Anti-German sentiment

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Anti-German sentiment should not be confused with Anti-German (ideology),also called Anti-German.

Anti-German sentiment (or Germanophobia) refers to the view of the German people or of Germany with suspicion or hostility. Rather than being a coherent ideology with an established literature, it has appeared as a response to seperate wars involving Germany, and has lingered as a hangover from these conflicts. As with all anti-ethnic terms, important distinctions should be made between sentiments in opposition to the people and culture, versus those against the government or its policies. However, such distinctions are often neglected.

1 World War I
2 Anti-German sentiment due to World War II
3 European continental relations regarding contemporary Europe
4 References
5 External links

[edit] World War I

French Propaganda Postcard from World War I era showing a caricature of Kaiser Wilhelm II biting the world

During World War I, in many countries, propaganda attempted to dehumanize the German enemy. The Germans were depicted as Huns capable of infinite cruelty and violence.

In Britain, anti-German feeling occasionally took an anti-Semitic tone. The notorious crook and adventurer Horatio Bottomley^[1], the mad aristocrat Lord Alfred Douglas^[2] and the eccentric 'anti-alien' campaigner Arnold White ^[3] all put forward the theory that pan-Germanism was directed against Britain by German Jews who had adopted Germany as their country and now wanted it to rule the world.^{[citation needed]} Whether British attitudes to Germany were entirely negative can, however, be debated. The British writer and author Nicholas Shakespeare quotes this statement from a letter written by his grandfather during the First World War: "Personally, my opinion is that our fellows get on much best [sic] with the Germans, and would very much rather be fighting the French!". The soldier praised the Germans for their discipline and bravery: "it was a fine sight to see the Germans coming on in solid formation, in front of our machine guns....they were generally led by one officer in front who came along to certain death as cool as a cucumber, with his sword held straight up in front of him at the salute". [1]

When Australia, Canada, and the United States entered the war, some German immigrants were looked upon with suspicion and attacked regarding their loyalty. Some German immigrants in America were even tried, convicted and imprisoned, on charges of sedition, merely for refusing to swear allegiance to the American war effort.^[4] Anti-German tension culminated in the killing of German-born immigrant Robert Prager, a coal miner living in Collinsville, Illinois, on April 4, 1918. Anti-German sentiment may have been stoked by the 1916 German saboteur bombing of Black Tom island.^[5]

In England, anti-German sentiment was so severe that the ruling House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha became the House of Windsor, Battenberg became Mountbatten and the German Shepherd was renamed the Alsatian. In New Orleans, Berlin St. was renamed for General Pershing (head of the Allied Expeditionary Force) and sauerkraut came to be called (by some) Liberty Cabbage. In Canada, the Ontario town of Berlin changed its name to Kitchener, Ontario, after the British military hero pictured on the famous "I want YOU!" recruiting poster.

[edit] Anti-German sentiment due to World War II

Much current anti-German sentiment is related to World War II. Anti-German sentiment was particularly strong in countries that were at war with Germany and its allies during WWII. As a result of the devastating consequences of the war, anti-German sentiment was widespread and strong after WWII. American General George S. Patton complained that the U.S. policy of denazification following Germany's surrender harmed American interests and was motivated simply by hatred of the defeated German people.

During WWII, the US Government interned, among others, at least 11,000 American citizens of German ancestry. The last person, a German American, remained imprisoned until 1948^{[citation needed]} at Ellis Island^{[citation needed]}, three years after cessation of hostilities with Germany.

Although views fluctuate somewhat in response to geopolitical issues (such as the invasion of Iraq), Americans regard modern Germany as an ally^[6] and anti-German sentiments are held by few Americans. In Poland and some other east European countries wartime memories still revive tensions.^[7]

[edit] European continental relations regarding contemporary Europe

After the separation into two countries following World War II, West Germany generally had good relationships with its western neighboring states, as did East Germany with its eastern neighbors. Many of these relationships continued after the end of the Cold War with the unified Germany. West Germany was a co-founder of the European Union and the reunified Germany continues as a leading member. Germany has a strong relationship with France, which had been a major enemy for quite some time, especially during the 19th century that saw Napoleon's invasion and the Franco-Prussian War. World War I represents the peak of ethnic hostility, even though the two countries were enemies in early World War II.

Anti-German sentiment has endured in some countries, particularly Poland. Anti-Germanism is heavily rooted in Polish popularized perceptions of its western neighbors, dating back to the Teutonic Order.^{[citation needed]} Tensions had only increased with the rise of nationalism and events such as the three partitions of Poland, germanization in the 19th and 20th centuries, and unfortunate pre-World War II situations. Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939, controversies such as Bloody Sunday and the Polish experience until 1945 have only contributed to sentiments, as has bitterness over finalized borders. Germano-Polish relations have also been damaged more recently: the Poles are suspicious of the campaign by Germans expelled by Poland following the Second World War to seek reparation for their lost property; in addition, the proposed Russo-German pipeline through the Baltic Sea, which would undermine Poland's ability to negotiate with Russia over energy supplies, was described as a new Molotov-Ribbentrop pact by members of the Polish government. Against this, German analysts have accused the Kaczyński twins of stoking up popular anti-German sentiment in order to secure the survival of their government. [2]

Germans sometimes complain of stereotypical associations of them with acts and a regime of more than sixty years ago, such as the use of anti-German sentiment in headlines by parts of the British press, recent examples arising when German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI.

"British public people, whether journalists or politicians, are more prepared to demonise the Germans than any other people I know are prepared to vilify any other nation I have heard of, with the possible exception of Arabs and Jews."

Hugo Young (The Guardian) ^[8]