American reacts to How Germany grapples with WWII Past
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ต.ค. 2024
- Thank you for watching me, a humble American, react to How Germany grapples with its WWII past
Original video: • How Germany grapples w...
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You should stirr up the past. That is the only way to learn from it. If your history is comfortable and nice only, you're doing it wrong.
There is a great quote from a survivor of the Holocaust, Max Manheimer: "You are not guilty of what happened back then. But you are responsible to never let it happen again."
I think that sums it up pretty great for every country. History happened. Most of it was pretty dark and grim. We can't do anything about that and have no guilt from it. But we would be guilty if we didn't learn from what happened and did repeat it.
Find ich gut. Darf ich das klauen?
If only more countries took this approach.
Exactly. Don't blame the current generation, don't hold it over Germanys head in international politics, but keep the topic alive to learn from. And even though it happened in Germany it is an important topic, everyone everywhere should learn from. Far too many people just say " That could never happen here, that just happens in germany/europe/western culture, etc" yet they are usually already en route to become the next country with this kind of history
"You are not guilty of what happened back then. But you are responsible to never let it happen again."
Then why is it illegal to deny that the last one happened, but not to organise the next one?
@@Steps85 Klar. Nimm dir was du brauchst.^^
For a better understanding of the verse "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles", it should be noted that Hoffmann von Fallersleben wrote the text in 1841, almost a century before the Nazi era. At that time, Germany still consisted of a bunch of kingdoms and principalities. The idea behind the verse was the demand for German unity. Later that phrase became the symbol of Germany's mania for great power.
Also the first part is not baned at all but gets omited not bacause of the "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles" part but the „von der Maas bis an die Memel“ that are definig borders.
Yes, he wrote it at a time when nationalism was somewhat a good idea. Someone famous the name I forgot said once: "Nationalism creates nations and not vice versa." - I guess at least this is what it should be but history teaches us otherwise.
Which mania? That one that existed, but nice parotting of schook knowledge.
@ghostdog100 first and second Verse are omitted, and only the third is the official anthem
The graffiti on the bunker-wall says: “someone who builds bunkers also throws bombs”.
Switzerland would prove this slogan wrong
@@noisy8937 OK, so for Switzerland the slogan should be "Someone who builds bunkers also hides the money of the murdered" I guess?
@@th0mka yep thats accurate
@noisy8937 I mean, since the swiss always sold their armies to other countries, you could still argue they also threw bombs
@@laurinamiakersting2014 you´ve got a point, but the swiss mercenaryism stopped way before they started to build bunkers
The best thing that came out of our dark past is our constitution, especially article 1: „Human dignity shall be inviolable. To protect it shall be the duty of all state authority.“
This is a strong message I think.
And I always wonder how people can talk about "violating the constitution" when talking about refugees. No, taking them in is not a violation, not taking them is.
An other way to express "Deutschland über alles" would be "Germany first".
I think I've heard something like this recently.
I'm 33 years old and it feels like we talked sometimes to much about our dark history. I can barley remember any other topic in History class all around my 13 years until I finished school. But it is important to talk about our past. And even my little son with his 3.5 years ask me about the "Stolpersteine" I tried my best to explain it as kid friendly as possible. And when we now walk by a stumbling stone, he is like "oh Look mommy. Another one." he than mostly give the stone a really friendly soft touch before we can continue the walk. I never told him to do it, it is just what he wants to do. I wanna cry every single time, when he does it.
And then everyone stood up and clapped
Oh lord. Il (feeling in a way) justifient.
Seems like you did a very good job as a father. 👍
From my experience as both a student and a teacher the topic is talked about to much and not enough at the same time. Far to often it is kept at the surface-level. Keep it professional and don't make it personal. During one of my internships a 15 yearsold or older student from a Turkish family told the rest of the class Germany should be proud of this part of history because of *antisemitic trope I won't repeat*. The teacher was stunned, so I asked if I could take over from here. We talked about the Nazis' idea of "racial purity" how under that system he would never be a "true German" because of his family background. He wouldn't be at the total bottom of the list, but that wouldn't stop him from being treated like a third class citizen at best with no chances to upward mobility form hin, his children or their children. I think it was the first time that anybody of the students was confronted this personal with the topic, but I hope it was a lesson they won't forget.
I don't know, I'm 38 and I remember the Third Reich clearly as one particular chapter in history class. I also remember ancient civilizations, the medieval age, witch hunt and probably other topics as well, when I start to think hard enough. So for me it was not something that was exactly over-represented. But it was definitely darker and sadder compared to other topics. Our teachers wanted us to understand what happened back then. But I also remember many of my teachers being kind of "Anti-Nazis" in general, not only in history class. I think to them it was very important their students learned about the dangers of certain ideolgies, especially the Nazi ideology, which lead to so much death and loss and was perpetrated by people of our own country, sometimes of our own families. I think for me it started in elementary school, when our teacher taught us about the Grundgesetz and human rights. And I'm grateful for that.
I'm also 33😂 and I know what you mean, but history was one of my favourite topics in school, so I definetly remember other topics as well, and looking at the political landscape here right now, it's definetly not talked about enough, but just, as @janschulte8434 says in his comment further down, I feel like it's done in the wrong way. There should be an approach more like "What would it mean for you to live in such a society?" Tell them, that they would have to exercise a lot more, to get ready for war, not really being able to have controll over your own time, because you "HAVE" to join HJ and basically do a military basic training over there, having to break up their friendships, with everyone, that doesn't fit the system, like homosexual people or people with migration history, just live in an overall more brutal society, that doesn't care about them as an individual and their personal needs and expectations for life. I think this might be the essence of what wasn't being told enough in recent decades, that not only the jews and other minorities where the victims of that system, but also the people in general. Yes they taught us about weiße Rose, but it was like, "oh yeah, and there were these three or four youngsters in Munich, who also got killed", but it was with this undertone of "but they didn't fit in anyway..." instead of "they got killed, because they just wanted to live a free life and express themselves the same way, you folks nowadys like to do on Instagram and TikTok..." Writing this I think, that it's pretty easy to tell, but hard to actually teach people, who grew up here in modern days, what it actually MEANS for yourself to live in an unfree society. As my father used to work in devolpment aid, I experienced living in less stable parts of the world quite early, so I know that feeling you get, when out of nowhere the presidential guard confronts your parents infront of you, accusing them of illegally having taken pictures of the presidential palace and now want to bribe them for money or else they will lock them up in prison, and all the tense constant stress you feel, knowing that the gouvernment is actual a bad institution looking constantly for reasons to get you in trouble for the most idiotic reasons, because with these autocratic structures comes corruption and I think you need to experience that yourself in order to truly understand, how devastating it can be and that's something history lessons are just not capable but I think many teachers don't even try. It's just like, "here are the facts, your grandparents were the bad guys, they killed millions of people for no reason, here, for personal context, read this diary of a girl you have no relation to, see you next year, when we will do this same exact lesson again!"
