I missed out "Germans are the largest ancestral group in the USA."

I don't think this answers all of your questions, but it might be a start:
related discussion: ancestry / ethnicity in the US

I can only speak from personal experience here--when I was traveling in Germany with my parents a few years back, they insisted that we go to the tiny town in NE Germany, population 300, where Great Grandpa Strawberry left for America with 3 of his 7 children 100 years ago. When Mr. Strawberry's father visits Germany in the fall, a trip to his father's birth town is on the agenda. These feel like homecomings although we don't know anyone in these German towns any more. (Mother Strawberry made me sit down with a phone book and call all the Strawberrys in middle-of-nowhere, Germany. It was so embarrassing.)

On the one hand, we are all from the Midwest where there is a huge German-American population and annual German Fests. http://germanfest.com/ So we grew up in an environment where our ethnic heritage was celebrated. On the other hand, I think this is a part of getting back to your roots and trying to understand where you came from...my mom would also like to visit Denmark one day to see where the Danish Strawberrys set sail. (I've also been to more than one Danish Fest.)

I do not know how common my experiences are. I know a lot of Americans who don't even have passports. My grandparents were not interested in traveling to Europe to see where their parents were born. Perhaps some generational distance--and with that a loss of German cultural influence on our day-to-day lives--has sparked our interest.

I have the impression that genealogy becomes increasingly popular in the US. There are more and more US citizens (most of them aged 60 or older) coming to Germany in search of their ancesters' hometown or some remote relatives.

(I)s the ancestral link celebrated in any particular way?

Frankenmuth, a town in Michigan founded by (surprise!) immigrants from Germany. It capitalizes on its German heritage.

http://www.frankenmuth.org/

Fredericksburg, a town in Texas named after Frederick the Great

http://www.fredericksburg-texas.com/

Also in Texas: New Braunfels, which according to Tante Wiki celebrates an annual Wurstfest in November

http://www.nbcham.org/cwt/external/wcpages/vi...

There is a German language immersion school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where many immigrants settled.

http://www2.milwaukee.k12.wi.us/german_imm/HT...

Or maybe you'd like to take zither lessons at the German American Heritage Center in Davenport, Iowa:

http://gahc.org/

Or attend events sponsored by the DKV (Der Deutsche Kulturverein) in St. Louis, Missouri:

http://www.germanstl.org/

Does it have a place in popular culture like the Italian-American diaspora(?)

No, probably not, unless you happen to be in a part of the U.S. that had a large number of immigrants from Germany.

There are, however, a number of German American heritage museums in the U.S. Links to a few:

One in Washington, D.C.: http://www.ugac.org/gahm/gahm.html

One in Cincinnati: http://www.gacl.org/museum.html

One celebrating specifically Pennsylvania German culture: http://www.landisvalleymuseum.org/whoarewe.php

and call all the Strawberrys in middle-of-nowhere, Germany *lol* Ich stelle mir gerade eine Erdbeere am Telefon vor...

War dieses Genealogie-Interesse nicht immer schon hoch in den USA?
Ich erinnere mich, dass vor bestimmt schon 20 Jahren der entfernte Cousin meines Vaters mit einem Genealogie-Computerprogramm ankam, in das er bereits diverse Daten seiner österreichischen Vorfahren eingetragen hatte. Bislang hatte niemand aus der in Europa verbliebenen Familie von so etwas gehört.
Dieser Cousin ist übrigens erst als Sechsjähriger mit seinen Eltern ausgewandert, er spricht erstaunlich gut Deutsch, seine Kinder aber gar nicht mehr. Vielleicht übernimmt ja eines von ihnen sein Interesse - tun das Mormonen tendenziell gerne oder eher nicht? Keine Ahnung.

Vielleicht übernimmt ja eines von ihnen sein Interesse - tun das Mormonen tendenziell gerne oder eher nicht?

Ahnenforschung ist in der LDS ("Mormonen") sehr wichtig - steht in Verbindung mit der stellvertretenden Taufe für die Toten.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptism_for_the_...

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totentaufe#Toten...

