Do Germans REALLY hate it when Americans say they have German ancestry?

Hm...

I can really only tell you what I do feel myself, since it's not a thing I ever talked about or heart someone talk about.

The thing I often see is I've always been fascinated with the culture, language, history and then people can't name the first thing about anything related to Germany. Since US-Americans are viewed as having no clue about the world beyond their own borders. That is why they are often the butt of jokes going that way. Ex. 1 Ex. 2, since it's an xkcd, it's true (also mark the title who are unexpectedly good at geography")

You say that your family traced back to the 16th century? I can barely tell you anything about my great-grandparents, besides me having our ancestry book on my hard drive (which I feel is a thing that most people don't have). But nevertheless we are hugely influenced by our national heritage (more to that later). I think US-Americans are very much more connected/interested to/in their roots, maybe since it's a relatively new country without it's own strong history to fall back upon and even though you all identify as Americans in some way, even next door neighbors for 3 generations will have a different underlying national heritage.

I feel like in Germany we expect someone who is German to be German.

Queue: The huge debate over the Turkish voters for the referendum. Why do Turks who live here in 2nd or 3rd generation still feel like they can vote yes on that bill? It represents ungerman values and the person behind it openly attacked Germany and much it's standing for. It supports the inferiority complex that the Turks as a nation suffer from and the urge to have a strong man as a leader who tells them what's what (really not judging. Every nation has its complexes that members of said nation often have a blind spot for).

But we expect these people living here to be German. Not identify as Turks on such a basic level. I don't think we care too much about eating habits or religion etc that also reflects heritage, it's less on a personal level but maybe a group mentality thing(?).

What annoys me the most about the US-Americans (and everyone else who does this, but I really only connect it to the USA - not even e.g. Canada) is that I feel like they pick and mix their root however it is beneficial.

[over exaggeration]

It's thanksgiving? - Oh, did I tell you I am 1/32 Cherokee?

It's cinco de mayo? (thumbs up for relevant date) - My great-great-grand mother was from Mexico, now get me my favorite Mexican dish.

It's saint paddys day? - Shit, my dad once was in Ireland. pinch you did't wear something green

Every other day of the year: Shit yeah. Guns, Fastfood and Calvinism

[/over exaggeration]

I feel like "I'm American with German roots" or "I am American but my {insert family relation here} came from {insert state/city w/e here}" is the best version of stating what you are trying to say.

But if you tell me this I for one would expect you to know where they lived, why they left and if you still have family living around here.

So this got longer than expected. Hope it helps a bit at least

/r/germany Thread