quote:Originally posted by Maximus: By your rationale EVERY US soldier should feel ashamed of what they did there. Schroeder called von Stauffenberg a hero — erasing the Nazis’ “traitor” label that had lingered after the war.Merkel, who at 64 is the first chancellor born after World War II, has taken the new German self-image even further.On Tuesday in Portsmouth, the embarkation point for the Allied force that invaded Nazi-occupied France in 1944, Merkel called D-Day a “unique, unprecedented military operation that eventually brought us in Germany the liberation from National Socialism,” the Nazi political movement.She noted that the war’s end brought Germany’s rebirth as a leading European democracy, saying it was D-Day that set in motion the “reconciliation and unification of Europe, but also the entire postwar order that has brought us more than 70 years of peace.”Unlike the many grand monuments to the Soviet and western Allied troops who fought against the Nazis, German tributes to its troops are typically understated.Fallen soldiers are commemorated in humble memorials on village squares across the country listing the names of the dead — often grouping the casualties of World Wars I and II.In schools, the military history of World War II is rarely a focus of instruction, with lessons instead concentrating on Holocaust education and the Nazi dictatorship.When there are tributes, they tend to be more for members of the German resistance who were executed by the Nazis — the students who distributed anti-Nazi flyers at Munich University; the Red Orchestra network bent on sabotaging the Nazis’ war machine; or those like von Stauffenberg who tried to assassinate Hitler.And next year, Berlin has declared a holiday for May 8, marking the 75th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender.Of course, not all in Germany see the Nazi era the same way. 2. "Don't believe in these stories about "honour" and war. Ve zlike beizing boring zankers, it zuits us.What do you think of the answers? War is no stranger to any nation. Please see our On May 8, 1945, Adolf Hitler's successor Karl Dönitz signed a document, finalising the unconditional surrender of the armed forces. And only the war made it possible to include Jews from occupied nations into the Holocaust. Germans are like any other group of people so yes they are proud of their heroes. Strange question and if you read some news-papers you know how people think about certain ideas. Where could I find this anti-American sediment? After the war, being an experienced soldier, he was asked to help to rebuild the new "Bundesweer", but he refused.NCrawler, of course you don't have to feel shame for what someone else has done, but referring to the actions of nazis as "supposed 'crimes'" is another thing. I know we both won't agree on this, but there was a former Social Security Minister in the previous, conservative German government who once pointed out that soldiers fighting to defend Germany also fought (albeit unknowingly in many cases) to prolong the misery in the death camps, and helped to prop up a criminal regime.
To suggest the war and the death camps were entirely unconnected goes a bit too far, I should think. I am sure they will explain their views in detail. At the same time, I don't feel guilty about it. As the saying goes, those who forget history are condemned to repeat it. If you went to war to defend my country and family against an aggressor and returned home to find out that members of that ethnic group or country living in your country had been rounded up into concentration camps in which many had died would YOU say you were responsible for their deaths even though the first you found out about it was when you came home? Just more rambling and first impressions from me. In that vein, I just realised that so far only two Germans have replied to this thread amongst a lot of foreigners. "Don't believe in politics; politics is nothing but lies, and it doesn't matter if it's left or right."
quote:Originally posted by Mannheim Tanker:
quote:Originally posted by Fionn: They SHOULD have some shame upon them how SOME of that generation acted. They might have had some anti-American feelings because of what happened after the war. Too bad I'm not a German. War is just about you or me... My great-grandfather was even locked up by the Nazis for being a Social-Democrat City Council Member in Jülich. Sorry for the ramble, but this topic was one of the things that kindled my interest in politics a long time ago.Yes, I think that the population of Germany today should just get over the guilt of the
quote:Originally posted by PanzerShark: Im an Brit and allways play FPS games, ususally ww2. Not really anti-American, happened with other nationalities and on different places as well.