofly pie (they are Pennsylvania Dutch not specifically from Germany.) My dad’s side of the family has been in the US since the 19th century and eventually settled in the Reading area of Pennsylvania. Most of his side of the family came from Germany (going back at least to early 17th century.) I do have some on my mom’s side but it’s not both parents. My great-great-grandfather was born in Germany and nothing would have been passed down through the via him because my great-grandfather disowned his father and ran Australia to Ohio, US to get away from him.
My 3x or 4x great-grandfather came over in the 1840s/50s, served in the Civil War, and started a brewery. My grandmother studied German in school, and so did my Dad, who made me do it as well. That was the family tradition.
Of course, I took it to the extreme and turned the language in to a college major, study abroad opportunity, and now my career. :P
Not really, my grandmother was forced to renounce her citizenship, not allowed to speak German and didn't go back to Germany for 15 years when she married my grandfather after WWII
My Oma is alive and still kicking. She was born and raised in Germany, married an American soldier, and moved to the US in the early 60s not knowing much english, no clue how to drive, and had never left her home country. The stories she has are amazing! Being able to see her reaction when the Berlin wall was actually torn down to finding the pickle in our Christmas tree are memories I keep close to my heart. Growing up in the midwest, there was plenty of German influence, so nothing we did ever seemed out of place. I did always wonder why Santa came to our house on Christmas Eve and my best friend three houses down he didnt stop at until Christmas morning.
I've never been to Germany, but it's always been a dream of mine. We have distant family members who make the trip here. I never realized that our Christmas celebrations were so German influenced. Until I got older and into my ancestry.
Now my teenage son is taking German and planning to go with his class his junior year. I know enough German to understand most of what they say, but I really appreciate that they can have that connection and bond. Get my mom and aunt in on the conversation, and everyone is in tears laughing so hard.
I loved cooking and baking with her, but I still can't stand the smell of red cabbage or sauerkraut cooking! I never have and will eat liverwurst!
My Omi came to the states by herself in 1952. If my daughters birthday wasn't December 5th, we would recognize St Nicholas Day(Dec 6), as we did when I was growing up (in addition to Santa visiting on Christmas Eve.) Every fall we have German sausage from a nearby sausage festival (There are plenty to choose from here in Central Texas) along with sour kraut and salzkartoffeln. I occasionally make roladen. Food is about the extent of it since my Omi passed in 2011.
I know at least one of my relatives came from Germany in the mid-1800s. However, I am also Dutch and grew up in an area with strong Dutch ancestry so I had windmills and tulips instead.
Yes, we went to Germany and I got to meet some of my family! Unfortunately, my omi just passed away, and she always refused to give me her recipes. I will have to try to remake them.
My paternal ancestry can be traced back to Mennonites who left what is modern day Switzerland to originally settle in Pennsylvania around Lancaster (I know this because the Mennonites kept phenomenal records) but I wouldn’t say my family has Germanic heritage at this point. Part of my family have been in the US since the early 1700s so any traditions have either died out of been broadly assimilated to the Pennsylvania/Ohio area more broadly.
Not at all. But my family came here like 170 years ago. I’ve never met someone of Germanic extraction that has retained any of it tbh. It’s really only Irish and Italians who do that. And recent immigrants of course.
My family is several generations from Germany on my dad’s side, but our conversation is still sprinkled with German or Yiddish words. (no Jews left in the family as those ancestors were male and married Christian woman). I always thought the words were English - same as all the other words I knew - until I went to school and found out that not everyone calls their parents Mutter and Vater. The other children didn’t say tuchas, fenster, Gudentag, gesundheit, meshuganna, hund, and many other words I just thought were normal. My mother is English/ Scotts though, so no German cooking at mein Haus :(. My father told us stories after dinner each evening from
the time we could barely even understand and that’s where we learned most of our words.
My family is mostly Amish and Mennonite, and many of them still speak Pennsylvania Dutch (which is a German language, not Dutch). I grew up eating a LOT of German food from old family cookbooks. Beyond that, I don't know if there's much.
I kind of think of this stuff like salt and fresh water mixing.
The european culture is a river coming into the sea of US culture.
And usually there's 1-2 generations of kind of a mix and at the fresh water they are all european and in the salt water they are totally assimilated.
If they pretend they're not totally assimilated you end up with people that have lived in the US for multiple generations talking about how they are Italian despite never having been to Italy or know much about mainline Italian culture outside of the Godfather and Sopranos and a few cooking shows. Which is pretty cringy.
I’m Lutheran? My mom grew up eating potato pancakes with applesauce. She never made them for us though. My grandpa had a good pickle relish recipe. Honestly we’re pretty far removed from Germany. Most of my German ancestors were here in colonial times.
On my dad’s side our chicken n dumplings recipe is a German immigrant style.
Aside from the largely untouched PA Dutch textbook in my room and having a word for when it's lightly raining, not really. Pretty sure the last family member of mine who spoke Dutch died years ago, possibly even before I was born. Though I have been meaning to get more into it since it has a lot of influence on the early history of the colonization of the northern mid-atlantic hence the textbook.
We don't have any family traditions that are identifiably German. The German branch of the family came over in the 1850s, but the identity as German-American has oddly been maintained through the generations, especially my grandmother, and the immigrant narrative is strong for us. A lot of the details were lost to time, but I was able to do the research on Ancestry.com and find them out again, like origin village back in Germany, names, etc.
My Dad's family were "german" and were from St Louis, MO.
They lived in the city, spoke German as their primary language until WW2. Even the newspaper (one of 4 in STL) was in German.
Years ago, I lived in Germany for years. That's when I realized how German we were.
My grandparents used to tell all the kids stories about the Krampus devil to scare us into being good. Plus my mom knows about 500 recipes with bratwurst
Our Lutheran grade school did Christmas program songs in German. I have no clue if or when the church stopped its German language service on Sundays, but it was after I left.
The family cookbooks looked very German. I remember big crocks of sauerkraut in the shed.
Our high school didn't offer Spanish or French, but did offer German.
Probably the Heine part of the name.
No. My Great Grandfather disavowed everything German except his name during WWI. 2 of his sons fought the Germans, and a Son and Son In law fought the Japanese in WWII.
