The historical Chinese American population in the Mississippi Delta region of Mississippi. At the community's height in the 1970s there were around 3,000 people of Chinese descent living in the Mississippi Delta, but the community dates back all the way to the 1870s. I think it'd make a very interesting subject for a video if you ever decide to use this idea.
If we are on the Topic of German Communities abroad i know there are some in South America. For example the Brazilian City of Blumenau founded by a German pharmacist. Maybe that could be interesting.
Second that. I would even say it is remarkably similar, considering it split more than 100 years ago. I would even say it is more similar to standard German than many local German accents.
Hearing Hermanndeutsch as a German - from the actual Rhineland as well - i agree with you. BUT i also have a friend from the german-speaking part of Luxembourg (not that far away from the Rhineland), and he sounds very similar to the Hermanndeutsch shown here. On the other hand, the dialect my grandparents speak (Kölsch and Bergisch Platt), sound very different. So, i think, that may be what german sounded like in the regions around the rhineland in the 1800, before they lost contact to any other german speakers?
As a German, I think the man who spoke "Hermanndeutsch" was quite easy to understand. Apart from some loanwords like soy instead of Soja and farmer instead of Bauer/Landwirt, few other differences are hearable. The strongest giveaway that this speaker is not from Germany but from America is the way he pronounces his r. He uses the English r and not the French/German r, which is the most common here. Like others have mentioned, it sounds like German with an American accent. It was, however, easier to understand than Texas German. At least for me.
I'm an American learning German right now, and I actually understood him almost perfectly, which is rarely the case when hearing European German speakers yet 😅 Funny how that works, but I guess it shouldn't be surprising!
Agreed, very easy to understand and besides the americanized "r", it was very German-like. There are dialects in Germany that are harder to understand.
6:20 I come from the Rhineland myself (Mönchengladbach, right between Düsseldorf and Cologne). Doesn't sound Rhineland at all, more like standard German with a strong American accent. But a really interesting video nonetheless. It reminds me of my English classes in school because we talked about the German settlers in the US, especially Hermann, several times because it was indeed an interesting cultural mix. The German culture that you can see today is sometimes... kinda funny I guess. I remember talking about a few festivals like Oktoberfest (actually German/Bavarian) or Wurstfest (what the hell). But I myself am looking forward to visiting the area next year for a weekend or so. Unfortunately, I couldn't do it as originally planned due to the pandemic.
My family came from Mönchengladbach and Krefeld to Linn, Missouri (In the Missouri Rhineland) and lived there for 7 generations. So interesting to hear from someone from quite literally, my direct ancestral homeland lol. No one speaks German there anymore except some of the Mennonites though, which is a totally different group. I would imagine that a lot of German speakers in the Missouri Rhineland are imperfect speakers largely filling in the gaps with education focused on more standard german, so like many English dialects are dying in the US proper, the uniqueness of Missouri-German dialects will probably just start to disappear as they teach their kids using European German materials and the standard in German just totally overtakes it.
@@xefjord Are there no (voluntary) German language classes in highschool in that region? Though I imagine if you don't practice constantly, you won't be able to speak it anyway after some years.
whuzzzup Yes there are German classes in pretty much any middle, high school or college, but I have yet to meet an American who ever actually learned a second language, myself included. I’ve been trying to study German for years on my own. I’ve gotten better, but it’s just so difficult.
@@whuzzzupGerman is one of three-four languages taught at high schools throughout the American Midwest. French and Spanish are just so much more useful that in my experience pretty much only culturally connected German-American kids take it. Since Germans were largely forced to assimilate post WWI, it’s a pretty small population compared to the amount of Americans with a nominal connection to Germany.
Totally agree. I am from Leverkusen (same region between Cologne and Düsseldorf), and could not hear any "modern" rhineland dialect. Hermanndeutsch for me sounds more like german-speaking people from luxembourg or belgium, or indeed americans trying to speak german.
