Title: Germans in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and the Upper Midwest
Headings: Germans in the Upper Midwest
Germans in the Upper Midwest
Many of our most-loved traditions arrived with emigrants from Germany.
Why they came
German towns
Festivals
Language and culture
Heritage sites

Content: "That progressive viewpoint was not an American viewpoint; it was strongly European," he said. "Clean government, government involved in improving the life of the community — those things were considered forward thinking, and that resonated with Germans and Norwegians. What you got was an alliance of these two immigrant groups." Mainly, the Germans wanted to have a good life. Unlike the more puritanical Yankees, they liked to get out and about on Sundays, gathering with family and friends over food and drink. They enjoyed their beer — and they liked a party. © Beth Gauper
Students from around the continent come to learn German at Concordia Language Villages' Waldsee campus. Over the years, the stereotypical German has become a beer-bellied goof in a furry green hat, bobbing up and down and flapping his elbows to oompah music. Germans not only gave us "The Little Chicken Dance," but they also invented kitsch, from garden gnomes to cuckoo clocks and Wayne Newton crooning "Danke Schoen."