Degrees of Allegiance: Harassment and Loyalty in Missouri's German-American Community during World War I

Historians have long argued that the Great War eradicated German culture from American soil. Degrees of Allegiance examines the experiences of German-Americans living in Missouri during the First World War, evaluating the personal relationships at the local level that shaped their lives and the way that they were affected by national war effort guidelines. Spared from widespread hate crimes, German-Americans in Missouri did not have the same bleak experiences as other German-Americans in the Midwest or across America. But they were still subject to regular charges of disloyalty, sometimes because of conflicts within the German-American community itself.

Degrees of Allegiance updates traditional thinking about the German-American experience during the Great War, taking into account not just the war years but also the history of German settlement and the war's impact on German-American culture.

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Degrees of Allegiance: Harassment and Loyalty in Missouri's German-American Community during World War I

Historians have long argued that the Great War eradicated German culture from American soil. Degrees of Allegiance examines the experiences of German-Americans living in Missouri during the First World War, evaluating the personal relationships at the local level that shaped their lives and the way that they were affected by national war effort guidelines. Spared from widespread hate crimes, German-Americans in Missouri did not have the same bleak experiences as other German-Americans in the Midwest or across America. But they were still subject to regular charges of disloyalty, sometimes because of conflicts within the German-American community itself.

Degrees of Allegiance updates traditional thinking about the German-American experience during the Great War, taking into account not just the war years but also the history of German settlement and the war's impact on German-American culture.

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Degrees of Allegiance: Harassment and Loyalty in Missouri's German-American Community during World War I

Degrees of Allegiance: Harassment and Loyalty in Missouri's German-American Community during World War I

by Petra DeWitt
Degrees of Allegiance: Harassment and Loyalty in Missouri's German-American Community during World War I

Degrees of Allegiance: Harassment and Loyalty in Missouri's German-American Community during World War I

by Petra DeWitt

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Overview

Historians have long argued that the Great War eradicated German culture from American soil. Degrees of Allegiance examines the experiences of German-Americans living in Missouri during the First World War, evaluating the personal relationships at the local level that shaped their lives and the way that they were affected by national war effort guidelines. Spared from widespread hate crimes, German-Americans in Missouri did not have the same bleak experiences as other German-Americans in the Midwest or across America. But they were still subject to regular charges of disloyalty, sometimes because of conflicts within the German-American community itself.

Degrees of Allegiance updates traditional thinking about the German-American experience during the Great War, taking into account not just the war years but also the history of German settlement and the war's impact on German-American culture.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780821420034
Publisher: Ohio University Press
Publication date: 03/11/2012
Series: Law Society & Politics in the Midwest
Edition description: 1
Pages: 284
Product dimensions: 6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Petra DeWitt teaches at Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, Missouri. She is the author of a number of articles about the German-American community in Missouri.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations vii

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 1

1 American yet German: The State of German-American Culture and the Relationship between Germans and Non-Germans in Missouri on the Eve of World War I 8

2 Divided Opinions and Growing Suspicions: Missourians and German-Americans during the Neutrality Period 35

3 "No Time for Slackers": The Missouri Council of Defense and Governor Gardner's Approach to Fighting the Kaiser at Home 55

4 From the "Most American City" to Seeing German Ghosts Everywhere: St. Louis during the Great War 84

5 Resisting Interference in Daily Life: Gasconade County during World War I 111

6 Superpatriotism in Action: Osage County during World War I 133

Conclusion Becoming Americans of German Heritage on Their Own Terms: The Impact of World War I on German Culture in Missouri 153

Notes 169

Bibliography 231

Index 249

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