The city of Berlin, Ontario, Canada, changed its name to Kitchener by referendum in May and June 1916. Named in 1833 after the capital of Prussia and later the German Empire, the name Berlin became unsavoury for residents after Britain and Canada's entry into the First World War.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, most residents of Berlin and neighbouring Waterloo were of German origin. The towns and their citizens lived peacefully and enjoyed a unique blend of German and British culture. Following Britain and Canada's entry into war against Germany in August 1914, German Canadians experienced increasing anti-German sentiment. In early 1916, business and community leaders began pushing for Berlin to either seek a new name or amalgamate with Waterloo. Rising tension in the community culminated in soldiers of the local 118th Battalion ransacking German social clubs and attacking an outspoken German Lutheran preacher.
In a vote characterized by intimidation, the May 19, 1916 referendum on whether to change the city name decided "yes" by a slim margin. A vote held the following month to determine a replacement name saw lower voter turnout. The vote settled on Kitchener, named for the recently deceased British Army officer Horatio Herbert Kitchener. Kitchener prevailed in a tight race over the only serious competitor, Brock – for Isaac Brock, a British military leader in the War of 1812. The city officially changed names on September 1, 1916.
Towns across the English-speaking world retreated from their German culture during the First World War, with similar cases seen in the United States and Australia. The Berlin–Kitchener change distinguished itself by the levels of violence and protest. The name change failed to assuage outside suspicion of the city and its German population, propelled partly by opponents unsuccessfully petitioning the Ontario Government to stop the change from proceeding as well as the election of an anti-conscription candidate in Waterloo North in the 1917 federal election. After the war, the city experienced a decline in its German culture with German Canadians being culturally assimilated into the broader Canadian identity.
Background
The first Mennonites from Pennsylvania to settle in what became Berlin, Ontario, originally called the area by multiple names, including Eby's Town, Ebytown, Ben Eby's or Sandhills.: Eby's Town, Ben Eby's, Sandhills; : Ebytown, Ben Eby's, Sandhills. An influx of German-speaking European immigrants beginning in the 1820s prompted the local community leaders Benjamin Eby and Joseph Schneider to change the Upper Canadian hamlet's name to Berlin in 1833.: influx of European German-speakers in 1820s; : Benjamin Eby and Joseph Schneider. In the 1870s, most residents of Berlin and neighbouring Waterloo, Ontario, were of German origin, comprising 73 and 80 per cent of each population, respectively. Many Germans immigrated to Canada to escape the conflicts of Europe and were inclusive of the town's Anglo-Saxon population. Most immigrants arrived before the Völkisch movement spawned in the late 19th century, resulting in a German community less concerned with German nationalism than those who immigrated to western Canada after the 1870s. Historians John English and Kenneth McLaughlin write that the common background of both employers and employees in Berlin allowed for a softening of racial and social animosity.
Berliners displayed a simultaneous loyalty to both the British Empire and to their German heritage. Germans pointed to the relationship between the British and German royal families, such as the marriage of the English Queen Victoria to the German Prince Albert, as a source of pride. In May 1871, the towns held a joint German heritage celebration, attracting around 12,000 participants. The , or "Peace Festival", marked the end of the Franco-Prussian War, resulting in the unification of Germany. The strength of the British-German relationship was such that the German festival closed with "God Save the Queen". Historian Geoffrey Hayes writes that the festival – and subsequent , or song festivals – served as a way for German-speaking residents to develop their German-Canadian identity in a way acceptable to other Canadians. The nine held from 1874 to 1912 in Berlin and Waterloo generated positive national press coverage and large crowds of visitors.
