Talk:German Americans

What has Einstein got to do with America????

The bizarre lead mentions Einstein setting intellectual landmarks... correct, long before he retired in America becoming a dual citizen in his 60's, having left Nazi Germany. No one associates Einstein with America (bar living there in old age)...as after Germany its then to a much lesser degree Switzerland. The loose reference here in the lead lacks credibiity. Its like Iceland having a section on Bobby Fisher as a chess champion as he adopted citizenship in his latter years. The others in the section ARE noted German-Americans namely Babe Ruth, Jack Nicklaus, Leo DiCaprio.. they are Americans of German descent who have been influential while under that label. Yes with Einstein being German and adopting American citizenship in old age, that merits a bullet point in a German-American list, but thats it.BudSipkiss (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 19:16, 17 December 2009 (UTC).

It's especially funny to see him here paraded around with pride as "German" (as in many other places)... first they try to gas him, chase him out of the country, and then when he becomes famous around the world, they suddenly claim "he was one of us!". Go figure. I won't take this out, considering all the past edit-wars, but he shouldn't be paraded around as "German"... Choyoołʼįįhí:Seb az86556 ^{> haneʼ} 08:09, 23 December 2009 (UTC) It is evident Einstein was German: he was born in Germany, spoke in German language and even his name is German. When you say "they" you forget that in every country there are people with different ideologies and religions and, in fact, millions of Germans didn´t vote for Hitler. We can add that according to the israeli Bryan Mark Rigg in his book "Hitler´s Jewish soldiers" over 160,000 Jews fought for Germany and for Hitler in WWII...--79.146.21.101 (talk) 21:54, 27 February 2010 (UTC)

This is typical of the English Wikipedia pronounced anti-German sentiments. It is strongly infused with belittling German achievements and famous people, while trying to lay claim to German achievements with only the slightest American connection. It's like WW2 is being continued online. 92.252.116.227 (talk) 23:32, 5 October 2010 (UTC)

Einstein in old age?? -- he was 54 when he moved permanently to Princeton in 1933 and immediately became the most famous American scientist; he was a major American voice on many issues (such as the atom bomb). Rjensen (talk) 09:35, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

LOL... Behave. Einstein as a middle class German, received his Nobel Prize in 1921 for "intellectual landmarks" when he had German citizenship. As a world famous German he was awarded the inaugural Max Planck medal in 1929 from the German Physical Society (the worlds largest org of physicists)..of which he was a previous president. Yeah as the highest profile German he fled Germany when the Nazis took over, and he retired in America whereby in his 60's he had dual Swiss-American citizenship in 1940..then died 15 yrs later. Again, Einstein should only be a bullet point in any German-American article...ie. the famous German scientist in his latter years retired in America. BudSipkiss (talk) 04:16, 12 January 2010 (UTC)

Einstein was born in Ulm. That makes him German. The people who tried to "gas" him were Nazis not Germans. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.67.117.149 (talk) 16:49, 8 January 2010 (UTC)

How do you get to be a German American? You start out as a German, leave Germany and move permanently to the U.S. and renounce Germany while taking out US citizenship. Millions of people did that and Einstein was the most famous. Rjensen (talk) 23:13, 27 February 2010 (UTC)

You can also be German-American if your parents immigrated to the US from Germany. --THE FOUNDERS INTENT ^PRAISE 16:49, 29 November 2010 (UTC)

Very strange debate. On one hand we could argue Eisenhower was not German enough. On the other hand, Einstein was not American enough. Rjensen has got it right. That photo of Einstein, taken when he was 68 and an American citizen, is Einstein the notable German-American.--Work permit (talk) 05:59, 28 February 2010 (UTC)

The thoughtlessness with which some people use "Nazis" synonymic with "Germans" is incredibly offensive, and not less so when they don't mean the Germans of today, but the Germans that lived when the Nazi dictatorship was in power. That's like saying "KKK member" when you mean "US American". 62.152.162.238 (talk) 04:59, 31 January 2010 (UTC)

You are quite correct. The view that a "German Jew" is not "German" is Nazi ideology, not the view of Germans. The equivalent statement would be "Barak Obama is not American".--Work permit (talk) 05:52, 28 February 2010 (UTC)

Einstein was not a german! Einstein was a Jew!! Einstein went to America because of Nazi Germany and became thus American. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.183.250.68 (talk) 16:31, 14 May 2010 (UTC)

As stated above, there is no contradiction in someone being both Jewish and German. Cordless Larry (talk) 16:38, 14 May 2010 (UTC)

If it were German, it would have had to go not away. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.183.250.68 (talk) 16:46, 14 May 2010 (UTC)

my english is bad. sorry. Ich finde jedenfalls, wer nach America ging, ist auch somit Amerikaner geworden. Letztendlich sind es alles nur Menschen gewesen. In Deutschland ist das genauso. Viele Menschen stammen von den Römern oder den Polen oder Ungaren ab. Letztendlich sind es nun deutsche. Und alle Menschen die in USA geboren sind, sind Americans! Und wer nach Amerika ging wollte Amerikaner werden oder er wollte Amerikaner sein. So sehe ich das. German Americans bzw. Deutschamerikaner gibt es für mich nicht! Das ist Schwachsinn! Das sind alles Amerikaner! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.183.250.68 (talk) 17:00, 14 May 2010 (UTC)

