Abstract:

This dissertation examines personal and family narratives of immigration and Americanization from second, third and fourth generation German Americans who came of age in Southwestern Illinois during the first half of the twentieth century. During the World Wars and the inter-war period, many German American communities experienced public anti-German hostility in conjunction with government-sponsored efforts to eradicate the German language. This institutional and public sanctioning resulted in powerful changes for these communities such as the changing of street names, the closing of beer halls and ethnic clubs and the banning of German in schools, churches and public places. While some scholars debate the totality of German American assimilation, this study highlights the ways that residual feelings from traumas experienced during Americanization are still at work in these communities. Understanding how people use story to articulate beliefs about the past, or express the confusion and loss that accompanied this period of history is the central concern of this study.

Utilizing a narrative analytical approach, I examined memories of childhood, early schooling, adolescence, language restriction and experiences with anti-German feeling. I demonstrated how narrators constructed collective stories of origin that present the immigration experience as untroubled and ultimately successful for German Americans. Through systematic and shared discourses, participants painted a conceptual landscape of German immigration as legitimate and invited more direct researcher participation in their characterizations of the past. In contrast to the origin stories, narratives of Americanization interrupt the seamless stories of family migration and adaptation. These stories, far more difficult to elicit, included stories of trouble, stories of language loss and strategic responses to language restriction in school and public. I demonstrated how the making and sharing of family albums ordered the past visually along two opposing storylines. Through the selection and placement of maps, family letters, genealogies and photographs, participants constructed commemoration of their German immigrant origins while simultaneously testifying to their ethnic and socioeconomic assimilation.

These spoken, written and visual discourses help us to better understand the complicated nature of German American acculturation and ethnic identity. It is my hope that a thorough analysis of these stories and the insights they provide contribute deepened empathy for the German American experience and encourage future more nuanced discussions around immigration, language policy, and race relations in these communities.