While I disagree with the person you’re responding to because I find it honestly a little bit disgusting to equate the population of Germany with big German corporations (no, BMW is not “the Germans”), it is true that Germany has historically had a blind spot for capitalist Nazi collaboration (and so has the US, by the way!).
Cory Doctorow wrote a great piece about this topic a few weeks ago. Really recommend reading it if what you’ve always heard is how well Germany does with its history.
I visited several concentration camps in different countries with my school (not mandatory on curriculum; but visiting Auschwitz is something that really brings home the horrors and that’s why the school offers it to older students (together with psychological staff))
I learned about Nazi-History for 2, maybe 3 years in school.
Therefore I can say that in general we are not afraid to learn/teach about the time; to prevent that it happens again (which seemingly didn’t work as a significant parts goes towards the right again… but I digress)
That said: There was never a focus on german companies. Sure, here and there you will find some references and images as a sidenote in a school history book; but nothing that was talked about long enough to got stuck in my brain.
So I wouldn’t deny that some of us are a bit blind in regards to the still-running businesses that were involved with the nazis. And if someone brings it up it’s often just dismissed with sth. alike “Well, at that time you had to cooperate with the nazis or ceise to exist”.
But saying we’re “uncomfortable” about the history is wrong in the way it was said; sure, we (at least those with my opinion) are not proud of what happened and it’s not our favorite topic, but it’s not like we just pretend it never happened
While I disagree with the person you’re responding to because I find it honestly a little bit disgusting to equate the population of Germany with big German corporations (no, BMW is not “the Germans”), it is true that Germany has historically had a blind spot for capitalist Nazi collaboration (and so has the US, by the way!).
Cory Doctorow wrote a great piece about this topic a few weeks ago. Really recommend reading it if what you’ve always heard is how well Germany does with its history.
Can confirm this.
I visited several concentration camps in different countries with my school (not mandatory on curriculum; but visiting Auschwitz is something that really brings home the horrors and that’s why the school offers it to older students (together with psychological staff))
I learned about Nazi-History for 2, maybe 3 years in school.
Therefore I can say that in general we are not afraid to learn/teach about the time; to prevent that it happens again (which seemingly didn’t work as a significant parts goes towards the right again… but I digress)
That said: There was never a focus on german companies. Sure, here and there you will find some references and images as a sidenote in a school history book; but nothing that was talked about long enough to got stuck in my brain.
So I wouldn’t deny that some of us are a bit blind in regards to the still-running businesses that were involved with the nazis. And if someone brings it up it’s often just dismissed with sth. alike “Well, at that time you had to cooperate with the nazis or ceise to exist”.
But saying we’re “uncomfortable” about the history is wrong in the way it was said; sure, we (at least those with my opinion) are not proud of what happened and it’s not our favorite topic, but it’s not like we just pretend it never happened