Yeah but facts like that hurt Germans too much, they get all uncomfortable about history.
They want all that profit and tech, but no shame about how it was obtained
This is not at all a view that is based in reality, Germany has made it mandatory in their curriculum to learn about the atrocities committed by the Nazis in the war and bring the schools to concentration camps to drive home the depravity of their history.
What a bullshit take. Germany is noted for how they have handled their history, in stark contrast to Japan who do not acknowledge the atrocities they committed and shy away from public knowledge of them.
Iirc I’m pretty sure they haven’t apologized for all the horrible shit Unit 731 did to the Chinese and actively go out of their way to pretend stuff like the Rape of Nanking never happened.
I normally would say to look them up, but this one of the rare cases that I would say to do so if you can stomach reading some of the most disgusting shit.
When I was doing history in Year 11 & 12 (junior and senior?) I had this incredibly strict, serious teacher. He was known throughout the school for his intensity, and his lack of tolerance for bullshit. When we covered the Rape of Nanking, he had gone through and sharpied out a paragraph on a handout. He told us that he wouldn’t normally try to shield his students from a part of history, but that this particular part was incredibly distressing.
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
How many executives and shareholders were convicted for their crimes? Did any profits get dislodged? Seems like people who benefit front these crimes are still holding nice bags of profits and assets.
Also, you glossed over how BMW and other corps would import slaves to work their factories. Do they teach that in German schools or just topics in vogue like camps?
That’s not true at all, Germans make a big effort in remembering what they did and making sure it keeps being remembered.
As opposed to my country, Italy, where the attitude after the fall of Mussolini was “uh, oh well”.
Let’s just not talk about it was very common practice for like 40 years after the war in Germany, too. But today it’s a totally different story (luckily). Can’t be remembered enough especially when looking at the political directions the western world is heading to right now…
this reads like a joke, it’s so far from what i see from germans and germany.
