German Mexicans (German: ''Deutschmexikaner'' or ''Deutsch-Mexikanisch'', Spanish: ''germano-mexicano'' or ''alemán-mexicano'') are
Mexican
Mexican may refer to:
Mexico and its culture
*Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America
** People
*** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants
*** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...
citizens of
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
descent or origin.
Most documented
ethnic Germans
, native_name_lang = de
, region1 =
, pop1 = 72,650,269
, region2 =
, pop2 = 534,000
, region3 =
, pop3 = 157,000
3,322,405
, region4 =
, pop4 = ...
arrived in Mexico during the mid-to-late 19th century and were spurred by government policies of
Porfirio Díaz
José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori ( or ; ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915), known as Porfirio Díaz, was a Mexican general and politician who served seven terms as President of Mexico, a total of 31 years, from 28 November 1876 to 6 Decem ...
. Many of them took advantage of the liberal policies in Mexico at the time and went into merchant, industrial, and educational ventures. However, others arrived without any or much capital as employees or farmers. Most settled in
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
City and the surrounding states of
Puebla
Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...
and Veracruz as well as the northern states of Sinaloa, Jalisco, and Chihuahua. Later settlers headed south towards the Yucatán Peninsula. Significant numbers of German immigrants also arrived during and after both
World Wars.
The historic strength of German-Mexican relations has contributed to Mexico having the third largest German population in all Latin America behind only Brazil and Argentina.
The German influence on modern Mexican culture is visible in their dairy, brewing, and musical entertainment industries with major exports like beer, cheese, and carpentry all deeply rooted in northern German traditions. The most notable German influence on mainstream culture however, is the Northern regional musical sub-genres of
tejano
Tejanos (, ; singular: ''Tejano/a''; Spanish for "Texan", originally borrowed from the Caddo ''tayshas'') are the residents of the state of Texas who are culturally descended from the Mexican population of Tejas and Coahuila that lived in the ...
,
banda
Banda may refer to:
People
*Banda (surname)
*Banda Prakash (born 1954), Indian politician
*Banda Kanakalingeshwara Rao (1907–1968), Indian actor
*Banda Karthika Reddy (born 1977), Indian politician
*Banda Singh Bahadur (1670–1716), Sikh warr ...
,
ranchera, and
norteño among others. The
Plautdietsch language
Plautdietsch () or Mennonite Low German is a Low Prussian dialect of East Low German with Dutch influence that developed in the 16th and 17th centuries in the Vistula delta area of Royal Prussia. The word ''Plautdietsch'' translates to "flat (o ...
, a dialect of Low German, is widely spoken by the
Mexican Mennonites, descendants of Dutch and Prussian immigrants, in the states of
Chihuahua Chihuahua may refer to:
Places
*Chihuahua (state), a Mexican state
**Chihuahua (dog), a breed of dog named after the state
**Chihuahua cheese, a type of cheese originating in the state
**Chihuahua City, the capital city of the state
**Chihuahua Mun ...
,
Durango
Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...
,
Zacatecas, and
Aguascalientes
Aguascalientes (; ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Aguascalientes ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Aguascalientes), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. At 22°N and ...
. Other German towns lie in the Northern and Southern states of
Nuevo León
Nuevo León () is a state in the northeast region of Mexico. The state was named after the New Kingdom of León, an administrative territory from the Viceroyalty of New Spain, itself was named after the historic Spanish Kingdom of León. With a ...
,
Jalisco
Jalisco (, , ; Nahuatl: Xalixco), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco ; Nahuatl: Tlahtohcayotl Xalixco), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal En ...
,
Sinaloa
Sinaloa (), officially the Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sinaloa), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is d ...
,
Yucatán,
Chiapas
Chiapas (; Tzotzil language, Tzotzil and Tzeltal language, Tzeltal: ''Chyapas'' ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas), is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, ...
,
Quintana Roo, and other parts of Puebla, where the German culture and language have been preserved to different extents.
The German-Mexican community has largely integrated into Mexican society as a whole but has retained some cultural traits and in turn exerted cultural and industrial influences on Mexican society. Especially after
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, an intense process of transculturation can be observed, particularly in Mexico City,
Jalisco
Jalisco (, , ; Nahuatl: Xalixco), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco ; Nahuatl: Tlahtohcayotl Xalixco), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal En ...
,
Sinaloa
Sinaloa (), officially the Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sinaloa), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is d ...
,
Nuevo León
Nuevo León () is a state in the northeast region of Mexico. The state was named after the New Kingdom of León, an administrative territory from the Viceroyalty of New Spain, itself was named after the historic Spanish Kingdom of León. With a ...
