I'm not German at all but my daughter is 1/4 German. (My husband is half German and half Irish.)

about 1/16th or something. See also:
http://surveycentral.org/survey/3347.html
for a more detailed response.

One of my grandmothers has German in her, so I have a tiny bit.

Not sure. My family is Italian, but my one of my grandpas had relatives in Austria and I'm not sure if his family came from Austria or if his cousins went from Italy to Austria. I'm mostly sure there were relatives that were Jewish, but they might not have been of German origin anyway.

G...G...German??

AAAARRRGGHHHH!!!!

I have a tiny bit of German heritage, but it's pretty completely blended in with all the other things.
I have a German Heritage MasterCard, though. It has a picture of a castle on it. But they wouldn't print my favorite cultural expression on it (as the offer said they would).

I don't have a German background back to the 1700s, but maybe before that I do... who knows?

So what was the cultural expression? (Translated too, if you would)

Oh, it was just in English. It was "fudge me." They told me they won't print obscenities.

Ya, a little. I lived there for a little while.

What does that mean?

I am 1/4 German

I don't know much about my family history, but I do know that my grandmother's mom was lebenese, my grandfather's dad was danish. That's on my mom's side. Then, on my Dad's side I have no idea. His last name is Mader, so I don't know what that is, and his mom may have been Irish.

I have about 85-90% German in my background...the rest is Swedish and Irish

Germans are not very popular here.. or in the rest of Europe!

Well...for one thing an extreme population of North America has many German descendants and German speaking people and Germans are among some of the greatest people I know and in Europe they are held in high status for the things they do.They have a rich economy full of business and industry and they are a ambitious hard working people with good family morals. And I happen to know a German girl that I met while she was visiting America and she was a very sweet person.
So either your just an ignorant person with bad opinions or your Jewish...but whatever the case may be you don't know Germans that well.

Bummer...

Not all Jews have a knee-jerk "Germans are evil" reflex... I've met enough good Germans and German-descended folks by now to realize that they are not all Nazis.

Yes, in fact back then less then 10% of the German population were pro Nazi...

My last name, Webber, is a German name.

So am I!

Who stuck a broom in your ass? I have german heritage but you are seriously making me wish I didnt!

I'm German and Irish. You'd think I would drink more often than I do...

I have relatives in Germany, as 2 of my aunts have German husbands and children.

I'm Dutch, so I'm pretty sure I know Germans a lot better than you do. We live next to the real Germans, not descendants.
In Europe they are not very much liked at all. Not only because of WW2, but also because they tend to be arrogant and loud.
I'm not ignorant and I'm also not jewish.

I know...I was just going to cancel the credit card. But then, it does have a pretty picture on it.

"...in Europe they are held in high status..."
Huh? Not in the Europe I lived in.

"in fact back then less then 10% of the German population were pro Nazi"
Sure, that's why Hitler got elected in 1933, because only 10% of the population was pro-nazi. Think again.

Well...maybe you don't...

Yet your referring to Germans as a whole...I still think you don't know crap about what they're really like...not all of them are "arrogant and loud" as you put it

and where did you live?

As a matter of fact less then 10% were pro Nazi...did they know his intentions at first? No, they didn't...if you recall Germans were out of a job and down on their luck because of WW1 and the Great Depression...he promised to help rebuild Germany but they didn't know his intentions to kill Jews and other inferiors...so as I said and I stand by this...less then 10% were pro Nazi

I lived in Scotland. (Let me guess, only mainland Europe counts as "Europe" to you?)
Where do you get this "less than 10%" from? In 1933 the Nazi party was polling in the high 30s (percentage-wise) for the popular vote.

Yes, I know crap about Germans. We live next to them (I live in The Netherlands), they visit my country and city by the millions every year, I've been to Germany about 50 times, my ex-roomate was German, so I *do* know what I'm talking about.
You only know 1 sweet German girl, you live 10,000 miles from Germany and you probably have never even been there. So one of us knows more about Germans, and it's not you!

How old are you, btw? This 10% story of yours is absolute bullcrap. First read a little about Germany and the Nazis before you make ridiculous statements like that.