Berlin residents often displayed both the Union Jack and the German flag next to one another. Visiting royalty and politicians – including the Governor General, the Marquis of Lorne; Princess Louise; the Duke of Connaught; and the former Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia – praised the bonds displayed between the British and German populations of Berlin and Waterloo. Based on a model by sculptor Reinhold Begas, the community leaders George Rumpel and John Motz dedicated a bust of Kaiser Wilhelm I in Victoria Park in August 1897.: based on Reinhold Begas model, Rumpel and Motz; : dedicated in August 1897. Residents saw the bust as symbolically representing the bond between Germany and Britain. Government support for the project was strong, Canadian Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier ensuring the bust entered Canada duty-free. By the early 20th century, few residents considered themselves wholly German, instead identifying as German-Canadian. The 1911 census listed 76 per cent of people in the community as being of German origin, most of whom had never been to Germany. Among Waterloo's residents, 90 per cent were born in Canada. Berliners avidly embraced their German heritage, with celebrations commemorating the birthdays of Otto von Bismarck and the Kaiser typical. In February 1914, while celebrating Kaiser Wilhelm II's 55th birthday, W. H. Schmalz addressed Waterloo's Concordia Club:
World War I Outbreak
Britain declared war on Germany on August 4, 1914. As a Dominion of the British Empire, Canada automatically entered the war following Britain's declaration. On August 12, the Berliner Journal, a local German-language weekly, implored Germans in Ontario: "Don't allow yourselves to be driven to demonstrations of any kind, avoid arguments ... Be silent, bear this difficult time with dignity, and show that you are true Germans grateful to the country that accommodated you." British policy allowed Germans across the Dominion four days to leave, while the German government encouraged the German diaspora to return., quoted in . The 1911 census counted 393,320 people of German origin living across Canada. Because the war was being fought in Europe, Berlin residents expected the fighting to have little direct impact on their lives. German social clubs continued to meet and found their proceedings unaffected. Ministers holding religious services in German declared their loyalty to the Canadian war effort.
Three weeks after Canada's entry into the war, vandals toppled Victoria Park's bust of Kaiser Wilhelm and threw it into the park's lake. Residents retrieved the bust and apprehended the three youths responsible. In the months following the outbreak of the war, Berlin's Board of Education voted to end the use of German in schools. Respected Berlin citizens, including businessman and politician Louis Jacob Breithaupt, held public meetings opposed to the decision. In his reply to the speech from the throne on August 19, 1914, Conservative MP Donald Sutherland expressed sympathy to the German people for "the dangers brought upon them by their ruling classes, by their oligarchic, insane, military government." The same day, Canadian Prime Minister Robert Borden stated that people born in Germany and Austria-Hungary and who came to Canada "as adopted citizens of this country, whether they are naturalized or not, are entitled to the protection of the law in Canada and shall receive it", adding that an exception would be made for those aiding and abetting the enemy.
In early 1915, Waterloo North MP William George Weichel expressed in Canada's House of Commons that German-speaking Canadians could be proud of their cultural heritage while remaining loyal to the Canadian war effort. The year before, Waterloo and Berlin, measured on a per capita basis, were first and second in Canada, respectively, in individual contributions to the Canadian Patriotic Fund., quoted in . Of the 60 members of Waterloo's German social club, the Acadian Club, half enlisted in Canada's armed forces. The club hosted events supporting the Canadian Red Cross and the Patriotic Fund. Local Professor F. V. Riecthdorf proclaimed, "I am a native German and former soldier ... My loyalty is to the British flag ... let our response to the Empire be immediate and sufficient!" Trying to lessen signs of disloyalty, in May 1915 the Berlin City Council asked for the appointment of a local Registrar of Enemy Aliens, though this request was denied after being deemed unnecessary.
Increasing anti-German sentiment
The war led to condemnation of the German tradition in Canada and rising anti-German sentiments. Actions by the German Empire contributed to anti-German feelings, including the violation of Belgium's neutrality, their use of poison gas, the execution of Edith Cavell, the sinking of the RMS Lusitania, and an apocryphal story of German troops crucifying a Canadian soldier.: poison gas, Lusitania; , quoted in : Belgian neutrality, poison gas, Lusitania, crucifixtion; : Edith Cavell, Lusitania. In a March 1, 1916 letter to the Berlin News Record, the chair of the North Waterloo recruiting committee stated: "The fact remains that Berlin was named after the capital of Prussia and is to-day the capital of the German Empire, whence have emanated the most diabolical crimes and atrocities that have marred the pages of history.", quoted in . A fire at Parliament Hill in February 1916 was falsely assumed to have been set by German arsonists. Although many accounts of wartime atrocities were later shown to be fabrications and British propaganda, most Canadian citizens took them to be true.