Anti dachshund sentiment

[Guest wienertakesall]

Hi all - I am shooting a documentary and am desperately in search of some fabled but hard to find things - specifically anti-dachshund (wiener dog) postcards or newspaper clippings. Apparently in WWI anti-German sentiment was such that wiener dogs were supposedly stoned in the streets. I am trying to find written or photo evidence of this occurence.

Any assistance would be *greatly* appreciated.

Shane MacDougall

Director/Producer

"Wiener Takes All"

shane@wienertakesall.com

www.wienertakesall.com

[Tony Lund]

This shows Mr Policeman arresting a German soldier and his reluctant little dog.

Tony.

[toofatfortakeoff]

No thats Jaques at Hill 62

[paul guthrie]

They demanded they be known as Liberty Pups is the USA! Good dogs!

[Tony Lund]

I can't see an English newspaper printing a picture of any dog being mistreated in the street, war or no war. Also all the local photographs I have seen are carefully posed, and the police at the time are quick to prosecute for cruelty to horses and presumably dogs, although the only court case I have come across involving a dog was an owner summoned for allowing his dogs to roam at night. But there are a few post cards in a similar vein to this one.

Tony.

[widwick]

In 1914 an American father (with a very German sounding name) returned to London from Berlin where he had been working. The family owned a dachshund named Puck and applied to the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries for permission to bring him into the UK. This was in due course granted.

The dog was, according to the family later poisoned by those expressing their anti-German feelings in a warped way.

One of the sons changed his nationality from American to British in order to serve King and Country in WW1 and did not live to wear his medals.

Tony

[Guest wienertakesall]

The only documented incidents I can find (other than repeated hearsay) are:

http://www.marist.edu/summerscholars/97/modimm.htm

and this excerpt from "Over There"

"Sauerkraut became "liberty cabbage". Hamburgers became "Salisbury steak". Most curious of all, German measles became "Liberty measles". Zwieback lost its popularity.

Hasenpfeffer and Wiener Schnitzel were banned from restaurant menus. Beer halls and saloons no longer offered pretzels. Owners of German shepherds were suspect until their breed's name was changed to "police dog"; in places dachshunds were stoned."

Unfortunately there's no attributions or citations given for either incident.

Shane

[Tony Lund]

Another post card.

Tony.

[Tony Lund]

This is my last one.

Tony.

[bob lembke]

Shane;

Are you interested in incidents in the UK or US?

I will have to do a little spadework to re-uncover some details, but I have heard of a really major incident in the US, where hundreds of dogs of traditional German breeds (in other words, about half of the major breeds) were collected, shot, and tossed in a pit in a big public event in Ohio in 1917. I will post soon, maybe later tonight.

Bob Lembke

[bob lembke]

Shane;

I saw an article in a serious paper (95% the NY Times) several years ago. It mentioned an incident.

A major neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio was/is called German Village. A peek at a map indicates that many of the streets have German names, even though the web site of a community organization says that many of the streets were changed to "American" names in 1917. The central location of this neighborhood is a park of 23.45 acres, which was named "Shiller Park" in 1891, and renamed Washington Park in 1917. The same site mentioned two book-burnings of German language books in 1918, on "Broad Street" and at the foot of the large statue of Shiller in the park.

Two of these sites mentioned that in 1917 the park was renamed "Washington Park", and that it was re-re-named Schiller Park in 1932.

The newspaper article stated that in 1917 there was a drive to collect all Columbus dogs of German breeds, which of course is a lot of the typical dogs, especially some years ago. They were dragged to the park, a ceremony of some sort was held, the dogs were shot, and thrown into a previously dug pit. Then the park was re-named.

This sort of obscene celibration is not the sort of event civic associations like to publicise, the book-burning is bad enough, so if this was true it is not surprising that a short history of the neighborhood put on the Web might not mention it. I can't imagine that a major US paper would fabricate this. I am interested in this topic (As an American citizen, and about 3 years old, I almost was thrown into an internment camp in the US with my mother, a legal resident of the US for 16 years.)

I would advise that you research this and not just rely on my memory. You might hit a site www.german-village.com. A Internet search on "Columbus Schiller Park" should give you a lot of leads.

The WW I actions against German-Americans were probably more nasty than during WW II, although certainly the moral questions were different, as the dumb war was a quarrel between cousins, largely. These actions, carried out to whip up enthusiasm for going to war, largely broke the back of the German-American self-identification with their ethnic background, which had been very strong up till then. I believe that a small number of people were even lynched.

Bob Lembke

[Canadawwi]

Just found this one. It's a Bamforth company postcard dated 1918.

Refers to a concentration camp (for German civilians).

[Ozzie]

How sad that humans take out their hate on our dumb animal friends.....?

Some members of the AIF of German parentage changed their names to enter the AIF. Others entered under their right name and suffered for it, until they had proven themselves in battle.

Cheers

Kim

[Guest Simon Bull]

Just found this one.  It's a Bamforth company postcard dated 1918. 

Refers to a concentration camp (for German civilians).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I find the echo of "concentration camp" in the words on this card very intriguing given that it is from the First World War and not the Second World War. I do realise that Concentration Camps pre-dated WW1, nevertheless, I had not assumed that they were much mentioned in WW1.

[Canadawwi]

In the early years of the second world war, the concentration camp originally meant a work camp. A few of the very early camps were work camps. Afterwards, the concept evolved and the word was used to hide a terrible truth.

I read a very fascinating account that gives detailed information about these early concentration camps. In these early days, they would send home notices to the families of the death of a relative, and return cremated remains with a note that the person was shot while trying to escape. This became increasingly difficult for the family to believe, especially when the escapee was an elderly disabled woman.

It was the day to day diary of Dresden professor Victor Klemperer. I highly recommend these books. His accounts are detailed - he felt it was his duty to record everything since he had been allowed to survive longer than the others because his wife was German. The two volumes show the day by day loss of rights suffered by the Jewish people, and Klemperer's love of German culture and his hope that things would be reversed and that someone would step forward and save the situation. In the last pages he is sent to deliver messages to the last few Jewish familites in Dresden to go on to the camps. The next morning Dresden is bombed, and in the confusion he is saved.