, Puebla and particularly with the
Maya in
Chiapas
Chiapas (; Tzotzil language, Tzotzil and Tzeltal language, Tzeltal: ''Chyapas'' ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas), is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, ...
. Given the historic success of nationalistic ''
mestizaje
(; ; fem. ) is a term used for racial classification to refer to a person of mixed Ethnic groups in Europe, European and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also r ...
'' propaganda, the recognition of the German contribution to modern Mexican culture in the public consciousness has been muted. These social, cultural, and identity aspects that used to be associated with Germans are now seen as characteristic of the greater ''
mestizo
(; ; fem. ) is a term used for racial classification to refer to a person of mixed Ethnic groups in Europe, European and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also r ...
'' identity.
[Durán-Merk, 2012, "European Migrants"]
Colonization and immigration
The German settlement in Mexico goes back to the times they settled
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
when it was under Spanish rule, but the first permanent settlement of Germans was at Industry, in Austin County, established by
Friedrich Ernst and Charles Fordtran in the early 1830s, then under Mexican rule. Ernst wrote a letter to a friend in his native Oldenburg, which was published in the newspaper there. His description of Texas was so influential in attracting German immigrants to that area that he is remembered as "the Father of German Immigration to Texas."
Many Germans, especially Roman Catholics who sided with Mexico, left Texas for the rest of present-day Mexico after the U.S. defeated Mexico in the
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...
in 1848.
In 1865 and 1866, a total of 543 German-speaking people (men, women, and children) were brought from
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
specifically to the villages of Santa Elena and Pustunich, in Yucatán. This was a project of foreign colonization promoted during the
Second Mexican Empire
The Second Mexican Empire (), officially the Mexican Empire (), was a constitutional monarchy established in Mexico by Mexican monarchists in conjunction with the Second French Empire. The period is sometimes referred to as the Second French i ...
, and the reign of Emperor
Maximilian I of Mexico
Maximilian I (german: Ferdinand Maximilian Josef Maria von Habsburg-Lothringen, link=no, es, Fernando Maximiliano José María de Habsburgo-Lorena, link=no; 6 July 1832 – 19 June 1867) was an Austrian archduke who reigned as the only Emperor ...
, with the governing body of the state of Yucatán. The majority of these people were farmers and craftsmen: wheelwrights, shoemakers, cabinet makers, etc.
Other colonies were established in
El Mirador,
Veracruz
Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...
by the German botanist
Carls Sartorius,
[Beatriz Scharrer, Estudio de caso: el grupo familiar de empresarios Stein-Sartorius, in Los pioneros del imperialismo alemán en México, ed. by Brígida von Mentz et al. México: Ciesas, 1982] and in the state of
Tamaulipas
Tamaulipas (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tamaulipas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas), is a state in the northeast region of Mexico; one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal Entiti ...
by Baron Juan Raiknitz (Johan von Raknitz), in 1833.
Sartorius's settlement, known as The Hacienda, attracted more than 200 settlers from
Darmstadt
Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...
, Germany. The Hacienda was visited many times by Maximilian I, and Sartorius was made the Minister of Agriculture under the Empire.
![Galcafe004](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Galcafe004.jpg)
In 1890, as part of the blanqueamiento movement,
Porfirio Díaz
José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori ( or ; ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915), known as Porfirio Díaz, was a Mexican general and politician who served seven terms as President of Mexico, a total of 31 years, from 28 November 1876 to 6 Decem ...
and
Otto von Bismarck
Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of J ...
collaborated to take advantage of southern Mexico's agricultural potential by sending 450 German families to
Soconusco near
Tapachula in the southern state of
Chiapas
Chiapas (; Tzotzil language, Tzotzil and Tzeltal language, Tzeltal: ''Chyapas'' ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas), is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, ...
. Extensive coffee cultivation quickly made
Soconusco one of the most successful German colonies, and between 1895 and 1900, 11,500,000 kg of coffee had been harvested. Fincas (estates) were erected in the Chiapaneco highlands and given German names such as Hamburgo, Bremen, Lübeck, Argovia, Bismarck, Prussia, Germania and Hanover.
