1983 marks the three-hundredth anniversary of the emigration of thirteen Quaker* and Mennonite* families from Krefeld to Pennsylvania and of the founding of their settlement of Germantown, a country village that today is a part of Philadelphia. There had been other persons of German origin* who lived in one or another of the American colonies during the preceding half-century, but they came as individuals and did not form a distinctive settlement, as did the Krefelders of 1683.

During the next century (until the American Revolution) approximately 75,000 Germans emigrated to America. The great majority came from the Rhine Valley and in America were usually called Palatines. The Palatinate was indeed an important source*, but large numbers also came from Hesse, Baden, and Wuerttemberg. Still others emigrated from Alsace and Switzerland, as well as from lower Rhine districts, including the Netherlands.

The German colonists settled chiefly in Pennsylvania and in neighboring New York, Maryland, and Virginia. Some drifted* farther south to found important communities in North Carolina. Although the majority were farmers (as were most Americans at the time) some lived and prospered* in the towns, where they were often shopkeepers and artisans*.

Still, most German immigrants assimilated rapidly into colonial society. They learned to speak English, at least well enough to get along, and they incorporated* many English words into their Rhenish dialect, which in America evolved* into "Pennsylvania Dutch." Names also were quickly Anglicized or translated. Schmidt became Smith, just as Zimmermann became Carpenter, even though the bearers of these names might not have been well assimilated linguistically or culturally. By the end of the colonial period Germans constituted* about eight or nine percent of the total population.

Following the American Revolution immigration from Europe almost ceased* for a period of fifty years. Not until the 1830s did the numbers of newcomers swell* significantly. The German states of the Rhine Valley again became a leading source, but with the addition of large numbers from Bavaria, Saxony, and Hannover. Unlike the earlier movement, this emigration included a large proportion of Catholics.

Traditional ports of embarkation* such as Rotterdam and Le Havre continued to be -important, but as the sources of emigration expanded* northward and eastward, the great German ports of Bremen and Hamburg attracted an ever increasing* share of the business. Most German immigrants entered the United States at New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, but New Orleans also developed as a major port of entry* as many newcomers traveled up the Mississippi River to settle in the recently organized states of Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Still others moved west to Texas. Although New York never lost its position as the city with the largest number of German-born inhabitants, midwestern cities such as Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Milwaukee became centers of huge German-American populations.

During the nineteenth century approximately five million Germans emigrated to the United States. The peak years were 1854 and 1882, when Ellis Island, New York, Castle Garde immigration center between 1855 - 1892 between 200 and 250 thousand Germans arrived in a single year. Because of the hazards* of transatlantic travel when sailboats were in use, few immigrants ever returned to Europe, but once steamships became common after 1860 there was an increase in the number of returnees* and a decrease* in the proportion of families emigrating from Germany.

In the nineteenth century emigration was closely related to economic conditions in both Europe and the United States. Because of technological improvements* in transportation and agriculture, Germany had become a wheat-importing country by 1875 as other nations successfully competed* for the German market. . This development had devastating* consequences for German farmers and the village shopkeepers and craftsmen who depended upon their patronage*. The result was a f lood of emigration to America of unprecedented* proportions in the 1880s, especially from the northern and eastern lands of Mecklenburg, Pommerania, and East Prussia. In the 1890s, however, emigration was sharply reduced* to an average of only thirty thousand per year, as German industrial development provided employment for displaced* farmers and agricultural workers.

By the end of the nineteenth century there were about 8,000,000, first and second generation Germans in the United States, roughly ten percent of the entire population. Two-thirds lived in urban* communities of 2500 or more persons, the remainder on farms or in villages. In their occupations, German-Americans were especially attracted to dairy* farming and, in the cities, to various food industries and to brewing*. They were also numerous in the merchant and professional categories. Others found work in domestic and personal service, but many were also classified as unskilled workers. Inevitably, Germans were underrepresented in occupations that required a good command of the English language. Most significantly, however, the Germans were as diverse* as American society itself, with its rich and poor, educated and uneducated, urban and rural* populations, and its varieties of religious belief. In this respect the Germans had a distinct advantage over other ethnic groups that were more clearly concentrated in lower occupational* and income groups.

World War I introduced a period-of trouble for German-Americans. It was a time when citizens of German origin were individually harassed* and persecuted*, as the American people were swept up* in a wave of antiGerman feeling. In effect, there was a war against German language and culture in the United States for a short time. This phenomenon is partly explained by the behavior of German-American cultural chauvinists (especially the publishers and editors of German-language newspapers) who took an extravagantly pro-German position during the period of American neutrality, 1914-1917. In 1916 they vigorously opposed the reelection of President Wilson, whom they perceived as being deeply sympathetic to the Allies. Then, when the United States declared war an Germany in 1917, many Americans of German birth or descent found themselves under suspicion* of disloyalty. Hundreds of German-language newspapers ceased publication, countless* social and cultural ' Vereine disbanded*, and many German-American churches and schools made a rapid transition* to the use of the English language.

