World War I was a defining moment for the United States. Soldiers shipped out to the Western Front, many more people took on unconventional roles at home, and Americans across the board were forced to make compromises in daily life.

Wisconsin stood out in a few ways as the nation entered the war in 1917. It was anecdotally known as the “traitor state,” as nine of the state’s 11 U.S. representatives voted against going to war. One city in particular illustrated how much views on the war could be polarized: Milwaukee.

Wisconsin’s most populous city had long been home to a large population of German immigrants and their descendants, and was one of the nation’s biggest centers of German-American culture. Milwaukee was likewise the home of U.S. citizens known as “hyper-patriots” who made it their mission to force out any trace of German Kultur in the city and force upon their neighbors a love for Uncle Sam.

“The people of Monroe, Wisconsin voted overwhelmingly against going to war. Wisconsin’s prominent Socialist Party rejected participation in the capitalist conflict. Nine of Wisconsin’s 11 U.S. representatives voted against the war. Senator Robert M. La Follette led a filibuster to prevent arming American merchant ships,” said Rick Pifer, a retired director of reference at the Wisconsin Historical Society and author of “The Great War Comes to Wisconsin. “He was one of six senators to vote against the war. He lead opposition to conscription, the sale of bonds to finance the war and repression of free speech. Everywhere they looked, the Wisconsin Loyalty Legion believed they could see ample evidence of disloyalty, sedition and unpatriotic behavior.”

This rise in patriotism, however, came with a dark side. As Leslie Bellais, curator of social history at the Wisconsin Historical Society, noted, hyper-patriots made an aggressive effort to clear the state of its unpatriotic reputation. These hyper-patriots were typically business leaders and other white-collar professionals, and as Bellais explained, they were not people who were used to having their authority questioned.

When they wanted something done, it got done, whether this was pressuring neighbors to buy Liberty Bonds or forcing housewives to sign the Food Pledge, which stated that all “patriotic” men and women would voluntarily restrict their food usage so that the soldiers overseas were always well fed.

Efforts by the hyper-patriots to enforce support for the war were particularly rampant in Milwaukee. Along with being heavily German-American, the city also happened to be governed by a Socialist mayor — it was the home of “sewer socialism” — whose party opposed the war.

“As for the German Americans living in Milwaukee during World War I, they faced a particularly uneasy situation. “If they did not enthusiastically support the war, they were deemed unpatriotic,” Kevin Abing, archivist at the Milwaukee Historical Society. “But if they embraced the Allied cause, they were suspected of being hypocrites.”

For the German-Americans in Milwaukee over the course of the war it was a bitter pill to swallow. For years, they had been praised for being industrious civic and business leaders. German theater, music, and intellectual endeavors were at the pinnacle of the city’s cultural landscape. But the war turned everything upside down.

By 1917, most German Americans in Milwaukee were second- or third-generation Americans and certainly loyal to the U.S., but even those who were natives of Germany recognized their obligation to their adopted homeland.