Kapitel 1

Like 15.2 % of the population, I too am German. My mom's parents immigrated to the United States in the mid 1950's, and my mom's first language was German. She could speak fluent German until well into her adult life, and she had dual citizenship until she was an adult (either 18 or 21, I can't remember). Very few parts of German culture still exist in my family. One of those things is that I still call my grandpa, Opa. Another great advantage to having a German grandma is that the food the she cooks in AMAZING!!

It says in the article that many German immigrants came to the United States for economic freedom. This is true with my grandma and Opa. During the 1950's, Germany was still having economic problems from World War II, so he came over to make a living for himself. My grandma followed him because she was love. Initially, he was planning on going back to Germany after he made a living for himself here. He was seriously considering returning even later, around the time my mom was 16 (around 1974). He never did, and eventually, he received American citizenship. My grandma, even after living in the United States for close to 60 years, never became an American citizen. Both of them can still speak German fluently, and my Opa still calls his family quite frequently. They both grasped American culture, and they both contributed to American society by working most of their adult lives in the United States.