Originally Posted by
Kathrin
+2
Important as it is to know about that era in order to learn from it (more necessary than ever in nowadays' world!!!), I have little understanding for those who call themselves "history buffs", limit history to twelve years, and declare that thes "love" World War II history - which means they love mass murder, oppression and destruction???
Not sure why you are getting upset but world history has always been and always will fascinate some who have a passion to know more and understand more about our past. It is a never ending trait for a lot of people.
I think accepting Germany had a historically terrible past from 1935 till 1945 (if we don't include 32 and 33 when the NSDP came to power) and trying to understand why it happened, what transpired can help the future for youths to avoid getting into this terrible situation some countries in the world find themselves in where dictators are now coming into power, and demolishing the very fabric of democracy, which, I think Germany wants to ensure stay's for generations to come.
These are countries Germany has ties with and does economic business with as well.
Don't get angry if a tourist asks about the past; naive as they may be, at least they are showing an interest, as much as you and a lot of German's don't want to talk about it....but the more I read, the more I study, the more I understand about Germany, it's recovery from Post WW2 and how difficult it was to get to where it is today.
And the massive sacrifices that German's of the previous generations made to recover and put the country back on the road to recovery.
On a side note, I must state, I found a lot of Germans, especially in Munich, very unfriendly and very withdrawn. I don't know if this is because of the current tensions stemming from the recent flood of migrants into the country and the social problems it may/may not be causing but, because I am tanned and have dark hair, I got some very nasty (to me at least they were...and I felt totally unwanted in a shop or supermarket) stares from cashiers/car rental officers and individuals on the street thinking I was going to rape them or eat them.
Hotel staff were very friendly and accomodating but we also had a train staff whom we bought out daily tickets from for the 3 days we were there who was just so unhelpful and really not interested in ensuring we understood the S-bahn train system in Munich and didn't even suggest we get on a particular train from the airport into downtown Munich which actually had a station directly opposite one of the stations 2 stops away from the central station.
We ended up walking 2.5 kilometers with bags and kids in town.
It was not pleasant. And we decided to leave a day early as we just felt so unwanted in a city and state we were really excited to visit.
Bavaria is a beautiful beautiful region but.....
In comparison, people in Frankfurt and Sttutgart were so accomodating, friendly and helpful...it was a totally different perspective for us as a family.
We won't be visiting Bavaria again in the future sadly.