Guessing Quiz Answers and some other interesting facts

In connection with the previous articles about the Guessing Quiz and Immigration, here are the answers and some interesting facts you need to know about Germans and their travels to America. First the Guessing Quiz:

1. What was the deciding factor that led to the US’s entry into the war in 1917?

Answer: The interception of the Zimmermann Telegram. German Defense Secretary Arthur Zimmermann sent a telegram to the Mexican government promising them the return of lands lost to the US as a result of the wars between 1838 and 1845. British intelligence officials intercepted it enroute and informed President Woodrow Wilson about it. Wilson, already fed up with the Germans for sinking the Lusitania two years earlier, formally declared war against Germany on 6th April, 1917, thus breaking his promise to keep the Americans out of war as he stated in his 1916 Presidential Elections campaign.

Fact-finder: Which states in the US were once part of Mexico but were taken away by the Americans?

Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Nevada

2. German immigrants in America were treated especially badly by the Americans during the war. How were they discriminated?

Answer:

Eliminating German from the school curriculum

Renaming the Hamburger Liberty Steak

Renaming Sauerkraut Liberty Cabbage

Banning German literature

Banning German-speaking newspapers

True or False:

Germany was the last country to surrender to the Entente (the US, England and France) on the 11^th minute of the 11^th hour of the 11^th day of the 11^th month, 1919. False: 11 November, 1918 at 11:11am

Armistice Day marked the end of World War I. True

Veteran’s Day originated from the above-mentioned day and has been celebrated in the US ever since. Yes and no. Veteran’s Day originated from this holiday but it was observed officially beginning in 1954

America was involved in the treaty to punish the Austro-Hungarians and Germans (losers of the war) through annexation of certain regions to the Entente. False. The German Empire was the sole responsible country that had to pay reparations and therefore lost portions of the country, including the Ruhr area, lands belonging to Poland, lands in the Flensburg and Sonderburg area that went to Denmark, and Basel and Strassbourg, which went to France, plus all the lands they occupied in western Africa.

Woodrow Wilson was heavily involved in the negotiations regarding the Versailles Treaty. How did he do that? Choose two of them.

1. He worked on a reparation plan for Germany
2. He proposed the League of Nations
3. He created the 14-Point Plan
4. He agreed to the proposals laid out by France and England to force Germany to cede (give up) portions of its territory

And now the interesting facts about German-named villages, some of which have been or will be mentioned in the Files:

Over 200 towns in the US still carry a German name today. Here they are and where they can be found

Berlin (East coast and New England states) Lubeck (Maine)

Hamburg (Midwest, and eastern part of the country) Kiel (Wisconsin)

Cologne (Midwest, including Minnesota) Ulm (Minnesota)

Munich (Minnesota) Luxemburg (Midwest)

Trier (Minnesota) Rhinelander (Wisconsin)

Frankfurt (Illinois and Kentucky) Wausau (Wisconsin)

Jena (Louisiana) Altona (Iowa, Ohio and PA)

Weimar (Texas) Brunswick (Georgia)

Dresden (Ohio) Bremen (Georgia)

Hanover (Midwest and eastern US) Wolfsburg (PA)

Schleswig (Iowa) Munster (Indiana)

Holstein (Iowa) Karlsruhe (North Dakota)

Bergen (Minnesota and eastern parts of US) Leipzig (North Dakota)

Flensburg (Minnesota) New Germany (Minnesota)

Nuremberg (Pennsylvania (PA)) Saxonburg (PA)

Minden (Ohio, Missouri and other states)

These are only a few examples of villages and towns that are known to exist in the US. They do not count those that have yet to be identified, as well as those that had once existed but have long since disappeared. If you know of other villages that carry the German name, please mention them here or on the Files’ facebook page.

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