Kultur 1

Hallo!

One little tidbit that I found interesting was the fact that early German settlers chose land that was similar to that in Germany. I am Dutch and from Holland, MI, an area that was first settled by the Dutch (well, technically by Native Americans, but you know the story). These Dutch settlers left the Netherlands for the same basic reasons of new opportunities and land. When choosing land, they wanted an area that was similar to the Netherlands. That is, flat, heavily wooded land. West Michigan was the perfect place! This bit of historical information just so happens to sound almost exactly like the early German settlers. However, the Dutch obviously chose a better location!

Something else that was interesting was the German influence on American education. I never put two and two together that the word "kindergarten" was a German word. Also, the fact that it was the Germans that first had the concept of research universities was a pretty big deal. I did not know either of these facts, and they are just more evidence as to what innovative thinkers the Germans are. My girlfriend (who is German) even claims that they "invented engineering". That might be a bit of a stretch (How can one invent a concept that has always been used?), but I'll stick to the facts.

Germans made great contributions to American pop culture, as well. I never knew that Bambi, The Sound of Music, or The Oscar Meyer Wienermobile were German creations. It's interesting that the reason Germans played such a role in Hollywood because many German-speaking Jews fled to California during WWII and never went back. At least there was something good that came out of such a horrible event.

Overall, the article is quite entertaining, intriguing, and educational. Thanks to so many German contributions, American society is what it is today. Thanks, Germany!