![Sample our Politics & International Relations journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5947/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Politics-International-Relations.jpg"})
Abstract
This article explores German-American war relief for Germany during First World War, concentrating on the period of American neutrality, 1914–17. Based on financial ledgers, meeting protocols and the publications of ethnic organisations, it shows how German-American charity served as a force of mobilisation on behalf of the old fatherland after August 1914 even as American public sentiments turned increasingly hostile towards Germany. The article nuances common notions of American humanitarianism during the period of neutrality and broadens our understanding of how German-Americans (and by extension, ethnic groups more generally) tried to balance political loyalty to their ‘hostland’ with emotional attachment to their ‘homeland’.
Notes
1. Horner Memorial Library (HML), MS. Coll. 38 Hilfsfond Records, Box 1, Minute Book, 1914–1919, Meeting (9 August 1914).
2. The Wacht am Rhein was a popular patriotic song akin to an informal national anthem in late-nineteenth century Germany.
3. See the articles in Singer, Jahrbuch.
4. HML, Ms. Coll. 46 Max Heinrici Manuscript and Photographs, Box 2 “Die ereignisreichen zwanzig Jahre 1915–1935 der Geschichte der Deutschen Gesellschaft” (ca. 1936–1938); more than two-thirds of this 250-page account are devoted to relief work.
5. Heinrici, “Das Hilfswerk Philadelphias,” in: Singer, Jahrbuch, 251–62, 252.
6. Child, The German-Americans; Luebke, Bonds of Loyalty; Wüstenbecker, Deutschamerikaner; Fulwider, German Propaganda, illustrate this treatment. Useful, if largely descriptive: Wittke, German-Americans, 30–8. The post-war period is better researched in: Kreyenpoth, Auslandshilfe; Stöhr, So half Amerika; Strickland, American Aid; Rippley, “Gift Cows for Germany”; Piller, “German Child Distress.”
7. E.g., Irwin, Making the World Safe; Little, “An Explosion”; Little, Band of Crusaders; Westerman, Rough and Ready Relief. For a good introduction see the special issue of First World War Studies 5, no. 1 (2014).
8. Little, Band of Crusaders, 75; Irwin, “Taming Total War,” 766.
9. On tensions between international and national humanitarian spheres: Jones, “International or transnational?” Irwin has recently pointed to this partisan nature of American aid, but detailed studies are lacking; see Irwin, “Taming Total War” and her instructive comments in Cappozola et al. “Interchange: World War I,” 470–2.
10. E.g., Little, Band of Crusaders, 359; Westerman, “Rough and Ready,” 58; Irwin, Making the World, 56.
11. Child, “German-American Attempts.”
12. Nagler, Nationale Minoritäten, 77–9.
13. Bergquist, “German-Americans,” 158.
14. Kazal, “Becoming Old Stock,” 236.
15. Pfleger, Ethnicity Matters, 34.
16. Wiedemann-Citera, Die Auswirkungen, 28.
17. Bergquist, “German Americans,” 159.
18. Johnson, Culture at Twilight, 24.
19. Tolzmann, “The Survival,” 120.
20. Luebke, Bonds of Loyalty, 88.
21. Wüstenbecker, Deutsch-Amerikaner, 53.
22. Johnson, Culture at Twilight, 99.
23. The role of ethnic women deserves more attention; on the women’s auxiliary of the GSP see Pfleger, Ethnicity Matters, 59.
24. Reiling, Deutschland, 95.
25. A.F. “Das deutsche Kriegs-Hilfswerk in New York,” in: Singer, Jahrbuch, 214–21; an estimated $ 10 million were collected in New York City alone to 1917.
26. Belgian relief, to be sure, also yielded $ 28 million in provisions and clothing, a form of donation that was usually easier to raise than cash donations but not an option for German relief because of the British blockade; see Gay, The Commission, 67–8.
27. See the ledgers in HML, Ms. Coll 42 Frauenhilfsfond Records.
28. Wiedemann-Citera, Die Auswirkungen, 58. New York’s 1916 bazaars raised $ 1.3 million. The Philadelphia bazar raised a quarter of a million dollars. HML, MS. Coll 38 Hilfsfond Records, Box 1 Minute Book, 1914–1919, Folder 1 Bazaar Committee Minute Book, 1915–17, Meeting (4 May 1916), 89–92.
29. “Dr. Hexamer’s Aufruf zum Besten der Kriegsnotleidenden,” Bulletin of the National German American Alliance (Bulletin) 7/11 (November 1915), 7.
30. “Weihnachts-Spende,” Bulletin 7/12 (December 1915), 5; “Staats-Konvent,” Bulletin 7/10 (October 1915), 36–7.
31. Conzens, “Ethnicity as Festive Culture.”
32. E.g., “Weihnachts-Spende,” Bulletin 7/12 (December 1915), 5.
33. Collections for Germany involved ethnic communities worldwide and often employed fundraising practices pioneered in Germany or Austria: Milwaukee Bazaar, Wohltätigkeits-Basar, 8–9. On forging a Greater German Empire before the war see Manz, Constructing a German Diaspora.