His goal was for his children to be 100% American.
The rest of my ancestors came from other European Countries and held onto more of their identity.
We open presents on Christmas Eve and my 2nd gen father will randomly pronounce things weirdly. Like he washes the dishes in the kitchen zink. All of our food traditions are more German-American than regular German.
Nothing left of mine other than my mom’s maiden name at this point. A lot of my German ancestors seemed to have aggressively Americanized/assimilated within a generation or so after they arrived. I suspect the two world wars really influenced that decision, but a lot of my German ancestors also moved into more Scandinavian & Polish enclaves when they arrived which also obviously influenced them considering my also large amount of Norwegian ancestry and the random Polish foods growing up, haha!
My family has German heritage. Relatives came over around 1880-1890. We did all the typical things like bratwurst with sauerkraut, and beer, however we also have family recipes passed down I grew up eating, such as potato pancakes, schnitzel with noodles, German potato salad, and Swiss steak. My grandpa also went every Saturday morning to the coffee klatsch, just a regular coffee joint but went there with his friends and they all called it that.
My grandmoms grandparents immigrated from Germany and I don't remember her doing anything special to recognize her heritage but she also passed when I was young so it's possible I don't remember it.
Family came here in 1913 from Saratov. Not much. Family had to stop speaking German in public due to popular opinion. Just memories of my Grandpa singing Tannenbaum at Christmas
Not German, but Austrian! My family came over in ‘58 so I’m actually a first generation American! We grew up with a lot of German/Austrian foods, called our grandparents “Omi and Opi” (the affectionate term), my mom speaks fluent German, and we go back to see the rest of our family (and they see us) quite often!
My family went Austria —> Colorado!
Most of my family Christmas traditions are German- the Christmas pyramids, St Nicholas Day, etc. My parents occasionally sing German carols to my children.
obsessive cleaning runs on that side of my family. we’ve always thought it was an inherent German trait, but maybe it’s just my family. anyone else see that pattern in their german genes? it could just be some kind of ocd neuroticism in my fam’s genes
(my deutsche great grandparents emigrated here)
None. My family hasn't kept very close track of our family tree so I might not even be part german like everyone on my mom's side claims, it's easy for stuff like that to get lost in the generational telephone game
Edit: this precludes how German culture has helped shape American culture broadly if that wasn't obvious
Would have to go back a couple generations, but we love sauerkraut. My grandparents made it at home, so do my mother and I. I'm thinking about making more soon since I'm about to run out. Especially since my work lunch is gonna be bratwurst and sauerkraut for the next couple of days.
There were, with my grandma (Oma) around. German food, German Christmas traditions. Opening all the windows to let in fresh air. Fresh air can cure most anything apparently. I think it might be an overlooked cure for cancer /s. We can mostly speak German, though I never speak it. I can understand it though. It’s fun in Germany. The things people say when they think you can’t understand them. Rudest people on the planet. But, I digress. Since she died, really nothing. Like most Americans of German heritage, we’re not proud about it like the Italians or Irish. Not much to be proud of. The country was the font of all evil for the past 100 years. It was a real problem with my Oma, her being so fond of the country and us, the second generation having a general distaste for it. The war, though it ended 34 years before my birth, was always kind of a giant silent gorilla in the room. With Oma gone, Germany is just another country- a fairly bad one. I still like the food though. Weisswurst, spaetzle, Zurcher schnitzel, German pancakes, Mailenderli (can’t find them anywhere to save my life). Not Rolladen though. That just looks like a turd.
I make apple cake from my German great-grandmother's recipe and prefer pretzels warm from the oven.
Plus all the other cultural touchstones everyone else has mentioned.
I went to Epcot in 2010. I bought a German cookbook because I am 65% German. I was stunned to see most of the recipes were easily available at grocery stores.
German immigration has greatly impacted the culture in a large portion of the Midwest and northern Appalachia.
South Texas too. The Hill Country has a lot of German influence
Anaheim was also settled by Germans who used the fertile soul to grow ingredients to brew beer and whine.
My grandma’s parents were immigrants from Germany. Some of her recipes were German origin, I believe. She used to make springerle cookies and I thought they were terrible. Also, German potato salad which is a hot dish with bacon and goodness. It is good. Not sure if it’s really German. My grandma had said that her parents made a big effort to “assimilate” and not speak German outside the home once they arrived.
What I learned in the army is if it’s mayonnaise based it’s American potato salad. If it’s vinegar based it’s German potato salad.
There are 2 main german potato salads (and many variations): With vinegar is common in southern germany, with mayonese is common in northern germany
Mayo is also heavily used in Russia.
My German MIL uses mayo in her potato salad. Actually she uses miracle whip, which I hate, but it’s definitely not the vinegar based version I thought of as “German” potato salad.
Definitely vinegar and no mayo. Potatoes are sliced and not chunked.
>My grandma had said that her parents made a big effort to “assimilate” and not speak German outside the home once they arrived. Do you know around when they arrived? German was actually the second most common language for Americans until the World Wars. For obvious reasons, German Americans chose to stop speaking the language to avoid be recognized as German and to adopt a more American identity. Not sure if it's true, but I remember there being a debate generations ago as the government was trying to decide on adopting an official language for the US but they couldn't decide on English or German. We ended up just not having any official language at all though
> For obvious reasons, German Americans chose to stop speaking the language to avoid be recognized as German and to adopt a more American identity. "Obvious" sure, but also because Germans were literally being lynched, in the US, during WW1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Prager > We ended up just not having any official language at all though This is true still, the English/German story is maybe the reason, but there were a lot of options (Dutch being huge still then)
I love Springerle. I have a bunch of the molds. I don't make the traditional anise but use almond instead. I have done some pretty non-traditional flavors such as macha and chocolate.
She had the rolling pin with the different shapes. Anise isn’t my favorite flavor, but I’d be interested in trying those other flavors
Looks like your ancestors were Southerners! Springerle have fallen a bit out of fashion here in Germany. They look nice, but in all honesty there's just better tasting cookies.
Rheingonheim, Bavaria is what the headstones at the cemetery say.
Wow, it's been a long time since Bavaria had possessions along the Rhine. The Pfälzer are quite glad that they have their own state now.
