Following this introduction, this book begins by presenting an overview of the history of Waterloo Region paying particular attention to the immigration and acculturation of German speakers over the span of two hundred years. This is followed by four chapters on the places of origin of our interviewees. Since a large group of German speakers in Waterloo Region are Mennonites, we begin with introducing these groups. The next three chapters reflect that our interviewees came from different places in Europe: south-eastern Europe, east-central Europe, and Germany and Austria.
The second part starts with the situation immigrants faced and their first impressions when they arrived in Canada. Here we focus on the jobs our interviewees found, the businesses they built, and the contributions they made to the economy in Waterloo Region. The subsequent three chapters discuss from various perspectives who exactly the German-Canadian people are: how they reflect on and actively live their German heritage, how they feel about their home in Canada, and how they still connect to German culture and the places from which they came. The German and English languages – and some others – did not only figure prominently in our thinking as researchers and authors but were also mentioned frequently in the interviews; we dedicated the penultimate chapter to this topic. In the last chapter, we return to the topic of childhood by speaking about family life and the next generation, the children and grandchildren of the interviewees.
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