34. See Kühnemann to Schmidt-Ott (22 June 1916), Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preußsischer Kulturbesitz, (hereafter: GSPK) VI HA NL Schmidt-Ott 411; Kühnemann, “Deutsch-Amerika”; Volksgemeinschaft became a popular notion during World War I, denoting an integrated national community, uniting all Germans irrespective of class, religion or place of residence. Verhey, The Spirit of 1914, 213–8.
35. Wilson, “Message on Neutrality.”
36. “German Day Abandoned on Wilson Appeal,” Chicago Daily Tribune (20 August 1914) quoted from Wüstenbecker, Deutsch-Amerikaner, 68.
37. Schneider, “A Stroll,” in Charity Kirmess under the Auspices of the German and Austro-Hungarian Relief Society for the Benefit of War Sufferers, March 28–April 5, 1916. HML, German-American Collection – Uncatalogued Carl Schurz Pamphlets Box 5–1 # 23.
38. HML, MS. Coll 38 Hilfsfond Records, Box 1, Folder 1 Bazaar Committee Minute Book, 1915–1917, Meeting (8 June 1916), 102–5.
39. E.g., letter of 6 September 1914, reprinted in: Jünger, Deutsch-Amerika Mobil, 165; also Eitel “Ostpreussen und die Ostpreussenhilfe,” in: Singer, Jahrbuch, 150–7, 156–7.
40. Horne, “Demobilizing the Mind,” 102.
41. See “Deutsche Hilfskasse,” Bulletin 7/7 (July 1915), 10.
42. Horne and Kramer, German Atrocities, 251, 256.
43. Bernstorff, Deutschland und Amerika, 35–6.
44. Little, Band of Crusaders; Hoover, An American Epic, 443.
45. Schieber, “The Transformation,” 70.
46. Trommler, “The Lusitania Effect,” 241.
47. Luebke, Bonds of Loyalty, 142.
48. Fulwider, German Propaganda, 88.
49. Luebke, Bonds of Loyalty, 133; Johnson, Culture at Twilight, 110.
50. Cited in: HML, Ms. Coll. 46 Max Heinrici Manuscript and Photographs, Box 2 “Die ereignisreichen zwanzig Jahre,” Folder 4, 2.
51. “Appeals for East Prussia,” New York Times (NYT) (2 July 1916).
52. Kühnemann, Mit Unbefangener Stirn, 63; Eitel, “Ostpreussen,” 152.
53. “Appeals for East Prussia,” NYT (2 July 1916).
54. Watson, “Unheard-of Brutality.”
55. Eitel, “Ostpreussen,” 155.
56. Ibid., 156.
57. “Appeals for East Prussia,” NYT (2 July 1916); also Eitel, “Ostpreussen,” 150–7.
58. Notions that Belgium had been secretly aligned with the Allies and that Belgian franc-tireurs had inspired German reprisals were widespread. Wittke, German-Americans, 17–9. On the different American interpretations see Horne and Kramer, German Atrocities, 249–55, esp. 253.
59. Fulwider, German Propaganda, 3.
60. Kühnemann to Schmidt-Ott (22 September 1914), GSPK, VI HA NL Schmidt-Ott 411; generally: Fulwider, German Propaganda.
61. Doerries, “Promoting Kaiser and Reich,” 150.
62. German Consulate Chicago to Foreign Ministry (26 May 1915), Bundesarchiv (hereafter: BArch) R82538.
63. “Two-Hour Talk with the Kaiser,” NYT (23 July 1916). On pre-war “Germandom policies” see Manz, Constructing a German Diaspora.
64. See Kühnemann to Schmidt-Ott (22 June 1916), GSPK VI HA NL Schmidt-Ott 411; Kühnemann, “Deutsch-Amerika.”
65. BArch R 82580, German Embassy to German Foreign Ministry, (14 November 1916).
66. State Department, “Neutrality and Trade.” On the embargo campaign see Child, “German-American Attempts,” 353.
67. Johnson, Culture at Twilight, 95.
68. “Dr. Hexamer’s Auruf zum Besten der Kriegsnotleidenden,” Bulletin 7/11 (November 1915), 7.
69. Singer, Jahrbuch, 190.
70. “Pleads for German Babies,” NYT (20 February 1916).
71. Bernstorff, My Three Years, 221.
72. “Helft den Babies,” Bulletin 8/4 (April 1916).
73. Bernstorff, My Three Years, 222.
74. Alonzo E. Taylor to the American Ambassador in Germany (17 April 1916), “Report on Milk Supply in Germany,” in FRUS 1916, Supplement, 961–3.
75. The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Germany (20 July 1916), FRUS 1916, Supplement, 967.
76. On German-Americans and the election of 1916 see Luebke, Bonds of Loyalty, 157–98.
77. Higham, Strangers in the Land, 199.
78. “New York’s Basar,” Bulletin 8/4 (April 1916), 23.
79. German Consulate General, New York, to Foreign Ministry (29 March 1916), BArch R901/82540.
80. Luebke, Bonds of Loyalty, 190.
81. Kuhlmann, Of Little Comfort, 112.
82. On this exceptionally close election see Leary, “Woodrow Wilson.”
83. HML, Hilfsfond, Minute Book, 1914–1919; Meeting (17 April 1917), 37.
84. Rippley, “The Effect.”
85. Johnson, Culture at Twilight, 157.
86. The essays in Panayi, Germans as Minorities, for example, skillfully trace these processes, but make hardly any mention of relief work.