I have been. Last time was 10 years ago. There is a huge divide between country/small town and big city. Small towns were insular but tolerant of strangers. (I am of German extraction so I didn’t stick out as long as I kept my mouth shut.) In this they are like Pennsylvania small towns that have not been over run by foreigners. Big cities in Germany are now no longer German in the way London is no longer English.
Since my last visit was 10 years ago—I can bet the divide between country/small town on the one hand and the big city is even greater than it was 10 years ago—as it is in England and the USA.
The Germans these days are a severely abused people —as are the English. They are abused by foreigners their liberal elites have let into the country. And they are abused by their liberal elites policies. Just as people in blue states in the USA are abused by liberal policies—and abused by foreigners the elites have let into the country.
I can guess that if you’re an American but, say, of Jewish extraction, you’ll feel the bad vibes in German downtowns that come from Muslim hatred for Jews. If you go to German small towns—you may well feel the bad vibes from the local resentment for all things foreign—or you may not be able to tell where your own resentment ends and German resentment begins. Nor well understand either one because they are so impersonal and structural.
I was last there in 1995. I found the city dwellers to be angry and repressed. The food sucked, the dangers would throw your plate down and you couldn’t get a decent wine. In the small towns the people were friendlier, the food sucked and you couldn’t get a decent wine. 😉
True story. My BIL who was stationed with the state dept in Frankfurt and I went into Aldis to grocery shop. Nobody was talking everyone was totally silent. At one point some poor woman had her cart in the way of a man and he never said a word but just erupted and smashed his cart into hers pushing it out of the way and he traveled on down the aisle. The lady never said a word and just moved on. My BIL looked at me and said “welcome to Germany”.
Then we go to the check out line and we’re waiting our turn. Its obvious the check out girl is having problems with her machine. Again its totally quiet in the line. As we get closer my BIL says “ watch she’s getting ready to blow”. Sure enough a minute later this girl who has never said a word erupts and starts smashing her checkout machine with her fist. Everyone just stands there while she obliterated this adding machine. It was one of the most bizarre grocery events ever. We still laugh about occasionally.
Then we left and went to France where people were friendly, the food was great and so was the wine. 😉
Not our problem.
We need to pull out of NATO.
Eventually, we may have to deal with the Islamist UK with nuclear weapons.