That's another awesome video. Thank you, Ryan. The word "über" in "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles" can but should not be translated as "above". The original meaning is not "Germany above everything." "Über" means "prefer." The poet who wrote the lyrics preferred a united Germany instead of the petty statehood customary until then. The Nazis exploited this ambiguity of "über" and instrumentalized it for their purposes.
Today, this verse is no longer sung to prevent this misuse of the text and the hymn. The anthem starts nowadays with "Unity and justice and freedom, for the German fatherland. That was the original verse 3.
Das war aufschlussreich..danke
Also the "über alles" refers to the following lines which talk about standing together in the spirit of brotherhood ("wie es stets zu Schutz und Trutze brüderlich zusammenhält").
So it's a praise of German unity and solidarity, not a call for supremacy.
Not only to prevent this missuse, I would bet the frenchs and polishs would be pretty upset if we still would sing "from the Maas to the memel"😉
Seems Germany learned so much from this, and America learned nothing.
Danke, so hab ich das noch nie verstanden.
as a German myself I find nothing offensive in this video. Especially today (as the right wing gets stronger and stronger in Europe and not just in Germany, again) an important topic.
Neither do I. I suspect that some right-wing trolls are doing this, often enough they are poisoning comment sections and the like-dislike relation.
I think this is one of his best videos, if not actually his best so far. He handled the topic very respectfully in my opinion. And the video itself looked like a pretty normal and standard report to me. Nothing offensive there.
As a German, now living in a different country with rather dark spots in their history (ranging among others from slavetrade, via colonisation, to oppression) I am very happy about the focus we Germans put on taking a hard long look at our past and not to shy away from it. This, unfortunately, cannot be expected in most other countries, who are still hailing dark times, in which a lot of wealth for the population was generated by exploitation of colonies, as "the good old days".
Scheint ja aber nix gebracht zu haben, wenn man sich mal die aktuellen Umfragewerte ansieht, schwarz-blaue Mehrheit und mit dem Vorsitzenden, der um jeden erdenklichen Preis an die Macht will, kann mir keiner erzählen, dass diese "Brandmauer" über die nächste BT-Wahl hinaus halten wird. Wenn der blaue Verein nicht verboten wird, sitzen die spätestens 2029 in der Regierung...
Sounds like you moved to the Netherlands 😂
@@JohnSmith-iu8cjNope, to the UK. The belief that the UK stopped slavery and brought democracy and modernism to their colonies is very strong over here. But saying the UK stopped slavery is like saying I stopped an old man from being beaten up - by stopping to beat an old man up.
so you wanna keep the bell ringing or get rid of it or dont care?
@@JohnSmith-iu8cj I thought more like the UK, Spain or even Portugal. ^^
German here - most dislikes or so on will be from the Group "Proud German because of our history - but I don't want to talk/know about THAT part of our history!!!!"
Hi from France 🇫🇷. Past is our history be proie about it. I went in Germany some years and citizens were respectful and very kind. Peace my german 🇩🇪 neighbors 💖✌️ From France 🇫🇷.
German here also, and just want to say that everybody hates those guys, but also the guys that OP represents.
wahrscheinlicher waren es internationale Nazi Sympathisanten.
Deutschland Schein seit ein paar Jahren den Status der Goldenen Stadt auf dem Hügel zu bekommen.
Sorry, I meant « be proud of your country ». Love you all german citizens and my European neighbors.
Remembering the history is essential. But being obsessed with only this part is indeed a problem. It goes to the extreme so far that many hate their own country. That is a very destructive and wrong development. It leads to false virtue signaling and low self esteem. The reeducation in the school system has had its place while there were people and thoughts of the time still around. But today these people are long gone and nobody had anything to do with it so we need to change the guild ridden self punishment. Germans are good people and a positive vision is more important than a negative episode.
A small "correction" to "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles":
In its original form it was never meant to symbolize german supremacy or anything, but it was written in 1841 during a time where the german people fought for a unified german state. The correct translation and meaning would be: "A unified German state above everything (not everyone) else" while the painter and his thugs misconstrued it as "Germany above everyone".
1:52 me imaging you going around ringing a bell yelling "shame" around Congress. 😂
Learning from WWII history as a German means to remember the evils that were done, to make sure something like that never happens again. It's not about feeling guilty, it's about not repeating history.
😔I must admit that I was one of the students that were a little annoyed by having the feeling of only being taught about WW2 in history, politics and even in german lessons, too and by having to carry this constant guilt…
I changed my mind completely about that!
Sure, we don‘t have to feel guilty, cause we were not even born back then, but we must be reminded to never forget and never let it happen again.
Even more nowadays where a Björn Höcke is allowed to speak on our streets in the same vibes like that monstrous man from the past, where his party get‘s 20% voters in some parts of Germany and thousands of palestine supporters demonstrating in this and other countries and not holding back to shout out loud what they would wish to happen to their opponents finally!😳
We have to be very concious and careful about this.
And Ryan, don‘t worry. You did not say anything offensive. 😊
Thank you for being so open about your chance of mind. Takes guts to do that.
I agree about the current political problems.
I don't agree on palestine protests. Not because I support Hamas but because there is a humanitarian crisis in palestine that is actively worsned by israel. This whole war is stupid. Israel launched an invasion of a foreign nation with almost no time for the people to flee (at least hundreds of children died in palestine) while Hamas is an extremist terrorist organisation hell bent on destroying israel forever. All while the population on both sides is largely against war...
And yet politics is driving us again straight into the same direction that ended in the misery a hundred years ago...