One more comment:
You should read: Hitler's Willing Executioners : Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen.
Here's what one reader wrote: Daniel Jonah Goldhagen's book is the most challenging and necessary book to be written about the Holocaust and the pre-1945 German people I have ever read. Goldhagen attempts to prove that, in his words, "a vast majority" of Germans actively supported and participated in the destruction of German and European Jews. (...) His conclusions are controversial but not encumbered by prejudice, or preconceived ideas, or bias against Germans.

Looks like you stepped in it.

german, english, welsh and cuban.....so i am told!

I am almost completely german. 3 of my grandparents spoke german.

No, I don't think so...

I know a LOT of germans. Transfer students, recent immigrants, my grandparents... and yes, as a whole, they are an arrogant bunch, bullheaded, too. That is probably because they are the smartest, strongest, and best looking group of people in the world.

As far as I'm concerned the only big reason you seem to harbor so much dislike for German people (besides that they are "loud and arrogant") is all because of WW2...you must think that all German people are nazis obviously...that was over 50 years ago and you weren't even born then so you have gotten most of your stereotypes from reading books and by what other people think...I've only been there once so I still have much to learn so I'll give you that since you live next door...and just how many people do you think supported the Nazis during that time period anyway since you seem to know so much?

Didn't you listen to a thing I said? I said that yes he was elected chancellor mostly because of his promises to rebuild Germany into a strong economy and provide jobs for the unemployed...it was a desperate time since after WW1 and the Great Depression...

You're completely wrong when you say that the only big reason I seem to harbor so much dislike for German people is all because of WW2. I never said that. But I know for a lot of (older) Europeans it sure is. I don't like them very much because of their behaviour, their arrogance, their loudness.

When I meet Americans or English people here in Amsterdam, their first question usually is 'do you speak English?'. Not the Germans. They start talking to you in German rightaway. Although I speak German I don't even want to talk to them if they don't have the gosh darn courtesy to ask me if it's alright they speak *their* language in *my* country to me!

I gave you the name of the book and the quote of one of the readers to show you that you couldn't be further from the truth when you say that less then 10% of the German population were pro Nazi. It's much, much more. At the height of WW2 (1941/3) it was at least 50-60%.

Well...alright Maarten...so the Germans definitely have their flaws...but then doesn't every nationality? And I suppose I'll trust what you said about Nazi support in Germany then but I definitely know that Hitler didn't have all the support of the Germans as they weren't all like that

Oh yes, every nationality has its flaws and you'll be happy when I tell you the French are even more disliked here than the Germans!

And no, not ALL the Germans supported the NSDAP, just a lot.

The majority of my ethnic makeup is German. I'm half German, .25 Scots-Irish, and .25 native American/black (more former than latter but I don't know the exact numbers). Culturally, I was brought up by an immigrant but in the United States, so I'm American with hints of Teutonism thrown in for flavor.

I think people don't like Germans becuase they all have sticks up their asses and they have this bizarre inferiority complex that they've been harboring for more than a millenium! and they are arrogant and loud.

On the other hand, as I recall from the time I spent in Germany, no one liked the Dutch there either. So perhaps the feeling is mutual. But at least the Dutch don't go around bragging about how ethnically pure they are and crap like that. On the third hand, the Dutch have the advantage of not having been particularly important contributors to world culture or economy for the last couple of centuries. The Germans have been right in the thick of things which is the best way to get everyone to hate you. Just look at us Americans!

Since when is Scotland part of Europe?

You sure whine a lot. Are you sure you're not Canadian?

Yes, they are very bullheaded and arrogant...but then again they are also very persistant and industrious...not to mention Germany is home to some of the worlds greatest minds(including Albert Einstein, and Freud)and they are a strong and good-looking race of people.

But if there is anyone that has a bigger inferiority complex then the Germans it's the Canadians! lol

More like proving a point...debating is fun after all...you seem like one of those people that moved from Canada and now have this big idea that your American born and raised and you smack talk Canada now that your out of there...
nope, I'm American

Lucky for us that the Germans didn't actually want Einstein to be German.

