Today some 25% of all Americans trace a significant portion of their heritage to German roots. In the states west of the Great Lakes, the percentage doubles. Yet for recent generations that rich heritage has been hidden, obscured by the dark shadows that fell across the community in the 20th century. Now, in a landmark broadcast event, an epic of American history can be told through a dramatic blend of contemporary personal stories and comprehensive historical reconstruction. Axel Engstfeld Filmproduktion, in collaboration with WDR/Cologne and ... read more

Today some 25% of all Americans trace a significant portion of their heritage to German roots. In the states west of the Great Lakes, the percentage doubles. Yet for recent generations that rich heritage has been hidden, obscured by the dark shadows that fell across the community in the 20th century. Now, in a landmark broadcast event, an epic of American history can be told through a dramatic blend of contemporary personal stories and comprehensive historical reconstruction.
Axel Engstfeld Filmproduktion, in collaboration with WDR/Cologne and ARTE, and with the support of North Rhine-Westphalia’s Film Funding Board (Filmstiftung NRW) and the Goethe-Institut, has produced a four-part series (4 x 42’) that is now available for adaptation and broadcast on US public television stations. These programs bring to light for the first time a past that has been buried too long. They rediscover the German-Americans who have been at the heart of American enterprise on the land and in business. They profile those who have successfully struggled for the freedom of worship and the freedom of the press. At the same time the programs probe darker corners: why so many changed their names and covered up their ethnicity and culture, denying their origins even to themselves.
60 Million Americans have their origins in German-speaking countries. As America’s largest ethnic group, the Germans made a significant mark on America’s cultural, business, and public life for centuries until their identity fell victim to feelings of shame and repression during and after two World Wars. But their achievements are still the basis for much of American culture. read less