Germany

Is it coincidence the sexual attacks increased in numbers by alleged victims after the initial attacks on New Year's Eve , it's a good move by the AFD is it not if they chose to use it

Are you suggesting the reports of sexual offences committed by asylum seekers/economic migrants are being made up by the right Anniebach?

Iam64. Yes she is. What's worse, there have been children that have been attacked. So she's calling them liers.

Petra, please do not speak for me, It is rather ill mannered of you. I accept you truely believe you know all but this is not so sorry

Iam, no I am not saying that

Blue-eyed Germans: Hitler tried to breed a "master race" of fair haired blue eyed people. Aryans. And get rid of those who don't conform, or give them less important jobs.
Is that what you're getting at Petra?
I have many reservations about Germany. In the first place it has only been a nation for about 150 years and I believe there are still signs of the separate identities of the countries that compose it.

Do you have similar reservations about the UK, TriciaF? We have been one country since 1707, but there are still signs of the separate identities that compose it.

The important thing is not to have unjustifiable reservations about the Germans.

Yes grumps, it's always good to challenge our own stereotypes. I've only been to one German city, Berlin. I was impressed by the Cosmo feel but especially by the way it's complex history is honestly commemorated

The U.K. is four countries each with their own identity . Germany acknowledges it past we do not unless it's to celebrate some battle we won

Who are the 'we' who don't acknowledge our past, except for our battles won? Magna Carta got plenty of coverage last year, and Shakespeare looks set fair to get the odd mention in 2016.

Who is this "we" you refer to AB? Are you some self appointed spokesperson for the all of the British? What a blanket statement for heaven sake. I don't think we celebrate wars so much as commemorate them. Some are so far back they are really only brought up in a historical context anyway.

The magnitude of the genocide under the Third Reich, although not unprecedented, Turkey also tried to do the same thing to the Armenians, is still a cloud over Germany and possibly will be whilst there are still victims who suffered at the hands of the Nazis (not the German people per se who we do not blame)

No teribull, there are many self appointed spokespeople for this country here without me joining them

So do you think of the UK as one country now? I never do, to me we're 4 separate nations.
Germany as one country - if it's made up of various smaller units it's misleading to stereotype it.
Those who were responsible for the holocaust were only a small section of society. Many of the rest tagged along out of fear.

My original thought was that it is hardly surprising if different parts of Germany still have separate identities, given that we still have after a much longer period of "unification". But I am not clear what reservations about Germany there might be, based on its relatively short history. The federal structure seems to work pretty well. Or is it being suggested that some regions are more, say, xenophobic than others?

Has anyone considered the "guilt" felt by the children of the Nazis? And the self hatred when seeing and reading about the Holocaust? Inevitable, I think.

Former Husband was stationed there while in the Army, found them to be friendly helpful polite kind, in lots of ways they already seemed so much more advanced than us. Enjoy my 2 yrs there. (smile)

I have the blue eyes of my Saxon/Viking ancestors; my sisters have the brown eyes of our Celtic ancestors. We are a hybrid nation, the result of conquest and migration and will continue to be so. Get used to it.

I am pretty sure that the victims of the holocaust would not make much distinction between "those who were responsible and those who tagged along out of fear", if they were doing the same thing.

We are not one country, we are four countries forming a kingdom, I leave out United because it isn't true

Not trying to be dramatic, but my siblings and I had a tough time at school due to our German name. Our headmistress' fiance was killed and she always had it in for me, the cow! She said to me "There places for people like you" I didn't even know about the Holocaust until I read about it when I was 13 and was horrified.
I do find that my relatives in Germany [the war time generation] have different attitudes to us "Brits" Loads of laws such as not to wash cars on a Sunday etc etc.

I have seen no evidence that the younger generations feel any guilt. The older friends and relatives, living in Germany, talk of how they suffered and the years of deprivation but no mention of how they supported a mad man.

Harriman, they would need to be old not just elderly to have supported hitler, the war ended 68 years ago, if we take twenty as an age for a supporter of hitler they will be at least 88 years of age now and if supported his rise then about 100 years old

Yes, I agree, unfortunately. They say the were "sucked" in by H but I would always stick my neck out if people or animals are being treated cruelly. It's quite depressing, really. Think of the Milgram experiment.

My cousins are 83 and 86, still with good health and brain function! My dad would be 100 if he hadn't shuffled off this mortal coil. He NEVER spoke of the war.

I don't think young Germans should feel any guilt. They weren't even born at the time of the holocaust. The half German son of a friend of mine has suffered abuse at a Scottish school because of his parentage. It's ridiculous to put any blame on such as him, or even his mother. Neither were alive at the time and any blaming is pure, nasty xenophobia.

People can be the worst things on the planet and never fail to shock me.