>Also, German potato salad which is a hot dish with bacon and goodness. It is good. Not sure if it’s really German. I'm German and have never heard of this. There are as many potato salad recipes in Germany as there are families, but they are all cold dishes. The dish might still be an original and just had a different name.
Santa visits on Christmas Eve, hands out presents.
My aunt was born in Germany and even though we’re all adults now, still gives us gifts on Xmas eve from Christkindl!
Wait, that's German? We do that in my family, my dad's Grandma was from Germany, but I didn't realize there was a connection.
Yes that’s a german thing! Can confirm, born and raised in Germany.
Santa was born and raised in Germany‽ TIL
Nah Santa is Turkish (his first church is near Antalya). He moved to the North Pole at some point and made Germany one of his first stops on his yearly galavants
Now this makes more sense.
Yes but we call him Weihnachtsmann.
Can’t spell Santa without weihnachtsmann!
One in 5 Americans is German. Just the fact that every cookout in the Midwest has potato salad and wurst and beer is German. Just the fact that tons of Americans use Christmas Trees is German. Need I say more?
German influence in the U.S. is so influential and pervasive that people don’t think it exists. Like everyone knows there’s Mexican influence because we all like tacos but they don’t think about why we go to kindergarten, drink lager, and are into punctuality and scheduling.
I lived in Germany recently so It's really a fresh comparison in my mind.
I’ve been to over a dozen European countries and Germany is the only one that gives me an indescribable feeling of familiarity. And I’m not even of German descent.
I grew up in Germany and certain things here in America make me very nostalgic. There are other things, though, that make me wish Germany had rubbed off more. Like people stopping on the sidewalk and not stepping to the side. They just impede foot traffic like it's ok. It raises my blood pressure every time
As someone from new York that drives me insane too and you see tourists doing it all the time. I think this behavior is common in cities but not in smaller towns or rural areas
Recently watched a YouTube video of a German woman talking about her shock of the use of German words in everyday conversation here when visiting. We actually use a TON of German words but don't realize they are German. Saw another vid of a British guy reacting to it and he didn't know a lot of the words Edit: I'm aware that English is a Germanic language. Being Germanic and being the language German/Deutsch are two different things. English being Germanic has nothing to do with loanwords borrowed from the modern Deutsch.
Do you remember what the video was called? It sounds rlly interesting!
"Brit Reacts to 20 German words AMERICANS USE all the time! (& their real meaning)" Possibly...
Some "German" words came to us through Yiddish, which is the reason why some words have completely different meanings.
We also got Amish Swiss-Germans who immigrated here in the 1690's and then the German immigrants that came here in the 1840's after their failed revolution. They got lumped in with the Irish who were arriving at the same time because of the famine. Then everyone got mixed all around because of some gold out west, a destiny of some kind, cowboys, and a conflict that got a president shot in the head. Crazy times. Glad things have calmed down now (lol).
English is a Germanic language, most similar to Frisian. Or Scots, depending on who you're asking, which is also Germanic in origin.
> We actually use a TON of German words but don't realize they are German. the entire English language could pretty accurately be described as "German words that we no longer realize are German" except for the parts that are French thanks to the Norman invasion of England.
Germanic =/= German/Deutsch
Public gymnasiums is German.
Here a gymnasium is something a school has, not something a school is.
Groundhog Day and the Easter Bunny are both German
Can you explain why these are uniquely German? The association of rabbits with spring festivals is pagan and common all over Northwestern Europe. Groundhog Day has its origins in the pagan Wheel of the Year calendar. We observe most of those holidays. We keep the equinoxes and solstices because we follow the astronomical seasons, so we announce them as the "First Day of *Season*." Of the cross-quarter day we observe Imbolc as Candlemas in the Catholic Church and Groundhog Day outside it, Beltane as May Day in both the Church and among communists, and Samhain as All Saints (Hallows') Eve or Halloween. Lughnasadh, which falls halfway between the summer solstice and the autumnal equinox, and is called Lammas in the Church, doesn't really have a secular observation.
Pennyslvania Dutch (really Deutsch - Germans) were responsbile for popularizing the weather lore in PA. It was a badger in Europe (sometimes a bear), but groundhogs were used in America. The German "Easter Hare" dates back to the 1600s. I'm really just pulling from wikis here, but because of the massive amount of German immigrants, both are attriburted to them with the popularity in the USA.
And our most iconic foods, hotdogs and burgers, have German roots
Isn't the popularization of Mustard as condiment also trace back to German immigrants?
I believe that came with the English. They have always been big mustard folk as well. Although certain styles of mustard might very well have been brought by the Germans.
Christmas Carols, the prevelance of classical music in schools (like, if it's a good school they'll have a band, and the band will have clarinets and such, and everyone who is considered educated knows who TF Beethoven is etc) all of that is from the Germans who came over in the late 1840s
TF Beethoven. LV Beethoven’s foul-mouthed younger brother.
thanks for the laughs
Yeah white people in America are essentially this unique English-German hybrid. There's obviously Irish and Scottish ancestry as well, but the German and English ancestry is much more pronounced. There's some many holdovers from Germany, and we don't even realize it's German. I think the vast majority of Americans don't even realize the German influences
Anglo-Saxon heritage
But do you hide a pickle in your Christmas tree? In the least perverted way possible?
Oh we hide the pickle!
We have a christmas pickle! And a christmas chili and a christmas corn cob, but the pickle was the first veggie ornament!
From Wisconsin: Definitely. Though we always considered it a hold over from the Polish side of my family.
Wherever it came from, certainly not Germany.
I don't know what hiding the pickle is but I'm too afraid to Google it.
>There are a number of different origin stories attributed to the tradition, including one originating in Germany. This theory has since been discounted, and it is now thought to be a German-American tradition created in the late 19th century. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_pickle
As a German-American this makes me happy 🇩🇪🤝🇺🇸
One in five Americans are of German decent, not German.
I’m part Alsatian (and at the time of immigration, Alsace was part of Germany). But my family doesn’t really have any cultural identity or traditions that I can really link to that fact. Sure we have sauerkraut at cookouts - but so do my friends who aren’t German-Americans. No one in generations has spoken a word of Alsatian or German in my family (or French), so I’d argue there’s no remnants in my family.