I for myself feel totaly disconnected to the german society of modern days because i don't want to be part of this even thought i have to live here. I just see that those who say "never again" as a mantra are already doing it again...
@@rocktaleagree. And once the afd gained some popularity, CDU/CSU and parts of SPD and even the left (die Linke) tried to pander to those people who would vote for Höcke and other fascists
I think the bell in the tower itself should be replaced, and the original bell should be in a museum. That's how I see it.
Unless it’s special historical interest maybe they could melt it down and recast it?
Hi Ryan, I like how you stop to look things up; it shows you are really interested in learning new things. As a retired teacher, I appreciate people who, like me, want to know more about anything and everything.
10:30 That is a very powerful gesture! We did nothing that symbolic in my school days but when I was in 5th or 6th grade we visited the concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen (where Anne Frank died). It was very haunting and I consider that to be one my most important memories to this day.
Nowadays people, especially populists, say that it is enough, that we talk too much about it, that we guilt everybody with it although most of us weren't alive back then. They call it a "cult of guilt". I couldn't disagree more. With populasim and racism back on the rise all throughout Europe and sadly also in Germany I think it is more imprtant than ever to remember the atrocities of racism and nationalism. Not because we are guilty but because we have a responsibility to prevent it from ever happening again!
I grew up in a town that had a (very small) gas chamber back in the days (mentally ill were killed). Today you can't, but back when I was in school you could go in there and stand under the "shower heads". After having read about how the gassed people would have bloody hands from trying to scratch a way through the door or how they climbed on the bodies of those who were already dead.
It was a very very... lonely feeling. One that I will never forget.
Austrian here, since we share this history, I'd like to add a couple of thoughts. Even though we admittedly don't do as much as Germany does with regards to working on our past, there definitely is this feeling of guilt that is now being exploited by these right wing parties with this "enough is enough" argument.
And I think we need to find a better way to work on our past. Because otherwise they can exploit this and also because otherwise we run the risk of inadvertently letting similar things happen again - this is my take from the Russian war on Ukraine. Because look at how "uncomfortable" Germany felt (and kinda still seems to feel) helping with weapons. Or how Austria still sticks to its neutrality. When it's very clear that what the Russians are doing there isn't any better than what we did back then.
But we look and see Ukraine with its strong national pride and flags everywhere and saying "Glory to Ukraine - Glory to the heroes" all the time and to us it feels weird. Who of us has a flag in their home? Unless you're a mayor or an athlete at the Olympics or something like that you don't ever touch a flag as an Austrian, it's kinda cringe. And just imagine someone unironically saying "Glory to...". That's something only a neon*zi would do, especially with regards to our soldiers as "the heroes". Which is why the military readiness of our countries is so terrible and we don't even have enough weapons we could send to Ukraine.
I remember when our president visited Kyiv in January or February this year and after his meeting with Zelenskyy there was a joint press conference. One of the Ukrainian journalists basically asked if we couldn't please just ditch neutrality because they really need more weapons. Then Zelenskyy outright pleaded with our president if we couldn't at least send them air defense because "that's not really a weapon, that's just defense". And I just cried.😢
I am now 30 years old. When I was 11, we drew the German flag at school. Almost no one knew beforehand what exactly the flag looked like.
When German flags suddenly hung everywhere during the 2006 World Cup in Germany, it was strange for many people. Since then, the flag has been seen more frequently.
Germans recognising the past has had a big influence on how, us neighbours, have been able to forgive the following generations.
If you look at how hard Japan tries to just forget about Nanking and their occupation of Korea... I understand why their neighbours still carry a grudge.
If you're in a workplace and someone makes a mistake, would you rather that the person gets angry every time you mention the mistake, or have the person say "yes, I effed up, now let me do better"?
Though at some point the coworkers also could stop mentioning the mistake everytime. Of course if it somehow connects to the mistake, but for example when Germany criticises the way Turkey deals with its refugees, when it comes to environmental issues, wars etc, everytime Germany criticises another country for something they can't really defend some politician is like "Well we didn't cause the holocaust so you can't criticise us" or some other bs and that just gets annoying over time.
Though I do agree with you regarding Japan. If they would just say something along the line of "we are sorry for what happened back then. It was cruel and horrible and we truly apologise. Please help us to prevent something like this from happening again" they would have much better connections to their neighbours. To bad some of the older generation there still think that not accepting fault is honourable. Which it really isn't. In most old Japanese martial arts respect makes someone honorable and part of respect for someone else is admitting and apologising for hurting them.
excuse me.... forgive? what for ? i didnt invaded your country thats history thats similar nonsence than the slavery discussions in the neigherlands... thats long time over so learn from it but it hasnt to do anything with the actual world
@@bendjohans3863 Denmark was kinda occupied by Germany, but we've moved on.
@@bendjohans3863 Sometimes it's not a bad idea to just take a nice sentiment in the way it was intended. Like it or not, there are plenty of instances where people didn't find common ground with the descendants of people they had a conflict with, and the cycle continues. There's a reason the word Erbfeinschaft exists. Why quibble if Benjamin's heart is in the right place?
might be my way of thinking as i dont hold a grudge against people just because of historical happenings. if it happened to my lifetime or doesnt directly affect my why bother? history is meant to learn from so not to repeat the mistakes of the past so you can walk into the future .as german im slowly anoyed by the shame on you winners history stuffed down our throats at any possible time and its the same with many other past happenings which are used against todays people all over the world for stuff they didnt had any role in
Note how 14 year old Wilhelmina speaks English quite fluently. Well done!
I noticed that, too. I definitely didn't speak English that well when I was 14.😅
The Gemeinderat "city council" decided to keep the bell in use (it's a so-called "Polizeiglocke" [in ownership by the town, not the church] which has been used as an alert in case of emergencies, it's afaik not used for liturgical causes - the church congregation even offered to pay for a replacement but their offer was denied by the city council). There were legal proceedings against the city council and the mayor but to no avail. Because of the recognition of the historical context the city council put into its vote, the courts judged the bell should remain where it is and be used as it is because it's a "Denkmal", a (protected) historic monument.
