Jake Zehnder, Kultur1,

Although I didn't quite get through the entire article, I still found most of what i read to be very interesting. I didn't realize that people of German ancestry account for the largest individual portion of the American population, followed by people of Irish descent, who I personally was under the impression was the largest. I already knew the main reasons why people from Germany or German speaking countries were coming to America: simple economic opportunities and land. I was not; however, aware how much propaganda and resources were used by American businessmen/government to help attract even more immigrants, especially the propaganda used to draw German immigrants to the U.S. by portraying the land they would receive as similar to their home land. I was also very interested to read how fascinated people from German culture were with the Native Americans. I had never heard of this before and I could have missed something while reading, but I don't think the brochure explained why they are so fascinated with the Native Americans. I also thought that the subject of the "Turners", a free-thinking group of German immigrants who had their hand in things from gymnastics to politics, was very interesting. I read more, but from what I've already mentioned to what i read to there did not seem to be anything else of interest to me. I'd like to finish reading the brochure, but as for now, time does not permit it. Before I read this brochure I hadn't really though about how much the German culture influences and is still present in our every day lives. It was definitely an eye-opener as to how much the German culture still has an underlying effect on our "American" culture.