• zifnab25 [he/him, any]@hexbear.net
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    9 months ago

    There was a sizable community of Germans living in the US at the time, so its certainly possible that this intended to differentiate the Wicked Foreigners from our Righteous Domestics. But also, a lot of German communities and families changed their names and abandoned their cultural touchstones to avoid looking too German during the first war. So, idk.

    This was sandwiched between the Chinese Immigration (Exclusion) Acts of 1885 and 1923, so there was definitely an abundance of anti-East Asian sentiment, particularly out west.

    • someone [comrade/them, they/them]@hexbear.net
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      9 months ago

      But also, a lot of German communities and families changed their names and abandoned their cultural touchstones to avoid looking too German during the first war. So, idk.

      Including, hilariously, the British royal family - in July of 1917. They were hedging their bets on who would win the war.