As the 19th century turned into the twentieth, German immigrants found a promising home in the United States. Many of them moved to the Great Plains where they broke ground and established farms. They found a comfortable and stable home where opportunities abounded. Many German Americans rose to positions of influence. Others became successful businessmen. That changed when the United States declared war on Germany in 1917, entering World War I.
Anti-German sentiment came out into the open. German composers were removed from concert programs. Restaurants took hamburgers off the menu and replaced them with liberty sandwiches. Sauerkraut became liberty cabbage and frankfurters turned into hot dogs. The American Kennel Club changed the name of the German shepherd to shepherd dog. Berlin, California became Geneva and Berlin, Iowa became Lincoln.
The German language was also a target. German language newspapers were run out of business. Some towns enacted laws making it illegal to speak German in public. Schools cancelled classes in German. On this date in 1918, the Cass County school superintendent sought to clarify whether the German language was banned in North Dakota schools. Attorney General Langer said there was no such policy but Superintendent Riley said he had received an order that “no school instruction, of whatever nature, in the German language, will be allowed in North Dakota, and compliance with this order must be immediate.”
Riley actually closed a school in Amenia to comply with the order, but he ran into a snag when he tried to enforce the ruling against a German Lutheran school in Pontiac township. The attorney general refused to support the superintendent, declaring that the Council of Defense had never issued such an order.
Unable to get answers from government officials, Riley made the matter public by way of the newspapers, doing so when he came under criticism for allowing the German school to continue, but that the fault did not lie with him. Instead, he blamed the Attorney General. The newspaper article noted that Langer deflected blame away from himself, saying the head stenographer sent out the order without authorization. He said he was “sincerely sorry that Mrs. Clayton took this authority upon herself.”
Dakota Datebook by Dr. Carole Butcher
Sources:
- Fargo Forum and Daily Republican. “Council Blames Woman.” Fargo ND. 8/27/1918. Page 1.
- History Facts. “During WWI, Americans called sauerkraut ‘liberty cabbage.’” https://historyfacts.com/us-history/fact/during-wwi-americans-called-sauerkraut-liberty-cabbage/ Accessed 7/6/2024.
- Military History Now. “Towns That Changed Their Names During Wartime.” https://militaryhistorynow.com/2012/12/10/bismarck-berlin-and-swastika-how-some-towns-names-had-to-change-during-the-wars/#:~:text=Several%20American%20communities%20that%20shared%20the%20name%20Germantown,was%20retitled%20in%20honour%20the%20American%20general%20Pershing. Accessed 7/6/2024.
