German Grandfather
By M.-L.
@MALUSE (69373)
Germany
November 6, 2016 11:09am CST
What if? There must be zillions of posts on the net asking people to use their mental faculties to imagine an unforeseen scenario. They deal mostly with a financial windfall. "What if you won the lottery?" etc.
My post, however, asks you to use your mental faculties to imagine 'What if Donald Trump's grandfather Friedrich Trumpf (the Americanised form of the family surname Drumpf) had not emigrated to the USA'? This was in 1885 when he was only 16 years old. He lived in the small town of Kallstadt in the region of Rhineland-Palatinate in the west of Germany, an area known for its viticulture since the Roman Empire. It was then a relatively impoverished region and emigrants from there constituted the greatest part of the German emigrants to the USA in those days.
Friedrich made his fortune operating boom-town restaurants and boarding houses in the region of Seattle and in the Klondike Gold Rush. He later returned to Germany and married. Yet, he was forced to leave his fatherland. He was accused by German authorities to have emigrated from Germany to avoid his military-service obligations and was labeled a draft dodger. Because of this he lost his nationality and wasn't granted it again. So he moved back to the United States.
He had a good nose for business. (Wikipedia) "At his death his net holdings included a 2-story, 7-room home in Queens; 5 vacant lots; $4,000 in savings; $3600 in stocks; and 14 mortgages. Altogether his net value was $31,359 ($494,700 today)." Not bad for someone who started in the New World as a barber's apprentice at the age of 16!
Friedrich Trump had two sons, one of whom was named Frederick (Fred) Trump Jr. From him onwards to Donald and so on and so forth.
So, if Friedrich Drumpf hadn't left Germany, would Germans experience the mess the Americans are having at the moment? I'd say 'no'. The economic and political conditions are too different. I'm glad, however, he left and spared us the Trump dynasty. Yet, unfortunately, if worst comes to worst, we'll willy-nilly also feel the seismic shock should he become President.
Footnote 1
you can show off with in the next trivia quiz: Johann Heinrich Heinz, father of American food industry entrepreneur Henry J. Heinz, founder of the H. J. Heinz Company was also born in Kallstadt and emigrated to the USA.
Footnote 2
Trump's father claimed to be from Sweden when the Germans' reputation in America was at its lowest. Donald Trump kept this myth alive until he was 20 years old. He tried to 'sugar the pill' by claiming that his family was from all over Europe. Yet, Kallstadt it is, a part of a town nearby with currently ~1.200 inhabitants.
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My thanks to Barry Chadwick (@Asylum) for helping me with the photo.
29 people like this
22 responses
@topffer (42156)
• France
6 Nov 16
Interesting. I posted recently a discussion about a French descendant of the same Trump family, but the grandfather of this one was from UK, and did WW1 in the English army : they had a lot of migrants in this family, it is weird that DT does not like migrants
.
.9 people like this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
6 Nov 16
This is very simple Alfredo. First resize the photographs so that they are both the same height. You can then create a new blank image of appropriate size to accommodate both and import them and line them up alongside each other.
Many simple tasks appear formidable purely because we are not accustomed to them.
3 people like this
@JamesHxstatic (29413)
• Eugene, Oregon
6 Nov 16
I think that brothels were a part Friedrich's holdings as well according to other accounts I have read. Both the current Trump and his father were sued by the government for housing discrimination too. I sort of wish that he was someone else's problem.
3 people like this
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
6 Nov 16
So dishonesty runs in his family.
3 people like this
@Daljinder (23236)
• Bangalore, India
6 Nov 16
So, Grandpa escaped or should I say ran away from mandatory military service? lol And now the grandson, Donald Trump is stealing honour badges/ medals.
2 people like this
@Daljinder (23236)
• Bangalore, India
6 Nov 16
@VivaLaDani13 Going to your name in the suggestion list takes a lot of time so I am tagging you here to read the post. 
Thanks!
Thanks!@JamesHxstatic (29413)
• Eugene, Oregon
7 Nov 16
Donald also managed to get deferrals from the draft and never served. That was during the Vietnam War.
1 person likes this
@PatZAnthony (14749)
• Charlotte, North Carolina
6 Nov 16
Maybe Donald Trump thinks anyone arriving in the states AFTER his family should be eligible to be kicked out. So odd, isn't he?
2 people like this
@JamesHxstatic (29413)
• Eugene, Oregon
7 Nov 16
That is the nicest thing you could say about this egomaniac.
1 person likes this
@Mike197602 (15505)
• United Kingdom
6 Nov 16
Specifically in America people want that hyphen it seems.
African-American, Italian-American and such.
How many generations need to go by before they become just American??
America is a country of immigrants (for the most part) but eventually it'll become just like a european country where they are just american...or maybe they won't, time will tell.
2 people like this
@JamesHxstatic (29413)
• Eugene, Oregon
7 Nov 16
That hyphen thing never bothered me. I guess the Higgins and Allen names have been around since the early 1800s.
1 person likes this
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
7 Nov 16
guess you looked that up there where you live? or how did you find all this info?
@BelleStarr (61102)
• United States
16 Nov 16
Well his mother is from Scotland so like most American's he is a Heinz 57!! I guess if he hadn't come here his descendant would be your chancellor!!! lol