I think Germans are decent-looking but there are better looking peoples. And anyway, who's to say who's what kind of people any more anyway? I do believe that they value diligence, precision, duty, and working to improve the society as a whole - all great ideals. But I think a lot of other cultures have other ideals that are just as respectable. Unfortunately for them, when it came right down to it, the American ideals of get it done, damn the torpedoes and elbow grease seem to have won out over the more formal methods of the Germans.

Damn those torpedoes!
And remember that fine German precision that went into the engineering of all those faulty window mechanisms.

well that all explains a lot

I'm half German and half Black

Oh well...thats war for you...it's hell

Well, the Dutch economy was the strongest of the world in the 17th century and right now we're still doing pretty well. I think we're about the 9th or 10th strongest economy now, which isn't bad for a small country with a population of 15 million.
And we're the 3rd largest investor in the USA after Japan and Great Britain. The Japanese own half of Manhattan, the Dutch the other half. Well, almost!

I heard that the Dutch did a lot of nasty Nazi stuff during the war, but they don't get blamed for it as much as the Germans.

No sorry. Of course they were some Dutch people who supported the Nazis, but that was only a small percentage.
Who or what is your source?

In that movie I saw, one train brought car loads of Dutch people to the death camp and they were gassed too.

I had heard of the Dutch SS from a TV program, but just now, I did a little quick web research.
There were some famous Dutch Nazis: Anton Mussert, Rust van Tonnigen. Jews were rounded up and taken to concentration camps by Dutch Nazis. The Dutch were also slow to resist the Germans. Here's the symbol of the Dutch SS. 70% of the Jews in Holland were killed in the Holocaust (second only to Poland for non-German occupied countries).
To be fair, the NSB (Dutch Nazi Party) was not originally anti-semitic (they were just fascist), the change came after German occupation. Still, you don't hear much about a French SS.

In every occupied European country the local people could join the SS. These collaborators even went to fight voluntarily against the Russians.

Anton Mussert was the leader of the NSB, but not a very prominent figure. When the nazis occupied The Netherlands he expected to become the Reichskommissar for The Netherlands, but the Germans appointed Seyss-Inquart. Apparently Mussert was deeply insulted by this.

Rost van Tonningen was the President of the Dutch National Bank and member of the SS.

It's true that most of the Dutch Jews were deported and killed, but you must also realize that the German retaliations were fierce. Most people just were too afraid to do something. Despite that, the Dutch Communist Party organized a strike in Amsterdam in February 1941 against the deportation of the Jews, which was unprecedented in occupied Europe. The Germans responded by randomly picking up men from the streets and executing them. Thus they broke the strike.

I'm sure the Dutch could have done more, but it's very easy to judge this in 2000...

One other thing I read indicated that a lot of Jews fled Germany to Holland, and Holland accepted them with open arms (which shows that the Dutch were supportive of the Jews plight). Then later as Hitler became more aggressive, Holland fell under German control and those Jews didn't fair so well, but you can't blame the Dutch for that.
I also heard that some Jews had joined the NSB before the Germans arrived.
The thing that surprised me was that there was a Dutch SS that wasn't all that different from their German counterparts.
Still, I'm not proud of American Neo-Nazis either.

You're german, eh? That explains why you're such a jerk!

You whine a lot, are you sure you're not german? Oh wait, you said you were! Well that explains it all!

They may have German ancestors, at least they're not pathetic cowards, like you, anonymous!

Mostly German.. Some of the names throughout my family's history are Renzenbrink and Hakes...

I'm a mutt!

Anglo Saxons were a Germanic tribe but I don't think that's what the surveyor had in mind, besides Vikings Normans, Jutes, Romans (Italians), Celts and others have all contributed to British blood from which I am descended.

That's right! We germanic-ancestored peoples aren't afraid to be JERKS! That's what makes us GENETICALLY SUPERIOR! Admit it, all of you guys out there JERK off all the time - I bet you never realized the GERMANS invented it! In fact, GERMAN even sounds like JERK-MAN and I'm sure that's where the word comes from! We're butt-holes, and fiercely proud of it!

LOL

I know i have german background. I'm curious how many other people do.

joachim always makes the best comments