Chapter 13: "A Nation of Immigrants Unsure About Immigration"

Though I was born in the US, I classify myself as a German-American. Both sides of my family have deep, German roots, and I am lucky enough to hold dual citizenship with passports from both Germany and the US. Since I was born on American soil, I do not have an immigration story to tell, however, my ancestors do, and their respective journeys from Germany to the US contrast drastically. These stories will thus allow me to examine differences between immigrant experiences and opportunities as a result of the then cohort and period effects in the US.

My Mother's Side

My mother's side of the family has been in America for five generations. Tracing back almost a century in family history required some research. With the help of family members and the wealth of information that lies in the depths of the interwebs, I was able to find documentation of my immigrant ancestors.

The Ellis Island website has a free service through which you can search through the Port of New York records. In using this resource, I found four of my ancestors, who all came from a small town in Southwestern Germany at the turn of the 20th century. (Source: ellisisland.org)

• Sophie Rechkemmer  
• From: Haberschlacht, Germany; Date of arrival: 1909; Age upon arrival: 21
• Emil Rechkemmer
• From: Haberschlacht, Germany; Date of arrival:  1911; Age upon arrival: 16
• Friederike Rechkemmer  
• From: Haberschlacht, Germany; Date of arrival: 1911; Age upon arrival: 18
• Wilhelm Rechkemmer
• From: Haberschlacht, Germany; Date of arrival: 1911; Age upon arrival: 25   

After finding my family, I became curious as to why these four, relatively young individuals would make the journey to a foreign land without their parents. I discovered that in the Southwest, many Germans were motivated to emigrate due to religious persecution, and were attracted to promises of religious freedom in America. This incentive was magnetized by socioeconomic benefits of emigrating.

At the turn of the century Germany was undergoing mass urbanization and was actually a magnet for migrants (pbs.org). However, along with the growth of the working class came the growth of military power. There were inequalities among classes which resulted in deep social divisions.

According to Jay Winter, a Cambridge historian, individuals congregated “in these huge meat-packing tenements... [living] under conditions which were evidently unjustified. And they were living perhaps a mile away from the Kaiser's palace, couple of miles away from Potsdamm, where the high command lived in these elegant palaces that you can still see today.”

A ship that carried migrants across the ocean in the 1900's
ellisisland.org 

The Rechkemmers likely had to journey to the port city of Hamburg in northern Germany, a trip which in itself could have lasted a week. After acquiring a ticket, the trans-Atlantic crossing could last as long as a month depending on weather and other conditions. Traveling then was no easy feat.

Just a few years after the Rechkemmers arrived in the US, the first world war began. Though I am unsure if any of my immigrant ancestors fought in the war, I do know that my great grandfather, John Rechkemmer, fought and died in World War II, as a second generation German, fighting for America.

Newman notes that “anti-foreigner sentiment tends to be more pronounced in places with a large proportion of foreign populations;” New York city certainly did at the turn of the century (Newman, 454). Furthermore, I could venture to guess that as new immigrants from Germany, they may have been met with prejudice due to America's political relationship with Germany at the time.

Despite the possibilities of resentment and distrust, my ancestors had moved to a land with a growing agricultural sector, with thriving industries, which led the world in iron and steel production, and where people in the cities could enjoy leisure activities. They had arrived in a land of opportunities. Their descendants now live in the small town of Fairbank, Iowa.

My Father

My father's story shows how immigration today differs from immigration at the turn of the 20th century.
After finishing his undergraduate degree in industrial engineering in Hamburg, Germany, (ironically, the city through which my mother's German ancestors left the country) he was given an opportunity to continue his education with a full-ride scholarship at Iowa State University. It was here that he met my mom.

lonelyplanet.com

In a way, my Dad is an immigration success story. He got a PhD in four years, found a job, got married, had kids, and worked his way up the ladder, eventually landing a position as CEO of the company. After years of renewing green cards, he finally made the decision to naturalize, and became a citizen of the United States in 2012. My father and I both got to vote in our first US presidential election this past fall.

His story differs from the Rechkemmers' in that he came to the country alone, and he came for the purposes of education, rather than presumable job opportunities. Immigration is now, technically, more feasible than ever. A trans-Atlantic journey can now take place over the span of one day. Unlike the Rechkemmers, my father has moved back and forth between Germany and the US. In fact, my family and I have lived in Germany twice! This would be a complete anomaly for immigrants in the 1900's.

Furthermore, my father is rarely, if ever, met with anti-foreign sentiments in the US. Though it pains me to say it, there is truth in the fact that my father is not met with criticism because he doesn't look like a foreigner. He is white, and the only thing which indicates difference is his German accent. In America, Latino/as are met with the majority of discrimination among immigrants, who now make up the largest proportion of legal immigrants in the US (Newman, 456). Indeed, it was far more likely for anti-American sentiments to be directed towards my family while we lived in Germany.

While their experiences clearly differ due to socioeconomic climates, both my father and the Rechkemmers shared in their search for opportunity in America.

Modern Attitudes Towards Immigrants

Although America is a country of immigrants, immigration is a recurrent point of debate in politics, and social responses to immigration have varied over the years. Newman sums it up nicely by writing that residents have a “love-hate relationship with immigrants” (Newman, 457).

Discussions regarding immigrants have been especially pronounced with the compression of time and space witnessed in globalization, making the global flow of individuals more rapid and efficient. What cannot be forgotten is that with people come beliefs, values and attitudes, and that individuals cannot be expected to assimilate to a new cultural landscape. Rather, the process of adaptation and adjustment is more realistic, and more likely to result in peaceful relationships between new immigrants and current residents.

Unfortunately, change is often a source of fear in tight-knit communities. Although each day, each moment, presents changes in our collective lives, the presence of an “other” is met with often severe cases of social anxiety. There is a fear that with the arrival of new beliefs, values and attitudes, that the old will be displaced. That immigrants will “encroach on property, clog the educational system, and soak up social benefits (Newman, 454). These grand assumptions stem from a disbelief in the functionality of coexistence.

In difficult times, immigrants become an outlet for anger. With the economic recession and the war in Iraq, the “rally 'round the flag” syndrome plagued America, leading to crackdowns on illegal border crossings in 2009. Anti-foreigner resentment surged after 9/11 with an epidemic of hate crimes, including violence against Sikhs, who are often mistaken for Muslims due to their turbans. (See this article for more information http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/07/history-of-hate-crimes-against-sikhs-since-911_n_1751841.html)

portland.indymedia.org

America is truly “a nation of immigrants unsure about immigration” (Newman, 459). But in a globalizing world where people are moving from one nation to the next more frequently than ever, a solution more beneficial to our society than violence and discrimination is needed. At the very least, tolerance should be promoted. As President Obama declared in yesterday's inauguration speech, “our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity,” and that “now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nation, and one people” (Obama, 201, telegraph.co.uk)

Sources:
Newman, David (2012). Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life: 9th Edition. SAGE Publications. 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/9816372/Barack-Obama-Inaugural-Address-2013-full-text.html
http://www.enotes.com/1910-business-economy-american-decades
Jay Winter: http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/historian/hist_winter_02_germany.html
http://www.ellisisland.org/search/matchMore.asp?MID=10185915120888184480&LNM=RECHKEMMER&PLNM=RECHKEMMER&first_kind=1&kind=exact&offset=0&dwpdone=1