German History. Shhhh. Don't talk about it.

Whenever I am home in Minnesota, I have a certain routine. Wake up early, do errands with dad, have some sort of activity for the day. Dinner is at 5:30, and it consists of whatever you can catch or kill (a.k.a. sandwiches, cereal, eggs, or chicken.) After dinner we watch TV. I lay on big comfy chair, dad on the couch. He naps (and snores) while we watch the news, the Simpsons, Family Guy, and then the History Channel. Mom usually comes up during the History Channel portion, stops the dishwasher and spends 5 or 10 minutes making tons of noise moving the dishes around so they'll get the cleanest. Of course, the water is running in the sink this whole time. I realize she's being nice, but after two or three minutes I'll start saying, "shhhhh Mooomm! We're watching the History Channel!" To which she'll reply, "Oh really? What's it about?"

My answer is always the same. It's about WWII. Could be about German aircraft vs. Allied aircraft, the war in northern Africa, Stalin and Hitler's relationship, or the Pacific front. But it is always a program about WWII. I have a few theories as to why this is:

1. This period in history was the last time that America was seen as "glorious." The whole world loved us. We came and fought for a cause that saved Europe from having German as their official language. We exposed the horrors that happened under the Nazi regime. We were attacked at Pearl Harbor, and fought back to victory that truly benefited the world. Since then, our reputation has deteriorated. We have started to fight wars with no clear enemy, so there can be no clear victory. The Cold War, The War on Terror, The War on Drugs, The War on Poverty... we spent the 50's and 60's using Korea and Vietnam as puppets for our conflicts with Russia. We killed tens of thousands of people solely because they didn't use the same political system that we did. Communism is Evil! Democracy is Right! After that, a series of wars were fought in the middle east for oil. No matter what the political rhetoric may say, they were all fought for oil. We are no longer glorious. People abroad truly hate our government and way of life. I've gotten teased for Bush's speeches, foreign policies, and domestic policies. I've gotten dirty looks for saying I'm American (not often, but it happens.) People wonder why we don't recycle, don't have smaller cars, don't clean our rivers. I don't know. But what I do know is that in the 1930's and 1940's, we were the good guys. And we like to hear stories about when we were the heroes.

2. This is not as strong of a theory, but I figured I'd give the History Channel the benefit of the doubt. It could be that they broadcast programs about WWII every night after 7pm because it was an interesting time in history. The combination of factors that allowed Hitler to come to power and eventually lose the war are unique. If a few things had gone slightly differently, the whole outcome would have changed. So yes, it could be interesting. It could also be for business reasons - the History Channel's target segment is older. They demand programs about stuff they've been through. Older people either fought in the war or it was a significant part of their childhood. This part doesn't really ring true to me, because most vets from WWII have died, and their children were too young to remember it and fought instead in Vietnam. Also, while it was an interesting time in history, it definitely isn't the most exciting. Go back a few hundred more years and you get into medieval times... that shit was nuts.

Thomas told me it is irritating when someone from America says, "Oh Germany! Yeah... Hitler... right?" Things like the History Channel perpetuate this ignorance by only reporting on one aspect (a dark aspect) of their history. Yes, it was important. Yes, it was horrible. But there are other things in German history that are important and worth knowing.

I went into a bookstore a couple of weeks ago and saw a special section about German history. Even though it was in a central place in the store, I noticed people took special paths to walk around it. I was clearly the only person who walked past it and picked up a book. The lady working the cash register, who was so talkative with the people ahead of me in line, wouldn't even look at me when I bought a book about the gestapo. I already mentioned the reaction I got when I accidentally called the German National Anthem "Deutschland über alles." Wide eyes, gasp, and a hushed explanation about why I should never, ever call it that. Later, I was explaining that my Spanish sucks now and I'm ashamed of it because my Spanish teacher was a complete Nazi about grammar.

Shit. Bad choice of words.

When she bought a car in Frankfurt, Sara had to pick letters for her license plate. The man helping her said that most people use their initials to make it easy to remember. She said okay, lets use SS. Sara Stephenson. The man told her he couldn't do it. She wanted to know why not.
"Did someone else already pick it?"
"No."
"Then why couldn't I use my initials?"
"Because you can't."
"But you said I could use my initials."
The man, whose English was very broken, simply replied with "HITLER!" and did the Nazi salute, just to make sure she got the point.

I have made it a point to try and stay away from these topics with people I've met in Germany. It is a touchy subject, to say the least. After the last soccer game, Thomas explained to me that it is finally okay to be proud of Germany again. Germans had been importing culture from other places for the last sixty years. They listened to American music and watched American movies. I didn't understand why. Yes, it was a very dark time in their history. But that is not the current generation's fault. He can't be blamed for what Hitler did any more than I can be held accountable for the settlers' systematic destruction of Native American land, slavery, or the horrible racism that continued into the 1960's and 1970's.

To be fair, my ancestors lived in Minnesota, so they never had any part in the slave trade. And my family with the Schells brewery was historically kind to the Native Americans, so New Ulm was one of the only towns in Southern Minnesota to be spared from the Indian wars. But still. These were very, very dark times in our history. I don't know anybody today who has given up American movies and music because of our horrible deeds in the past. Genocide is not something that was invented in the 1940's. The Russians have done it, Africans are doing it, and the middle east is a mess that is impossible to sort out. Every history is violent. That does not make violence excusable. However, it is interesting to me that every country has done something horrible, but Germans are the only ones teaching their schoolchildren that they are personally responsible for their country's wrongdoings. Yes, at six years old, they are personally accountable for the attempted destruction of a race of people.

That makes no sense to me.

So, each week I will be posting something about German history that has nothing to do with either of the "situations" they started in the last century. It will be like ABC's Person of the Week, except I'll probably do it on Mondays and I'm definitely not as cool as Charlie Gibson. Germany has done some bad things but they have also done some great things.

Watch out, kiddos - this is stuff you won't find on the History Channel.


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