Reminds me of post WWI legislation

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Submitted by Lyle (United States), Sep 3, 2015 18:41

In WI after WWI a law was passed making the teaching of german in schools illegal. On a more broad topic, speaking german after 1917 was politically incorrect. Or to give another example: one of my great grand fathers was born in germany in the late 1850s and came to the us in 1861 (thru New Orleans), in 1917 they went thru the court house records and published a list of those who had not gotten their second papers and thus citizenship. My Great Grandfather had his door painted yellow at the time. Also a lot of german newpapers ceased publication when (I suspect no records exist) that their owners were told there could be a fire if they kept publishing. Also part of prohibition was that the germans drank a lot of beer and so needed to be put in their place.

Even before WWI my two uncles were called the little german boys because my grandparents on that side spoke german in the home (church was also in german).

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