If you continue west past the Kansas (my home state) border, you will fine that "green" highlighted area continues west clear to the Colorado border. German, Austrian, and "Volgan" Germans are all over the southern plains. You can find small communities where churches and community centers often have German events and hearing people speak German is very common. My friends grandfather had a party for Christmas this last year with a Polka Band, and I was shocked by how many in the retirement center were singing songs in German. I don't speak any German and I am not ethnically German, but it was a really fun event. I've known for a long time that German is fairly common in the rural areas of the plains, but that was almost like a cultural shock, I couldn't believe how many of the older folks could speak German at a conversational level.
As a son of a german immigrant who live literally 5 min north of dutzow, I really appreciate a bigger youtube channel covering why we have so much German culture in central Missouri.
I'm a German-American in the Rhineland, with my mother's side from the Rhineland itself and my father's side from North Dakota. I learned a lot from this video and didn't know there was such a rich history of German-Americans in the area I live. Thank you for making this video I'm glad to learn my heritage is much more then I had originally thought. I still have a German last name from my father's side and we still make many german foods, mainly deserts. While I don't speak German my late grandmother did and I would really like to learn some day. It saddens me to learn about German-American oppressions during WW1/2. In school I only really learned about Japanese-Americans being put in interment camps, not German-Americans. This video has made me more proud of my heritage then before, and I look forward to learning even more going forward.
6:20 Native German speaker here. The dialect sounds like he pronounces a lot of the German words with an American accent. Now I don't know if that is how the dialect is supposed to sound like, or if he grew up with American English as his native tongue and only later decided to learn the dialect. If I'd met him on the street without knowing anything else, I'd just assume he's a standard American trying to speak German. I can definitely understand him, but it's quite a strong accent.
German Lutherans had a huge presence and identity. Saxon colony in Perry County. In St. Louis publications like Der Lutheraner and Lehre und Wehre, Concordia Seminary, etc. Even the "German Lutheran Synod of Missouri and other States" today's Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod.
I would also add that the largest conservative Lutheran denomination in the USA is headquartered in St. Louis. The LCMS seminary is also there. LCMS stands for Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. Founded in the 1840s, the LCMS is the most culturally German and the largest confessional, conservative branch of Lutheranism in the United States.
I grew up in this region. Most people I knew had a German last name, including myself; Kaisers, Zimmermans, Yeagers, Muelers, to name a few. I never realized how unique that was until I moved away and encountered way more Anglo names. From someone with deep roots along the Missouri from the Waverly-Marshall area, thank you for giving this often overlooked story attention.
Outside of the First Name, these are all Anglicised, if they hadn't been Anglicised "Zimmerman" would have been "Zimmermann" (Carpenter) considering "Mann" is spelled with Two N's, "Jäger" (Hunter), and Müller (Miller), though back in the Past and to this Day Families could also be named Mueller instead because in the Past the Umlaut wasn't always written. Anyway, very Interesting to hear Your Perspective, coming from a German.
As someone who is from the Missouri Rhineland (Specifically in one of the counties closer to St. Louis) who was raised by a VERY American monolingual English speaking family, it still is fascinating having all that German culture. I still didn't know a lot of the information presented here beforehand, so it was interesting to learn. I've been learning about German culture and it was very interesting seeing something on German Culture from where I was born!
The chunks of the Canadian Shield inside of America. The two spots are the Adirondacks(which gets mistakenly lumped in with the Appalachians a lot) and the Superior Region (The Upper Peninsula of Michigan, The Arrowhead Region of Minnesota, plus the northern third of Wisconsin linking them)
I think it is unfortunate how the contributions of German immigrants to America are, at best, no longer easy to see or, at worst, have been completely lost. Especially considering that, to this day, more Americans claim German heritage than any other ethnic group, including Irish, Hispanic, or African American. Days like St. Patrick’s Day and Cinco de Mayo are very popular, even Columbus Day, which was partly created to honor Italian Americans, is a federal holiday. But I still feel like Oktoberfests are still relatively niche. It’s worth noting that the pressure on German-Americans during WW1 and WW2 was different than it was on other ethnic groups.The pressure on Japanese-Americans for example (and Black Americans for that matter) was to just exclude them from society, but German-Americans were pressured more to actually give up their heritage and fully assimilate to the dominant Anglo-American culture. And I think you can see that that’s what happened by the fact that today, you rarely hear people talk about their German heritage like people talk about their Irish heritage, Italian heritage, Hispanic heritage, or Jewish, Polish, or African American heritage.
