'Herren from the tribe of Juda': The relationship between German and German-Jewish immigrants in Milwaukee and Chicago, 1840-1900

This dissertation examines the relationship between German and German-Jewish immigrants in Chicago and Milwaukee between 1840 and 1900. It analyzes the disruption of old patterns, as well as the emergence of new ones upon the immigrants' re-encounter under circumstances radically different from those in Germany. Like all other immigrant groups, Germans and German Jews interacted with many different ethnic groups. At the same time, their connection was special because they had been acquainted with each other already in Germany. Whereas their encounter with blacks or the Irish did not have a precedent in Europe, German Americans arrived with an image of "the Jew" already firmly in place.;By addressing the conflicts between Germans and Jews in the United States, I challenge the view that Germans and German Jews saw themselves as members of one people after their emigration. Unlike most historians, I stress the differences between them, differences that often engendered hostility. A great number of statements in immigrant guides, the press, associational records, and letters demonstrate that outbreaks of anti-Jewish animus after the Civil War were only more forceful manifestations of an attitude that had been prevalent in earlier decades. After outlining the political and social background in Europe, I discuss how the literature on America that was available to prospective German immigrants, both non-fiction and fiction, shaped their perceptions of the United States and American Jews. Following an overview of relations between Germans and Jews in America in general, I focus on how those relations unfolded in Chicago and Milwaukee in particular. Based on a comparative analysis of these two cities before and after the Civil War, I conclude that German-Jewish relations in Chicago were civil, but distant, and that the image of Milwaukee as a city in which German Jews and Germans lived in harmony with each other cannot stand scrutiny.