"Deutschland über alles" was written in a time when Germany didn't exist and the areas where "German" was spoken looked like a badly executed quilt on a political map. The German-speaking people looked with envy around and found that there were countries that united (almost) all their people in one united national state e.g. England and esp. France just beyond the border. The population yearned for a united national German state as much as they wanted more civil liberties as most of the German states were still absolute monarchies without parliamentary representation or a joke of a parliament. So the quote means "a united Germany should rule over the fiefdoms". Later the Nazis (pronounced "nah-tsihs") perverted the meaning to "Germany should rule over the world".
that abbreviation comes from the german pronunciation of "nation" : nah-tsee-on, na-zi-on, and the use in words like nationalistic.
and yes, the meaning of the first verse originally was "one united country above all the 300 little separate entities" (that partially hated each other and even had had wars against each other) in a time when there existed no such united country yet. the mentioned rivers also were not intended to be "hard borders" for some conquest, but roughly described the area in europe that had german speaking population, who therefore were felt to have something in common and maybe could easier overcome their other quarrels with each other. btw: the second verse is about having fun and enjoying life, but nowadays might also be seen as "politically incorrect" when speaking about "Wein, Weib und Gesang" (wine, woman and singing).
When in search of a national anthem after WW2, it was decided to keep the old anthem, never sing its first verse, and only ever sing the third. When a similar decision was due after the unification of 1990, the national anthem was decided to no longer have three verses with two of them not being sung, but the entire anthem now is only one (the previous third) verse.
fun fact: there are laws describing the official public and state flags and their use, but there is no single law for the national anthem. that was only decided (for each of the above decisions) by an official exchange of letters between chancellor and president. thus it's only a convention that everybody follows and treats like a law, but in a strictly legal sense germany has no specific anthem.
Ryan, I like your content, but this one left me really impressed and with a tear in my eye - or both. This was heavy stuff and seeing you in a bit more of a subdued mood, clearly affected by the content but also remaining positive was really moving. Thanks for your work.
The svastica also has a religious meaning in hinduism for a couple of thousand years already.
The Nazis took the symbol from there for themselves and changed some details, you have to look closely to see the difference.
The one you saw in America was maybe from the Hinduism context and not from the Nazi context.
I would argue that it was more likely a ornament from Greek architecture. They have a meander that uses the swastica and seeing how the entire western world has been obsessed with greek ornament since forever, it's probably that. Especially with the stylistic movements present in the 18th and 19th century
@@nilsb.8559it's been used in Asia way before the greek
The Nazis didn't took the swastika from the hindus. They got this symbol from Guido von List, an esoteric antisemite who "researched" (better: invented) pseudo-germanic rune series. His rune series has little to do with the historic ones, but remain in esoteric circles and in the far right until today. List invented additional "runes", among others an early version of the Nazi swastika. After that Herman Wirth, a Nazi, invented the swastika for the NSDAP.
Regardless, you could be right and the swastikas in that US hotel are Hindu ones.
@@RandyMahnke I fully agree. But Ryan asked about swastica on a handrail in an old building. In that scenario, I find the adaption of asian ornament unlikely (but of course not impossible)
The "über alles" in the first stanza of the german anthem didn't originally stand for german superiority in all of the world but meant that one united germany which didn't exist in that time should be created. So it means the all german speaking territories in the world should create one single state. Of course this original meaning got lost under the nazi regime and now we think about the imperialistic conotations to it when we listen to it
The writing on the building you paused at was "Wer Bunker baut, wirft Bomben" (=who builds bunkers drops bombs).
The swastika is a symbol used centuries before Hitler used it. Old civilizations used it as a lucky charm. Maybe that's why it was on the handrail where you were. In Munich, where I live, there is a very old building, that survived the war and the bombings unharmed. In its huge enterence hall, there is a big swastika on the floor, and it is all over the walls in the building too. But they don't remove it, because is was there long before Hitler and has nothing to do with the Nazi time...
No you mean a hinduistic symbol. First it's not skewedruns used second it never found place in German architecture from that source. The swastika used in the German nazi movement is based on the interpretation that it symbolises some aryan supremacy.
In India the swastika is still a normal symbol.
Exactly. The Roman-Germanic Museum in Cologne has a quite large mosaic floor with lots of swastikas in it, too. And the Finns have been using one (the Von Rosen Cross) as well in their air force. It also appears on Buddha statues. Just a few examples...
😊Thank you for covering a more serious topic in your video! I love hearing your opinions on all kinds of topics
"Deutschland über alles!" is literally the same as "America first!". Which was a reason we were kinda shocked about that.
Edit: I mean, originally it was meant in a geographical way before "one" Germany existed. But it was adapted to a "better than everyone else" meaning
11:28 It is very similiar in that both were atrocities against humankind.
And in both cases the generations born after those times should not feel personal guilt towards it, but should accept that it happend and do their best to make sure it never happens again.
I honestly like it a lot that you look things up whenever you have a question. 👍
About the dislikes on that CBC video (I had a small Pikachu-meme moment when realizing that you actually still saw the dislikes xD) - there are too many really stupid reasons people downvote things like that also.. bots. sigh.
Oh and yes we pronounce the "z" like a "tss" - I'm not a language teacher but it seems right sound wise.
During wartime, many bronze bells were removed because the materials were needed for cannons.
There were then bells made of cast iron. But these sound bad and rust from the inside out.
the worst thing about the old German anthem verse "Deutschland über alles" is, that the original meaning was about unification of 1000s of kingdoms to one nation: Germany. It wasn't about world domination at all.. until the nazi rise.
It's a little bit difficult with Swastikas. It's an old Slavic symbol and was used long before the Nazis. It's also a symbol for luck in most Asian cultures. But the Nazis loved runes and rune like symbols because they were Germanic (and in their belief Aryan) and uses it for their purposes. Now all Nazi symbols are banned and so the Swastika is banned too.
But the bell swastika was neither old Slavic nor Asian - so not a case of "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar".
The romans had it too crazy enough..
Nazis often misuse the "Lebensrune" on graves. But this is/was never the meaning of this Rune.
A very disgusting thing No one speaks about was Operation LEBENSBORN.