About 6,000
Russian Mennonites, who came originally from
Northern Germany
Northern Germany (german: link=no, Norddeutschland) is a linguistic, geographic, socio-cultural and historic region in the northern part of Germany which includes the coastal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony an ...
and the Netherlands, migrated from Canada to northern Mexico in the 1920s. Today, there are about 115,000 practicing descendants of Mennonites in Mexico, who have preserved the
Plautdietsch dialect and maintained their self sustaining agricultural and religious practices on their properties. By their community's rules, German Mexican Mennonites are allowed to speak Spanish primarily for the purposes of business, culture, and, on occasion, finding spouses. Several mennonite colonies have historically been victim to religious fervor, notably during the
Christian Civil War. Cult like criticisms persist into the modern day with complaints of “luring and brainwashing the youth,” though these claims remain unsubstantiated with most colonies being mildly isolated and viewed favorably by the Mexican government. The most prosperous Mennonite colonies in Mexico lie in the states of
Chihuahua Chihuahua may refer to:
Places
*Chihuahua (state), a Mexican state
**Chihuahua (dog), a breed of dog named after the state
**Chihuahua cheese, a type of cheese originating in the state
**Chihuahua City, the capital city of the state
**Chihuahua Mun ...
(Cuauhtémoc),
Durango
Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...
(Patos (Nuevo Ideal), Nuevo Hamburgo),
Zacatecas (La Honda),
Sinaloa
Sinaloa (), officially the Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sinaloa), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is d ...
,
Aguascalientes
Aguascalientes (; ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Aguascalientes ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Aguascalientes), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. At 22°N and ...
and
Campeche
Campeche (; yua, Kaampech ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Campeche ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Campeche), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. Located in southeast Mexico, it is bordered by ...
.
Before and after declaring war on the Axis Powers in 1942, port authority began accepting Jewish German refugees as early as 1937 albeit unofficially due to the controversial nature of the Jewish question as well as growing anti-semitism in Caribbean policies. The most notable example being Mexico’s reception of German-Jews aboard the St. Louis after the would be immigrants had been refused by Cuban officials in 1939. Government stances on neutrality allotted for inaccurate and skewed registration of war-time arrivals with official documents stating only 18,000 while community and Parish reports cite upwards of 100,000.
Contrary to official government reports, the Jewish and Polish-Catholic communities in Mexico cited tens of thousands of new Jewish-German and Polish arrivals between 1937 to 1944. Mexico admitted only 1,850 Jewish refugees between 1933 and 1945, but issued at least 16,000 immigration visas to Spanish loyalist refugees between 1938 and 1945, and over 1,400 visas to Catholic Polish refugees between 1939 and 1941. It is estimated many of these visas were actually used by Jewish German fleeing through the Spain in addition to the stowaways smuggled in by seafaring “coyotes." Mexican diplomat
Gilberto Bosques Saldivar
Gilberto is the Iberian and Italian version of the originally Norman-French given name '' Gilbert'', used in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish languages. In Galician, it's spelled Xilberto or Xilberte. ''Gilbert'' is ultimately derived from the Ger ...
also played an important role in rescuing German-Jews fleeing through the underground French railroad network. As a consul in Marseilles, a port city in what became Vichy France, Bosques directed consular officials to issue a visa to any refugee who wished to flee to Mexico. His efforts saved the lives of tens of thousands of Jews as well as other refugees fleeing the Franco dictatorship in Spain. Bosques also rented a castle and a summer holiday camp near Marseilles to house refugees, claiming that under international law, the property constituted Mexican territory. In 1943, the Gestapo arrested Bosques, his family, and 40 consular staff and detained them in Germany for a year until the Mexican government obtained their release through a prisoner exchange.
Cultural legacy
Homes in the towns of Nueva Alemania resemble the architectural style of northern Germany, and many of this area's settlers came from the cities of
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
,
Bremen
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...
, and
Lübeck. In
San Luis Potosí
San Luis Potosí (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of San Luis Potosí ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de San Luis Potosí), is one of the 32 states which compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and i ...
,
Sinaloa
Sinaloa (), officially the Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sinaloa), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is d ...
(
Mazatlán
Mazatlán () is a city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. The city serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding ''municipio'', known as the Mazatlán Municipality. It is located at on the Pacific coast, across from the southernmost tip of ...
) and
Veracruz
Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...
, settlers from
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
built structures similar to those found in the
Black Forest
The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...
. The German Cultural Center building in San Luis Potosí is a
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
n mansion that had been owned by the Baron of
Baden-Baden. German immigrants founded the now defunct football club
Germania FV helping in large to popularize the sport in the modern Mexican consciousness, similar to the efforts of German immigrants in Brazil and Argentina.
