Editing Pennsylvania Dutch (section)

==Decline of the Pennsylvania Dutch==
{{further|German Society of Pennsylvania}}
{{Unreliable sources|date=June 2024}}
[[File:Journey to Pennsylvania 1756.gif|right|thumb|upright=0.6|Pennsylvania Dutch have a long literary tradition.]]
Immediately after the Civil War, the [[Federal government of the United States|federal government]] took steps to replace Pennsylvania German schools with English-only schools. The Pennsylvania Dutch fought to retain German as an official language in Pennsylvania to little success.<ref name="merrittgeoprgeyorgey">{{cite book |title=A Pennsylvania Dutch Boy And the Truth About the Pennsylvania Dutch|year=2008|author=Merritt George Yorgey|publisher=Xlibris US|location=United States of America|pages=17, 18, 19}}</ref>{{better source|date=November 2024}}

Literary German disappeared from Pennsylvania Dutch life little by little, starting with schools, and then to churches and newspapers. Pennsylvania Dutch became mainly a spoken language, and as education came to only be provided in English, many Pennsylvania Dutch became bilingual.<ref name="merrittgeoprgeyorgey" />{{better source|date=November 2024}}

===Anti-German sentiment and Americanization===
{{further|Anti-German sentiment}}
[[File:Restaurant operator Fred Horak of Somerville, 1939.jpg|right|thumb|upright=0.7|An Anti-German sign reading "No German customers wanted here"]]
The next blow to Pennsylvania Dutch came during World War I and World War II. Prior to the wars, Pennsylvania Dutch was an urban language spoken openly in the streets of towns such as Allentown, Reading, Lancaster and York; afterwards, it became relegated only to rural areas.<ref name="merrittgeoprgeyorgey" />{{better source|date=November 2024}}

There was rampant social & employment discrimination for anyone suspected of being German. Meritt G. Yorgey, a Pennsylvania Dutch descendant who grew up during the height of anti-German sentiment, remembers the instructions of his father: "Don't ever call yourself "Dutch" or "Pennsylvania German." You're just American."<ref name="merrittgeoprgeyorgey" />{{better source|date=November 2024}}

Many Pennsylvanians of German heritage have chosen to assimilate into Anglo-American culture, except for a significant number of Amish and Mennonite plain people who have chosen to remain insular, which has added to the modern misconception that "Pennsylvania Dutch" is synonymous with "Amish."<ref name="merrittgeoprgeyorgey" />

===Pennsylvania Dutch during World War I===
[[American Palatines|Palatine Dutch]] of New York in the [[27th Infantry Division (United States)|27th Infantry Division]] broke through the [[Hindenburg Line]] in 1918.<ref name="nelsongreene">{{cite book |title=History of the Mohawk Valley, Gateway to the West, 1614-1925 Covering the Six Counties of Schenectady, Schoharie, Montgomery, Fulton, Herkimer, and Oneida · Volume 1|author=Nelson Greene|year=1925|publisher=S. J. Clarke|location=United States of America|pages=475}}</ref>

===Interwar period===
Before World War II, the Nazi Party sought to gain the loyalty of the German-American community, and established pro-Nazi [[German-American Bund]], emphasizing German-American immigrant ties to the "Fatherland". The Nazi propaganda effort failed in the Pennsylvania Dutch community, as the Pennsylvania Dutch felt no sense of loyalty to Germany.<ref name="irwinrichman">{{cite book |title=The Pennsylvania Dutch Country|author=Irwin Richman|year=2004|publisher=Arcadia|location=United States of America|pages=22}}</ref>

===Pennsylvania Dutch during World War II===
{{One source|section|date=June 2024}} 
[[Image:Dwight D Eisenhower2.jpg|thumb|upright=1|President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] was of Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry.]]
During World War II, a platoon of Pennsylvania Dutch soldiers on patrol in Germany was once spared from being machine-gunned by Nazi soldiers who listened to them approaching. The Germans heard them speaking Pennsylvania Dutch amongst each other and assumed that they were natives of the Palatinate.<ref name="roberthendrickson">{{cite book |title=The Facts on File Dictionary of American Regionalisms|author=Robert Hendrickson|year=2000|publisher=Infobase Publishing|location=United States of America|pages=724}}</ref>