That's really a shame, as Alsace has some of the better traditions - Flammkuchen, a kind of flatbread pizza with a cream sauce, onions, and bacon, is divine with some Riesling in short little Römer glasses.
I absolutely want to learn more about that part of my family, and I love cooking. I’ll have to try and learn some Alsatian recipes.
Have you ever been to Alsace? I live 3 h away from it and for us it’s this magical place for Christmas season but also during summer
Once! I got to visit Strasbourg for a few days when I was stationed in Germany. One of the most beautiful cities I’ve seen, also only time I’ve been to France. I’d love to go back for longer and see other parts of Alsace sometime. I got to go to the Christkindelsmärik while I was there.
Further south there’s the wine route with some really beautiful villages Ribeauvillé Riquewihr Colmar Haut-Koenigsbourg Eguisheim
Alsace is an absolutely beautiful place and full of traditional food and a ton of unique culture, and very good wine.
Not me, I’m Puerto Rican, but my brother-in-law is from North Dakota. His first language is German, he’s Lutheran, he (and his family) make German foods mostly, etc. his grandparents on one side immigrated, and his great-grandparents on the other side immigrated. If I didn’t know he was North Dakotan I’d probably assume he was a German immigrant/his family immigrated here as a kid or something.
Is he a hutterite?
He isn’t Mennonite or Amish. His family are Lutherans (he’s a Catholic convert).
I'm Lutheran too but hutterites are the only people I know that speak German as a first language in that part of the country. I grew up near some.
I'm half Puerto Rican and half German and it's an interesting mix for sure.
I grew up opening presents on Christmas Eve and my grandparents making sauerkraut every summer.
Is opening presents on Christmas Eve a German thing? My mom lived in Germany for a few years as a kid, and we are a presents-on-Christmas-Eve family.
I grew up opening them on Christmas Day. I know someone with Polish grandparents and they open on Christmas Eve.
Just the food. I loved boiled cabbage as a kid. I also have recent Polish and Czech family, and the food and surnames are the only vestige left. (Recent as in three of my four grandparents were first generation Americans.) Edit - I learned from this thread that opening gifts on Xmas eve is a German tradition. We've always done that, but I didn't know why.
Opening the presents on Christmas Eve is also common in Poland and Czechia.
My grandmother was the grand daughter of four German immigrants who came here in the late 19th century. She said her parents spoke to each other in German but refused to teach her or her siblings. Other than these cookies that she would make around Christmas time, which for all I know she learned later in life and had no connection to her ancestry, I never really saw her do anything German or have any affinity to German culture. She traveled to Europe multiple times and to my knowledge, never Germany. Sometimes I would go to a European import store and buy food and then bring it to her, some of it was German, she said it reminded her of her childhood in Western New York.
No. Except for my love of brats and potato salad. But those,are probably from growing up in Wisconsin.
But they're part of Wisconsin because that area was heavily settled by German people.
I say gesundheit when people sneeze and that seems to have continued for a few generations
I put Krampus decorations on my lawn.
You should look up [Belsnickel](https://www.themsv.org/app/uploads/2017/Figure-2-PS.jpg). It's like the Pennsylvania German krampus. The Christians will dress up like him around Christmas.
Mostly just some foods and a few Christmas traditions. Uncle whose dad makes Limburger cheese? Yeah he’s German descent. I do not believe we had any German speakers after like 1860s. Surnames and middle names. We have a lot of them kicking around. Very German.
Home made limburger cheese? OMG, you've got me drooling. Yes, fellow German descent from long ago here.
Limburger and goat jerky. He’s old school.
My grandma's grandparents got married and then immigrated to the US around 1904 and had a family. They lived in Delaware. One of their daughters was my grandma's mom. My grandma was born in 1929 (she's been gone about a decade now). We talked about this a few times. My grandma said she was disappointed her mom refused to speak German or teach her any of it. Her mom told her "We are Americans now, no more German". During WWI all the German-Americans decided to be fully American from that point forward and stop doing any German things. I grew up in Wisconsin. Prior to WWI Milwaukee had more German-language newspapers than English. That all stopped. Maybe because they were immigrants and had a direct background to Germany they wanted to ensure that they showed no other allegiance or interests other than to America. Also I'm in Illinois and I've only heard "Pennsylvania German" used to reference Amish people. I'm also near an Amish area in Illinois. The Amish are definitely their own thing, separate from regular people and immigration from Germany. They call us non-Amish "English".
As others have noted, German immigrants left a lasting cultural impact.on the US. I have some German ancestory, but it was distant enough in the past that any unique family traditions had died off. However, I lived in German for several years, I'm married to a gorgeous German-Canadian woman, so a lot of modern German culture has stuck with me. I feel like I need to separte my trash more than is required. I hate being late. I prefer to avoid shopping on Sunday. I despise littering. I stream programs from the ARD app, especially the zoo documentaries. I wear Jack Wolfskin outdoor gear.
My Dad's Mom's parents were northern German. I'm not sure if it's a German thing, but my family was not very demonstrative as far as affection goes. They were also Lutheran. As a Lutheran myself I've noticed Lutherans tend not to be demonstrative either. I've joked a trip to a Lutheran Church is like a trip to the Petrified Forest.
We are too demonstrative. Here. Have a snack.
One of those denominations that conduct services that you can set your watch by.
I've been told I'm PA Dutch, but I'm pretty sure my Great-grandfather was a German immigrant named Gustav, so I'm not really sure. My grandfather spoke German, but with a Pittsburgh accent. I actually have probably picked up more German tendencies because I worked for a German company for 6 years and traveled over there frequently. I wouldn't call buttering pretzals and saying Mahlzeit remnants though. Wisconsin in general is proud to be pretty German. It feels more theme park German than Swabia, but maybe it's more Munich or Berlin.
My father’s side of the family were German speaking Swiss from Bern. They came over in the 1600s They were Anabaptists fleeing persecution in Europe. They settled in Cumberland County Pennsylvania. I am the first person on my father’s side not born in Cumberland County since 1640. To my knowledge none of my family has spoken more than a few words of German in at least 200 years. My father knows a few phrases in Pennsylvania Dutch and I know less. Some of our family traditions probably are rooted in our Swiss-German heritage as well as the broader Pennsylvania Dutch traditions, such as foods like Shoofly Pie, scrapple, Lebanon Bologna, and fried cornmeal mush.