Mein Gott, da tut sich ja eine riesige gestreifte Bildungslücke auf. Danke, Nicki... *inmichgehunddortbleib*

This article was on CNN today:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/07/19/new.brau...

History of Germans in Texas:
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/art...

*lol*

Vielleicht sollte der Besitzer vom Freisenhaus einfach antworten, dass man in Hessen keine Lederhosen trägt...

Aber für einen Bayern ein guter Hinweis auf eine Geschäftslücke *notier*

Ich musste auch schon mal im Koffer eine Lederhosn mit in die U.S.A. bringen und dort per Post verschicken. Sind die wirklich so schwer zu kriegen bzw. will die überhaupt jemand kaufen?

OT: Ich bestehe hier (USA) immer auf die Unterschiede zwischen Bayern und dem Rest von Deutschland, speziell bei Lederhosen :) Ich bestehe auch drauf, dass die Schweiz und Deutschland nicht im gleichen Land liegen. Meine "Lieblings"verwirrung war, als jemand behauptete, die Schweiz sei ein Teil Bayerns.

Ich möchte bescheiden hinzufügen, dass ich wahrscheinlich auch nicht all Staaten der USA aufzählen kann.

@Eichkatzl: Soviel ich weiss bekommt man echte Lederhosen nur sehr schwer. Ich habe den Eindruck das manche Amerikaner, vielleicht die, die grade auf ernsthafter "Wurzelsuche" sind, gerne eine hätten, und ihnen nicht klar ist, das man sie in z.B. Hessen nicht trägt :)

Die Lederhose als Tracht ist nur im bayrischen Voralpenraum verbreitet.

Strawberry (#3),

while staying in Missouri I was very surprised to find myself practically forced to attend several Oktoberfests, in St Charles, MO and Hermann, MO among others.

Andererseits ist Hermann das Zentrum des Missouri Rhineland.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_Rhineland
The Naturalist Gottfried Duden, a German attorney, settled on the north side of the Missouri River along Lake Creek in 1824. He was investigating the possibilities of settlement in the area by his countrymen. In 1827 he returned to Germany, which he felt was overpopulated. There in 1829 he published Bericht über eine Reise nach den westlichen Staaten Nordamerikas (Journal of a trip to the western states of North America), extolling the attractions of Missouri.

Led by Friedrich Muench and Paul Follenius of the Giessen Emigration Society, German immigrants arrived in the area in 1834. Friedrich Muench became known for his expertise in the cultivation of grapes and wine making. In the 1850s he founded Mount Pleasant Winery with his brother. Muench was a prominent writer and lecturer and wrote a number of books. He frequently wrote under the name of "Far West." His book American Grape Culture was published in 1859. On the former farm of Friedrich Muench stands a stone barn with his name in the keystone. Letters written by Muench and Follen to friends and relatives in Germany brought more of their countrymen to the Missouri valley.

In 1836 the German Settlement Society began to look for a place to build a German community insulated from the increasing diversity of nationalities found in many American settlements. They chose to settle in Hermann, Missouri and the first settlers arrived in 1837. The soil on the hillsides surrounding the settlement was not appropriate for many forms of agriculture, but was ideal for grapes. Hermann’s trustees decided to sell tracts of land with the agreement that they be planted as vineyards.

Didn't meet any Strawberries in Missouri, so ;-)

Years ago, I used to live practically on the doorstep of Adolphus Busch's summer residence - wonder whether he established the tradition of Oktoberfests in Missouri? :-) When I was about 11 years old, I wrote the Busch family a letter telling them about how the Villa Lilly was falling into decay - they sent me a nice letter back, PLUS a leather-bound book on their beer business :-))

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Lilly

Die Villa Lilly ist ein historischer Gebäudekomplex in der Nachbarschaft der Ortschaft Lindschied, Stadt Bad Schwalbach. ...Das Gesamtanwesen wurde von dem „Bierkönig“ Adolphus Busch geplant und erbaut, der damit in der Nähe seiner ursprünglichen Heimat Mainz-Kastel eine Sommerresidenz errichten ließ. Adolphus Busch war bereits mit 18 Jahren 1861 nach St. Louis ausgewandert, hatte dort einen Getreidehandel gegründet und nach der Heirat mit der Brauereitochter Lilly Anheuser den bis heute größten Bierkonzern der Welt entstehen lassen: Anheuser und Busch (heute: Anheuser-Busch Companies).