@@hypatian9093 who cares, its just a perfect fine sounding historic bell, why silent it or take it away?
the graffiti on the shelter means „who builds bunkers throws bombs“
3:17 The swastika is a indo-european symbol that has been in use in Eurasia from Japan, over India to Germany for thousands of years. It's meaning varies between cultures, but it's usually a symbol for luck or for the sun. Before the war it was a common symbol in the entire western world. Some US-military units actually used it as well for some time. Hitler probably used it since it was such a important symbol for the ancient Germanic tribes. Now it of course has a bad reputation in the west, but it is still in use in Asia. In Japan for example, temples and shrines are being marked with it.
The text on that building where you paused was "Wer Bunker baut wirft Bomben". It translates to "Who builds bunkers throws bombs".
11:27 Often people don't get the difference between guilt and responsibility. Especially when it comes to their own families' history.
In school I was tought about WW2 and the Holocaust with the context
"It's not our fault that our ancestors did it but it's our responsibility to prevent it from ever happening again."
And the best way to do so is by understanding how it all started so we can see similarities in current political movements and nip it in the bud.
And heck there's a ton of it going on all over the world right now!!! 😢
At school we have been reading actual reports of the guy who ran auschitz and it was scary. As if an engineer would make plans to build a more efficient powerplant or a cook planing to perfect a dish. They were human, just like us. Anyone of us couldve been them if we wouldve lived their lifes. Becoming like them, thats my fear.
6 million animals died so you can have food and you didnt even notice...
@@imrengarotp3802 posting your vegan stuff on a video about the horrors of germany is grimm, but not entirely unexpected.
I grew up with that guilt of the past and I think Germany is on a very good way to deal with it. Other than the US with slavery and all their war crimes still doing today. I can remember as a teen standing in Buchenwald Concentration Camp and hearing the bell. It gave me goosebumbs like I never felt it before. The swastika is not the problem, the problem are the people who try to repeat history. Therefore education is so important. In Germany like in the US. There is no solution to just cancel the past like the US do it.
The dislikes are probably by those who are in denial about that past (germans and internationals), either that or there is disagreement on the extend we remember the past, some of us germans don't think it is fair for the generations to come to carry the guilt and burden of horrors caused by people long dead. The Comments being disabled however hints towards it being the former.
A small explanation on the Swastika thing:
There are two actually.
The one standing upright is a symbol of good luck in some religions. It is actually ancient. There is a surviving roman mosaic with swastikas in it. I think the oldest surviving in Europe as far as aI know. In Asia there are tons of them and even older.
The tilted one is the symbol of the party. But sometimes it is also a standing one.
Hope that helps.
Maybe someone said it before, but the swastika is a really old symbol. It was for example used as a decoration theme in ancient Greece and other mediterranean cultures. And western artists always liked to copy antiquity.
It was or is still used in Asia as well, if I remember correctly.
you can see the swastika in a lot of old eastern movies from the 70s as temple decoration :) I've even seen it in a Jackie Chan movie. And Golden Harvest (production company of many hongkong action movies) has a negative swastika as their icon/logo. Indeed it is considered a symbol of luck in Asia still today. I've seen plenty Buddha statues with single or multiple swastikas on their base. Working as a metal craftsmen in germany, we had a customer order from a fancy hotel/restaurant in a big city, i think it was munich. And they wanted a room divider made off brass square tube, that had stylized swastikas intertwined. Heavily stylized ... like crosses + that had 3 or 4 "swastika side arms" anti-clockwise from each cross-arm. But yeh ... the symbol is really a simple geometrical from that you might accidently get when you try to create a repetitive pattern with lines and only ever cross them in 90° angles. Was a cool and tricky project :D
*had to add this: In the art form of "Jugendstil" /art nouveau, which dates back to the ending of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century and was very vivid during the Weimar republic in Germany, the swastika is also a reoccuring symbol which at that time did not yet have any relation to the Nazis at all since they were not yet a thing. So as Ryan said in the clip, you can find the symbol on/in "old" (ca. 100-150 yrs old) buildings or in their embellished interior.
I'd bring the Bell to a Museum and not ring it at all!Just to show, how devoted some people were back in the past to the Nazi idea.
Museums are full of stuff like that - not another needed imho. Perhaps silencing such a bell is a better way, taking away the function it originally had to "call out in the name of the Führer" in both a literal and symbolic way.
What's wrong with bolshevism?
Isn't ringing the bell as a reminder the better idea? Sitting in a museum it will be at best looked at but has lost its function. Ringing it in an appropriate context to remind people of the horrors of fascism might be a more powerful symbol than an exhibit.
I think the same... especially since some of the most commonly heard argument for it to leave it hanging there was "it's a historical artifact" then put it in a museum that's what they are for, preserving and exhibiting historical artifacts
@@RubenLensvelt Every -ism is wrong: putting an idea as means to rule the people is evil.
Not all sidewalks are cobblestones,they hang plaques with the names of families that live there
The lesson to draw from history for the younger generations is not about guilt but about responsibility.
In my City where I live in Germany we had a synagoge that was destroyed and the entire year all schools in the area had to clean the memorial
8:31 - it says: "Who builds bunkers, [also will] drops bombs!"
11:53 "How can you be guilty when you weren't even alive? The answer of us Germans being born after WW II is: We are NOT guilty - but we carry the burden of responsibiltiy.
The Swastika is a ancient symbol that was used throughout history as a relgious and cultural symbol. It has a lot more history than the Nazis, and it goes back into prehistory. If the handrail you mentioned was made before the 1930s it is totally alright for it to be there. The symbol had an entirely different meaning back then and the people who designed that railing couldn't have predicted how some German fanatics would use it to bring terror to the world. There is so much more to that symbol than just "Nazis".
We weren't alive and responsible back then but if not guilt we feel at least shame for what our ancestors did.
I don't think I feel any of that. What I feel when I think about that chapter in our history, are anger, sadness/grief and responsibility. Not sure guilt or shame are the best way to deal with it (plus I personally don't identify with the Germans of that time, or at least not the ones that committed these crimes or supported the ones that did - what I can try to do is comprehend how certain mindsets come to be and look for certain signs in politics and society). The world as a whole needs to make sure such things don't happen. For that reason I also think it's wrong to just point the finger at others.