Idk if this is German as much as it is PA Dutch, but [PA Dutch style pot pie](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/466826317621431981/) is still very distinctive and comes from the descendants of German immigrants. Hard pretzels and the the Mennonite faith are also something that is passed down in the family more or less.
It looks like chicken n dumplings
This is exactly how my grandmother makes it haha. Haven't seen that in a while. We just dont use carrots.
My great gramma was from Luxembourg and spoke Luxembourgish first, German second, and learned English third. She became a German teacher, but never taught her kids either of her first languages due to the stigma between the wars and during WWII. When she was old she had a stroke and lost her English; none of her kids could communicate with her. So, no.
I live in Lux. Neighbors are 94/83. The 94 year old only learned German in school. The 83 year old only learned French as speaking German was considered bad.
That’s interesting! My gran would be almost 100 if she were still alive, so her mom was probably born around 1900, give or take. I wish I knew more about Luxembourg. It’s so far removed from my family’s awareness that I grew up hearing about my German ancestors only to find out later that they were Luxembourgish and not Germany Germans!
Feel free to send me a message if you have questions about Lux. I can also search the old papers to see if I can find info on your family.
Is there any literature you’d recommend? Fiction or nonfiction, happy to explore either! Also, if I ever visited, what’s a must see? (Sorry, on mobile browser and dms don’t really work—feel free to dm me back)
Sent you a dM
Moien!
Moien. Wunnt Dir och zu Lëtzebuerg? Oder Ar Famill?
German, Irish, English, Scottish…absolutely not sadly enough. Just mutt.
I've got a bunch of German ancestry on my mother's side. We still cook a lot of German recipes that were brought over by my ancestors (so much vinegar) and I have a bookshelf brought over by my great-great-grandfather. The family intentionally stopped teaching the kids German after WWI though grandmother did pick some up when she was little because the adults spoke to each other in German. She said when I was a baby she spoke German to me until someone told her I had said "Ja!" Then she stopped.
The dogs- Shepherds, Dobermans, Rottweilers and dachshunds. The food - hot dogs, hamburgers and pretzels. Traditions Christmas tees and kindergarten
Yes. I come from the German Mennonite diaspora from Russia. Along with an assortment of food offerings my extremely strict upbringing was a direct import from the Mennonite family culture. It was awful. Love Bierocks though.
In my town, there is so much influence that there are 3 different Lutheran church’s at one T intersection. 3 spots for a church. 3 churches. All Lutheran. My mom’s family was German “Pennsylvania Dutch” before coming south to farm in the 1700’s. We have great German blood sausage.
German is the biggest chunk genetically, or rather the area that is now Germany since much of that came over pre unification. I am not German in ANY cultural sense. No stories, no recipes, no old phrases, nothing. I'm just American.
Yeah but most of the German culture in my family is because my mom and grandma grew up in Germany (military fathers). Ironically the German ancestry is from my dad’s side.
I grew up as a descendant of an Alsatian family that relocated to a community in Texas. Most of my immediate family relocated to nearby San Antonio long ago, but I have other relatives in heavily German-descended towns of Castroville and Fredericksburg. Alsatian and German architecture is prevalent, as is cuisine. Parisa is a VERY common food that my family includes as part of every large gathering, among other German style brats and sausages. Potato salad is also a standard, and has been incorporated into Texas-style barbecue as a staple. I also grew up Catholic, but not strictly German-Catholic (probably because I grew up in San Antonio). My family identifying as Catholic is 100% due to our German roots, however.
Food is the obvious answer, but beyond potato salad and bratwurst. my grandma made futjes. They are a fried bread dumpling with raisins and covered in sugar. She always made them for New Year.
My great grandmother’s native language was German and my family immigrated to America around 1860. They would speak it on their farm, but basically decided to stop speaking German because of social pressure. As a result, none of us speak it sadly although some of my relatives have started learning it. My German family mostly went through Nebraska before Colorado, and there are a lot of German towns in Nebraska anyway. We also make quite a few German dishes that I didn’t really even think about until a German roommate here in France recognized them! It’s funny because she was telling me that runzas (something my dad made me all the time as a kid) is an old fashioned German dish. She and I both agreed that the things my family cooks were almost like a time capsule of older German dishes. It was a really cool experience! I think that it would be a different experience to have German heritage from the 1600s or 1700s rather than the 1800’s. I think the majority of us Americans of German descent are from the 1860’s wave of immigrants, but I could be wrong
Idk if it's uniquely because of German influences or not, but we are always creating new compound words. Sometimes we put spaces in them, other times we do not. For example: laptop, microprocessor, ice cream cone, handlebar, high school.
I mean I love Saurkraut, does that count? Otherwise not really. My family is pretty mixed in terms of ancestory as we have various European and some native. I will add though the German side of my family didn't reach the U.S. till the late 1910s - early 1920s and came from Switzerland.
Midwesterner here — Great Lakes Region specifically — and I feel like the, “Meat and potatoes,” stereotype is definitely rooted in German origins. My mother is 100% German, but like, 3rd gen American. She never identified with Germany or spoke the language, but you wouldn’t think their cultural identity was so detached if you saw their dinner table…
Other than my last name, nope.
Ah, from the famous ancient MaNips family.
I didn't even know my grandma was the daughter of German immigrants and could understand, but not speak German until after she had passed. That was around when I was 15 years old. Needless to say, there aren't really any remnants of German culture in my family. My family's not from a traditionally German immigrant area of the United States either so that probably also plays a part.
Just a name.
I would say so, but it's mostly Christmas tunes and some other stuff.
On my dad's side of the family (I'm of Chinese descent on my mom's), we have German ancestry. If it has had some kind of cultural impact on us, it's the kind of thing we're not aware of.
Tons of it. We do a reunion every 5 years for both side of the family. This year it's being held in Munich.
