The fate of immigrants, refugees, and migrant workers was experienced by the more than seven million Germans who emigrated to America over a period of three centuries. Their experiences ought not be forgotten. For these lessons from America can be learned and adapted by nations faced with large-scale immigration today. These include Germany, where the flood of non-German-speaking immigrants -- with their clubs, houses of worship, schools and newspapers in inner city neighborhoods -- is widely and at times harshly criticized as a misdirected development. In reality, however, these practices of present-day immigrants resemble age-old approaches that German immigrants to America implemented successfully in the decades before they or their children and grandchildren became fully Americanized.
No one knows the number of German-Americans today. …
