
A fascinating collection of photos have resurfaced showing the hardships faced by German-Americans at the brutal height of the First World War.

As Europe was ravaged by fighting, German immigrants in the US suffered harassment, internment, lynchings - and even the humiliation of being tarred and feathered.

Although a little-remembered part of history today, America was wracked by the fear and paranoia that swept from coast to coast during the Great War.

The United States declared war on Germany in April 1917 and helped lead the Allies to victory. But before that, many Americans were terrified of the German threat growing on the other side of the world.

This collection of pictures reveals the full extent of war hysteria and open hostility towards all things German that erupted across the nation.

A fascinating collection of photos have resurfaced showing the hardships faced by German-Americans at the brutal height of the First World War. Pictured, German-American farmer John Meints, from Luverne, Minnesota, after being attacked, tarred and feathered by a group of masked men because he was accused of failing to buy war bonds in August 19, 1918

As Europe was ravaged by fighting, German immigrants in the US suffered harassment, internment, lynchings - and even the humiliation of being tarred and feathered. Pictured, the dormitory inside a German-American internment camp at Fort Douglas, Utah

Although a little-remembered part of history today, America was wracked by the fear and paranoia that swept from coast to coast during the Great War. Pictured, a crowd gathers for a German-language book burning at Baraboo High School in Wisconsin in 1918

The United States declared war on Germany in April 1917 and helped lead the Allies to victory. But before that, many Americans were terrified of the German threat growing on the other side of the world. Pictured, interned Germans forced to build the barracks for their own internment camp

Before the war broke out, America had welcomed German immigrants and regarded them highly. German was the second most widely spoken language in the country and there were over 100 million first and second-generation German-Americans living in the United States, with many of them involved in the thousands of German organizations across the country.

The United States embraced them and the German language became an established part of the high school curriculum.

But when the war broke out and Germany became the enemy of the Allies abroad, the American government began calling on its people to reject their German-American neighbors.

President Woodrow Wilson declared that German-Americans were to be treated as 'alien-enemies' and that they should reject their German identity if they were to be accepted in US society.

This collection of pictures reveals the full extent of war hysteria and open hostility towards all things German that erupted across the nation. Pictured, German prisoners put to work gardening and harvesting food in Oglethorpe, Georgia on February 8, 1918

Before the war broke out, America had welcomed German immigrants and regarded them highly. Pictured, German prisoners holding their tools while posing for a photograph in Hot Springs, North Carolina, in 1917

German was the second most widely spoken language in the country and there were over 100 million first and second-generation German-Americans living in the United States. Pictured, the burnt ashes of Baraboo High School's German books. Above the ashes are written the words: 'Here lies the remains of German in B.H.S'

When the war broke out and Germany became the enemy of the Allies abroad, the American government began calling on its people to reject their German-American neighbors. Pictured, German-Americans, shortly after being freed from their internment camps, line up for a train in Hoboken, New Jersey, on September 25, 1919

IMPRISONED FOR A POEM... In July 1918, German-speaking immigrant Erich Posselt wrote a poem about a group of aviators bumbling through Germany that landed him in an internment camp for 17 months. The Department of Justice, which found the poem during a search of his home, sent Posselt to Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. He was finally released in January 1920 and settled in New York. Here is an extract of the offending poem: Six little aviators / Went flying out one day / They wished to go to Coblenz / And never came away. ... Two little aviators / Got cold feet on the run / One lost all the breath he had / Then there was only one. One little aviator / Soon to an end was brought / He grieved so for the other five / He too at last was caught. Source: Smithsonian Advertisement

This change in public opinion was immediate.

Literature began to directly attack German-American churches, schools, societies, and newspapers as agents of Imperial German conspiracy.

Thousands lost their jobs and countless more stopped speaking German. Fourteen states banned schools from teaching the language, declaring that German was 'not a fit language to teach clean and pure American boys and girls.'

The American Defense Society, an off-shoot of the National Security League, encouraged the public burning of German-language books and campaigned to change the names of cities, streets, parks, and schools in America to the names of Belgian and French communities destroyed in the war.

Some Germans even saw their property seized by authorities - in total, the US confiscated half a billion dollars in private property during WWI.

The names of German food were removed from restaurant menus; sauerkraut became 'liberty cabbage', hamburger became 'liberty steak'.

Even German Daschund dogs became known as 'liberty dogs' and German measles became 'liberty measles'.

Harassment of German-Americans became commonplace. Employers would receive telephone calls asking if they still had 'that German spy' on the payroll.

Just having a German name was cause enough for the American Protective League to launch an investigation into a person's private affairs.

A mob in Illinois lynched a man named Robert Prager (left) in April 1918 because they were convinced he was a German spy. Pictured right, a German-American iknitting a scarf at a camp in Fort Douglas, Utah

President Woodrow Wilson declared that German-Americans were to be treated as 'alien-enemies' and that they should reject their German identity if they were to be accepted in US society. Pictured, German-Americans peer out the back of the train in Hoboken, New Jersey, on September 25, 1919

Fourteen states banned schools from teaching the language, declaring that German was 'not a fit language to teach clean and pure American boys and girls.' Pictured, the barracks inside the German internment camp in Hot Springs, North Carolina, in 1917

German-owned ships were captured by the American government after the US entered the war. In total, 54 merchant vessels were taken in and 1,800 sailors were sent to internment camps

The American Defense Society, an off-shoot of the National Security League, encouraged the public burning of German-language books and campaigned to change the names of cities, streets, parks, and schools in America to the names of Belgian and French communities destroyed in the war. Pictured, German-Americans inmates built a German-style village for themselves in Hot Springs, North Carolina, in 1917

Some Germans even saw their property seized by authorities - in total, the US confiscated half a billion dollars in private property during WWI. Pictured, a view of the German-American village set up inside of the internment camp at Hot Springs

Harassment of German-Americans became commonplace. Employers would receive telephone calls asking if they still had 'that German spy' on the payroll. Pictured, a small wooden house built by inmates at Hot Springs

Inmates at Hot Springs used recycled tobacco tins to build the church (left). The names of German food were removed from restaurant menus; sauerkraut became 'liberty cabbage', hamburger became 'liberty steak'. Even German Daschund dogs became known as 'liberty dogs'

Worse yet, violence broke out - violence egged on by the government. Persons reading German-language newspapers on public trains were verbally insulted and spat on. A mob in Minnesota, for example, tarred and feathered a German-American man named John Meints in August 1918 on the grounds that he hadn't bought war bonds. And another mob in Illinois lynched a man named Robert Prager in April 1918 because they were convinced he was a German spy.

While some German-Americans were attacked, around 6,000 were sent to internment camps. The government barred all German-Americans from living near military facilities, airports, port towns, or the capitol. And it forced every German-American to get fingerprinted and registered and sent them into camps across the country, locked in like prisoners of war.

Even when the fighting ended in late 1918, many weren't sent free. Some inmates remained incarcerated until 1920.

Just having a German name was cause enough for the American Protective League to launch an investigation into a person's private affairs. Pictured, children are stopped on their way to the park by a sign that reads: 'DANGER!! To Pro-Germans --- Loyal Americans Welcome to Edison Park,' in Chicago, Illinois, in 1917

Worse yet, violence broke out - violence egged on by the government. Persons reading German-language newspapers on public trains were verbally insulted and spat on. Pictured, German-Americans at a train station in Hoboken, New Jersey, on September 25, 1919

These men are actually German soldiers. In a strange story, they ended up staying in America by choice, afraid that they would be destroyed by the British Navy if they returned to Europe. They were ultimately sent into internment camps along with the German-Americans in Portsmouth, Virginia, in 1916