[Michael81Dus]

Re: Deutschland-Song:
While the third stanza is currently used as the German National Anthem, the first stanza has since been omitted. Originally it was a call for Germans to place their allegiance in a unified Germany instead of the numerous kingdoms and principalities constituting the German Confederation. However, the lyrics "über alles in der Welt" ("above everything in the world") were abused by the Nazis during their rule and are still misinterpreted today, both within and outside of Germany, as encouraging German rule over other nations, instead of encouraging Germans to rise above petty particularism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_songs#The_National_Anthem_of_pre-1945_Germany

[Petronski]

Thanks for that.

Very few Americans understand that it was a call to consider oneself German, rather than merely Bavarian or Prussian or Hessian etc. Only Hitler perverted the understanding of it, as he did with so many other things.

[Cronos]

Forget it, I'm sick of comparing the Germany of today to the NAzis -- Germany's so far away from that they're like two different countries on two different planets. We've forgiven the Frenchies for the Napoleonic wars, it's time to stop blaming current Germans for the sins of their forefathers, 60 years is long enough (though mind you, yesterday was the 90th anniversery of the start of the battle of the Somme and there is only one survivor of that battle still alive, so both WWI and WWII are slowly fading into the history books == to be forgiven but not forgotten.