The Trump family claimed false heritage for years
(CNN)  President Donald Trump  has come under fire for using the name of a famous Native American as a slur -- at an event honoring Native Americans for their service as code talkers in World War II  no less.
 Trump  turned to  his  often-used insult of "Pocahontas" to slam Sen. Elizabeth Warren  whom  he  claims has embellished  her  purported Native American heritage. Warren has said  she  was raised being told that  she  is part Native American  but has maintained that  she  never used this aspect of  her  heritage to advance  her  career.
 Trump 's repeated attacks on Warren come despite  his  own family's past efforts to hide their heritage. According to multiple reports from The New York Times and the Boston Globe and a biography   Trump 's father repeatedly sought to conceal the fact that he was the son of German immigrants.
 Fred Trump  sought to pass  himself  off as Swedish amid anti-German sentiment sparked by World War II. According to the biography "The Trumps: Three Generations that Built an Empire" by Gwenda Blair   Fred Trump  denied knowing German and did not teach it to  his  children.
 John Walter  a Trump family historian and one of Donald Trump's cousins   said this was an effort to not offend  his  Jewish customers.
" He  said  'You don't sell apartments after the war if you're German ' " Walter said in the Boston Globe article. "So he's Swedish  no problem."
Even after World War II   Fred Trump  continued to claim  he  was Swedish  according to Walter.
In his book  "The Art of the Deal " Donald Trump reaffirmed the myth of his family's origins  writing that his father's father came to America "from Sweden as a child."
In reality  Fred Trump's father   Friedrich Trump   immigrated to the United States from the German city of Kallstadt as a teenager in 1885. Blair writes in her biography that  Friedrich Trump  went on to establish several saloons and hotels that doubled as brothels.
One German historian alleges that the  Trump  patriarch was kicked out of Germany for failing to complete mandatory military service and as such was not able to reclaim his German citizenship.
 Donald Trump  eventually acknowledged and embraced  his  German heritage  serving as the grand marshal of the annual German-American Steuben Parade in New York City in 1999. In a video message for the 2011 event   Trump  touted  his  grandfather's immigration story and recalled the earlier parade.
"I'm  a proud German-American " Donald Trump  added.
Despite  his  public acknowledgment of  his  German heritage  it is unclear if the President has ever fully corrected the record about his family's past claims of being Swedish.
When asked by the Boston Globe why his father claimed he was Swedish   Donald Trump  said  "Well  he spent time in Sweden. And he talked about Swedish because of the fact  you know  we happened to be at war with Germany  which I guess makes sense in a lot of ways doesn't it? But he spent time in Sweden."
(CNN)   [TGT] has come under fire for using the name of a famous Native American as a slur -- at an event honoring Native Americans for their service as code talkers in World War II  no less.
  [TGT] turned to   [TGT]   often-used insult of "Pocahontas" to slam Sen. Elizabeth Warren  whom   [TGT]   claims has embellished   [TGT]   purported Native American heritage. Warren has said  she  was raised being told that  she  is part Native American  but has maintained that  she  never used this aspect of  her  heritage to advance  her  career.
  [TGT]  's repeated attacks on Warren come despite   [TGT]   own family's past efforts to hide their heritage. According to multiple reports from The New York Times and the Boston Globe and a biography   Trump 's father repeatedly sought to conceal the fact that he was the son of German immigrants.
 Fred Trump  sought to pass  himself  off as Swedish amid anti-German sentiment sparked by World War II. According to the biography "The Trumps: Three Generations that Built an Empire" by Gwenda Blair   Fred Trump  denied knowing German and did not teach it to  his  children.
 John Walter  a Trump family historian and one of Donald Trump's cousins   said this was an effort to not offend  his  Jewish customers.
" He  said  'You don't sell apartments after the war if you're German ' " Walter said in the Boston Globe article. "So he's Swedish  no problem."
Even after World War II   Fred Trump  continued to claim  he  was Swedish  according to Walter.
In his book  "The Art of the Deal " Donald Trump reaffirmed the myth of his family's origins  writing that his father's father came to America "from Sweden as a child."
In reality  Fred Trump's father   Friedrich Trump   immigrated to the United States from the German city of Kallstadt as a teenager in 1885. Blair writes in her biography that  Friedrich Trump  went on to establish several saloons and hotels that doubled as brothels.
One German historian alleges that the  Trump  patriarch was kicked out of Germany for failing to complete mandatory military service and as such was not able to reclaim his German citizenship.
 Donald Trump  eventually acknowledged and embraced  his  German heritage  serving as the grand marshal of the annual German-American Steuben Parade in New York City in 1999. In a video message for the 2011 event   Trump  touted  his  grandfather's immigration story and recalled the earlier parade.
"I'm   [TGT] .
Despite   [TGT]   public acknowledgment of  his  German heritage  it is unclear if the President has ever fully corrected the record about his family's past claims of being Swedish.
When asked by the Boston Globe why his father claimed he was Swedish   Donald Trump  said  "Well  he spent time in Sweden. And he talked about Swedish because of the fact  you know  we happened to be at war with Germany  which I guess makes sense in a lot of ways doesn't it? But he spent time in Sweden."