re: Should German people be ashamed of WWII

Should I be ashamed of being white even though my family never owned slaves? Do I wish it never happened? Yes. But it did also bring in a large flux of African Americans which led to some really great leaders and people to the country. Why do we never talk about the other side of things? Just because a situation is absolutely terrible doesn’t mean everything that came about it was absolutely terrible. We can’t whitewash history. History is then bound to repeat itself.

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Wait... what?

Hitler was from Austria, baw.

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Let me rephrase that; the damage he did and the notoriety he earned happened in Germany.

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Because they were living in extreme desperation and poverty when they were once considered to be the cultural and scientific capital of Europe. It's really not hard to see how someone could take over while promising restoration of your former status and economic improvement.

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Especially when that same country had a penchant for wars.

And I had never thought Germany was the cultural center for Europe.

Werner Von Braun's V2 rocket program was revolutionary". His whole program was built by slave labor working in some of the worst camp conditions imaginable. The death rate in the tunnels were the highest in all the labor camps, not to be confused with the extermination camps.The scientists knew. Camp administrators were some of the biggest war criminals in WWII but most all walked for the "good of science".

Just a small note: I think the German people refer to their nation as the “Fatherland” and that Russians call their nation the “Motherland.”

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Germany, the country we know of today is not that old. It was once a much larger empire and wasn't even called Germany until the late 19th/early 20th century.

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The German Empire was declared in 1871 after the franco/Prussian war.

They literally did it in the hall of mirrors in the palace of Versailles... after kicking frances arse. That’s what started the whole mess.

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If my grandfather was responsible for the Jewish genocide I would be pretty ashamed of it - and for good reason.

The shame they carry has nothing to do with bravery and everything to do with ideology.

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Lol, this is rich coming from someone from this country. Forget the Middle East for a minute. Forget the petrodollar. Forget Slavery. What we did to the native Americans is about as bad as it gets.

The misunderstanding you possess has nothing to do with knowledge and everything to do with with the authors of your history.

No they should not be ashamed of the actual war. Their conquest was a feat unlike any other. Sometimes you just gotta take motherfrickers over. And had they played their cards right they probably could have won it.

Now the persecution of Jews was a big no no. That is what they should be ashamed of.

Boy... That is a yes and a no question... and also there is no real right answer I think.

While they should be very ashamed of the SS and Jewish Solution.. and their treatment of many other cultures... For those things they should be ashamed.

But Pre-war and even during the war they did do some really incredible things.. I am not going to say to be proud of, but simply put.

The fact that the Nazi party was able to become the third political party when The Weimar Republic and the Communist parties were in control of the Government was amazing. It would be nice if the USA could get some kind of 3rd party now to take power away from the Republicans and the Democrats...

The Nazi had a State sponsored Vacation programs. They wanted their people to have vacas and a good time and enjoy life.

The Nazis had trains that traveled the country with actors and a full theater and they put on plays and such and provided entertainment for small towns through the country to people that were not able to go to the big city and go to the theatre due to either financially or work restrictions.. These shows were free to everyone.

Long before the war the Nazi's instilled Winterhilfswerk, The impetus was an annual charity drive run by the Nazis to feed and clothe veterans and the poor throughout the winter. This turned into a One Pot Sunday in an effort to feed their own families yet save enough food that there could more available to the poor. This was the Eintopfsonntag campaign—a Nazi push to make German families to eat one-pot meals. CHildren would go door to door to collect money for the poor. They were known as "Can Rattlers".

The Nazis also installed a Health food program in an effort to get their people to eat healthy food and stay away from sausage and Butter.

They had programs that cared for babies that were taken from mothers that were alcoholics and drug users..

If you really look at the Hitler Youth, The training, programs, exercise, hikes and building programs were nothing short of amazing..

So those things I think that they should have been proud of...

But... The Concentration camps, treatment of Jews, gays, minorities, and political prisoners was so vile... The slave and forced labor camps were beyond even describing. To Even try and describe Triblika and other death camps one just falls sort of words for this inhumanity.

The treatment of Russian prisoners and slavic prisoners. The Einsatzgruppen (Death Squads) that followed the Military units to round up and kill jews and others were disgusting.

But it was all politics... The USA and Great Britain condemned the Nazis for their treatment of the jews and the camps... Yet they never said a word about the 40,000 polish Officers that were shot by Stalin while in captivity in the Katyn forest.

But I also would like to add.. The USA in WWII has a lot to be proud of... We as a country did things back then the most folks folks would complain about today and claim that we are violating their personal rights.

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Should German people be ashamed of WWII

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About ten years ago I was on a geologic field trip in England. There were a number of Germans on the trip. One fellow sat next to me at dinner and during conversation and out of the blue, he apologized for what his people did back then. He then told me as an avid cyclist he had made several trips to the US where he and his wife spent a month at a clip making long rides. His only incident was in the Los Angeles where he was hassled. I then apologized for some of our inhospitable types in our country.
Now there was a Canadian woman on the trip who had settled in Norway. She didn’t much like the US.