100 years ago in The Record
Saturday, April 7, 1917
Now that the U. S. is at war with Germany, the status of German nationals living and working in the Capital District is an object of concern for Record readers.
The nation declared war on the German Empire yesterday following ratification of a war resolution by the House of Representatives. President Woodrow Wilson called for war amid Germany’s submarine campaign against neutral merchant shipping bound for France and Great Britain.
Germany has been at war with France and Britain since the summer of 1914. For most of that time, Herman Grosch has been stuck in the U. S. The Stralsund native was fourth cook on the Hamburg-American steamship Pennsylvania, which has been interned in Hoboken NJ since late July 1914, due to fears that Germany’s enemies would try to sink it. Grosch was on “unlimited vacation” but still had to make a living. He took jobs on domestic ships, nightclubs and hotels before starting work at the Rensselaer Hotel in downtown Troy.
In an interview with our paper, Grosch says that he’s become self-reliant since his forced settlement in the U. S. “He has earned more money than he ever had in his life before,” the interviewer writes. By comparison, “There were no opportunities for bettering conditions in Germany, and the people as a whole were tired of having autocracy map out their lives.”
Before the U. S. entered the war, Grosch tried unsuccessfully to settle family members here. He plans to remain in the U. S. after the war, and assures our interviewer that “stories of Germans in this country turning traitor [are] fabrications.” As things stand currently, unnaturalized Germans like Grosch “are not to be molested so long as ordinary pursuits of life are followed.” Under the terms of yesterday’s presidential proclamation, the Watervliet Arsenal may have to discharge six Germans currently working on a building project. The proclamation forbids “an alien enemy” from coming within a half-mile of an arsenal or any other strategic facility, but Commandant William Gibson tells The Record that he sees no need at this time to interfere with the Germans’ work. Gibson warns, however, that strict enforcement of the proclamation might disrupt immigrant neighborhoods in South Troy. Because the Watervliet Arsenal grounds extend halfway across the Hudson, German enclaves would fall within the half-mile forbidden zone. Gibson personally would do nothing to those neighborhoods “unless it could be shown their actions were suspicious or detrimental to the carrying on of the affairs of the country.” Local Germans have started an effort to create a registry of their unnaturalized kinsmen that will be made available to the federal government upon request.