Replies

I visited Leipzig in formerly East Germany in 2000. The guide I had one day on a tour of the city said that during Communist rule there everyone got to go to the opera free. She acted like she yearned for the good old days. They were a country in transition. She also complained that the allies bombed Dresden area during WWII. [It was a Nazi route] There were still anti American sentiments in 2000. Well, my dear tour guide, my uncle gave his life to free you and yours from Nazi rule, in a B17, 1944, still MIA. And Ronald Reagan said TEAR DOWN THIS WALL, echoing the sentiment of the FREE WORLD. I have a piece of that God forsaken wall. My father-in-law toured there, he was one of the first tour groups to pass through after the wall came down. He was able to go chip away part of the wall and keep it. I am happy to have a piece of the wall as a reminder of the DEEP DEEP EVIL THAT HUMANS CAN DO TO EACH OTHER!

Back under communism, the tour guides were all party members; you must have had a holdover. No sane, halfway intelligent Gerry would have made such a moronic statement. Even if East Germans had wanted to go to the opera, they didn't have the time. They spent every "free" minute waiting on endless lines for luxuries like bread. And once they'd gotten their bread, they had to rush home, so as not to break curfew.

I visited Dresden, which we firebombed, killing over 100,000 civilians in one night. Dresden is one of the few honest beefs they have with us, but after all they did, they have no business complaining about any other country's conduct in that war.