Before World War I, the United States were home to a flourishing German culture. German-Americans were the biggest and most successful ethnic group all over the Midwest. But this culture was wiped out forever by a fury of an anti-German hysteria after America had entered the war. Overzealous American patriots renamed Sauerkraut "Liberty Cabbage", slaughtered dachshunds, and eradicated the German language from American schools, churches, and newspapers. They changed the names of towns, burned books, destroyed libraries, threatened priests, forced German-Americans to buy war bonds and to kiss the star spangled banner. Vigilantes tarred and feathered and, in some cases hanged German-born immigrants falsely suspected of being spies. "Burning Beethoven" shines a light on that dark chapter of American history.

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Burning Beethoven explores how a flourishing culture in America was wiped out by an eruption of anti-German hysteria during World War I, when excessively patriotic Americans eradicated the German language from schools, churches, libraries, and newspapers. Germans made up the biggest, proudest, and most successful ethnic group but became targets of hate, and sometimes victims of tarring and feathering-even vigilante hangings. Zealous Americans slaughtered dachshunds and renamed sauerkraut "liberty cabbage"-the "freedom fries" of that era. This book sheds light on a dark chapter of American history.