Surnames of Jews in New York

I don't really do very much with my German on a day to day basis these days. It does not really both me having more or less just come back after a year in a German speaking country and planning to back to another one in the nearish future (it will be part of what I end up doing with my life so it is fine). What is interesting is that German I do experience crops up in the last names of my Jewish professors and and classmates. Granted they are probably of Yiddish origin, but they are common to both languages and only knowing one of them they register as German for me. It is funny, I subconsciously pronounce them all the German way (replacing 'W's with 'V's and the like). It is a bit odd as most of these people have no connection to Germany or German and many are probably justifiable less than enamored with Germany considering WWII, but that is how German pops up in my day to day life.