German roots are particularly notable in Mexican music due to the large numbers of German immigrants in Texas and northern Mexico around the 1830s. The distributors of German-made
accordions aggressively marketed the loud, sturdy little "boom boxes" as far back as the late 19th century. Today, various overlapping styles of music that descended in part from German music (notably
polka
Polka is a dance and genre of dance music originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though associated with Czech culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the Americas.
History
Etymology
The term ...
) include
tejano
Tejanos (, ; singular: ''Tejano/a''; Spanish for "Texan", originally borrowed from the Caddo ''tayshas'') are the residents of the state of Texas who are culturally descended from the Mexican population of Tejas and Coahuila that lived in the ...
,
conjunto,
Tex-Mex,
quebradita
The ''quebradita'' (Spanish: "Little break", referring to the breaking of a wild horse and a female dancer's back bends) is a Mexican dance style. It is usually performed to a Regional Mexican song, specifically a lyrical charanga or instrumental ...
,
banda
Banda may refer to:
People
*Banda (surname)
*Banda Prakash (born 1954), Indian politician
*Banda Kanakalingeshwara Rao (1907–1968), Indian actor
*Banda Karthika Reddy (born 1977), Indian politician
*Banda Singh Bahadur (1670–1716), Sikh warr ...
,
ranchera, and
norteño. Such musical styles are especially popular in northern Mexico and in places of the United States where there is a large immigrant population of Mexican heritage. Many of the dance movements that accompany these styles of music are also rooted in traditional polka step dances as with the square dancing traditions commonly found in vaquero culture
Oktoberfest is usually held in several large cities with German-Mexican communities throughout the country, mainly in Mexico City,
Chihuahua Chihuahua may refer to:
Places
*Chihuahua (state), a Mexican state
**Chihuahua (dog), a breed of dog named after the state
**Chihuahua cheese, a type of cheese originating in the state
**Chihuahua City, the capital city of the state
**Chihuahua Mun ...
, and
Victoria de Durango. German Mexicans were important in the development of the Mexican
cheese
Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During production, ...
and
brewing
Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and #Fermenting, fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with Yeast#Beer, yeast. It may be done in a brewery ...
industries. The brewing industry, in
Monterrey
Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...
, Nuevo León, and
Mazatlán
Mazatlán () is a city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. The city serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding ''municipio'', known as the Mazatlán Municipality. It is located at on the Pacific coast, across from the southernmost tip of ...
, Sinaloa, were developed in large part by ethnic German immigrants bringing to the region famed Bavarian style dark malt brewing techniques. The influx of German immigrants and the brief
Austrian reign (mid-19th century) of
Emperor Maximilian, who never traveled anywhere without his two German brew-masters, helped cement the art of brewing as an all-Mexican endeavor felt to this day with Mexico as one of the only Latin American countries where beer consumption trumps that of wine and spirits. German influence has had a lasting impact on Mexican beers, with brands such as
Negra Modelo and
Dos Equis Ambar, both deriving from a malty subset of dark lagers known as
Vienna-style. Beer production remains as one of Mexico’s chief industries and biggest exports valued at over a billion USD.
The German-Mexican population is especially prevalent in southern Mexico, particularly the states of Chiapas, Yucatan, and Quintana Roo, where German farmers and industrialists were encouraged to immigrate in the late 1890s. Following collaboration between Otto Von Bismarck and Porfirio Diaz to German colonies were established to develop modern coffee plantations and food processing facilities in the state. German-Mexicans make up a large minority of the population of the soconusco region of Chiapas, where the German population has intermixed with the Maya who make up the majority of the region's population. A study by the Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) found that in the municipality of Tapachula and the surrounding Soconusco region that the mixed Mestizo population had a larger concentration of German heritage than Spanish heritage with as many as 160,000 residents cited as being unaware of their German heritage. Many of the original German farms and facilities continue to operate as both ejidos and private ventures.
Surnames of German origin can be commonly found in the Yucatan Peninsula as well as regions of Northern Mexico such as Sonora, Sinaloa, Chihuahua, Nayarit, and Jalisco. Hispanicized spellings of German surnames also exist in large part due to assimilation campaigns from the 19th century. Changing of names among German Jews is also a historic method of negating antisemitism as was the case with Jewish-German immigration waves during both colonial times and
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. For examples, the German surname “Sols” became the surname “Solis” and “Bergmann” became “Burgos” or “Beltran.” Colonial practices of hispanicizing surnames also occurred albeit with less commitment to translation with many clergymen and Immigration officials simply naming people after identifiable markers resulting in names such as “Aleman," “Rubio,” “Luterano,” “Vismarca,” “Brucha,” “Fridaburgo,” etc. However, traditional German names still exist in certain regions with historic significant populations, such as in the Yucatan, where the 56th and 82nd most common surnames recorded were “Quelle” and “Fiege” according to a 2012 survey of the region.