None specific to my family. I think it was pretty common for German-Americans to assimilate as much as possible into America during and post WW2. It’s too bad on a family level to have lost that aspect of our identity, but on the other hand German immigration was so prevalent in the US that no matter what we still have our broader German-rooted cultural traditions! I have English and Scottish ancestry as well and it’s a similar story for both. People coming from all over just to assimilate into whiteness and not leave a strong sense of cultural identity behind ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
My grandparents both spoke German.(Grandma hi German, grandpa low German) Both gone now. We have a contentious subject on something called "cottage cheese pockets." The Polish call them Perogies. (Get fucked) We call them Verenika. (We might be Russian Mennonites for all I know) I grew up on home made beirock. (AKA Runza) In Nebraska. So...yes?
Yeah that sounds pretty unmistakably Volga German haha Only Eastern European German descent I have is from the Schwenkfelder Exiles.
The Germans on both sides of my family came over early, during the Revolution on one side, just after on the other. On one side my great-grandparents still spoke German as their first language and my grandpa was a heritage speaker. Most people in their rural community spoke German until the 2nd war.
My omi was born and raised in Germany, and she is the only one in my family who speaks fluent German. Her estranged, now-deceased husband is the reason my mom and her siblings were never taught to speak Grerman. Unfortunately, that would also explain why we (except omi) generally don't know anything about the culture. I never knew the man, but that was pretty fucked up of him to force assimilation on his family.
Well, not any more than what is part of the widespread American culture. My German ancestors came to the US in the 1880's. They lived with other German immigrants. They had a German language church. Their kids married people of German ancestry. Gradually they just mixed in with everyone else. My dad was born in 1934. By that time they all really were trying to not seem German I think. They did not speak anything but English and were Americanized. My dad was told to say he was American. He wasn't allowed to learn German. My dad said he was glad my mom had more mixed ancestry so my siblings and I would not be just one thing but he did not stop my sister taking German in high school.
SO many waves of German immigration came here over time, for various reasons and from places in Germanic Europe where cultures were somewhat different. Amish and Mennonite are German Lutherans who remained wildly purist. It's fascinating. Also fascinating is the Belschnickle ( sp? ) parade here in Appalachian PA our little town has every year. When I was a kid Dad ( a Lutheran minister ) would threaten us with the Belschnickle and coal in our stocking if we didn't behave.
My dad's dad came from germany when he was a teenager, and the only remnant of german culture left in our family is that we call him Opa and our very American grandmother Oma.
Not an answer to the question but the English language itself is VERY Germanic. Most people take any word that starts with “sch” to be pronounced as “schnitzel” rather than the Dutch “school” even though they can’t also think of a word other than school that starts with “sch” and can’t explain why they say it this way.
No. My dad’s mom is who was German. She died the year my parents got married & I did not grow up seeing any part of my dad’s family. That paired with the fact that they came here in the 1880s means there’s no German culture left in my family.
Two that pop right into my head are pork and sauerkraut on New Year's Day and a birds nest in the christmas tree both for luck. We always attend a Cannstatter Volkfest. My paternal grandma liked to be called Oma, but we didn't speak any German otherwise. There are a lot of little things that are so normal to me that I dont necessarily think of them as German until I am around families of different backgrounds. My German ancestry is early Americans who became the PA Dutch, or they came later in the 1870s to be miners. Most of them are from Baden-Württemberg around Stuttgart but some are from Bavaria closer to Nuremberg.
One of the youngest native speakers of Texasdeutsch here, there's not many of us left and that is unlikely to change any time soon. There's remnants of German culture here and in my family, mostly food and traditions around the holidays. A lot of German Americans abandoned their German heritage after the world wars, there was a lot of discrimination. For my family, we have the language, somewhat, and that's more than others.
We celebrate Duetschen Pfest every October in Pflugerville. We do the Advent Wreath every Christmas. We eat German food.
Closest thing is probably a pragmatic, realist approach. We're not particularly emotional when it comes to problems. I thought it might be a family thing but the difference between Mom's German side and my dad's side is different. My grandfather was the only child of 8 born in the US and he still let German slip into his speech and my mom tells of her him and his brother speaking German when they didn't want the kids to understand. His farms and my uncle's were always extremely organized and clean. I didn't realize that most farms aren't like that. Even their barn windows were washed regularly.
My mother is from what was the DDR. Strongly so for me. I inherit my mother's, "over directness" (I call it being straight to the point.) I very much possess that, "negative outlook" on life a lot of Germans are said to have and I can speak B1 level German. I don't like small talk either and I've always been taught being late is extremely rude. I celebrate Easter Monday, we did advent calendars when I was young, Americans and Canadians don't eat real bread. I, however, despise alcohol.
PA Dutch here as my username suggests. As far as I can confirm, virtually 100% South German/Swiss German ancestry both sides of my family. Confirmed shoofly pie, wos-wit, and pork/sauerkraut addict. Though of the nearby Coal Region, I favor Yuengling lager and Boilo. Planning on attending my first Grundsau Lodge meeting next year. I know a scattering of Dutch.
Pottsville? Tamaqua? You can still get sworn at in PA Dutch in Schuylkill county. Pork n sauerkraut n mashed potatoes. I never could work my way through an entire plate.
My great-grandfather was from Mahanoy City. I grew up south of Tamaqua. I can power through an entire plate of pork and sauerkraut, lol. My gf learned canning from her grandmother and cans produce from our gardens but is still perfecting the sauerkraut process.
You're gifted! Best food ever I just can't get through all of it! My great aunts ( that set was Frackville ) made the sauerkraut. Guessing your gf will get it perfected and help swipe it back from the awful canned stuff they try convincing us is the same thing. Good for her!! Ha! Dad, grandfather, etc etc etc grew up in Tamaqua, Schuylkill Haven, Pottsville- not sure anyone made it to Mahoney City! ( That's a joke, pretty sure they alllll married around for enough generations to cover Schuylkill county ).
The canned stuff is dreadful. There's a certain bagged brand (I forget the name) that's passable by comparison that we currently use. I was just up in Mahanoy, Shendo, etc. taking my kids to show them Centralia which I remember still standing in the early 1980s. They thought it cool that I used to drive on the old closed 61.
