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What Donald Trump learned from his German grandpa Friedrich Drumpf.....
Want to understand the phenomenon called Donald Trump and his surprising rise to the top of the Republican presidential field? Then you’d better check out his German roots, Trump biographer Gwenda Blair tells DW.
DW: Why do you think that Donald Trump's German roots are essential to understanding the person who is currently leading the Republican presidential field?
Gwenda Blair: His grandfather Friedrich Drumpf came to the United States in 1885 which was the height of German immigration to the United States when he was 16. His family was from Kallstadt, winegrowers. The first step to the Donald Trump we know today is that his grandfather did not want to be a vintner, nor did he want to be a barber which is what he was trained to do when he first said he did not want to be involved in growing grapes.
He came to New York and, after he learnt English, he went to the West Coast, ran restaurants, amassed a nest egg, then went back to Kallstadt, married the girl next door and brought her to New York. But she was extremely homesick, so they went back to Kallstadt and he tried to repatriate because he had become an American citizen. But whether on purpose or not, he had managed to miss military service - when he left he was too young and after he came back he was just a couple of months too old, which he said was absolutely coincidental.
Gwenda Blair: His grandfather Friedrich Drumpf came to the United States in 1885 which was the height of German immigration to the United States when he was 16. His family was from Kallstadt, winegrowers. The first step to the Donald Trump we know today is that his grandfather did not want to be a vintner, nor did he want to be a barber which is what he was trained to do when he first said he did not want to be involved in growing grapes.
He came to New York and, after he learnt English, he went to the West Coast, ran restaurants, amassed a nest egg, then went back to Kallstadt, married the girl next door and brought her to New York. But she was extremely homesick, so they went back to Kallstadt and he tried to repatriate because he had become an American citizen. But whether on purpose or not, he had managed to miss military service - when he left he was too young and after he came back he was just a couple of months too old, which he said was absolutely coincidental.
http://www.dw.com/en/what-donald-trump-learned-from-his-german-grandpa-friedrich-drumpf/a-18701551?maca=en-Facebook-sharing
The article is from 2015 but I thought it was interesting.
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