@@stef987 Well, I'm of the post war generation and I feel shame that my parents who were young adults at that time obviously never objected Hitler and never said anything negative about the 3rd Reich as long as I can remember. They never said one single word about the victims of Hitler's war on humanity and didn't mind that men who had taken an active part in that regime held influential positions in Germany's after war government. I'm deeply ashamed about that and feel an extremely strong responsibility to support every effort to make sure nothing like that can ever happen again. The momentary political situation with the right wing extremists getting stronger every day worries and scares me. I just can't believe that so many people world wide are flirting with authoritarianism .
@@grandmak. that's understandable. I too find the current political development concerning, not only in Germany, but the whole Western World.
I'm of the generation whose grandparents or great-grandparents were adults during the Hitler regime. In my case my grandparents from my mother's side were toddlers back then and I don't know much about their parents. Only that my grandpa's father was a medic and died young. My grandparents from my father's side were (young) adults back then, but my grandpa apparently refused to talk about the past and what he did when he was in the army back then. There is at least one photo showing him with fellow young soldiers. He was a kind man and I can't imagine him doing bad things or actively supporting bad things being done by others. Of course that doesn't mean much and even if he didn't directly participate (which I don't even know for sure), he didn't oppose the regime, either. Especially if he did something bad he refused to talk about, only he would be the family member I would feel ashamed for, or for his actions. I'd also feel anger, too. The thing is, he is gone now for about 20 years and he died when I still was a teenager (plus I was always closer to my other grandparents). My father's mother grew up in Eastern Europe and had to flee from there, I think (like my other grandmother, too). I think she was some kind of a nurse or something similar during the war. Or nurse assistant or something like that. I admit there may be things we never actually talked about in our family and there also might be some things you might call "Schönfärberei" - of course they all were medics, nurses and young parents who only wanted to help others and have their children survive. Sometimes I wonder if it really all was like that...
In general, what I guess I'm trying to say: for me it's part of the past and family members who were actually alive and accountable back then are long gone now. In the video, the part with the deported family, when they showed their photos, made me cry. I felt sadness, anger and couldn't understand how the Nazis could do that to them - especially to this small child (we have small children in our family now, too, that probably made it hit me even harder). But I never thought about if anyone in my family ever had any part in doing these things to other people like this family. Neither did I actually feel anger people in my family back then didn't do anything against it - because I think it's not so simple and that there were reasons people didn't do anything and let it happen (which doesn't make it right, of course!). I think we can see right now how certain things can happen in politics and how people are either fine with it, support it, or ignore it. I don't know, maybe I should feel more ashamed... At the moment I rather feel scared when I see AfD and the like still rising and how oblivious way too many people seem to be...
@@stef987 absolutely. It's also amazing how many people were 'de-nazified' after the war. One could think Hitler hardly had any followers.
8:30 Wer Bunker baut, wirft Bomben = (Anyone) who builds bunkers drops bombs
I was in Berlin a few weeks ago and visited the "Stones" . I never thought they catched me so deep. But this happend
Min 3:00 ff if you go to India you will see Swastikas all over the place- the Nazis misused this old symbol.
India, and northern lands too. The Nazis misappropriated several 'old' symbols, religious and otherwise. So, those Symbols (in their old meaning) are not to be used in Germany as to not be confused with Nazi iconography. In other countries, it may be appropriate to use those symbols in their intended context.
There's a quote from Juli Zeh going: "If you've been raised in Germany after 1985 you've had the holocaust in every school-subject exept for math at least once."
By now i got the feeling a lot of people are fed up with being constantly reminded though.
But if that's true then a lot of them still seem to not know much about the topic by my experience. So I doubt their words, especially when it comes to the eastern parts of Germany then I know for sure the subject wasn't "everywhere". Maybe this person mixed their own ("gefühlt") experience with objective reality, which happens all the time.
I went into the Holocaust-Memorial in Berlin. Towards the center area the megalithic stones get higher, so you feel like `sinking into it`, the sky above you becoming smaller, the smooth polished walls seem to get closer, you already lost orientation, feel glum (bedrückt) and hopeless...
A `dark twilight labyrinth´, you can`t walk `through` simply. It sucks you in, and there is a kind of initiation taking place... irritating, disturbing ! You get out somewhere else, (in most cases surely never, where you started) and something feels changed for at least the rest of the day.
Thank you for your thoughts ! And don`t worry to `meddle` into german affairs by discussing as an American: I remember those young Americans like you, dying on Omaha Beach - for a freedom, I profited from all my life, beeing free in a democratic country. Love from here, God bless you, Sir !
It's a freaking Bell. These People are fanatics.
in the 6th and 7th grade our history classes also regularly went to clean "Stolpersteine" meaning stepping stones all around the city, on which names of people are engraved who lived in the houses the stones are infront and got killed by the nazis
3:24 It is religious sign of luck in Buddism and Hinduism, therefore one comes across it in Asia very often. When I first recognized a huge one in front of an official building my jaw dropped, so I looked it up and a sigh of relief came across my lips....
Prior to WW2 and the nazi regime the swastika had been a symbol of luck in many western societies just as it is known from eastern cultures. I've seen irish congratiulation cards from the beginning of the 20th century ordained with shamrocks and green swastikas and I think to remember a coca cola pendant in swastika shape from the same period - maybe it was some other equally known and established brand though.
Swastika ornamentation wouldn't have been something weird in the 1800's and early 1900's so it's not a surprise to encounter it in a handrail.
there is a difference of feelings between the slave trade in the US and the Holocaust in Germany in the generations after the events . Just because the time differences. My Grandmother was a young adult during the Nazi Regime and I'm convinced that she was a supporter of Hitler. Now, imagine that a relative who you love supported such an atrocity! It is really hard to wrap your head around the fact that a relative you know and you love is capable of looking away if he/she see cruelty on the streets towards Jews or other minorities or the political opposition. It's really hard! Even if your great-great-grandfather had slaves back in the 1850ies, you have no personal relationship to the person, so it's way easier I think to go your way without thinking much about it.
At 8:31 the text on the wall says: Who builds bunkers, drops bombs.
Tearing history down makes it easier to be “out of sight, out of mind” imo. We can’t change history but we can remember and learn from it
ringing a bell devoted to hitler and the third reich is just wrong. and it's not out of sight. it is still in the bell tower and everybody knows about it. see your invalid arguement?