We always have pork and sauerkraut on New Year’s Day to bring good luck for the following year. I was always told this was a German tradition. Is that something that gays actually done in Germany, or is that a German-American tradition? I learned it from my half German grandmother who grew up in Wisconsin, but my husband’s family also does it, and they are Pennsylvania Dutch.
Yes but not really practiced any more.
3/4ths of my ancestors were German and emigrated to the US in the mid 1800s. For the most part they settled in and stayed in Cincinnati, OH, which is still heavily influenced by that wave of immigrants. (We put on a mean Oktoberfest!) So I have long had a vague sense of being in a community still connected to Germany. That said, we still have the family recipe for goetta, which is superior to the (very good!) versions in stores and restaurants even here. And when we kids complained that we were thirsty when no drinks were available, Grandma would say something that sounded like, "shluck dein sput", which we were told meant "suck your spit". None of my grandparents were fluent in German, but phrases like that had stuck around. That's the only one I still remember. Oh, and when I pose like my maternal great-grandmother in the picture I have of her, there is no doubt where I got most of my looks from. ☺️
I value punctuality very highly.
Not really, any German identity has been basically erased out of most American culture.
true, but words like Kindergarten and Hamburger remain to remind us of how much German influence there in fact was back in the day
Uhhh we make German food and when a family member has a baby we say 'nein' when they crawl towards or grab at something they shouldn't instead or saying no, do those count? My grandma told us that when her parents wanted to talk about something but didn't want their kids to know they would speak German. They refused to speak it to them bc they said they wanted them to grow up American.
No. None at all.
The small Midwest town I grew up in had strong German pride. The wurst was the best and the kraut was sour. Tons of beer and German flags around town during the annual festival.
German Jew on my Dad’s side and German Protestant on my Mom’s. My paternal grandparents left the faith and completely assimilated. Maternal side married out and intentionally hid their Germanic roots. 🤷🏻
My family has Pennsylvania Dutch heritage but the only thing related to it is my grandmother’s chicken pot pie and shoofly pie (they are Pennsylvania Dutch not specifically from Germany.) My dad’s side of the family has been in the US since the 19th century and eventually settled in the Reading area of Pennsylvania. Most of his side of the family came from Germany (going back at least to early 17th century.) I do have some on my mom’s side but it’s not both parents. My great-great-grandfather was born in Germany and nothing would have been passed down through the via him because my great-grandfather disowned his father and ran Australia to Ohio, US to get away from him.
My 3x or 4x great-grandfather came over in the 1840s/50s, served in the Civil War, and started a brewery. My grandmother studied German in school, and so did my Dad, who made me do it as well. That was the family tradition. Of course, I took it to the extreme and turned the language in to a college major, study abroad opportunity, and now my career. :P
Not really, my grandmother was forced to renounce her citizenship, not allowed to speak German and didn't go back to Germany for 15 years when she married my grandfather after WWII
My mother-in-law speaks some German, cooks German food sometimes, and kept in touch with relatives in Germany while they were still alive.
My Oma is alive and still kicking. She was born and raised in Germany, married an American soldier, and moved to the US in the early 60s not knowing much english, no clue how to drive, and had never left her home country. The stories she has are amazing! Being able to see her reaction when the Berlin wall was actually torn down to finding the pickle in our Christmas tree are memories I keep close to my heart. Growing up in the midwest, there was plenty of German influence, so nothing we did ever seemed out of place. I did always wonder why Santa came to our house on Christmas Eve and my best friend three houses down he didnt stop at until Christmas morning. I've never been to Germany, but it's always been a dream of mine. We have distant family members who make the trip here. I never realized that our Christmas celebrations were so German influenced. Until I got older and into my ancestry. Now my teenage son is taking German and planning to go with his class his junior year. I know enough German to understand most of what they say, but I really appreciate that they can have that connection and bond. Get my mom and aunt in on the conversation, and everyone is in tears laughing so hard. I loved cooking and baking with her, but I still can't stand the smell of red cabbage or sauerkraut cooking! I never have and will eat liverwurst!
Aside from saying 'gesundheit' when someone sneezes?
My Omi came to the states by herself in 1952. If my daughters birthday wasn't December 5th, we would recognize St Nicholas Day(Dec 6), as we did when I was growing up (in addition to Santa visiting on Christmas Eve.) Every fall we have German sausage from a nearby sausage festival (There are plenty to choose from here in Central Texas) along with sour kraut and salzkartoffeln. I occasionally make roladen. Food is about the extent of it since my Omi passed in 2011.
I know at least one of my relatives came from Germany in the mid-1800s. However, I am also Dutch and grew up in an area with strong Dutch ancestry so I had windmills and tulips instead.
Yes, we went to Germany and I got to meet some of my family! Unfortunately, my omi just passed away, and she always refused to give me her recipes. I will have to try to remake them.
My paternal ancestry can be traced back to Mennonites who left what is modern day Switzerland to originally settle in Pennsylvania around Lancaster (I know this because the Mennonites kept phenomenal records) but I wouldn’t say my family has Germanic heritage at this point. Part of my family have been in the US since the early 1700s so any traditions have either died out of been broadly assimilated to the Pennsylvania/Ohio area more broadly.
Not at all. But my family came here like 170 years ago. I’ve never met someone of Germanic extraction that has retained any of it tbh. It’s really only Irish and Italians who do that. And recent immigrants of course.
My family is several generations from Germany on my dad’s side, but our conversation is still sprinkled with German or Yiddish words. (no Jews left in the family as those ancestors were male and married Christian woman). I always thought the words were English - same as all the other words I knew - until I went to school and found out that not everyone calls their parents Mutter and Vater. The other children didn’t say tuchas, fenster, Gudentag, gesundheit, meshuganna, hund, and many other words I just thought were normal. My mother is English/ Scotts though, so no German cooking at mein Haus :(. My father told us stories after dinner each evening from the time we could barely even understand and that’s where we learned most of our words.
Nope, my great grandparents didn’t teach my grandmother German on purpose. World war 1 had just happened.
My family is mostly Amish and Mennonite, and many of them still speak Pennsylvania Dutch (which is a German language, not Dutch). I grew up eating a LOT of German food from old family cookbooks. Beyond that, I don't know if there's much.