German influence on media is prominent in its effects on modern culture in areas such as the arts, philosophy, politics, and entertainment. The most notable artist of German descent being
Frida Kahlo
Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón (; 6 July 1907 – 13 July 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by the country's popular culture, ...
among others.
Demography and ancestry
There are currently 11,398 registered German nationals residing in Mexico as of 2019 Mexicans of self-identified Germanic ancestry exceed 1,200,000 including those of partial ancestry.
Due to decades of mestizaje based assimilation practices, many modern Mexicans do not claim or are ignorant of their own ethnic European backgrounds. Various studies estimate those of unknown and/or unclaimed ancestry range between 12,000,000 to 30,000,000 with a higher concentrations in the north western and central regions.
Regardless, Mexico remains the country with the third largest German population in Latin America behind only Brazil and Argentina
Education and language
![Colegio Alemán Alexander von Humboldt](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Colegio_Alem%C3%A1n_Alexander_von_Humboldt.jpg)
German as a language of study remains incredibly popular in Mexico with German inching just behind French as the second most commonly studied foreign language. As a major of baccalaureate studies, "Estudios de Ingles y Aleman” or "English & German Studies” often ranks within the top 10 most common majors annually among
educational institutions
An educational institution is a place where people of different ages gain an education, including preschools, childcare, primary-elementary schools, secondary-high schools, and universities. They provide a large variety of learning environments an ...
in Mexico. Historic trends of German immigration to Northwestern Mexico reflect modern language revival programs with secondary education institutions in the states of Sinaloa,
Sonora
Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is d ...
,
Chihuahua Chihuahua may refer to:
Places
*Chihuahua (state), a Mexican state
**Chihuahua (dog), a breed of dog named after the state
**Chihuahua cheese, a type of cheese originating in the state
**Chihuahua City, the capital city of the state
**Chihuahua Mun ...
,
Durango
Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...
,
Nayarit, Jalisco, and
Baja California Sur
Baja California Sur (; 'South Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California Sur ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California Sur), is the least populated state and the 31st admitted state of the 32 federal ent ...
all investing in community efforts to restore German ethnic ties. Much of this work is to the chagrin of Indigenous activists from Mexico City and Southern Mexico who have been vocal in the disproportionate funding of Euro-centric revival programs.
Following the successful “mestizaje” propaganda efforts by the
Institutional Revolutionary Party at the turn of the 20th century, European immigrants were encouraged to assimilate into society and disavow their cultural heritages in favor of the new national identity. As a result, documented Mexicans of German heritage can rarely speak German with most German speaking immigrants opting only to speak in Spanish both at home and to their children. However, in the 21st century, German is seeing positive trends of language revitalization with recent calls from the Mexican-German communities to rebuild once lost cultural ties. Along with the advent of DNA services, this communal effort is seen as a part of the greater movement spearheaded by younger Mexicans to reject traditional nationalist identity politics in favor of their ancestral claims.
Regardless, the nation currently holds the 2nd most German schools in Latin America behind Brazil. Mexico currently has over 3,000 publicly administered German language schools not including international or private institutions. The most notable are as follows:
The
Colegio Alemán Cuauhtémoc Hank established in 1993, is a German international school in Colonia Hipódromo,
Tijuana
Tijuana ( ,["Tijuana"](_blank)
(US) and [< ...]
. The establishment of the school caused controversy with local outcry from the Chinese-Mexican communities of Tijuana who have been historically negated by the federal education system in their bids to establish Chinese language schools despite documented Chinese-Mexicans outnumbering documented German-Mexicans at roughly 216,000 to 60,000 at the time of the Tijuana 1992 census.
The
Colegio Alemán Alexander von Humboldt in Mexico City, established in 1894, is the largest German school outside Germany with about 12,000 enrolled students as of 2012. Enrolled students must prove fluency in standard German unless beginning Kindergarten or transferring into first grade. The most renowned German program in Mexico, the school persistently attracts enrolled children of many celebrities and politicians.
The
Colegio Humboldt Puebla was first established with 10 primary students and a German teacher in 1911 as a community effort to keep German speaking traditions alive. The school is now a German international school in
Cuautlancingo,
Puebla
Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...
