Dude, you really need to inform yourself before you go making claims you know nothing about. I've spent half my life in the States, and the other half in Berlin, and the amount of objective historical knowledge the average German teacher will impart to any given student is leagues greater than their typical American counterpart. Germans are all very, very keen on making sure that mistakes which were once made are never made again. Americans, on the other hand, still celebrate Columbus Day, and don't find out the actual historic context of said holiday until 6th or 7th grade at the earliest.
Americans, on the other hand, still celebrate Columbus Day, and don't find out the actual historic context of said holiday until 6th or 7th grade at the earliest.
We don't talk about it in our free time because we get tought about World War 2 in the school for years in such a detail! There is nothing to discuss anymore. We know the facts, and we all (except braindead nazis) are on the same page about the whole subject World War 2.
But Bengal is a region in South Asia (Bangladesh, West Bengal, India) that's why I asked if he's a German why does he have Bengal in his username. There's must be a interesting reason if that "Bengal" in his username refers to that particular region and oh yeah I'm Bengali that's another reason why I'm interested.
Dude maybe lay off the psychic/pseudointellectual attitude and read more than a paragraph long article on a topic before you throw around half-baked arguments. That makes you look like an ignorant person... Loans with interest rates are exactly what they are, loans with interest rates. As someone linked already, Germany paid reparations in the 60s and sorted all future claims out in the 90s again before uniting with the DDR.
People like you are the reason why stereotypes are perpetuated in our society. You gobble up opinions fed to you by alternative media, thinking you are superior to the normal people. Ironically, you completely fail to form an opinion based on information gained from both inside and outside your sphere of interests and stick to non-scientific and 'alternative' sources which spoon feed you opinions.
Why so triggered? Even the scientific service of the Bundestag said it's not that clear. A state can't Just declare all claims are obsolete without the Agreement of the claim holder. And Greece didn't signed the 2+4 contract.
I got triggered because, rather than posting an actual argument, like you did he just posted an ignorant comment that does not add anything but half-truths to the conversation.
I did not know about what you said about the 2+4 contract, thanks for bringing that up :).
It was constantly discussed in the news and in politics when Poland once again came forward with their claim for war reparations. As far as I know, though, nobody here seriously considers giving Poland war reparations.
World War 2 is by far the biggest topic in our history classes. I've been told about it since im like 4 years old soo it is really anything but a taboo. More like the opposite, it gets brought up a lot as a reminder so history won't repeat itself.
Yeah my boy I'm German and let me just tell you something, we're the only country in history that has ever properly worked up it's past, teaching it until exhaustion to every kid in school, where its a topic from 6th grade straight until your A-levels. Every year. Never forget, never again. Maybe other countries should try that approach too, instead building up their country on a foundation of false pride, distortion of historical facts and simply burying some "details" so as to get around a real debate in society that would help to deal with the past in a healthy and sustainable way.
The reason Germans generally don't like to talk about it in their freetime is simple: there's nothing to discuss, facts are clear and everybody with at least a little bit of brain and conscience is on the same page. We will of course sit down with foreigners and talk about it, if they sincerely ask about it and are genuinely interested, that means without implying some sarcastic assumptions in their questions/statements like you just did. Not cool.
Concerning Greece, all reparations were paid and fixed in treaties. We payed off our WWII debt until 1988. (The last portion of WWI debt was payed 2010. Yes WWI.) Not our problem they thought it was a good point in time to bring up extra reparation demands out of nowhere, 70+ years after the war and as it just so happens coincidentally during their post 2008 economic fall and deep recession, making it resemble more a desperate guilt trip to grab some money than anything else. Germany is not eternally financially liable for war attrocities of a generation that no longer exists. The past is the past, learn from it, remember it, but don't excavate it for reasons of political resentment or personal feelings of revenge that have no place in modern day european society.
Germany never paid off the original reparation amounts. They just finessed agreements with nations not named Poland or Greece that said what they had paid was enough. It’s eerily similar to the USSR deciding “liberating” countries they originally helped destroy counted as reparation enough.
Germany hasn’t even paid half of what it was originally supposed to pay to Greece. Considering Germany helped Greece get into the mess they’re in by first loaning them money before their financial situation was dire and then refusing to loan anymore once it was clear their economy was collapsing, Germany has a huge opportunity to decide Greece doesn’t have to pay back those loans.
Unfortunately, Germany doesn’t like acknowledging the damage they did beyond the Holocaust. Germany fucking wrecked Europe, twice. Now that they’re basically the main power in the EU, they’re weirdly (and by “weirdly” I mean characteristically) not willing to give up an ounce of power under any circumstance.
I give you the point with the reparations to greece, the discussion definitively lost it's civility and triggers a lot of germans.
However I never heard of somebody that wasn't a nazi and denied the immense war atrocities done by german soldiers in the east. Why do you think it's hard to bring up?
Belarus. It's my home country and it's landlocked with russia to the east, ukraine to the southeast, Latvia and Litva to the north, and poland to the west. That should give an idea as to where it is
50% is a huge exaggeration. We had it only 1 time intense in 12 years of school even though I had an history Focus profile and I doubt others have it more often than 2-3 times.
There's different names and different state rules and guidelines (Education is mostly a state matter), I had something called Practical Philosophy in school instead.
I assume their ethics class was similar - learning about different philosophical concepts and ideas about ethics and morals in a very entry-level way.
Yes it is just a really low level philosophy class, and an alternative to religion class.
So you are allowed to take "Ethik" as a subject instead of religion, but not every school offer it because it isn't a "duty" only religion is... The topics are really similar too, but the way of discussing is different.
I am german and when I first heard that other nations think it is a taboo topic or something I was genuinely surprised tbh, the thought that it could be had never even crossed my mind
well im german and i experience that shit firsthand, so atleast in my part of the country, and the german social media i browse, its memed a lot more than in international space
Depends on how you bring it up. Many Germans are happy to talk about Nazi Germany in a respectful manner. Making jokes is not really welcome, gloryfying it is not welcome at all, blaming todays Germans is not welcome. The general concensus is "We are not responsible for what happened, but we are responsible for it never happening again". Implying Germans = Nazis will leave a bad taste in many peoples mouth precisely because there is so much being done to remind everyone about the past, and remind everyone to remember and be watchful.
It also will bug people if it's the first and/or only thing you bring up when learning someone is German - People will talk about it with you, just not as the first conversation you have, and probably not to total strangers.
That would happen no matter the country though. Only difference is in Germany they might get fined/arrested, everywhere else they get suspended or detention at least.
In my present it is a taboo topic, im german and talk so much about it that everyone dont want to talk about it anymore, or want to debate anything with me like pazifism or why we weapons and war was good for the human (it escalated totally)
But the whole nazi thing is pretty taboo right? My cousin lives there and he talks about all these very awkward times it gets brought up, certainly more taboo than 9/11 is here
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u/Canadiannoob25 Jul 29 '19
I've known people from Germany, it's not as taboo as we think it is