Following the war some German-American leaders made efforts to revive German ethnic life in the United States, but they were not very successful, even though there was a dramatic resumption* of German immigration in the early 1920s. Filled with bitterness and resentment* after the trauma of World War I, some leaders sought* to regain* respect through united political action. After this strategy had failed repeatedly in the 1920s, they shifted* to an emphasis on culture. This effort also failed because their programs were based on elitist values at variance with* those of the average German immigrant of the time. Then, during the Great Depression of the 1930s, the cultural idea faded as German- American Nazis captured public attention with a strategy of blood. This racist quest* for ethnic unity was unacceptable to the vast majority of German-Americans. When the United States entered World War II, it carefully avoided the mistakes of the earlier conflict. GermanAmerican ethnicity was not reawakened nor was there a repetition of the World War I repression.

Following World War II there was another great wave of German immigration to America. Nearly another million persons arrived, especially in the 1950s. They hoped to escape the problems associated with the economic, social, and political reconstruction and to find a better life in America. Like the great German-Jewish emigration of the 1930s, the post war movement included a disproportionate* number of scientists, technicians, and other well-educated persons. Others were the brides of American soldiers in Germany; still others were "displaced persons" - ethnic German refugees from eastern Europe who fled to the West before the Soviet armies in 1945.

Like the immigrants of the 1920s, the recent immigrants from Germany have been much interested in being assimilated to American society and culture as rapidly as possible. Few have wanted to perpetuate* German language and culture in America. As a result, organized Deutschtum like that of the preWorld War I period has never reappeared. Instead, German ethnicity continues in local Vereine that still may be found in the major centers of German-American population, such as New York, Chicago, and Cleveland, plus California and Florida. Such organizations attract the participation of only a small fraction* of German-born persons in the United States. Still, these societies gather together persons whose attachment to German language and culture is more emotional than intellectual, more social than political. They provide an environment in which GermanAmericans may converse*, dine, play, sing, and dance with others who share their values and attitudes.

The total effect of three hundred years of German immigration on the United States has been enormous. According to the census of 1980, approximately 52 million persons out of the American population of 226 million are descended from German immigrants. They are easily the largest single group, exceeding* both the Irish and the English. Inevitably, the Americans of German descent have produced men and women of towering* importance in political, economic, social, and cultural affairs, includ ' in famous statesmen, military leaders, scientists, financiers, indusirialists, musicians, artists, novelists, and many others. Collectively their contribution to American life and culture has been incalculable*.

VOCABULARY
p. 9 Quaker a member of the Society of Friends, a Christian sect founded in England in the middle of the 17th century; Mennonite member of a Protestant sect rejecting military service, holding public office, or taking oaths and noted for simplicity of living and plain dress; origin 'Herkunft'; source 'Quelle'; to drift wander aimlessly, move gradually; to prosper do well (financially T-,- artisan skilled craftsman; distinctive characteristic; deliberately intentionally; preservation keeping up, maintaining; to tend to have the tendency; to cluster hang together; p. 10 to incorporate combine or merge into a whole; to evolve develop gradually; to constitute make up; to cease stop; to swell grow, increase; port of embarkation place where people board (a ship/train/plane); to expand grow; to Increase become more; port of entry place where travelers or goods may enter or leave a country under official supervision; hazard danqer; returnee person who has returned; decrease lessening; p. 11 : improvement 'Verbesserung'; to compete ' Ikonkurrieren'; devastating destructive, ruinous; patronage clientele, suppokt; unprecedented never having happened before; to reduce lessen; displaced removed from; urban of the city; dairy concerned with the production of milk, cheese, etc.; brewing making beer; diverse varied; rural of the country; occupatio6al relating to the job; to harass trouble or disturb persistently; Fo-persecute ' maltreat or oppress; swept up in 'ergriffen'; suspicion doubt without proof; countless that cannot be counted; to disband break up the organization of, dissolve; transition 'Uebergang'; resumption. taking up again, continuation; resentment. anger and ill will in- view of real or fancied wrong or injury; to seek (sought) try to obtain; to regain get back; p. 12 to shift change, move; at variance with conflicting with; quest search; disproportionate out of proportion; to perpetuate to make last; fraction portion, part of; to converse to talk informally; p. 13 : to exceed surpass, go beyond; towering outstanding; incalculable that cannot be measured or calculated.