Lawrence, Gggrandfather Schlechtweg (which in German approximates bad way or bad lane) became Schlichtweg (smooth way) lived in Beechworth and afterwards became Sleswick. One daughter married a Bosse but this name was not changed. This was in the period 1870- 90. Ggrandfather Koch who lived in Echuca soon became Cook but ggrandmother can probably take most of the blame for this name change however a family legend is that he changed his name due to anti Kaiser sentiment at the time (around the 1880s). The Berres family who lived in Numurkah and reputedly had an good vineyard there until the First World War felt so intimidated by the actions and threats by some of the residents in the small town that they quickly left the area for the safety of the larger city of Geelong, never to return to the North East. One of them married into my wifes family, John Sebire lawrence cook wrote: >After a break I am again chasing my Vandenberg ancestors in the area. > >One of the things I have found is that my grt grt grandfather Henry Vandenberg took libel action in 1916 against the Australian Pictorial Newspaper and a John Michael Myers for libel. After much waiting the National Archives have digitised the record onto their site. > >The paper published an article in April 1916 referring to Huns and a large number of people with germanic surnames who were in Councils or were J. P.s. Obviously at this stage of the First World War feelings were running high and the article is highly inflammatory. > >Henry took exception to this obviously and the High Court awarded him 1500 pounds in damages. > >Given that Henry was a British subject born in Whitechapel (I have a copy of his birth certificate) of Dutch jewish parents who had moved to London from repression in the low countries I can see why he was upset to be labelled as a Hun. As the family arrived in the Beechworth area in 1855 it emphasises how long term and deep seated some prejudices were. > >My query is whether there are any members of the list who have come across this anti-german feeling in their research and whether it was in fact a feature of that time. I have very little knowledge of social conditions in the 1910s and twenties and wondered whether Henry Vandenbergf's experience was common. > >Lawrence Cook > > > > >