Ignaz Schwinn was a German immigrant to the USA. The Schwinns had family 'in the old country'.
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In 1933 Frank Schwinn took a trip to Germany. There he saw a healthy bicycle industry that had developed a strong and utilitarian bicycle for the rough cobbled streets of German cities. It used something called the 'balloon tire'..." - Schwinn Bicycles by Pridmore and Hurd, 1996
Yep, the all-American 26" (ISO559) balloon tire that would go on to shod children's bicycles for decades and birth the mountain bike came from Germany.
By 1935 Frank Schwinn was ready to tackle a restarting of an adult cycle market in America. German-inspired bicycles with Fichtel & Sachs hub gears? Uh, no. Because of the geopolitical landscape, that was pretty much a marketing non-starter. In the late 1930s Schwinn's marketing instead taught American young adults to revere 'English Type' lightweights with Sturmey-Archer hub gears:
