German Canadians

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about Canadians of German ancestry. For the newspaper whose name translates as The German Canadian, see Der Deutsche Canadier.
German Canadians
Germano-Canadiens
Deutsch-Kanadier
German Americans, Austrian Canadians, Swiss Canadians, Luxembourgish Canadians

German Canadians (

Imperial Russia; others came from parts of the German Confederation, Austria-Hungary and Switzerland
.

History

German Canadian
Population History
YearPop.±%
1871202,991—    
1881254,319+25.3%
1901310,501+22.1%
1911403,417+29.9%
1921294,635−27.0%
1931473,544+60.7%
1941464,682−1.9%
1951619,995+33.4%
19611,049,599+69.3%
19711,317,200+25.5%
19811,142,365−13.3%
19862,467,055+116.0%
19912,793,780+13.2%
19962,757,140−1.3%
20012,742,765−0.5%
20063,179,425+15.9%
20113,203,330+0.8%
20163,322,405+3.7%
Source: Statistics Canada
[2]: 17 [3]: 3 [4]: 1 [5]: 22 [6]: 97 [7]: 45 [8]: 60 [9][10][11][12][1]
Note1: 1981 Canadian census did not include multiple ethnic origin responses, thus population is an undercount.
Note2: 1996-present census populations are undercounts, due to the creation of the "Canadian" ethnic origin category.

Historiography of Germans in Canada

In

endonym Deutsch is used in reference to the German language and people. Before the modern era and especially the unification of Germany, "Germany" and "Germans" were ambiguous terms which could at times encompass peoples and territories not only in the modern state of Germany, but also modern-day Poland, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Austria, France, the Netherlands, and even Russia and Ukraine. For example, in the Middle Ages, the Latin term Theodiscus was used to refer to West Germanic languages in general, and in English, "Dutch" was sometimes used as a shorthand for any broadly Germanic people. Early Anglophone historians and contemporary travellers in Canada rarely mentioned the ethnic identity, primary language, or place of origin of early settlers at all,[13] and even later historians in the 19th and 20th centuries were prone to using ambiguous terms such as "Pennsylvania Dutch". This term is sometimes described as a "misnomer" for Germans,[14] but in its usage by English colonial authorities, "Dutch" was often an umbrella term which included people whose Germanic ancestry was in regions as widely separated as Switzerland, the Palatinate (and broader Rhineland), and Holland.[15]

Early history

Little Dutch (Deutsch) Church - oldest German church in Canada (1756), Halifax, Nova Scotia

A few Germans came to

South Shore of Nova Scotia retain their German heritage, such as Lunenburg. The first German church in Canada, the Little Dutch (Deutsch) Church in Halifax, is on land which was set aside for the German-speaking community in 1756. The church was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1997.[14]

Loyalist migration

See also: United Empire Loyalist

In the late 18th century, British colonies in North America were significantly affected by the outbreak and subsequent loss of the

United Empire Loyalists, obscuring particular ethnic and religious identities,[15]
as well as their exact motivations for migrating to Canada.

Another broad grouping of migrants were

Irish Palatines, who originated in the Palatinate (today a part of Germany) but had been settled for a time in Ireland by the British Crown
.

The Waterloo Pioneer Tower honours the Mennonite Germans who helped populate Waterloo County.

The largest group fleeing the United States was the

Berlin, Ontario (now Kitchener) and in the northern part of what later became Waterloo County, Ontario.[18]

The same geographic area also attracted new German migrants from Europe, roughly 50,000 between the 1830 and 1860.[19][20] Research indicates that there was no apparent conflict between the Germans from Europe and those who came from Pennsylvania.[21]

Late 19th and early 20th centuries

By 1871, nearly 55% of the population of Waterloo County had German origins.[22] Especially in Berlin, German was the dominant language spoken. Research indicates that there was no apparent conflict between the Germans from Europe and those who came from Pennsylvania.[21]

The German Protestants developed the Lutheran Church along Canadian lines. In Waterloo County, Ontario, with large German elements that arrived after 1850, the Lutheran churches played major roles in the religious, cultural and social life of the community. After 1914 English became the preferred language for sermons and publications. Absent a seminary, the churches trained their own ministers, but there was a doctrinal schism in the 1860s. While the anglophone Protestants promoted the Social Gospel and prohibition, the Lutherans stood apart.[23]

In Montreal, immigrants and Canadians of German-descent founded the German Society of Montreal in April 1835. The secular organization's purpose was to bring together the German community in the city and act as a unified voice, help sick and needy members of the community, and maintain customs and traditions.[24] The Society is still active and celebrated its 180th anniversary in 2015.

A family of German immigrants to Quebec City in 1911.

Third Reich from moving to Canada. Many of the Mennonites settled in the areas of Winnipeg and Steinbach, and the area just north of Saskatoon.[25]

By the early 1900s, the northern part of

Waterloo County, Ontario exhibited a strong German culture, and people of German origin made up a third of the population in 1911. Lutherans were the primary religious group. There were then nearly three times as many Lutherans as Mennonites. The latter, who had moved here from Pennsylvania in the first half of the 1800s, resided primarily in the rural areas and small communities.[26]

First World War

Before and during World War I, there was some

Berlin to Kitchener name change in 1916. The city was renamed after Lord Kitchener, famously pictured on the "Lord Kitchener Wants You
" recruiting posters.

Several streets in Toronto that had previously been named for Liszt, Humboldt, Schiller, Bismarck, etc. were changed to names with strong British associations, such as Balmoral. There were anti-German riots in Victoria and in Calgary during the first years of the war.[citation needed]

News reports from Waterloo County, Ontario, indicate "A Lutheran minister was pulled out of his house... he was dragged through the streets. German clubs were ransacked through the course of the war. It was just a really nasty time period."[28] A document in the Archives of Canada makes the following comment: "Although ludicrous to modern eyes, the whole issue of a name for Berlin highlights the effects that fear, hatred and nationalism can have upon a society in the face of war."[29]

Across Canada, internment camps opened in 1915 and 8,579 "enemy aliens" were held there until the end of the war. Many were German-speaking immigrants from Austria, Hungary, Germany, and Ukraine. Only 3,138 were classed as prisoners of war; the rest were civilians.[30][31]

Second World War and later

See also: German evacuation from Central and Eastern Europe

The

Camp Petawawa, which housed 750 who had been born in Germany and Austria.[33]

Between 1945 and 1994, some 400,000 German-speaking immigrants arrived in Canada;[19] approximately 270,000 of these arrived by the early 1960s.[34] Around a third of postwar German immigrants were from various parts of Eastern Europe and formerly German or German-ruled territories which fell outside of the boundaries of the two postwar German states.[35] Migration followed a sponsorship system predominantly led by churches, leading to an influx of German immigrants to existing German neighbourhoods in cities like Toronto, Vancouver, and Winnipeg, as well as rural townships in the Prairies.[36] Alexander Freund remarks that "[f]or postwar Canadians [...] the great influx of German-speaking immigrants after the war posed, at least potentially, a personal confrontation with the recent past that could be difficult to navigate."[37] There were also tensions between Germans and other European immigrants, some of whom had suffered under German occupation in Europe.[38] Postwar Canadians "did not distinguish between Germans and Nazis",[39] and this perspective was bolstered by decades of American war films which portrayed Germans in an unsympathetic light.[39] Pressure increased on Germans to assimilate.[40] German-Canadians began to create advocacy organizations to promote their interests, such as the Trans-Canada Alliance for German Canadians, which was founded in 1951 by social democrats but was soon taken over by right-wing elements of the German community.[41]

Going into the 1960s, Canadian nationalism and ethnic politics revolved increasingly around the Anglophone-Francophone divide,

bombing of Dresden, which some German-Canadians found encouraging.[46]

Demography

Canadians of German descent total population (1871−2016)
Note1: 1981 Canadian census did not include multiple ethnic origin responses, thus population is an undercount.
Note2: 1996-present census populations are undercounts, due to the creation of the "Canadian" ethnic origin category.
Canadians of German descent percentage of the total population (1871−2016)
Note1: 1981 Canadian census did not include multiple ethnic origin responses, thus population is an undercount.
Note2: 1996-present census populations are undercounts, due to the creation of the "Canadian" ethnic origin category.

Population

German Canadian Population History
1871−2016
Year Population % of total population
1871
[2]: 17  		202,991 5.823%
1881
[2]: 17  		254,319 5.88%
1901
[2]: 17 [3]: 3  		310,501 5.781%
1911
[2]: 17 [3]: 3  		403,417 5.598%
1921
[2]: 17 [3]: 3 [4]: 1  		294,635 3.353%
1931
[2]: 17 [3]: 3 [4]: 1  		473,544 4.563%
1941
[2]: 17 [3]: 3 [4]: 1  		464,682 4.038%
1951
[2]: 17 [3]: 3 [4]: 1  		619,995 4.426%
1961
[2]: 17 [3]: 3 [4]: 1  		1,049,599 5.755%
1971
[2]: 17 [4]: 1  		1,317,200 6.107%
1981
[5]: 22  		1,142,365 4.743%
1986
[6]: 97 [7]: 45  		2,467,055 9.86%
1991
[8]: 60  		2,793,780 10.35%
1996
[9] 		2,757,140 9.665%
2001
[10] 		2,742,765 9.254%
2006
[11] 		3,179,425 10.177%
2011
[12] 		3,203,330 9.751%
2016
[1] 		3,322,405 9.641%

Geographical distribution

Provinces & territories

German Canadians by province and territory (2001−2016)
Province/Territory 2016[1] 2011[12] 2006[11] 2001[10]
Pop. % Pop. % Pop. % Pop. %
Ontario 1,189,670 8.98% 1,154,550 9.13% 1,144,560 9.52% 965,510 8.56%
Alberta 712,955 17.92% 683,830 19.17% 679,700 20.87% 576,350 19.6%
British Columbia 603,265 13.23% 567,670 13.13% 561,570 13.78% 500,675 12.94%
Saskatchewan 296,385 27.69% 288,790 28.63% 286,045 29.99% 275,060 28.56%
Manitoba 220,735 17.79% 218,490 18.61% 216,755 19.12% 200,370 18.15%
Quebec 142,230 1.79% 132,945 1.72% 131,795 1.77% 88,700 1.24%
Nova Scotia 97,550 10.74% 97,605 10.77% 101,865 11.28% 89,460 9.97%
New Brunswick 34,205 4.68% 34,870 4.74% 33,830 4.7% 27,490 3.82%
Newfoundland and Labrador 8,620 1.68% 8,190 1.61% 7,390 1.48% 6,275 1.24%
Prince Edward Island 7,060 5.05% 7,160 5.21% 7,050 5.25% 5,400 4.05%
Yukon 5,575 15.88% 5,210 15.64% 4,835 16.01% 4,085 14.32%
Northwest Territories 3,410 8.29% 3,375 8.27% 3,495 8.51% 3,005 8.1%
Nunavut 745 2.09% 640 2.02% 550 1.88% 395 1.48%
Canada 3,322,405 9.64% 3,203,330 9.75% 3,179,425 10.18% 2,742,765 9.25%

Prairies

Prairie provinces
(areas coloured in grey)

There are several German ethnic-bloc settlements in the Canadian Prairies in western Canada. Over a quarter of people in Saskatchewan are German-Canadians. German bloc settlements include the areas around Strasbourg, Bulyea, Leader, Burstall, Fox Valley, Eatonia, St. Walburg, Paradise Hill, Loon Lake, Goodsoil, Pierceland, Meadow Lake, Edenwold, Windthorst, Lemberg, Qu'appelle, Neudorf, Grayson, Langenburg, Kerrobert, Unity, Luseland, Macklin, Humboldt, Watson, Cudworth, Lampman, Midale, Tribune, Consul, Rockglen, Shaunavon and Swift Current.

In Saskatchewan the German settlers came directly from Russia, or, after 1914 from the Dakotas.[20] They came not as large groups but as part of a chain of family members, where the first immigrants would find suitable locations and send for the others. They formed compact German-speaking communities built around their Catholic or Lutheran churches, and continuing old-world customs. They were farmers who grew wheat and sugar beets.[47] Arrivals from Russia, Bukovina, and Romanian Dobruja established their villages in a 40-mile-wide tract east of Regina.[48] The Germans operated parochial schools primarily to maintain their religious faith; often they offered only an hour of German language instruction a week, but they always had extensive coverage of religion. Most German Catholic children by 1910 attended schools taught entirely in English.[49] From 1900 to 1930, German Catholics generally voted for the Liberal ticket (rather than the Provincial Rights and Conservative tickets), seeing Liberals as more willing to protect religious minorities. Occasionally they voted for Conservatives or independent candidates who offered greater support for public funding of parochial schools.[50] Nazi Germany made a systematic effort to proselytize among Saskatchewan's Germans in the 1930s. Fewer than 1% endorsed their message, but some did migrate back to Germany before anti-Nazi sentiment became overwhelming in 1939.[51]

Culture

Music

The choral tradition is historically very prominent within German music in Canada. In the latter part of the 19th century,

Canada West (later Kitchener, Ontario) from August 6 to 9.[52] This followed the format of a typical Turner event by also including theatrical and athletic events, as well as band concerts.[52] Another festival was held the following year in the nearby community of Waterloo, which had an audience of 2000 people.[52] It was followed in 1866 by an even larger event, organized by the German Club of Hamilton, which had 5000 attendees and featured choirs from both Ontario and the United States.[52]

The continued success of these events led to the founding of the Deutsch-kanadischer Sängerbund (German-Canadian Choir Federation) in Hamilton in 1873 and the Canadian Choir Federation in Berlin in 1893.

Guelph, Sarnia, Port Elgin, Bridgeport, Elmira, and, most often out of all of these, in Berlin.[52] Three of the most spectacular Sängerfeste were organized by Berlin's Concordia Club; one 1879 festival which was organized by the club attracted 12,000 visitors.[52] Anti-German sentiment, which arose during the First World War, led to an interruption in the Sängerfeste, along with other German cultural institutions, and attempts to re-establish the tradition during the mid-20th century postwar period were largely unsuccessful due to social changes. The last significant Sängerfeste in Canada were held in the 1980s.[52]

Folklore

The

witches and witchcraft, blessings, and particular times of the year, such as specific holidays. The moon and its phases were also important to them,[54] as well as the signs of the Zodiac.[55] They had a complex set of beliefs around thunder and lightning and their cause and avoidance, as well as particular beliefs around fires caused by lightning.[56] The celt had some prominence as a cultural object, and was called the gewitter-stein ("lightning stone") or donder-keidel ("thunder wedge"); it was associated with the splitting of trees by lightning.[56] People who were regarded as witches and witch doctors both existed in these communities. Accounts of witches sometimes associate them with curses.[57] Accounts of witch doctors often associate them with charms, or healing of both people and livestock.[57][58] The famous hex signs painted on barns in Pennsylvania were historically absent from German barns in Ontario, as barns were usually unpainted.[58] There was, however, a strong belief in rituals and objects associated with both good and bad luck; good luck is associated with charms and symbols such as the sign of the cross,[59] the four-leaf clover, and the finding of a horseshoe.[58]

Notable people

For a more comprehensive list, see List of German Canadians.

Education

There are two German international schools in Canada:

There are also bilingual German-English K-12 schools in Winnipeg, Manitoba:

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (2019-06-17). "Ethnic Origin (279), Single and Multiple Ethnic Origin Responses (3), Generation Status (4), Age (12) and Sex (3) for the Population in Private Households of Canada, Provinces and Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2016 Census - 25% Sample Data". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2022-09-23.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (1999-07-29). "Historical statistics of Canada, section A: Population and migration - ARCHIVED". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2022-09-23.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (2013-04-03). "1961 Census of Canada : population : vol. I - part 2 = 1961 Recensement du Canada : population : vol. I - partie 2. Ethnic groups". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2022-09-23.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (2013-04-03). "1971 Census of Canada : population : vol. I - part 3 = Recensement du Canada 1971 : population : vol. I - partie 3. Ethnic groups". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2022-09-23.
  5. ^ a b Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (2013-04-03). "1981 Census of Canada : volume 1 - national series : population = Recensement du Canada de 1981 : volume 1 - série nationale : population. Ethnic origin". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2022-09-23.
  6. ^ a b Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (2013-04-03). "Census Canada 1986 Profile of ethnic groups". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2022-09-23.
  7. ^ a b Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (2013-04-03). "1986 Census of Canada: Ethnic Diversity In Canada". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2022-09-23.
  8. ^ a b Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (2013-04-03). "1991 Census: The nation. Ethnic origin". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2022-09-23.
  9. ^ a b Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (2019-06-04). "Data tables, 1996 Census Population by Ethnic Origin (188) and Sex (3), Showing Single and Multiple Responses (3), for Canada, Provinces, Territories and Census Metropolitan Areas, 1996 Census (20% Sample Data)". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2022-09-23.
  10. ^ a b c Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (2013-12-23). "Ethnic Origin (232), Sex (3) and Single and Multiple Responses (3) for Population, for Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2001 Census - 20% Sample Data". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2022-09-23.
  11. ^ a b c Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (2020-05-01). "Ethnic Origin (247), Single and Multiple Ethnic Origin Responses (3) and Sex (3) for the Population of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2006 Census - 20% Sample Data". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2022-09-23.
  12. ^ a b c Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (2019-01-23). "Ethnic Origin (264), Single and Multiple Ethnic Origin Responses (3), Generation Status (4), Age Groups (10) and Sex (3) for the Population in Private Households of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2011 National Household Survey". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2022-09-23.
  13. ^ Reaman 1957, p. xvii.
  14. ^ a b Little Dutch (Deutsch) Church National Historic Site of Canada. Canadian Register of Historic Places. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  15. ^ a b c Reaman 1957, p. xviii.
  16. ^ Lehmann 1986, p. 371.
  17. ^ a b "HistoricPlaces.ca - HistoricPlaces.ca". Historicplaces.ca. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  18. ^ "Waterloo Township". Waterloo Region Museum Research. Region of Waterloo. 2013. Archived from the original on 27 February 2017. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  19. ^ a b Bassler 2013.
  20. ^ a b Lehmann 1986.
  21. ^ a b "Religion in Waterloo North (Pre 1911)". Waterloo Region. 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  22. ^ Bloomfield, Foster & Forgay 1993, p. xiii.
  23. ^ Heick 1964.
  24. ^ Gürttler 1985, p. 108.
  25. ^ Lehmann 1986, pp. 186–194, 198–204.
  26. ^ "Waterloo Region Pre-1914". Waterloo Region WWI. University of Waterloo. 2015. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  27. ^ D'Amato, Louisa (28 June 2014). "First World War ripped away Canada's 'age of innocence'". Kitchener Post, Waterloo Region Record. Kitchener. Archived from the original on 15 March 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  28. ^ "Kitchener mayor notes 100th year of name change". Cbc.ca. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  29. ^ "ARCHIVED - Did You Know That… - ARCHIVED - Canada and the First World War - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscamnada.gc.ca. 30 June 2016. Archived from the original on 30 June 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  30. ^ "Anti-German Sentiment". Canadian War Museum. Government of Canada. 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  31. ^ Tahirali, Jesse (3 August 2014). "First World War internment camps a dark chapter in Canadian history". CTV News. Bell Media. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  32. ^ "INTERNMENT IN CANADA: WW1 VS WW2". ALL ABOUT CANADIAN HISTORY. 23 February 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  33. ^ MacKinnon, Dianne (16 August 2011). "Canadian Internment Camps". Renfrew County Museums. Archived from the original on 22 March 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  34. ^ Freund 2006, p. 134.
  35. ^ Freund 2006, p. 135.
  36. ^ Freund 2006, p. 136.
  37. ^ Freund 2006, p. 130.
  38. ^ Freund 2006, pp. 131, 149.
  39. ^ a b c Freund 2006, p. 139.
  40. ^ Freund 2006, p. 141.
  41. ^ Freund 2006, p. 142.
  42. ^ Freund 2006, p. 145.
  43. ^ Freund 2006, p. 154.
  44. ^ Freund 2006, pp. 150, 154.
  45. ^ Freund 2006, p. 153.
  46. ^ Freund 2006, p. 147.
  47. ^ Clark & Isern 2010.
  48. ^ Giesinger 1984.
  49. ^ White 1994.
  50. ^ White 1997.
  51. ^ Wagner 1978.
  52. ^ a b c d e f g h i Kallmann & Kemp 2006.
  53. ^ Reaman 1957, p. 191.
  54. ^ Wintemberg 1899, p. 48.
  55. ^ Reaman 1957, p. 195.
  56. ^ a b Wintemberg 1899, p. 46.
  57. ^ a b Wintemberg 1899, p. 50.
  58. ^ a b c Reaman 1957, p. 192.
  59. ^ Wintemberg 1899, p. 45.

Bibliography

Further reading

Further information: Kitchener, Ontario § Further reading

Historiography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Canadians of German descent.
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