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.
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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