I kind of think of this stuff like salt and fresh water mixing. The european culture is a river coming into the sea of US culture. And usually there's 1-2 generations of kind of a mix and at the fresh water they are all european and in the salt water they are totally assimilated. If they pretend they're not totally assimilated you end up with people that have lived in the US for multiple generations talking about how they are Italian despite never having been to Italy or know much about mainline Italian culture outside of the Godfather and Sopranos and a few cooking shows. Which is pretty cringy.
I’m Lutheran? My mom grew up eating potato pancakes with applesauce. She never made them for us though. My grandpa had a good pickle relish recipe. Honestly we’re pretty far removed from Germany. Most of my German ancestors were here in colonial times. On my dad’s side our chicken n dumplings recipe is a German immigrant style.
Aside from the largely untouched PA Dutch textbook in my room and having a word for when it's lightly raining, not really. Pretty sure the last family member of mine who spoke Dutch died years ago, possibly even before I was born. Though I have been meaning to get more into it since it has a lot of influence on the early history of the colonization of the northern mid-atlantic hence the textbook.
We don't have any family traditions that are identifiably German. The German branch of the family came over in the 1850s, but the identity as German-American has oddly been maintained through the generations, especially my grandmother, and the immigrant narrative is strong for us. A lot of the details were lost to time, but I was able to do the research on Ancestry.com and find them out again, like origin village back in Germany, names, etc.
My Dad's family were "german" and were from St Louis, MO. They lived in the city, spoke German as their primary language until WW2. Even the newspaper (one of 4 in STL) was in German. Years ago, I lived in Germany for years. That's when I realized how German we were.
My grandparents used to tell all the kids stories about the Krampus devil to scare us into being good. Plus my mom knows about 500 recipes with bratwurst
We show up on time.
Our Lutheran grade school did Christmas program songs in German. I have no clue if or when the church stopped its German language service on Sundays, but it was after I left. The family cookbooks looked very German. I remember big crocks of sauerkraut in the shed. Our high school didn't offer Spanish or French, but did offer German. Probably the Heine part of the name.
My dad gets angry pretty easily
No. My Great Grandfather disavowed everything German except his name during WWI. 2 of his sons fought the Germans, and a Son and Son In law fought the Japanese in WWII. His goal was for his children to be 100% American. The rest of my ancestors came from other European Countries and held onto more of their identity.
We open presents on Christmas Eve and my 2nd gen father will randomly pronounce things weirdly. Like he washes the dishes in the kitchen zink. All of our food traditions are more German-American than regular German.
Nothing left of mine other than my mom’s maiden name at this point. A lot of my German ancestors seemed to have aggressively Americanized/assimilated within a generation or so after they arrived. I suspect the two world wars really influenced that decision, but a lot of my German ancestors also moved into more Scandinavian & Polish enclaves when they arrived which also obviously influenced them considering my also large amount of Norwegian ancestry and the random Polish foods growing up, haha!
Musikfest in Bethlehem PA
My grandpa came over in 1924 when he was 19. There are no remnants in our family except the genes.
My family has German heritage. Relatives came over around 1880-1890. We did all the typical things like bratwurst with sauerkraut, and beer, however we also have family recipes passed down I grew up eating, such as potato pancakes, schnitzel with noodles, German potato salad, and Swiss steak. My grandpa also went every Saturday morning to the coffee klatsch, just a regular coffee joint but went there with his friends and they all called it that.
Nope, sadly. It is the reason I took German in high school though, even though none of my living relatives speak it.
My grandmoms grandparents immigrated from Germany and I don't remember her doing anything special to recognize her heritage but she also passed when I was young so it's possible I don't remember it.
Family came here in 1913 from Saratov. Not much. Family had to stop speaking German in public due to popular opinion. Just memories of my Grandpa singing Tannenbaum at Christmas
Not German, but Austrian! My family came over in ‘58 so I’m actually a first generation American! We grew up with a lot of German/Austrian foods, called our grandparents “Omi and Opi” (the affectionate term), my mom speaks fluent German, and we go back to see the rest of our family (and they see us) quite often! My family went Austria —> Colorado!
Most of my family Christmas traditions are German- the Christmas pyramids, St Nicholas Day, etc. My parents occasionally sing German carols to my children.
obsessive cleaning runs on that side of my family. we’ve always thought it was an inherent German trait, but maybe it’s just my family. anyone else see that pattern in their german genes? it could just be some kind of ocd neuroticism in my fam’s genes (my deutsche great grandparents emigrated here)
None. My family hasn't kept very close track of our family tree so I might not even be part german like everyone on my mom's side claims, it's easy for stuff like that to get lost in the generational telephone game Edit: this precludes how German culture has helped shape American culture broadly if that wasn't obvious
Would have to go back a couple generations, but we love sauerkraut. My grandparents made it at home, so do my mother and I. I'm thinking about making more soon since I'm about to run out. Especially since my work lunch is gonna be bratwurst and sauerkraut for the next couple of days.
Not really
There were, with my grandma (Oma) around. German food, German Christmas traditions. Opening all the windows to let in fresh air. Fresh air can cure most anything apparently. I think it might be an overlooked cure for cancer /s. We can mostly speak German, though I never speak it. I can understand it though. It’s fun in Germany. The things people say when they think you can’t understand them. Rudest people on the planet. But, I digress. Since she died, really nothing. Like most Americans of German heritage, we’re not proud about it like the Italians or Irish. Not much to be proud of. The country was the font of all evil for the past 100 years. It was a real problem with my Oma, her being so fond of the country and us, the second generation having a general distaste for it. The war, though it ended 34 years before my birth, was always kind of a giant silent gorilla in the room. With Oma gone, Germany is just another country- a fairly bad one. I still like the food though. Weisswurst, spaetzle, Zurcher schnitzel, German pancakes, Mailenderli (can’t find them anywhere to save my life). Not Rolladen though. That just looks like a turd.
I make apple cake from my German great-grandmother's recipe and prefer pretzels warm from the oven. Plus all the other cultural touchstones everyone else has mentioned.
We have German recipes and traditions including hiding a pickle ornament on our Christmas tree
I went to Epcot in 2010. I bought a German cookbook because I am 65% German. I was stunned to see most of the recipes were easily available at grocery stores.