re: Those days and even recently
Both from my father's as my mother's side, we have german ancestors (some who emigrated in the US during 1870).
My grandpa would never travel to Germany nor would hear about family members doing that. I went to Trier in a school trip and found the place and landscape very charming but my dad asked me not to talk about it to grandpa. Later on, I was drafted to Germany and later went on vacation at the Clubmed where I met lots of germans . Being belgian knowing languages, it was fun to sit at the same table as french and german vacationers, serving as a bridge between them as they don't understand each other well.