Hey, Carly. I just looked at the Wikipedia article on Villa Lilly. Interesting that Busch built a summer residence in Europe.

I wonder, though, about the description of Villa Lilly: Das in Hessen einzigartige Gebäude zeichnet sich architektonisch durch eine Mischung von europäischem Klassizismus und amerikanischem Kolonialstil aus.

I don't think it looks remotely like a mixture of Klassizismus und amerikanischer Kolonialstil. It looks like a mixture of Queen Anne Victorian and Hessian Fachwerk. As for the Wohnhaus Claire, it doesn't look much like Jugendstil, but maybe there are elements inside that I can't see.

Hey, Amy!
We had recently rotated from St. Louis to Germany, were on a Sunday family outing, and my Dad had heard about the villa - well, we found it, and as all the buildings were empty, off we went to explore the grounds (more like a huge park). I don't recall the exact details, BUT one door to the Villa Lilly was either opened, or "unattached," and we spent a good hour or so looking the place over :-)) Agree, doesn't bear any resemblance to American colonial architecture!

In 1968, we were rotated back to the States, and then again to the same area in Germany in 1971. Back then, we were all rather aggravated that Hessen invested all that money to turn the place into a drug rehab facility.

My great-great grandparents lived in a part of the Midwest in which there were many neighboring areas that were populated almost exclusively by either recent German immigrants or by former New Englanders of British background. They didn't mix a lot and German language remained in use. After 1914, everyone became more "American" and the German language schools were closed. Now people there with German names and background often don't even know their names are German.


When an important visitor from Berlin was in town, the question arose as to what local or regional attractions he would like to see. I had to convince the person in charge of his logistics that he probably didn't want to attend the Oktoberfest in a nearby village with vague recollections of German heritage. I did give him a chance to enjoy our excellent regional craft beer, though, partly to show him that we were capable of producing it.

After 1914, everyone became more "American" and the German language schools were closed.

Stimmt so nicht ganz. Nachdem die USA in den 1. Weltkrieg eingetreten waren, wurde der Gebrauch der deutschen Sprache ganz einfach verboten.

Eine Immobilie aus dem Busch-Clan haben wir hier auch.

I'm not so sure how universally and by whom German schools or language use were made illegal, but there were a number of government policies against anyone seen as being less than 100% loyal and a lot of pressure in other various ways to let go they old identities. In the 1930s, the Great Planes and Midwest were quite isolationist, which had at least something to do with disproportionate German "migration-background" communities. Films made in WWII went out of their way in the extreme to have a cast of All-American fighting troops with names showing wide-ranging ethnic backgrounds, including Italian, German, Polish and other Eastern European. I'm not sure it's relevant that a number of the film studios promoting the war spirit were controlled by persons of European Jewish background, but in any case they caught or helped create the spirit of the times.

@ 19 - Nachdem die USA in den 1. Weltkrieg eingetreten waren, wurde der Gebrauch der deutschen Sprache ganz einfach verboten.

That's a gross oversimplification of the issue, which encompasses various state laws and local ordinances. Here's a start, for more information: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meyer_v._Nebraska

But wouldn't it be close to right if you said, maybe, verpönt and in many cases verboten?

When the US entered WW1, one of my grandparents happened to be working as a high school teacher of English, Latin, and German. Not out of ethnicity, but as far as I can tell, out of a love of classical music and a curiosity about the culture of the great composers, and perhaps also because German-language instruction was available and requested in my state, which had significant German immigration in certain areas. My other grandparent was a student in the high school, with one German immigrant parent and many German-speaking aunts and uncles. Fortunately for me, my grandparents met each other, but sadly, their odd mutual interest in German had to be given up due to the war. Maybe that's one reason why the language appeals to me.

The thread linked in #2 had a lot of interesting stuff in it, not least Amy's long comment at the end.