AW: [alicebot-aiethics] German?

[Christian Dro?mann]

Tamara Thompson wrote:

> You're German?  <embarrassed smile>

I am...there's no need to be embarassed...

> Well, interestingly, I would have worded my thoughts differently
> if I had known
> that, though I always try to write my thoughts clearly and honestly.

There is no need to spare me...speak freely :-)
rather than criticise people for their opinions that are based on false or
partially incorrect information, I try to provide them with proper
information :-)

> Okay, so educate me.  What are German kids taught about WWII?
> You probably
> know that we are taught that German's were the bad guys, real
> black hat-white
> hat story.  How does a little German kid in these times cope with
> that kind of
> world story?

I was raised by my grandparents and my grandfather who was hit in the face
by shrapnel of a russian grenade still has a large scar on his left
cheek...whenever I asked him about it, he told me about what had happened to
him and why he had to go to war...so I was confronted with history at a very
early age...he said he liked Hitler in the early days because he gave the
people food and work...and he was eager to fight for him, but when he saw
combat for the first time he suddenly was afraid...and later he saw a couple
of civilians being executed and when he asked his seargeant about the reason
why, he just replied "They were jews, they deserved it!"...and then he
started questioning the system (to himself, of course, as everyone who dared
to question Hitler's orders was considered a traitor and was hung or shot at
stake) and suddenly realized what Hitler and his men were really up to and
he hated them ever since...
The first time I heard about Hitler in schoold was in the 2nd or 3rd
grade...
I have never heard of any teacher who denied what happened in the 30s and
40s...(this is considered a federal crime anyway...Auschwitz and other
incidents happened, they are confirmed, and anyone purposely denying this is
committing a crime against all those people who suffered in those days)
Young kids hear the truth about what Hitler did, although they don't get to
hear all the details...but in higher grades history teachers show pictures
and documentary films about the war and the KZs...in the 12th grade we even
made a Trip to Weimar and the KZ in Buchenwald...this is to prevent our
generation from making the same mistakes...
But we were also told about the resistance against the Nazis...the attempted
assassinations of Hitler that all failed and many more things about the
other side...
But as a kid I could cope with this part of history...and so I can
nowadays...

> Have you ever seen Herzog  or Wenders' films?  "Wings of Desire"?
> (I think it's
> really called "Skies over Berlin"?)

Sorry, I haven't seen either of them yet...

> If the rest of you guys haven't seen "Run Lola Run", a newer
> German film, you
> would love it.  It's a great statement on time and choices, maybe
> very apropos
> to this list.

Yes, that's a film I can definitely recommend...another interesting film is
"Das Boot" ("The Boat")...

Christian