“The Fatherland” weekly covered The Great War in Europe from a German-American perspective
By Carolyn Yeager
SINCE GEORGE SYLVESTER VIERECK CAME TO MY ATTENTION, I haven't been able to get enough of him. Being especially intrigued by his publication THE FATHERLAND, you can imagine my delight upon finding a website with every issue available for reading. Credit for this goes to Pensylvania's Villanova University and the 'digital library' project of its Falvey Memorial Library. Pennsylvania has thankfully not forgotten to recognize its large ethnic German population—the 2000 US Census reports it at over 3 million, the highest total number of any U.S. state outside of California. [The highest in percent of population is North Dakota. My home state of Illinois is way down in 17th place, yet because of greater overall population still numbered almost 2.5 million Germans in the 2000 census, higher than Wisconsin's 2.2 million, though Wisconsin stands in 2nd place on the list.]



MOST HAVE LEARNED BY NOW that the descriptions of atrocities carried out by German soldiers on Belgian and French civilians in the opening weeks of the Great European War were not true, were in fact British lies happily repeated by the press. But they were believed at the time, and these fictional atrocities were of the most gruesome kind—chopping off the hands of children, raping and bayoneting women, burning down churches and other buildings after locking civilians inside. The American newspapers carried these stories and a great many people believed them. It wasn't until after the war was over that Britain began to admit, under pressure of evidence to the contrary compiled by the German Foreign Office, that they were propaganda lies designed to gain the sympathy, and arouse the indignation, of the public—and most especially the Americans. However, there was never an official apology or correction.
Ashkenazi Jew Henry Morgenthau Sr. (left) was part of Woodrow Wilson's administration in the important role of Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire at the time it was allied with Germany and Austria-Hungary … and his son, Henry Jr., became Franklin Roosevelt's Treasury Secretary (1934-45). Both were Democrat Party administrations. Grandchildren of Henry Sr. include Robert M. Morgenthau, District Attorney of Manhattan for 35 years and 'Pulitzer-prize-winning' historian Barbara W. Tuchman. THE FATHERLAND raises an interesting question about Amb. Morgenthau in 1914. -cy
THESE FIRST FOUR ITEMS COME FROM the No. 26 issue of THE FATHERLAND newspaper, [No. 24 shown at left] meaning that after 26 consecutive weeks it was still going strong. Also going strong was discussion of the United States-declared 'Neutrality' in regards to the war raging in Europe. We know today that U.S. neutrality was a sham, but at the time those Americans who were not pro-England or pro-Russian were struggling to bring attention to the situation.
Prof. Roland G. Usher Declares the US is in a Coalition to Help England, France and Russia in Return for Concessions—Alliance Aimed to Crush Germany-Austria

