So are we mentioning the war or what?
While all my fanclub in Trinidad and Tobago impatiently waits for the second part to my story of Bernard the Booze Barrel, I give you a sequel to my last 'article' type post on German postwar politics.
The picture posted above is a different spin on what I was saying in my last post regarding the utter stupidity of English fans visiting Germany in the run-up to the World Cup this summer.
This article:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006060530,00.html
is a brilliant illustration of the shinanigans which will arise from England fans visiting Germany with the intention of riling them up. The German authorities have taken a very hard line on any references to 'the war', including goose-stepping a la John Cleese. The English will inevitably toe the line in every possible way just to see how far they can take things.
What I am wondering is whether they might actually be right to do so, in a completely ignorant, and rather warped way. The Germans have become very complacent about being a politically aware (correct?) group of people, and are very quick to assume that because they support or condemn something that therefore means the evils of it don't affect them.
Take the advertisement pictured above. A very Aryan young man is pictured naked from the waist up, donning an obnoxious (and rather stupid, let's be frank) hat which shows his support for the German team. The woman on his right is also naked from the waist up, and is clearly miffed by her Teutonic neighbour. The suggestion is evidently that Germany has just scored one over Brazil (the sexual innnuendo starts already with bog standard football terminology) and that the woman has had to grudgingly acknowledge the superiority of the German team as well as her neighbour's taunts.
The caption, however, puts a different spin on it altogether. It literally translates as
"Germany will be the master of the world! Want to bet?"
Perhaps I'm a little oversensitive to the political context when reading this, but doesn't it ring a little uncomfortably in German ears? I asked my girlfriend, who is German, what she makes of the caption. To her it is a stupid ad, and she wouldn't think twice about it. Nobody else I have asked seems as disturbed as myself at the undertones here. I repeat, it says Germany will be the master of the world.
While the German authorities spend their time thinking up the appropriate penalties for a pissed Cockney who decides to goose-step his way out of the stadium (and that will be interesting in court: in what way does goose-stepping consitute incitement to racial hatred?), they are doing fairly little on their own doorstep. While the ad above is an amusing quip at the German ability to turn a blind eye to stupid, insensitive parts of its media, the Nazi march in Stuttgart last week was less amusing. The joint parties which assembled in this city which still has parts under reconstruction from the 1940s, scared the bejesus out of locals by assembling thousands under Nazi banners here.
Can Germans really afford to whitewash their political conscience with good intentions and cast the first stone at those who dare to laugh?
posted by chienchaud @ 9:56 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
I turned up here in the hope of finding some healthy discussion and yet I find at first glance that I am largely in agreement with you. Most disappointing...:-)
It is indeed worrying to think just how my compatriots will behave during the forthcoming world cup - I have already made my advance apologies to the residents of Cologne a couple of weeks ago and am now planning to avoid Germany - a country I love to bits - until the dust has settled. Having said that though, on the whole we seemed to be good guests in Portugal and Japan, so perhaps all is not lost...
Regarding the advert - like your girlfriend I interpreted it as a silly ad, clearly in reference to football - Weltmeister in relation to the Weltmeisterschaft. Looking a little deeper perhaps, the lady could be equally miffed by ridiculous behaviour of her neighbour as by the football. Can you really imagine someone wearing a had like that and with that half-crazed expression being in charge of the world? Or even for that matter, winnng a football match...?
What follows below is a bit of an aside from your post, though not entirely unrelated.
The German people I know are apologetic about the past to the point of obsession - in so many cases a conversation with mild reference to the war (the architecture of Coventry say) meets the comment "Wir waren schuld daran". And yet the English media rub their faces in it. Most people connected with that unfortunate chapter in European history are either dead or very old. So why do we continue to hark back to the past? I don't feel the need to have a dig at my office colleague, whose grandfather is buried in a British army cemetery in India. Do I have the right to complain that the army in which this gentleman served locked up my great uncle for the sole crime of demonstrating for the right to have self determination in his own country...? Off course not - my office mate had nothing to do with it. And in the same way, we shouldn't make references to the two world wars.
The competition is about football, not racial superiority - and I hope it stays that way. Teasing and banter - yes please. Offensive gestures, symbols and pointless reference to the past, no thanks...
And just when/where does teasing and banter cross the line into offensiveness? And of course, who draws that line?
That picture in this post was a case in point - it may be unacceptable to David, but just something to be dismissed and shrugged off by others.
Agree with you many Germans seem extremely apologetic about past politics, but sometimes I wonder if this is a knee jerk reaction. To just wrap oneself in a mantle of guilt, but not actively engage with the issues anymore, using the apologies as a way to ward off having to engage anymore. But this is just a thought/wondering, not an accusation.
Lisa.
Good point Lisa.
The recent controversy regarding a selection of badly drawn cartoons springs to mind, not to mention the conviction of David Irving in Austria...
Vivek! I hadn't been to the blog in a while only to find you here! What an unexpected little gift to brighten up my GCSE-laden weekend.
I agree entirely that the Germans are apologetic almost to the point of absurdity over WWII. But my point was pretty close to Lisa's far more eloquent response. The guilt seems to be a way to avoid dealing with the real issues.
In the staffroom of our school last week, I dared to raise the issue of the infrastructures the Nazis set up here, and how they have had huge social benefits since the war. This was part of a discussion on history and how it is taught/discussed in school. I was making the point that German politics will be far healthier when a German could discuss the positives of the Third Reich (scientific advancement, social infrastructure, the sense of unity in the country...) without being charged with supporting the Nazis. But indeed, the trauma is all too raw for some.
I'd love to have your feedback on this blog, whenever you choose to drop in. It's great to hear from you!!
Indeed, Lisa very kindly provided me with the link. Good to re-establish contact. More than happy to contribute the odd comment to the blog now and then...
Hope you (and the rest of the mob) are all well - you can find my e-mail address on the Dunelm.org.uk website (or alternatively ask Lisa) - would be good to catch up again.
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