Your Email:

Subject:

Message:
Entry: The German Disease Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/the_german_disease#2299 Post contents: Growing up in postwar Germany among German survivors of WWII, I got a first hand eyewitness account of the history of the war and the pre-war years. "Yes, we lost a war we thought was just, were treated like the loser typically is, paid a price for that, but ultimately we are human beings just like the victors are." I emigrated to America in 1980 and was shocked at the constant depiction of the German as the incarnation of evil. I was cursed - especially in Hollywood - as a Nazi and murderer, my daughter refused to learn German, because "that is how the bad people talk" and German-Americans seem to be non-existent. Well,this is the selfcongratulation of the victor and I thought that even this would eventually go away. However, I see less animosity towards the Vietnames coming out of the media than against the Germans even today. Returning after twenty years in the US to Germany with my children in 2000, I was shocked to discover that in the meantime history had become something completely different than what I had learned just 20 years before. It was as if I had stepped into a completely different timeline. The eyewitnesses were now mostly dead, and, since they could not rebut, displayed with impunity as murderous monsters. Those, like me, who had known our fathers and grandfathers as decent people were not allowed to defend them, -appropriate "anti-hate laws" had been enacted in my absence. The depiction of WWII history in the US that I had found somewhat onesided, now seemed more balanced than anything that was dished out by the media, schools, and the politicians in Germany. The elderly last eyewitnesses that I talked to, including my 96 year old mother, are now afraid to say anything for fear of being ostracized and imprisoned. Plaques and monuments to the victim/victors are being erected everywhere at an ever accellerating pace and any challenge to the official recount of history is resulting in the loss of public acceptance, office, or even worse. I took my kids and hightailed back to the US, where I can at least challenge those that distort the facts and depict me, my father, and my kids as the resident evil in this world. Sent at: 2008 05 16