The European Elections

[Tueuse de Vampires]

I must be mistaken though, I refuse to believe we are going back to the days of Hitler and that people in our country would actually vote for that, we were the Allies!!

Okay, as someone who grew up in Germany I REALLY feel like reacting to this.
"We were the allies" coming from your side is just as over as justification for anything as "you were the Nazis" to us Germans.
Of course, historically that's who we are, and back in the days our nation (meaning the Germans) screwed up big time, and many other nations came to the rescue, but what's in the past is in the past. It happened over half a decade ago, most of the population wasn't even alive back then. It's over. It has nothing to do with politics these days. If anything, I feel like trends are going reversedly, that many Germans are afraid of going back to even just showing a bit of national pride (which makes sense given our history), while the former allies who have never been confronted with the problem as extreme as the Germans are sometimes getting dangerously close to overstepping certain boundaries.

 

[Edmund Blackadder]

It happened over half a decade ago, most of the population wasn't even alive back then.

Wow, I've really missed out on something big...that or you mean century!

 

[Silum]

Okay, as someone who grew up in Germany I REALLY feel like reacting to this.
"We were the allies" coming from your side is just as over as justification for anything as "you were the Nazis" to us Germans.

...

It's over. It has nothing to do with politics these days. If anything, I feel like trends are going reversedly, that many Germans are afraid of going back to even just showing a bit of national pride (which makes sense given our history), while the former allies who have never been confronted with the problem as extreme as the Germans are sometimes getting dangerously close to overstepping certain boundaries.

Yet again you have over generalised my statement. We were the Allies refers to the fact that our entire country rallied against everything Hitler (and the BNP its seems) stood for... its got nothing to do with Germany in its current state. Also, World War 2 as a whole has a hell of a lot to do with politics.

As for Germans being hesitent to show national pride, you have yet to meet a few of my German buddies!

 

[InsaneMystic]

As for Germans being hesitent to show national pride, you have yet to meet a few of my German buddies!

I don't know your buddies... but a degree of patriotic pride that would be considered absolutely normal for, say, someone in France or the US, would evoke major embarrassment among a majority of Germans if a German displayed it. Heck, I certainly know that I, personally, felt quite uneasy during the soccer World Cup in 2006 when you saw German flags around the streets, which certainly Is Not Done outside such sports events. I don't think that's a gut reaction most other countries' citizens could related to. Add to that the fact that we have a national anthem whose first stanza is not to be sung publicly, for historical reasons. If you show the least bit of patriotism here, you're bound to be considered a neo-fascist by a lot of people.

I do agree, though, with your point that WW2 is very much an important aspect of politics even today - even though probably not as blatant as it was in times of the Cold War. I still think that Kristine has a point here, though:

If anything, I feel like trends are going reversedly, that many Germans are afraid of going back to even just showing a bit of national pride (which makes sense given our history), while the former allies who have never been confronted with the problem as extreme as the Germans are sometimes getting dangerously close to overstepping certain boundaries.

...but then again, that really is easy for Germans to say. After all, as a saying goes here: "The burnt kid shies away from fire" - so anything reeking the least bit of nationalist pride or political decisions that might lead to totalitarianism down the line will jump out as an eyesore to post-WW2 Germans, because, as a nation, we've been there, done that.