, in
Greater Puebla
The Metropolitan area of Puebla or Greater Puebla is the fourth largest agglomeration in Mexico with a population of 3.199 million. This agglomeration includes 10 municipalities of the state of Puebla, and 13 municipalities of the state of Tlaxca ...
.
The
Colegio Alemán de Guadalajara
The Colegio Alemán de Guadalajara A.C. is a German international school in Zapopan, Jalisco, in Greater Guadalajara. The school serves kindergarten through ''bachillerato'' (high school). It was founded in 1979.Guadalajara
Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...
, Jalisco. The school remains as the North American institution with the most German speaking international students from collective countries such as Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.
A small German school was founded in 1917 in Guadalajara as a branch of the Humboldt school. They included in their best kindergarten and elementary school and counted 120 students who were taught by twelve teachers. Mexico's entry into the war in 1942 marked the end of the first German school in Guadalajara. By 1979, the school was re-established in the Mexican education system under fully involved administrative supervision by the board of education. Before that the German language was only taught as a foreign language in addition to the official Mexican teaching program but is now the main language of instruction. The Humboldt program remains the biggest German K-12 schooling system in the Americas, with each campus graduating an average of 3,000 certified bilingual students annually.
Colegio Alemán Alexander von Humboldt alone boasts over 156,000 certified fluent graduates since 2000.
Notable people
First generation immigrants
*
Brigitte Alexander
Brigitte Alexander (9 October 1911 - 10 May 1995) was a German-born Mexican author, actress, director and translator. When the Nazi party seized power in Germany, she fled to France. Facing arrest in France, her husband chose to enter the Foreig ...
- actress, director, translator
*
Fritz Bieler
Fritz Bieler (September 9, 1895 - September 1, 1957) was a German aviator that served in the First World War, and in 1921 was hired as a flight instructor by the Mexican Air Force.
Fritz Bieler died in Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciud ...
- aviator
*
Hugo Brehme Hugo Brehme, (3 December 1882, Eisenach, Germany; 13 June 1954, Mexico City) was a German-born photographer of Mexico. Working almost exclusively in black and white, he established a photographic studio in Mexico City “Fotografía Artística Hugo ...
- photographer of the
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...
*
Brigitte Broch
Brigitte Broch, born November 21, 1943, is a German Mexicans, German-Mexican production designer.
Personal life
Broch is a naturalized citizen of Mexico.
Oscar nominations
Both of these are in Academy Award for Best Production Design, Best Art ...
- production designer
*
Max Cetto - architect
*
Olga Costa
Olga Costa (August 28, 1913 – June 28, 1993) was a painter and cultural promoter who immigrated to Mexico from Germany when she was twelve. She began to study art at the Academy of San Carlos but left after only three months to help support her ...
- painter
*
Christa Cowrie - photographer
*
Heinz Dieterich
Heinz Dieterich or Heinz Dieterich Steffan (born 1943) is a German sociologist and a political analyst residing in Mexico. He is better known for his leftist ideals. He contributes to several journals and has published more than 30 books about ...
- sociologist, political analyst
*
Margit Frenk
Margit Frenk Freund (in full, Margarita Ana María Frenk y Freund), sometimes known by her married name, Margit Frenk Alatorre (born 21 August 1925 in Hamburg), is a German-Mexican philologist, folklorist and translator. She has been an Academic N ...
- philologist, folklorist, translator
*
Mariana Frenk-Westheim - writer, Hispanist
*
Mathias Goeritz
Werner Mathias Goeritz Brunner (4 April 1915, Danzig, German Empire – 4 August 1990, Mexico City) was a Mexican painter and sculptor of German people, German origin. After spending much of the 1940s in North Africa and Spain, he and his wife, ...
- painter, sculptor
*
Hans Gutmann Guste - photographer
*
Wilhelm Hasse - brewer, founder of
Dos Equis
DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems.
DOS may also refer to:
Computing
* Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel
* Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicatio ...
*
Guillermo Kahlo
Guillermo Kahlo (born Carl Wilhelm Kahlo; 26 October 1871 – 14 April 1941) was a German Mexicans, German-Mexican photographer. He photographically documented important architectural works, churches, streets, landmarks, as well as industries and ...
- photographer
*
Paul Kirchhoff
Paul Kirchhoff (17 August 1900, Halle, Province of Westphalia – 9 December 1972) was a German-Mexican anthropologist, most noted for his seminal work in defining and elaborating the culture area of Mesoamerica, a term he coined.
Early lif ...
