Many Europeans from Austria, Germany and Switzerland, returning to their home countries following a vacation in the USA, go back and tell their relatives and friends that they have met countless Americans who have told them that their forefathers have come from Austria, Germany or Switzerland. For years the government has published reports that indicate that 60 million of the 300 million US citizens have some roots in a German speaking country. Most of them have come from Germany, but the promise of great opportunity also convinced many Austrians and Swiss to make the United States their new home, most especially so in the last 100 years.

German speaking communities have had a significant influence on the development of the United States, more so than we are able to present on this website. As examples we like to highlight the Swiss immigrant Benjamin Rush, one of the underwriters of the Declaration of Independence, and Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Herbert Hoover who both had German roots. Let’s not forget Albert Einstein or Wernher von Braun who both became American citizens and made the United States their new home. Business and culture in the US would not be what it is today without the influence of persons like Solomon R. Guggenheim, Levi Strauss or the Rockefeller family.

You like Hollywood? Yul Brunner, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Leonardo DiCaprio and Sandra Bullock all have relatives that migrated to the United States from German speaking countries.

Listen to music? The  list of immigrants from German speaking countries in the field of music is endless, but we would like to mention Fred Astair, Billy Wilder and Joe Zawinul.

Americans with backgrounds from German speaking countries as well as the German speaking business community living in the Carolinas today have many reasons to celebrate their mutual heritage. Join some of the many Austrian-American, German-American or Swiss-American organizations and take  part in their cultural, business and social functions:

                                                Herzlich Willkommen!

For more information please visit the web sites of Austria, Germany and Switzerland.