Degrees of Allegiance

Conclusion: Becoming Americans of German Heritage on Their Own Terms

153 c o n c l u s i o n p Becoming Americans of German Heritage on Their Own Terms The Impact of World War I on German Culture in Missouri This examination of the roots of aggression and the meaning of loyalty during the First World War in Missouri addresses three main themes. The first aims to understand the German-American experience during the war and whether it was uniform. The second takes the German-American perspective and evaluates the reaction of German-Americans to the calls for patriotism. The third, addressed in this final chapter, focuses on the long-term impact of the war and whether German-Americans gave up their cultural identity. Contrary to accepted wisdom, many German-Americans in Missouri retained the ability to acculturate according to their own circumstances despite the war. Historians such as Frederick Luebke and John Higham have argued that German-Americans in the United States experienced widespread harassment, physical abuse, and hatred during World War I. The obvious reasons for this anti-German sentiment were a nativist mind-set that had grown in the previous two decades as millions of immigrants entered the country, the fear of the enemy lurking around every corner aiming to destroy everything America represented , and the reckless expressions “cultural chauvinists” or “club Germans” made during the neutrality and war period.1 Mobilization of men and material during the war demanded total loyalty to nation; patriotism became a duty; 154 p Degrees of Allegiance and individuals had to subordinate personal convictions to the survival of the country. The slightest opposition hampered the war effort and supported the enemy. To fight a victorious war, the nation’s molders of public opinion consolidated everything German into one category, that is, the enemy. Consequently, Americans demanded an end to divided loyalties, or the hyphen, and believed they had to stamp out the last remnants of German culture. They insisted on suppression of German-language newspapers and called for the elimination of German from the public school curriculum because the offensive tongue could spread un-American ideas. Persons who conformed could expect little harassment , but those who continued to express their opposition experienced the full brunt of the struggle to create harmony and unity. Native and foreign-born Americans could expect flag-kissing ceremonies if their actions seemed unAmerican and, hence, pro-German. The urge to unify the country in support of the war grew to include sporadic violent acts such as public floggings and tar-and-feather parties and culminated in the mob lynching of Robert Prager in Collinsville, Illinois. Historians have argued that most German cultural institutions did not survive this attack on everything German.2 German-Americans were sensitive to and aware of the demands to conform . They had been able to preserve much of their culture and language for generations while adopting many American customs. They quickly accepted the ideal of participatory government but also used their ethnic organizations , especially the German-American Alliance, to influence local, state, and national legislation. However, the alliance’s efforts to stop prohibition seemed to serve only special interests, and nativists interpreted such ethnically oriented politics as un-American behavior. This antagonism between nativists and German-Americans over political activism carried over into World War I. The alliance, like so many German-American organizations, advocated strict neutrality but, at the same time, collected money for German war relief. Nationalistic Americans interpreted this dichotomy as supporting the enemy. Once the United States entered the conflict, members of the alliance were the first to experience the anti-German animosity. This argument is valid for Missouri as well. Secret Service officials investigated Kurt von Reppert, a St. Louis lawyer and alliance member, after he had called President Wilson an “ape” at the organization’s monthly meeting in April 1917, Dr. Charles Weinsberg , president of the alliance’s Missouri chapter, was charged with trying to interfere with the military but acquitted during the trial, and a jury convicted Carl C. Gleeser, the secretary of the Kansas City Alliance chapter, for violating the Espionage Act.3 The alliance, consequently, lost most of its respectability, even among German-Americans, and dissolved in 1918. Conclusion p 155 In contrast to the experience of German-speakers in Nebraska, South Dakota , Minnesota, and Iowa, few German-Americans in Missouri encountered the violent aspects of what Luebke called the “fierce hatred of everything German ” during World War I...