Hello Lawrence, I have no first hand knowledge of this, but I can remember my mother telling me that the anti-German feeling was strong in Australia that many people with German names changed their names ...... in particular, I remember her saying this in connection with Jewish people. And weren't a lot of placenames in Australia changed to non German ones? Kindest Regards ...... Corinne. > 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

Hi Lawrence - this in fact has happened in my husband's family. I was cracking my head against a brick wall trying to research his mother's family name and totally by accident I worked out that the name had been changed. I found this out by research over the internet. I came across a strange name in areas where they were and it was just that I am a "sticky beak" that it leapt out of the page at me. When I came across it again I decided to look into it as it was a name I had never heard of. Wow - everything fell into place with the family history but with a totally different surname! They had kept it completely hidden from their children. Only THIS YEAR did his mother tell him the family secret and when he admitted he already knew, I was the "worst in the world" for uncovering the secret. It appears that the name was changed sometime after WWI because the children were "copping" it at school because they had a German name. They in fact changed the name and moved a long way away so it must have been a terrible time for them. Regards, Alison -----Original Message----- From: Corinne Thompson [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Saturday, 20 August 2005 5:17 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [AVNE] high courts and the first world war Hello Lawrence, I have no first hand knowledge of this, but I can remember my mother telling me that the anti-German feeling was strong in Australia that many people with German names changed their names ...... in particular, I remember her saying this in connection with Jewish people. And weren't a lot of placenames in Australia changed to non German ones? Kindest Regards ...... Corinne. > 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