An Iowa social historian will share his insights in a free presentation “Kickin’ the Kaiser: Anti-German Hysteria in the American Heartland during World War I”. The program will be held Wednesday, October 3, from 12:00 noon until 2 pm at the Hausbarn Konferenze Centre in Manning.
The presentation is by Michael Luick-Thrams, executive director of Traces Center for History and Culture in Mason City. “Kickin’ the Kaiser” examines anti-German sentiment during World War I. The vast size and scope of the pre-war German-American community in the Midwest “flipped” in April 1917 when the US entered the war; Anti-German sentiment became socially acceptable and quite literally exploded overnight with, for some, literally deadly consequences.
Luick-Thrams was born on an Iowa farm and earned his 1997 Ph.D. from Humboldt Universität in Berlin. He divides his time between Germany and the American Heartland.
