Germans in Omaha, Nebraska

rdf:langString Germans in Omaha, Nebraska

rdf:langString Germans in Omaha immigrated to the city in Nebraska from its earliest days of founding in 1854, in the years after the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states. They continued to immigrate to Omaha in large numbers later in the 19th century, when many came from Bavaria and southern Germany, and into the early 20th century. Germans created and maintained a high cultural, social and political profile locally and nationally through the 1930s. In 1890, Germans comprised 23% of Omaha's population. By 1910, 57.4% of Omaha's total population of more than 124,000 identified as being of German descent. By 1930 and the start of the Great Depression, immigration from Germany had virtually ceased. Although Germans comprised the second most numerous group of foreign-born nationals after Czechs, those foreign-born immigrants totaled less than one percent of the total population of the city. German immigrants and German Americans in Omaha had a high rate of literacy. The mostly working class population supported numerous German-language newspapers that had national as well as local distribution in the early 20th century. Germans built and operated several successful breweries in the city, bringing good beer and beer-making skills to the upper Midwest. The German model of public education was established in states throughout the Midwest, which were quickly training teachers in normal schools to expand education in new villages. Valentin J. Peter (1875-1960), editor of the German-language Omaha Tribüne, was chiefly responsible for the formation and leadership of the Nebraska chapter of the National German-American Alliance. This coalition was influential in representing and attempting to lead the German-American electorate across the United States between 1912 and 1940, although the community was very heterogeneous. During the early years of World War I (the Great War), Peter was supportive of Germany and urged German-Americans to be so, too. He changed his position before the US entered the war in 1917 on the side of Great Britain and France, and supported the Allies. He also supported the US and its allies in World War II after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.