You should do the nearby Mississippi Delta region next! Alluvial floodplain made up of some of the most fertile farmland in the entire world as well as the birthplace of the Blues and by association to that most modern American music genres.
As a Westphalian, whenever I hear about the descendants of German immigrants trying to revive their cultural traditions, it fills me with rather conflicting feelings. On the one hand, its great and wonderful they are trying to celebrate their heritage. On the other hand, I absolutely hate it when they do so by starting up Oktoberfests... even when their ancestors were literally from every part of Germany except Bavaria. Like, seriously people, I think your ancestors would probably prefer it if you stayed fully americanized instead of trying to start a local version of the most cliché "German" thing known to man. Now, aside from this little rant, I gotta say: Great video! I am always happy to hear about such wondrous little enclaves of unexpected diversity in the world.
You have to understand that for many Americans, especially those in the inland states, don’t have as much connection to their roots as they would wish. American “Oktoberfest” may as well be a different holiday than its original form. They don’t really care what modern Germans think, their Oktoberfest descends from the mixing of German groups into one solid American demographic, they are celebrating it how their ancestors who came here did it. African Americans famously experienced a similar mixing of cultures when different African cultures were stuck together in the Americas. Obviously not by choice like German-Americans, but it’s a common thing here. I can’t speak on Oktoberfest as much (I am of Polish/Native descent), but those of us in the Midwest will never pass up an opportunity to eat a bunch of food and drink beer
I am a German American living in Westphalia, Missouri. Despite knowing particularly where mine and my neighbors ancestry comes from (take a guess) we tend to identify as a unified Germanic tracing people. It’s fun to talk about whether someone traces from Bavaria or Westphalia etc but it’s not near as important as the shared identity, plus we all love good beer!
Great video. It’s crazy how much influence German culture has had here in the Lou. The MO Rhineland is such an overlooked gem of a region. Probably because StL is the most underrated city in the world. 😉
Yoooo hey neighbor thanks for telling my family's origin story I've never seen a major channel cover it! Warren County here I still go to Straussenbash, Dutch Days, and Oktoberfest every year. Dutzow MO has the best wine you'll ever taste in your life.
As a southern German who always lived very close to or had family from the Rhineland, Hermanndeutsch sounds like if a very adaptive American moved to the Rhineland to learn German there or someone from the Rhineland who moved to the US and now has a slight US accent when speaking German. 😂 Cool and interesting one way or another thank you for this Derek as always a great and interesting video 👍
Reminds me of the huge German community in the Kitchener-Waterloo area in Ontario. In fact, Kitchener was originally called "Berlin" for its German community until a controversial 1916 referendum that was filled with intimidation and violence. Today, they have the second-largest Oktoberfest in the world.
This was such a great video. Thanks for unearthing the rich history of our "boring" midwest. Will you ever consider talking about the Polish of Chicago?
It’s very interesting to see the map at 4:30 and be able to pick and see exactly where my house is along the banks of the Missouri. I’m really happy you are covering this often overlooked part of America and American history. I think a stand-alone video on the travels of Lewis and Clark if you haven’t already made one would be awesome, especially knowing that history is so close to home which I’m starting to realize may sound ridiculous to someone that might be European, or really anyone without an American-centric understanding of the world. This land is young. The history of it is usually considered short and we haven’t lived on it very long so the few times we get recognition for the small (but very interesting) history we have, I consider it something to be celebrated if that makes sense. Someone that lives in Rome can step outside and they’ll be in history (their dirty slimy EUROPEAN 🤢 history). They can’t escape it. In America, we have pockets of history, but we still have plenty that is still untamed. Part of me likes that. This feeling isn’t new to people from the old world, of being in history. But, I like that feeling of knowing your among the first people that will live on the land that I currently live on. Just one of the potentially hundreds of thousands, eventually down the line millions, that will live and die on the same soil I have. Long after I pass and anyone reading this comment passes, someone else will occupy the land you once did. I like that when I caught this land and got to have the pleasure of living on it I found it still wild enough to make people feel free if they want to be. In 200 years, the land I live on may no longer be wild with forests everywhere and national parks within driving distance. In 200 years, people might not be able to just drive 10 minutes and simply be on a state trail with just them and the wilderness. I see that as an absolute privilege. The thing I love about this land most is that it strikes a balance. I can drive 10 minutes and I’m on a trail. I could also drive 10 minutes and I’m in the busy town. I love my country.
cool video. I grew up in southeast Missouri, so not the Missouri Rhineland, but my family history is really based in Saint Louis county. I think a cool video would be exploring the views of German immigrants during the civil war era in Missouri, since that was a time of significant migration to the US from Germany to Missouri.
