Vergangenheitsbewältigung

[Jona Lendering]

And once again I am impressed at the depth of knowledge, experience and civility of our Forum.

Funny, I wanted to say exactly the same: that this Forum is really a serious place, where grown up people can discuss serious subjects without the usual online ranting.

[Tiberius Clodius Corvinus]

Yes, good and interesting discussion indeed.

[Decius]

As Decius points out "...and to award iron crosses as medals again , don't know, it doesn't feel right for me. don't know how to explain, it's just a feeling." I doubt he is alone in this feeling.

Well, but I think it could be part of a more critical West-German attitude (not to be meant as insult!!!) towards military ... I'm from former East-Germany and there we're used to military ceremonies, bestowal of medals and uniforms (police & army) that we're pretty much the same as in the Third Reich.

... Really strange the ambivalence of the GDR looking back :?

this could be true, yeah.

[Jona Lendering]

As Decius points out "...and to award iron crosses as medals again , don't know, it doesn't feel right for me. don't know how to explain, it's just a feeling." I doubt he is alone in this feeling.

Well, but I think it could be part of a more critical West-German attitude (not to be meant as insult!!!) towards military ... I'm from former East-Germany and there we're used to military ceremonies, bestowal of medals and uniforms (police & army) that we're pretty much the same as in the Third Reich.

... Really strange the ambivalence of the GDR looking back :?

this could be true, yeah.

A confusion that has at least one beneficial result: historical debate in Germany is of a much higher quality than in other countries. Handbooks of historical theory, in which the nature of hermeneutics and the comparative-causal explanatory model are explained, nearly always refer to debates related to modern, German history, like the Historikerstreit. Every nation has its own type of history - the British excel in biography, the French are the most literature-minded, the Germans are by far the most thoughtful.

[Decius]

yes. and I find it very important to not stop discussing, thinking, talking about the things that happended in "my" country and the consequences that followed.

"niemals vergessen"