Heilig 1

Taylor Heilig
Prof. Elizabeth Hudson
Honors 1000
27 October 2014
Troubles in the City
Viktoria,
Your cousin Errich picked me at the port and took me back to his flat a few days ago. The
city is amazing. Its so much different from what we are used to. Ford, the owner of a big
automobile company, is offering $5 a day to workers.1 It will be tough to get a job there, but Ive
been practicing my English and Errich is helping with the ways of American culture. This is the
land of opportunity. And opportunity, I am sure, will find me. As soon as I can I will send you
some money for you to come join me in Detroit.
Your Loving Husband,
Hans
I cant believe I am almost there. America. What will it be like? Will I be welcomed?
How has Hans been? He hasnt sent me many letters. Will I be able to find work? What if I miss
my family and friends back in Germany? Viktoria Hildegard pondered these questions in her
head as the small ferry chugged through the Detroit River. It has been a year since Viktoria
received the letter from Hans about eventually coming to America. Finally, at a port in Detroit,
Viktoria slowly walks down the ramp off the boat to the precious American ground. It is a lot to
______________________________
1

Ford, Henry. Ford Manual: Helpful Hints for Emplyees. Detroit: Ford Motor, 1915. Print.

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take in. Everything is so different from Germany. The people are different. The buildings are
different. The food is different. The cities are very strange. People worked and shopped and
played downtown, but lived elsewhere.2 Everything in her life was about to change. As a German
immigrant, assimilation into American culture isnt going to be as easy as Viktoria Hildegard
thought.
The year is 1916. The World War is still going on. Americans are scared of the German
Americans; these German immigrants became the face of the enemy.3 I wake up every day, cook
breakfast for Hans and pack his lunch, then clean the rest of the day until its time to make
dinner. With this Ford Manual deal, Ford now controls what goes on in my little apartment, I
must make sure my abode is pristine every day. Hans has been working hard on his English and
even attends the Ford English School two nights a week.4 Hans and I dont really approve of how
intrusive Ford is with his manual, however, it is the only way we can afford to live in our decent
apartment. I love my German filled neighborhood but everywhere else is awful. I get stared at
and I feel unsafe everywhere I go. As a German American it can hard to find a decent job.
Errichs wife told me I should look in the newspaper for a housekeeping job, she loves having
her housekeeping job. I found a housekeeping job in the Detroit Free Press within a few days; I
applied for the job and got it right after my interview!5 The city is now just a place for us to work
and live.
I do not like living in this American city. It provides us no joy. It has been four years
______________________________
2

Rybczynski, Witold. City Life. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995.

Gall, Timothy L., and Jeneen Hobby. "German American." Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale,
2009. 230-33. Web. 16 Oct. 2010.

Ford, Henry. Ford Manual: Helpful Hints for Emplyees. Detroit: Ford Motor, 1915. Print.

"Classified Ad 4 -- no Title." Detroit Free Press (1858-1922): 1. Mar 29 1903. ProQuest. Web. 26 Oct. 2014 .

Heilig 3
Germans around us who have been here for at least two or three centuries, but they are different
from us. Many of them have renounced their heritage altogether like they were never even
German. Many of the neighborhood kids play American sports; it seems to me that sports is the
way the German kids fit in with the American kids.6 It is like we Germans in America are
ashamed of our heritage. I wish I could assimilate, I wish I could adapt to American culture, I
wish I could gain acceptance by the American people.7 But I cant forget who I am. I miss my
people, my heritage, and my family.
It is hard to live here. I am stared at all the time. The American women give me nasty
looks; they dont want me to be here. They think I am some worthless human being that doesnt
deserve to live in their county. It is their country, not mine. I dont belong here. Hans and I
barely get through the day without some American making a slight about Germans. We gave up
everything to come to this glorious country full of opportunities. We no longer speak German
except in the house. We do not celebrate German traditions nor do we socialize with the
Germans in the neighborhood who have renounced their heritage. However, I do love the
convenience of the city. I can go to the supermarket after work and get what I need to cook for
dinner. Or I can go downtown to the many shops. Like so many later American inventions
blue jeans, fast food, rock and rollthe skyscraper had mass appeal.8 I like the skyscrapers.
They are so big and intriguing to gaze upon. However, the city is dirty and the people are just
horrible and mean.
______________________________
6,7