It's not about shame or guilt. It's about acceptance, and awareness, so we make sure it doesn't happen again. We need to know, we need to be reminded, ever conscious of what could happen if we go too far. The nazi regime started by banning books. The USA seems to have forgotten that. Even "Mein Kampf", the book Hitler wrote, has since been unbanned (though with restricted access), because even us Germans recognize that in order to learn and overcome, we need to see and remember.
I am from Germany and i never meet a German thats proud of Germany or Something, we didnt show our flag only by Football every 4 years
Pffff ... Die Germanen beschützten das Herz Europas jahrhundertelang gegen anstürmende Invasoren. Gegen Römer, Hunnen, Mauren, Ungarn, Osmanen, Franzosen, Bolschewiken. Wir haben allen Grund stolz auf unsere Historie zu sein.
I don't know how often I have to explain that the first verse "Deutschland Deutschland über alles" DOES NOT HAVE the meaning too many people thinks it has !!
The verse was written in a time when Germans longed to be a UNITED country in the 19th (!!) century and the verse expresses the fact that having A GERMANY or better a united country is more important for them than anything else !!
Unfortunately the verse was interpreted in a completely different sense as if Germany was more important or powerful than anything else/ any other country in the world !!
I'm with you here. This is a good example how the Nazi lens put on Germany, by both Germans and people outside of Germany, overshadows the past beyond the 3. Reich.
Exact! When the text was written a united Germany was an utopia! The then Germany were 39 different states! (one empire, five kingdoms,
one electorate, seven grand duchies, ten duchies, eleven principalities and four Reich-free cities) August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben wrote the text in 1841 on Helgoland, which was part of the UK that time.
But the Nazis misused the text and therefore the 1 and 2 verses of the text are forbidden nowadays.
Words always get reinterpreted, and mostly not with a good meaning/intention. See "Gutmensch". Or how about the totally innocent words when arranged in this way: "Blut und Boden"?
8:30 that translates to: "[those] who build bunkers, throw bombs."
I heard the "scrolling through the article to the bottom" is also a way to get more clicks onto the article. Not sure about the details, but basicly google looks how long you are on a website. If you click and close it immediatly, it assumes the website wasnt actually what you wanted, resulting in the website getting placed lower in the searches.
The writen note on the building says "wer Bunker baut wirft Bomben" wich means "who build bunkers drop bombs"
The writing on the building translates to "Who builds bunkers, drops bombs".
I think this report is really good. I don't understand all the dislikes.
The swastika is also a symbol of peace, harmony and wellbeing in Buddhism and often marks the location of Buddhist temples. So if you’ve seen one it might not necessarily be related to Nazis.
Yes, that word, doggedly, is well known. But then again I'm Canadian so...😊
Swastika is a religious symbol in hinduism (and buddhism). So maybe what you´ve seen was related to that.
I was in India last year and as a German it was so weird visiting a Hindu Temple and seeing the Swastika all over the place.
The question is, how old, and maybe what kind of building these Swastikas were in. Because the Nazi hanging cross or "Hakenkreuz", as we Germans call it, is from a religious symbol or from symbols of various religions where it's just a symbol for fortune and piece ironically. The Nazis however formed it into the ultimate symbol for power and antisemitism. In many south-east-asian countries and in India it still means luck and fortune
If History is forgotten, it will be repeated.
Brief explanation (7:07) of why they probably walked with torches :
On the "Tag der Machtergreifung" (January 30, 1933, Hitler was appointed Reich Chancellor on this day), a five-hour torchlight procession took place.
10:18 That instead of school for a day, I would definitely have said YES. Not just because no school, but also because of the meaning behind it
I've often googled and tried to research which countries are as open about their dark past as the Germans are! Which nations say yes, we have committed one or more genocides? I only keep coming back to one nation, Germany. In addition to the genocides from WW2, Germany has also admitted in 2021 the genocides from 1904 to 1908 against the African peoples of the Herero and the Nama. It took a very long time, but the Germans admitted it. One reason it took so long was that at that time, when the Germans had almost completely wiped out the Herero and the Nama, the term and the crime of genocide did not yet exist. This crime of genocide was only introduced after the Second World War. Could this be why all the nations that have committed genocides don't want to admit it? But then what about the nations that only committed their genocides afterwards? Why don't they admit it? They don't want it to be true, they deny it because they are cowards and because the truth hurts!!!
A lot has been said in previous comments I concur with but to have one comment totally off topic: a 14 year old being so fluid in English.
You Need to Watch „Weihnachten bei den hoppenstets“!
I also wonder why it was disliked that much. Besides the students cleaning the tomb stones that needs more explanation in my opinion.
I like that you look up things all over the video. As this is the way to gain knowledge without annoying studying.
I find it kind strange that they basically forced the kids to clean the grave stones of these force laborers. What kind of a lesson is that?
You can't tell me that the kids really have a choice to say no.
@@d34d10ck I found it also strange and never heard something like this as a German, but you can explain it maybe with: Those people back then suffered horribly and were killed - how am I complaining having to clean those stones for five minutes.
@@d34d10ck
I'd have killed for going on a field trip where I had to scrub 3 stone blocks in maybe 3h total. It's in no way hard work.
@@d34d10ck it's probably just part of the curriculum.
so just like you have to participate in gym or math class, the teacher takes the class one day of the year and you clean a few headstones.
it's not just manual labor, it's a history lesson. it teaches the kids about the past just like watching a movie or reading your history book.
Hello @Ryan, Im from germany and I like your vids! One thing about the german national hym. The hym was texted in a time period where germany was splitted in several states / kingdoms. In this time (1841) the french have plans to annex the left rhine bank. The author of the text - Fallersleben - mean that a united germany is more worth than any other little german kingdom. In this context you have to read the first verse of the hym „Deutschland, Deutschland über alles“. The first verse btw is not forbidden but not longer part of the official hymn. Many germans also did not know this fact. Sorry for my bad english. 😊
8:31 Who builds bunkers throws bombs
What you saw on the handrail of the staircase was not a swastika, but a meander pattern. It can be found everywhere in Greek and Roman buildings of antiquity - and therefore also on American buildings inspired by antiquity.
The word Swastika is Sanskrit. It has its origins in Hinduism and Buddhism. So maybe you saw a Swastika it on a Buddhist Temple. In these religions it is a talisman or lucky charm.