- anthropologist
*
Hilde Krüger - actress
*
Teoberto Maler - explorer of Maya ruins
*
Horst Matthai Quelle
Horst Matthai Quelle (30 January 1912 – 27 December 1999) was a Spanish-speaking German philosopher.
Biography
Quelle was born in Hanover, Germany in 1912.
In 1938, at the beginning of the German economic crisis and the rise of Nazism and fa ...
- philosopher
*
Franz Mayer
Franz Mayer Traumann, better known as Franz Mayer (1882, Mannheim, Germany – 1975, Mexico) was a German-Mexican financier, photographer and collector, and the founder of the Franz Mayer Museum in Mexico City.
Biography
Franz Mayer arrived in ...
- financier, photographer, collector, founder of the
Franz Mayer Museum
The Franz Mayer Museum ( es, Museo Franz Mayer), in Mexico City opened in 1986 to house, display and maintain Latin America’s largest collection of decorative arts. The collection was amassed by stockbroker and financial professional Franz May ...
*
Sabine Moussier - actress
*
Walter Reuter
Walter Reuter (b. January 4, 1906 - March 20, 2005) was a Mexican photojournalist of German origin. Reuter arrived to Mexico in 1942, after fleeing the rise of the Nazis in Germany, and the defeat of the Republicans in Spain. Having started his c ...
- photojournalist
*
Otto Rühle
Karl Heinrich Otto Rühle (23 October 1874 – 24 June 1943) was a German Marxist active in opposition to both the First and Second World Wars as well as a council communist theorist.
Early years
Otto was born in Großschirma, Saxony on 23 Octo ...
- Communist, writer
*
Christian Julius Wilhelm Schiede Christian Julius Wilhelm Schiede (February 3, 1798 – December 1836) was a German physician and botanist born in Kassel.
He studied natural sciences and medicine in Berlin and Göttingen, where he earned his doctorate in 1825. Afterwards he pr ...
- physician, botanist
*
Otto Schüssler Otto Schüssler (August 8, 1905 – 1982) was a German Communist. He sometimes used the pseudonyms Oskar Fischer and Julián Suárez.
Schüssler was born in 1905 to a working-class family in Leipzig. He became an important leader of the Trot ...
- Communist, political activist
*
J. Michael Seyfert
J. Michael Seyfert (born 1959) is a German Mexicans, German Mexican documentary film director best known for the documentaries ''Rent a Rasta'' and ''Bye Bye Havana''. Among other awards, at the Atlanta International Documentary Film Festival, Sey ...
- filmmaker, photographer
*
Rodolfo Stavenhagen
Rodolfo Stavenhagen (29 August 1932 – 5 November 2016) was a German-born Mexican sociologist and anthropologist who specialized in the study of human rights and the political relations between indigenous peoples and states. He was a professor-r ...
- sociologist
*
Martin Tritschler
Martin Tritschler (October 22, 1814 – January 6, 1894) was a manufacturer and retailer of clocks that arrived in Mexico in 1833 from Germany, and was thus part of the first generation of non-Spanish immigrants after independence. He also partici ...
- clockmaker, Captain during the
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...
*
Maximilian Uhland Maximilian Uhland alled Father Bernardino de San José(born near Crefeld about 1475; died in Mexico in 1538) was a German missionary.
Biography
He became a Franciscan friar, and, being assigned to the American missions, went to Hispaniola in 1520 ...
- Catholic missionary
*
Fernando Wagner
Fernando Wagner (November 7, 1905 in Göttingen, Germany – October 20, 1973 in Cuernavaca, Mexico) was a German-born Mexican actor and film director. He had prominent roles in '' La Perla'' and ''The Wild Bunch''. His interment was in Mexico ...
- actor, director
Second generation
*
Alexander Afif - businessman, head of the
House of Saxony
This article lists dukes, electors, and kings ruling over different territories named Saxony from the beginning of the Saxon Duchy in the 6th century to the end of the German monarchies in 1918.
The electors of Saxony from John the Steadfast on ...
*
Susana Alexander - actress, director, producer
*
Hans Beimler - screenwriter
*
Arap Bethke
Ricardo Arap Bethke Galdames (born 12 March 1980) is a Mexican actor.
Early life
Bethke was born on 12 March 1980 in Nairobi, Kenya, as Ricardo Arap Bethke Galdames. In the African language "Arap Bethke" means "Bethke's son." His father, Clau ...
- actor
*
Enrique Bostelmann - photographer
*
Vicente Fox
Vicente Fox Quesada (; born 2 July 1942) is a Mexican businessman and politician who served as the 62nd president of Mexico from 1 December 2000 to 30 November 2006. After campaigning as a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist, Fox was elec ...