Sorry, but this is not a forum, and just because you think those who go to America and want to be American, are not German anymore, doesn't make it so. Your personal opinion is irrelevant, because only sourced information will go into the article. As far as jews are concern, it was not they who did not want to be German, but the Nazi regime that didn't want them to be German. --THE FOUNDERS INTENT ^PRAISE 15:36, 30 November 2010 (UTC)

How RACIST are some people: KISSINGER and EINSTEIN are two German-Americans. They were/are Germans and Jews. Only the Nazis think that Einstein and Kissinger cannot be German because of their religion.--83.63.180.178 (talk) 23:33, 6 July 2010 (UTC)

It seems to me that this article is referring to Americans who belong to traditional German ethnic groups, not that their nationality is German (because obviously, they are American). If this is the case, of course Einstein is not ethnically German at all, seeing as how he is an Ashkenazi Jew. I think arguing over whether he is American or not is beside the point, since the question is of his ethnicity. 76.105.6.113 (talk) 06:16, 9 September 2010 (UTC)

You should read the article. This and all other such 'foo' American articles are about people from the country of 'foo', regardless of their ethnicity, religion, or whatever. Hmains (talk) 04:21, 30 November 2010 (UTC)

Correct, it is about nationality not ethnicity. --THE FOUNDERS INTENT ^PRAISE 15:40, 30 November 2010 (UTC)

infobox

added Marlene Dietrich · Wernher von Braun · Henry Kissinger. Needed more women, and more German-American immigrants.--Work permit (talk) 06:30, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

Regarding addition of Dicaprio by anon user. His mother moved from Oer-Erkenschwick at the Ruhr, Germany, to the U.S. during the 1950s,[4] while his father is a fourth-generation American of half Italian and half German descent. Should he be added? And if so, who should be removed?--Work permit (talk) 01:20, 1 February 2010 (UTC)

===U.S. communities with the most residents born in Germany=== The 10 U.S. communities with the highest proportion of residents born in Germany are:

1. Lely Resort, Florida 6.8%
2. Pemberton Heights, New Jersey 5.0%
3. Kempner, Texas 4.8%
4. Cedar Glen Lakes, New Jersey 4.5%
5. Alamogordo, New Mexico 4.3%
6. Sunshine Acres, Florida 4.2%
7. Leisureville, Florida 4.2%
8. Wakefield, Kansas 4.1%
9. Quantico, Virginia 4.0%
10. Crestwood Village, New Jersey 3.8%

City-Data is not a source! It has no citation. It is a message board link. TomNyj0127 (talk)

No citation to German born people in America

City-Data is not a credible resource. It is a message board site. They don't provide any resource (ex. Census records) to show there is a population born in Germany in any of those towns. It has no credibility. Please don't diminish the integrity of this article by allowing shoddy information. With that being said, please don't keep putting it back up there. I have been respectful enough to give you an explanation. I'd appreciate the same. TomNyj0127 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 06:27, 5 March 2010 (UTC).

Reference to Karl Strauss/Microbrew movement

I replaced the two sentences removed under the "undue weight" guideline. The point is to clarify that German American contributions to the U.S. brewing industry did not begin and end in 1850 with Bud Light and Pabst Blue Ribbon. There is a bunch of *good* beer in this country too, a lot of it is microbrew, and a lot of that resulted from German influences in the mid-to-late 20th Century. By definition, the most prominent microbrewer is going to be less of a household name than Anheiser-Busch. That doesn't stop microbrew from being important, however, and I chose to mention Karl Strauss as being one of the best known and most prominant of that group. I don't feel it is "undue weight" to clarify that there is more to the German influence on American beer than "Tastes great! Less Filling!" —Rnickel (talk) 16:22, 11 May 2010 (UTC)

Antisemitism

A lot of people talk about paranoia about people saying "Jews control America", which is obviously a ridiculous antisemitic claim. However it is true that Germany is very sensitive in matters involving Jews for the obvious reason of WW2 reparations. But what is often not heard is that the majority ancestry in the US is German. Could that be a source of 'shame'? Inclusion of articles from reliable source on the matter for betterment of the article would be appreciated. --Leladax (talk) 17:17, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

Are you serious? --THE FOUNDERS INTENT ^PRAISE 04:04, 24 November 2010 (UTC)

Alsatians are not Germans !

Alsatians who emigrated to Texas during the 1840s were French citizens ! Alsace was French since 1648 ! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.141.167.99 (talk) 07:17, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

The Region of Elsass-Lothringen did belong as well to France as it did to Germany regarding the historical periods. But this Article is about people with ethnic German background and even if there have been centuries where Elsass belonged to France the people who lived there where about 98% ethnic Germans until WW1. I travelled there a lot. The German history is there everypresent in the architecture. Hell even many champagne houses have German names. And clearly Alsatians are called the German sheppard not the French sheppard. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.171.90.137 (talk) 02:03, 4 September 2010 (UTC)

1 errors in the article

1. Di caprio is listed as both german and russian. I don't know which he is but the last name does not sound like either, sounds more latin to me