Duden (as in Gottfried Duden 1:55 ) happens to also be the very rare last name of the inventor of the German dictionary (Konrad Duden) which bears his name, similar to Merriam-Webster in America
As a Dutch person who speaks English pretty well and can guess what Germans are saying to each other due to the similarities between our languages. But the Hermanndeutsch segment makes it way harder because you’re now hearing two foreign languages mixed while also being reminded of your own language once in a while. Really have to listen to what he was saying while I would normally just listen to English media in the background
The first owner of the baseball team that is now the St. Louis Cardinals was German immigrant Chris von der Ahe. Though he never played and didn't know much about the sport, he had a statue of himself erected outside Sportsman's Park. In a lot of ways, he was a 19th century George Steinbrenner.
Reminds me a bit of The Texan Germans. I visited that part of the state recently. When I checked into my hotel, the guy working the counter was hispanic and greeted me with "howdy" in a slightly German accent. Fun fact: the State of Texas gave equal recognition to English, Spanish, and German until WWI.
9:39 I'm honestly surprised my family (from a similar region in southern Virginia and northern North Carolina, I'd love to see it discussed) kept "Putzel" as a last name. Apparently we were kind of important in the community, so that might be why.
I have a set of German-language Missouri-synod Lutheran hymn books from around 1910. Quite interesting to know that at that time the Missouri synod was doing only German-language services across the midwest
german from the rhineland here: It sounds like an american who learned german but hasn't quite mastered it. Especially the sentence structure sounds like he still thinks in english and translates it verbatim. You cannot hear a lick of rheinisch in his phonetic though, that was a bit disappointing to be honest. But I'm sure he'd have to no problem communicating with germans should he ever decide to visit us.
I have lived in the middle of Missouri my whole life and have heard this before there are alot of towns with german names in Missouri there's even a town called Rhineland its night next to Herman
There is also a small group of historically German areas just across the Missouri in Illinois. My great-grandfather lived in Fults, IL. Small town, population of less than 50. My grandfather lived in Dupo, just across from St. Louis. That same area was also settled earlier by french explorers and trappers.
Friends of mine who were Danish named 'Zimmerman' changed their name to 'Carpenter' during WWI. Another friend, a Norwegian whose grandfather was a NORWEGIAN Lutheran pastor, had his church burned down by anti-German rioters.
there are a number of varieties of not so much dialectal German (though there is that too) but American Standard German, essentially, all across the US where notable numbers of German speakers moved in the 19th century, mostly the midwest Missouri German almost certainly falls into that same boat An actual Rhenish dialect you'd expect to be a fair bit different, like das and was being dat and wat and other similar changes Basically unlike 18th century immigration here, which was very strongly clustered in the southwest of German speaking Europe (thus why Pa Dutch is a Palatine German dialect), 19th immigration was much more widespread including not only various dialects of high German but also of Low German too. Generally there was a bit of a northern and central bias in the 19th century, which is why Texas German pronounces 'Weg' as "Wech" for example (it's Weck in Pa Dutch) They were also moving all over the midwest, often settling together yes but not specifically all from the same region of Germany, and thus speaking different dialects. Many of them came from cities, where dialect leveling was already occurring, seeking their own land in the US, same as many east coasters. By the 19th century standard German has been well entrenched into German society, and this is during and after the nationalist movements that actually created the sense of German identity (which the Pa Dutch for example missed out on) so the end result of all the above context was that parents started teaching their children Standard German instead of their dialects and you start getting these uniquely American forms of standard German all over the midwest. Of those the healthiest has probably been Texan German, which still has notable enough numbers of speakers There are, or there at least _might_ still be some speakers of actual dialects left in the US, but I doubt there are too many. There were enough though for there to be recordings made in the 60's abouts I think, but since then they've probably aged out. There's also other groups like the Volga Germans, who left Russia in the early 20th century, who do speak a dialect that can be traced back to a particular region, in this case mostly Hesse (and as such is sometimes fairly similar to Pa Dutch), the Hutterites who speak a southern Austrian dialect, and the Swiss Amish who speak either a mixed language of either Bernese or Alsatian German mixed with Pa Dutch, and of course the Pa Dutch themselves, or ourselves more accurately as I'm a Dutchy in this context, who speak a dialect of southeastern Palatine German
north and south america have all kinds of niche and random colonies of all kinds of europeans and asians and religious sects. theres even a colony of confederates in brazil lol.
