Chapter 8-Eastern Europeans

When did most Eastern European immigrants begin to arrive in the United States?
They arrived in the last years of the 19th century and the inital ones of the 20th century.

Where did they settle, and what did they do for a living?
They settled in the cities of the north-eastern and north-central states which was known as the "rust belt". They were managers, superintendents and foreman.

What did they do before they emigrated, and why did they go to America?
The came from less-developed regions of Europe where they lived in villages and small towns. The reason for many to come was to earn enough money to buy land back home.

How does the 1910 census data indicate how many Poles came to America?
More than thirteen million foreign born white persons counted that year, nine hundred thousand stated Polish was their native tongue. 32 million, second generation, were the children of persons whose mother tongue was Polish. 45% of Polish immigrants came from Russia. 35% from Austria-Hungary, and 20% from Germany. The tables are not able to account for the people who came before or after the census was taken. The return rate for the Poles was high as well.

Why did Eastern European Jews emigrate?
They wanted to improve their standard of living and they fled from religious persecution

Where did they settle, and what did they do for a living?
They settled in New York and other Northeast and Midwest Cities. They worked as garment workers.

What was the Triangle Shirt Waist fire of 1911?
a fire broke out at the Triangle Waist Factory. Within 18 minutes, 146 people were dead as a result of the fire. Almost all young women were burned to death or died leaping from high windows in the sight of horrified crowds.

What were the differences/conflicts between Eastern European Jews and other American Jews?
The newcomers from Eastern Europe were poor. They came from self-contained rural communities and a different view on religious observances from the other Jews. The newcomers ideology was different, They were either socialists, zionists or both. The American Jews were bourgeois and anti-Zionist. The American Jewish leaders patronized the newcomers and were embarrassed by the other jews regarding their leadership skills, squalor, religious and political views. They view Yiddish as jargon.

What does the complex story of the Hungarian family on page 234 illustrate best about immigration?
Siblings in large families migrated at intervals of a year or more. Most were either married men or single young men and women. If the single Americans got married in America they were most likely to stay there. The married men usually returned to their families in Hungary. If couples came to America, they left their children with grandparents and returned with their America-born children.