That was an interesting report by CBC News, very well made, very considerate.
About the question of the bell I'm quite torn. I can understand that people think that it's outrageous to keep it and particularly using it.
But then there's that other idea: relicts of the Nazi past are either monuments or placed in a museum. Many buildings have been removed which have been built in that era showing some characteristic architectural style (eg. town halls, administrative buildings, railway stations, schools, etc.). As a result there are very places left which can provide a bit of an impression of how the Third Reich tried to influence people with its appearance.
The more that period is moving away into the past the more difficult it'll become to experience that it was a reality, an era partly shaping everyday life of people back then. Architecture, art, music, media, cinema, theatre, ... everything was supposed to convey the greatness of everything German or Arian, the greatness of the ideology of Nationalsozialismus (*1) and the rule by the Führer (the Leader). That bell is an interesting example for that. Furthermore it's also an example that - at least initially - the churches, protestant and catholic, were officially quite welcoming towards the Nazi regime. That changed only in later times of that era - and only partly.
Providing information at a well visible place which explains the historic context of that bell of Herxheim could be a good reminder at its original setting about the reality of that era.
BTW, its existence is actually remarkable because during the last two years of WWII many bells were taken down to get recast to canons and other pieces of arms due to a shortage of resources and supply by international trade.
(*1) the term socialism contained in the name of the Nazi movement is a disguise. Even before taking power Hitler and his party was massively supported by business people and many persons of special influence - bankers, industrial tycoons, aristocrats, bishops, lawyers and judges and the like.
pausing , thinking and commenting ... That´s Reacting , You do You 👍👍👍👊
Its a “Hakenkreuz” (Nazi Swastika) and not a real Swastika a Swastika has a totally different meaning! It symbols luck and was found around 10.000 bc in asia und europe!
3:17 About what you saw: Could be meander patterns, google meander or meandros. It's a pattern that can be found in ancient architecture. In neoclassicism or other historicist art periods they imitated the Greeks, and thus also this pattern, sometimes. And since this all took place before the 1940s, no one had bat an eye on it.
Difficult topic - but nontheless important.
I´m proud that germany has found a way to deal with its dark past and tries to educate people and remind them, that that is something which should never be repeated. Especially now when the right corners are getting stronger in whole Europe. It is frightening to see Italy or the Netherlands willingly elect a rightist Government.
But, the video could have done better. Yes, jewish people where the largest group who was deportet to the concentration camps, one must not forget that the Third Reich deportet everyone who doesnt fit in there ideal world. Be it Roma, political oposers, homosexuals, people with disabillities, ones who doesnt fit in the ideal community or ones from other religions.
The way that you can see thes gruesome past everywhere is something other countries need to adapt (imo), because history tends to repeat itself if its getting forgotten.
The swastika is an ancient symbol the Nazis gave a bad name. The Finnish Air Force used the swastika until recently. They got tired of explaining it to perplexed foreigners so they abolished it. It is still present in some flags of the different units of the Air Force. There was an incident in Finland where our German guests refused to participate in a common exposure of flags, a parade of some sort, because the Finnish air force unit's flag was what it was. Well, Nazi symbols are banned in Germany and they do not wish to be associated with them in any way, but the Finnish Air Force and its symbols have nothing to do with Nazism. It wasn't nice of them, kind of egocentric as if it was all about them and their past, distorting even their view of others.
"but the Finnish Air Force and its symbols have nothing to do with Nazism"
Yeah nothing to do with Nazism aside from literally supporting nationalsocialism for the entire time it was allowed for.
I dont get why people cry that loud about germans being nazi but then completely ignore all the other countries and people that support it, there are literally people making parades for nationalsocialists to this day and no one cares because obviously honoring actual nationalsocialists is way less nazi than wanting a black rapist in germany to go to prison.
this village "Herxheim am berg" is just next to my hometown 😱
There is a difference between a swastika and a hakenkreuz, a Swastika has been a religious symbol for a long time and the hakenkreuz usuals is rotated a bit but it is weirde seeing that symbol anywhere in the wild no matter which
Hey Ryan,
you wonder about the 6.4 k dislikes?
These are political motivated dislikes.
19k likes against 6.4k dislikes. The war is still waging.
And this is the reason, why we never should forget and always remember.
oh Herxheim, only a few villages away from my hometown :D nice landscape there
12:40 "über alles" - "above everything"
In the context it just means "our country's the best, wouldn't want to be in any other" - which is the basic gist of every other anthem on the planet: "we're the bestest, have the bestest women and food and army and whatnot"
But when it's Germany doing it, people kneejerk.
you are right if you think there should be t in 'nazi'. bc it's german, abbreviation from 'nationalsozialisisch', it should be read as /natsi/, german z=ts, but written as it is. english language is no foreigner to some odd pronunciations, like, i think everybody says /lokh/ when they read scottish names with 'Loch' in them, not *lotsh? or frequent french words in english text get told as french, right? mostly. at least sometimes.
As a German, born in 1960, I have been very concerned with the crimes of my compatriots. And that is exactly the right way to be able to learn the lesson from it. What our ancestors have done is simply to embarrass others. A group of stupid and greedy drug addicts who had to take their lives out of fear of small children. They were also so cowardly that they don't even have that much courage to take responsibility for their keys. Unfortunately, the number of fools who want to have exactly this way of life again is becoming more and more. Therefore, the decent majority of our people should do everything to ensure that something like this should never again come from German soil. Viribus unitis, let us work together worldwide for a better and peaceful life. And there, as someone else, our Basic Law is also a basis. All people are equal...........
Well, the swastika is an Asian symbol of good luck and was sometimes used as such in the western world. The Nazis needed a symbol for their movement and then chose the swastika because the origin of this symbol is where the origin of the Aryan race was believed to be. So it was an Aryan symbol for them. They then opened up the swastika a bit so it looked a lot more dynamic. It is a myth that they also turned the swastika upside down. In fact, there were also swastikas that rotated clockwise and counterclockwise. Since the Second World War at the latest, the symbol has had a negative connotation throughout the Western world, while in Asia it has retained its original meaning.
you cannot be guilty for what happened but be responsible to make sure it never happens again.