Youre the only reason that i know i live in the missouri rhineland lol EDIT: I used to pass through Hermann to go camping, and I always made sure to go to their local chocolate store called the Chocolate Box. It's pricey, but ive always loved their stuff.
My great great grandfather and his family moved from Saxony in 1866 to Missouri. Currently doing family research, but it sounds like he wouldve ended up there! Great video!
10:15 ironic since Pershing is a German name. a reminder that in both world wars the US military was lead by Americans of German heritage Eisenhower, Pershing, Spaatz, Nimitz(literal German in name)
Suggestion: Scandinavian majority parts of North Dakota, where I'm from. Northwood, where my grandma grew up has the largest Norwegian-speaking population in America
The Scandinavian and Finnish diaspora that is found along the North Shore of Lake Superior would make a good topic, so would the Dutch towns in Iowa like Pella and Orange City
I'm German and I can say that Hermanndeutsch both in grammar and accent sounds basically like a German who learned English, then didn't speak a word of German anymore for 20 years, and then speaks German again
I live in Missouri, and not too long ago, we took a trip to a quiet little village about an hour and a half West of St Louis, called Innsbrook, named after Innsbruck, Austria. It’s not far from Hermann. The area is heavily wooded, with rolling hills, cliffs, and quarries. We stayed in a small log cabin, made in Austrian Alpine style. Though the climate there is only somewhat similar to that of Innsbruck, we could see the German and Austrian influences through the town. Restaurants, streets, and places were all German-sounding. Not far from where we stayed, there was a small schoolhouse, which apparently was used through the 19th and 20th centuries to teach German and Austrian immigrants English, primarily. We got to see the old German notes of young immigrant children from those days. We also enjoyed lots of good Austrian style cuisine, such as Kaiserschmarnn, and of course beer and pretzels. Missouri has had influences from not just the Rhenish German but Austrian German communities as well. One of the most beautiful places in the United States, and a heavily underrated, hidden gem in America’s heartland.
You know if you break down ethnic groups in America, German Americans are one of the largest and are in fact the most populous European ethnic group in the country.
Even as a British guy i can here the American accent bleeding into the german speaker. I think generally the american accent is more nasally and high pitched and so easy to point out in any language (eg mexican spanish vs european spanish)
the hermanndeutsch sample sure sounds off, but mainly because of sentence structure, the words themselves are pronounced without any semblance of the usual american ring to them (hard to describe better 😅)
The inclusion of western Missouri in the Missouri Rhineland is a fabrication on the Wikipedia page that I have yet to find a source for. Same with the "flag" associated with it. Generally speaking the M.R. extends from St Louis until the border with Little Dixie. However, there are a few notable outliers like Cole Camp.
You should do a video or videos on the German internment in WWI and WWII. I've heard that the U.S. government was more selective with the Germans targeted for internment than the Japanese, hence they tended to have a more reasonable basis for their internment. I'd be interested to see what your research would bring up!
You should do more videos on regions with distinct immigrant populations! I think a lot of folks nowadays don’t understand why many Americans still hold these connections dear, but in many parts of the country their ancestral cultures still play a very present role in their lives. Hell, the Missouri Germans aren’t even that high on the list of those who are still culturally attached to whatever homeland their families came from. Great vid!!!
I Grew up in chamois. Just up the river from Hermann. Hermann is a great town. A article that I can’t remember puts it 7’th best small town in the US to live.
