Hitler Pond - How Germans Became Americas Largest Ethnic Group

Bro History

News, Society & Culture, Politics, History

4 • 929 Ratings

🗓️ 1 August 2025

⏱️ 75 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Yes, there’s a real place in Ohio called Hitler Pond — and no, it’s not what you think. On today's episode, we dive deep into the strange but true story of the Ohio Hitlers — a German-American pioneer family with zero connection to the Nazis — and how World War I triggered one of the ugliest backlashes against immigrants in U.S. history. From lynchings in the name of “patriotism” to German language bans and Beethoven getting canceled, we explore the dark side of American nativism and what it reveals about identity, propaganda, and assimilation. We even trace how these events may have influenced Adolf Hitler’s obsession with race, immigration, and “living space.” Links to our other stuff on the interwebs: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BroHistory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://brohistory.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ #334 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Spend less time staying in the know about all things gaming and more time actually watching and playing what you want with the IGN Daily Update podcast.
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0:23.3	That's the IGN Daily Update, wherever you get your podcasts.
0:29.8	In Collinsville, Illinois, there's this German-American guy named Robert Prager.
0:35.7	He gets lynched by a mob in 1918.
0:38.5	And his only crime was that he was a socialist.
0:41.7	He had a German accent.
0:43.4	And he applied to join a local miners union.
0:46.3	Like, that was it.
0:47.3	That was enough.
0:48.5	They wrapped him in an American flag and marched him through the streets and they strangled
0:52.3	him to death.
0:53.2	And the killers were tried. They put him on trial. And then they were acquitted. And the jury said it was done in the
1:00.1	name of patriotism. Let that sink in for you. They literally said, you're, it's fine to kill this guy
1:07.2	because it was done in the name of patriotism.
1:17.4	What's up, guys? Welcome to another episode of Bro History. It's Henry Zamoto and Danny Abdel Jabar. What's up, man? How are you? chilling, man. As for usual. How about yourself?
1:22.8	I'm doing good. I'm doing very good because we have a very interesting topic today. And today's topic,
1:30.4	well, let's just pull this back a little bit because I want to tell the story of this
1:35.0	very interesting place, this very interesting part of America that tells a really American story.
1:43.3	Super American. It's the story of melting pots.
1:46.6	Mm-hmm.
	...

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