Hofmann, Annette. "Between Ethnic Separation and Assimilation: German Immigrants and Their Athletic Endeavours in Their
New American Home City." The International Journal of the History of Sport 25.8 (2008): 1591. Web. 16 Oct. 2014
993-995.

Rybczynski, City Life, 53.

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Working at the factory has been hard for Hans. Detroit is an immigrant city9, so one
would believe that the native people in Detroit would be kind to the different ethnicities living
here. Well that is not the case. Everyday expressions of white supremacy, and segregation, were
unrelenting 10. It could not have been easy for any immigrant to deal with the Americans day
after day. It was often noticed that German Americans were skilled and had an industrious
character.11 Hans is a very hard-working, skilled worker. It is hard for Hans to see the whites get
prompted in the factory when he works harder than most of them. Many skilled workers such as
Hans earned the same amount of pay and worked in the same kind of conditions as the unskilled
laborers.12
For many immigrants, America is the best place to be. There are opportunities that these
immigrants may not have had in their country of origin. These American cities give immigrants
the chance to reinvent themselves, to become a new and improved person. No, it is not easy for
them to adapt and to assimilate to American culture but they do it. They endure hardships of
being in American cities. These hardships were not endured without reason; America is one big
melting pot. We are now a people of many ethnicities, living together in harmony. However,
Because urban culture spread so rapidly, it lost its tie to the city, at least in the publics
perception.13 Me, along with many other immigrants and Americans around me, no longer felt
like the city was the place to be. The city lost its appeal. It is just the place to work or shop. The
reason we immigrants stay in the city is for the jobs available.
______________________________
9, 10

Martelle, Scott. Detroit: A Biography. Chicago, IL: Chicago Review, 2012. 85-86. Print.

11, 12

Keil, Hartmut. "Introduction." Introduction. From Immigrants to Urban Workers: Chicago's

German Poor in the Gilded Age and
Progressive Era, 1883-1908. By John B. Jentz. N.p.:
Franz Steiner Verlag, n.d. 52-57.JSTOR. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.
13

Rybczynski, City Life, 114.

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Although American cities had many things to offer immigrants, Hans and Viktoria did not stay in
Detroit. Detoroit did not become their home. There were good and bad things about these knew
American cities but it was too tough for Viktoria to continue living in Detroit. She and Hans
could not bring themselves to give up their heritage like the many other German Americans.
America and its cities were not an easy place for immigrants to live.

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Works Cited
"Classified Ad 4 -- no Title." Detroit Free Press (1858-1922): 1. Mar 29 1903. ProQuest. Web.
26 Oct. 2014 .
Gall, Timothy L., and Jeneen Hobby. "German American." Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures
and Daily Life. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 2009. 230-33. Web. 16 Oct. 2010.
Ford, Henry. Ford Manual: Helpful Hints for Employees. Detroit: Ford Motor, 1915. Print.
Hofmann, Annette. "Between Ethnic Separation and Assimilation: German Immigrants and
Their Athletic Endeavours in Their New American Home City." The International
Journal of the History of Sport 25.8 (2008): 1591. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.
Keil, Hartmut. "Introduction." Introduction. From Immigrants to Urban Workers: Chicago's
German Poor in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, 1883-1908. By John B. Jentz. N.p.:
Franz Steiner Verlag, n.d. 52-57.JSTOR. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.
Martelle, Scott. Detroit: A Biography. Chicago, IL: Chicago Review, 2012. Print.
Rybczynski, Witold. City Life. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995. Print.