How did the outbreak of World War 2 affect German Americans?

Answer 1

Many German-Americans had been proud of Hitler and the Nazis in the years before WWII. It must be borne in mind that the death camps were not yet in operation, and even when they got going the Germans did their best to keep that a secret. There was some anti-semitic rhetoric from Germany, but so far as the rest of the world knew that was as far as it sent. So, many Germans, especially recent immigrants, felt pride that Hitler seemed to be leading Germany to an economic recovery, and that he promised a return to a proud place among nations for Germany. Many of these German-Americans became members of the German-American Bund, an organization celebrating Germany, and subscribed to various publications with a similar editorial slant. Places where there were many German-Americans, such as the Yorkville section of New York City, Milwaukee, and St. Louis had much of this sympathy. Almost all these German-Americans dropped these affiliations once Germany declared was on the US.

A few of the German-Americans had been recruited to spy for Germany. Most of these, if not all, were caught and imprisoned. Some of the more vocal and prominent among the Nazi supporters in the German-American community were rounded up, much like Japanese-Americans on the west coast, and placed in a detention facility in New York Harbor, on an island. Italian-American supporters of Mussolini were there as well. But most of these were investigated and cleared, and did not have to stay in the detention facility for the entire war, like most of the Japanese-Americans did. Less than 2,000 were detained for more than a few months. There were a lot more German-Americans and Italian-Americans than there were Japanese-Americans, tens of millions, and there was no way to round them all up. All the Japanese-Americans were not rounded up either, of course, only the ones living in the west coast states, and not the ones living in Hawaii, where they were a large percentage of the population. Many German-Americans' ancestors had come to the US long before the war. There was a large number in the 1700s, mostly from various "pietistic" sects of Protestant Christianity, some of whom became the "Pennsylvania Dutch" and others who settled in western New York and Pennsylvania, and down the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. There had been another wave of more political Germans after the failed wave of revolutions swept Europe in 1848. Most of these were well assimilated, and problems tended to be concentrated among more recent arrivals.

In summary it would be fair to say that many German-Americans were neutral on this war.