- 55th
President of Mexico
The president of Mexico ( es, link=no, Presidente de México), officially the president of the United Mexican States ( es, link=no, Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos), is the head of state and head of government of Mexico. Under the Co ...
, is of German descent from his father, Jose
*
Pedro Friedeberg
Pedro Friedeberg (born January 11, 1936) is a Mexican artist and designer known for his surrealist work filled with lines colors and ancient and religious symbols. His best known piece is the “Hand-Chair” a sculpture/chair designed for people ...
- artist, designer
*
Hans Friessen - footballer
*
Gunther Gerzso Gunther Gerzso (June 17, 1915 – April 21, 2000) was a Mexican painter, designer and director and screenwriter for film and theatre.
Biography
Gerzso was born in Mexico City, in the times of the Revolution. His parents were Oscar Gerzso ( hu, Ge ...
- painter, director
*
Memo Gidley - racing driver
*
Prince Hubertus of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
Hubertus Rudolph zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg (born 2 February 1959; ), commonly known as Hubertus von Hohenlohe, is a Mexican alpine skier, photographer, and businessman. He was previously a pop singer using the names Andy Himalaya and Royal Disaster. ...
- alpine skier, photographer, businessman
*
Vanessa Huppenkothen
Vanessa Huppenkothen Labra is a Mexican model and television presenter for ESPN Deportes and ESPN Mexico.
Early life
The daughter of a Mexican mother and a German father, the football player Dieter Huppenkothen, she was born in Mexico City. ...
- TV presenter, model
*
Frida Kahlo
Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón (; 6 July 1907 – 13 July 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by the country's popular culture, ...
- artist, political activist
*
Olivia Molina - singer
*
Wolfgang Paalen - Surrealist painter
*
Raquel Torres
Raquel Torres (born Paula Marie Osterman or Wilhelmina von Osterman; November 11, 1908 – August 10, 1987) was a Mexican-born American film actress. Her sister was actress Renee Torres.
Early life
Torres was born in Hermosillo to a German em ...
- actress
*
Nena von Schlebrügge - fashion model
See also
*
Germany–Mexico relations
The nations of Germany and Mexico first established formal diplomatic relations in 1879, following the unification of Germany. In 1917, the German Empire proposed a World War I alliance with Mexico against the United States in the Zimmermann Tel ...
*
Mennonites in Mexico
According to the 2012 estimates, there were 100,000 Mennonites living in Mexico (including 32,167 baptized adult church members), the vast majority of them, or about 90,000 are established in the state of Chihuahua, 6,500 were living in Durango, ...
*
Immigration to Mexico
*
Mexican immigration to Germany
*
White Mexicans
White Mexicans ( es, Mexicanos blancos) are Mexicans who are considered or identify as white, typically due to their physical appearance and/or self-identification with their European ancestry. While the Mexican government does conduct ethnic ce ...
References
Further reading
* Buchenau, Jürge de. 2002
002/275_299.pdf The Life Cycle of a Trade Diaspora:The German “Colony” in Mexico City, 1821–present ''Jahrbuch für Geschichte Lateinamerikas.'' 39:275-297.
* Buchenau, Jürgen. 2001
Small Numbers, Great Impact: Mexico and Its Immigrants, 1821–1973 ''Journal of American Ethnic History''. Spring:24-49.
*Buchenau, Jürgen. 2004. ''Tools of Progress: A German Merchant Family in Mexico City, 1865-present''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
* Durán-Merk, Alma, 2013, "In Our Sphere of Life". Dimensions of Social Incorporation in a Stratified Society. Augsburg, Germany: Augsburg Universität.
* O. de Bopp, Marianne. 1965. ''Maximiliano y los Alemanes''. Mexico City: Sociedad Mexicana de Geografía y Estadistica
* Rojas Marín, Ana Luisa, 2012. Del bosque a los árboles. Puebla: BUA
External links
Los que llegaron - Alemanesfrom
Canal Once
Once (Eleven; formerly Once TV México and Canal Once) is a Mexican educational broadcast television network owned by National Polytechnic Institute. The network's flagship station is XEIPN-TDT channel 11 in Mexico City. It broadcasts across ...
(in Spanish)
Deutsch-Mexikanisch
{{Ethnic groups in Mexico
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
Mexican
Mexican may refer to:
Mexico and its culture
*Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America
** People
*** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants
*** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...
Ethnic groups in Mexico