Posted on 11/26/2005 2:05:37 AM PST by baystaterebel
BERLIN -- A multimillion-dollar campaign to boost Germans' low self-confidence has backfired after it emerged that its slogan was coined by the Nazis. The $34 million "Du Bist Deutschland -- You Are Germany" -- campaign was devised to inspire Germans to stop moaning and do something good for their country. Beethoven, Einstein and the sports stars Franz Beckenbauer and Michael Schumacher have been cited in advertisements encouraging Germans to take more pride in their homeland. But a historian from Ludwigshafen has provoked an uproar with his discovery that the same "Du Bist Deutschland" cry was used at Nazi rallies in the 1930s.
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
What? You better come here and learn how we teach our history! And while you are on it, try and check the Japanese schoolbooks. Wonder what you´ll find about the time 1932-1945?
This has a very German sound to it. To the predations of Stalin against his own people, you are glad that the predations of Hitler were added. That's cold dude.
"Kraft durch Freude".
Thanks for not saying "Arbeit macht frei."
Germans unleashes and uncovered their identity then, and now they're being careful. They're not as nice with Brits, taunting them "that they would have lost had it not been for America".
Germans will be nice here and treat others like dogs if they can get away with it.
Just "don't mention the war!" :)
"Schaudenfraude" would work don't you think? It does for me.
Read post #38 and 40.
Cudda been worse. Cudda been, "Arbeit Macht Frei!"
I sent the German embassy an e-mail:
"I like weiner schnitzel."
Hope that makes them feel better.
If I remember German 1.01 it's "Du bist Frankfurter." (In any case, isn't the nominative singular masculine form of "ein", "ein", not "einer?") Nationalities and regional affliations don't (generally) take indefinite articles. I was told that, "Ich bin ein Berliner." was ungrammatical or comical. Comical in that "Berliner" is a kind of pastry. It sounds like he was saying, "I'm a doughnut."
Most younger Germans tell me "Ich bin Berliner" is ok, but that may be because the phrase is so famous it has been granted an unconscious grammatical loophole.
I am familiar with the German National Anthem.
What's hilarious about this is that all over Europe (and England, to a large extent) Americans are looked down up and derided and blasted as stupid cowboys and hillboys for mostly one reason: their patriotism.
Americans are about the only people on earth who are brought up to love their country and be "proud to be an American."
This is a great strength. It is what gives up resiliency in hard times. It is what makes us get up and fight for our homeland.
After the bombings in London, an English writer recounted how he and his family had been on vacation in America the summer before and how they had been amazed that everywhere they went, they saw ordinary people, not arrogant, not imperial--but ordinary people who, OUT OF LOVE, flew the American flag, put stickers on their cars, wore t-shirts that said "Proud to be an American," etc.
He said at first they were aghast at this display of patriotism, but the longer they were here, the more they realized it was just IRREPRESIBLE LOVE OF COUNTRY.
He remarked that never in a million years would he expect to see his countrymen just decide to fly the British flag outside their home one day because of love of country.
His point was this: Europeans look down on America's patriotism, but lack of patriotism in Europe left it (on several different levels) extremely vulnerable to the Islamofascists.
Also this reminds me of being in Germany back in the 1980's. I saw a political campaign poster that was about the need for more taxes etc. and the slogan was "How much freedom do you need?"
What it meant was: can't you spare some of your personal freedom to be a good socialist/communist?
Perhaps,it should be:(with apologies to the better German speakers out there)
Deutschlanders ist alles eine weiner im meine buchen!
(Germans are all weiners in my book!)
Chuckling...
Obviously and sadly, many others here (and elsewhere) aren´t. Don´t feel lectured, the others should.
Have a nice weekend!
Ehm, aha. Ja, dann, dankeschön. Für diese Beleidigung gibt´s eine passende Antwort: Hab ich was von Kuchen gesagt, dass sich die Krümel zu Wort melden??
There´s another reason: the "jelly-filled doughnut" is called Berliner only in the western regions of Germany. In the South, it´s called "Krapfen", and in the East (where Berlin is located), it´s "Pfannkuchen". I remember that when I was a child, I read a sticker in my bakery, showing the typical "Berliner" saying "Ich bin ein Berliner". Of course, I didn´t understand the double meaning and was wondering why that phrase should be so special or funny.
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