Thank you for highlighting this, especially that it was multiple groups - most people have at least been exposed to the Japanese internment camps, but not necessarily the others. Also, anyone notice how many people and place names were changed after 1917/18 following popular treatment of “the other”?
Thank you for highlighting this, especially that it was multiple groups - most people have at least been exposed to the Japanese internment camps, but not necessarily the others. Also, anyone notice how many people and place names were changed after 1917/18 following popular treatment of “the other”?
My wife is descended from two families of Germans who also immigrated to the US due to the 1848 revolution. One set left to avoid being drafted into the Prussian army, settling in Illinois farm country. The other set were 3 brothers who were student revolutionaries and had to flee to escape the secret police, settling in NJ and PA near Philadelphia. During our Civil War, one of them raised and commanded the first artillery unit from NJ, Battery A 1st New Jersey Artillery, which fought for the Union with the Army of the Potomac. There are even monuments and plaques honoring them at both the Gettysburgh and Antietam battlefields. Both families suffered discrimination during WWI in spite of their stances against German militarism and for the USA.
My husband's great, great, grandfather & his family immigrated in the 1840s for the same reason- his sons kept getting pulled out of line at school for the Prussian army. They settled in northern Indiana.
I’ve heard similar stories. I can’t decide if it’s reassuring or not to realize we have always had an element of vile, knee-jerk stupidity and violence in response to unrelated events.
Thank you for highlighting this, especially that it was multiple groups - most people have at least been exposed to the Japanese internment camps, but not necessarily the others. Also, anyone notice how many people and place names were changed after 1917/18 following popular treatment of “the other”?
My wife is descended from two families of Germans who also immigrated to the US due to the 1848 revolution. One set left to avoid being drafted into the Prussian army, settling in Illinois farm country. The other set were 3 brothers who were student revolutionaries and had to flee to escape the secret police, settling in NJ and PA near Philadelphia. During our Civil War, one of them raised and commanded the first artillery unit from NJ, Battery A 1st New Jersey Artillery, which fought for the Union with the Army of the Potomac. There are even monuments and plaques honoring them at both the Gettysburgh and Antietam battlefields. Both families suffered discrimination during WWI in spite of their stances against German militarism and for the USA.
My husband's great, great, grandfather & his family immigrated in the 1840s for the same reason- his sons kept getting pulled out of line at school for the Prussian army. They settled in northern Indiana.
I’ve heard similar stories. I can’t decide if it’s reassuring or not to realize we have always had an element of vile, knee-jerk stupidity and violence in response to unrelated events.