Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

As others mark World War One centenary, Germans prefer to forget
Reuters ^ | march 19, 2014 | Erik Kirschbaum

Posted on 03/20/2014 6:18:09 AM PDT by C19fan

A simple plaque marks the forsaken spot where the Red Baron was buried in central Berlin but hardly anyone stops to remember the flying ace shot down in 1918. For Germans, the Great War holds so little interest.

The centenary of the outbreak of World War One has caught Germany off guard, while Britain, France, the United States and others mark it with battlefield tours, television programs, exhibitions and plans for ceremonies on the day, in August.

Germans aren't sure how, or even if, they should commemorate a war that cost them 13 percent of their territory, all their colonies, huge reparations and 2.5 million lives. The government is under fire for its inactivity.

"Most Germans don't want to have anything to do with the militaristic past," said Stefan Scheybal, a mason who tends graves at the Invalids' cemetery where Manfred von Richthofen was buried, a plot of land now bisected by a busy cycle path.

(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: germany; great; war; wwi
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-47 next last
To: DuncanWaring

Probably the most touching ode to the calamity of that war, came from Lemmy, of Motorhead......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuRxjjcPgOo


21 posted on 03/20/2014 6:46:10 AM PDT by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: MuttTheHoople
I've been to Germany several times these past decades. I loved it.

My husband and I visited Russia in 2008. We BOTH agreed that Russia had a LONG way to go to catch up with the West. They WANT it but but not very much. They are SO used to doing what they want with no consequences. Oh well. Live and learn.

22 posted on 03/20/2014 6:53:34 AM PDT by cloudmountain
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: C19fan
You make my point for me.

Why would either Germany or Austria commemorate the beginning of their destruction?

Germany is being criticized here in the article, but Austria isn't.

23 posted on 03/20/2014 6:55:13 AM PDT by wideawake
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: wideawake

I think Hungary probably came out the very worst of the bunch.


24 posted on 03/20/2014 7:03:45 AM PDT by xp38
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: cloudmountain

I do believe at the end of the Cold War we should have had a “Marshall Plan” for Russia to get them on their feet.

Would have paid huge dividends down the road, and I think even Reagan would have supported the idea. But Clinton and Albright wanted to rub the Russians’ noses in it.

Now the Bear is back.


25 posted on 03/20/2014 7:06:45 AM PDT by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: RushIsMyTeddyBear

Baron von Richthofen is far better known in U.S. & Britain than in today’s Germany. To the Allies, he was the dashing enemy ace of aces, and a worthy opponent celebrated even by his foes. He was also Snoopy’s main adversary in comic & song. He is currently immortalized as a brand of pizza.

The Red Baron met his end when he chased a low flying British fighter plane over enemy lines (Australian). Bad move; every gun on the ground that could shoot was aimed at the brilliant scarlet triplane with Maltese crosses. A single machine gun bullet pierced his chest left to right & his plane pancaked into the ground.

The only remaining mystery is whether Richthofen was killed instantly or lived seconds longer to crash land his plane.


26 posted on 03/20/2014 7:10:51 AM PDT by elcid1970 ("In the modern world, Muslims are living fossils.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: MuttTheHoople
The end of the Great War showed how primitive and unsophisticated the so-called "sophisticated Euros" were. Instead of re-building Germany into a Parliamentary Republic that would be an anti-Bolshevik bulwark against Lenin and Stalin, France and England wanted payback.

France and England's method of peace lasted barely 20 years.

Here's an appropriate song:

Thanks for the Memory--Charlie & His Orchestra (c. 1941)

Thanks for the memory
In every German's mind, when you broke the ties that bind
And dictated a peace called the Treaty of Versailles
How rotten that was!

Thanks for the memory
Of British aims devine, French Negroes on the Rhine,
The food blockade and misery throughout the German Reich
What an injustice that was!

Many's the time that you feasted
And many's the time that we fasted.
For you, it was swell while it lasted.
You did have fun, but harm was done.

So, thanks for the memory.
It gives us strength to fight
For freedom and for right.
It might upset you, England,
That the Germans know how to fight
And hurt you so much.

27 posted on 03/20/2014 7:15:49 AM PDT by Fiji Hill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: xp38
The East Germans didn't have a picnic either.
28 posted on 03/20/2014 7:27:44 AM PDT by wideawake
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: elcid1970

Also known as the golden BB.


29 posted on 03/20/2014 8:01:32 AM PDT by DownInFlames
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: C19fan

Don’t forget the Franco-Prussian War.

The Frogs were spoiling for a fight for over 50 years after they got the “Atomic Wedgie” from the Krauts and lost Alsace-Lorraine ...

Set the stage for WWI. Treaty of Versailles punitive provisions set the stage for WWII.

Goddamn Frogs ...


30 posted on 03/20/2014 8:04:40 AM PDT by Lmo56 (If ya wanna run with the big dawgs - ya gotta learn to piss in the tall grass ...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeeSharp

I’m increasingly beginning to see it that way.


31 posted on 03/20/2014 8:10:59 AM PDT by Free Vulcan (Vote Republican! You can vote Democrat when you're dead...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: C19fan

I thought Von Richthofen had a huge mausoleum?


32 posted on 03/20/2014 8:19:03 AM PDT by Zionist Conspirator (The Left: speaking power to truth since Shevirat HaKelim.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeeSharp
The most important war in modern history.

And so overwhelmed by the shadow of World War II. There was a time back in the 70s when I sought out WWI veterans to speak to. They were all old men back then, and only one really gave me satisfaction.

33 posted on 03/20/2014 8:20:45 AM PDT by Zionist Conspirator (The Left: speaking power to truth since Shevirat HaKelim.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: wideawake
No one’s asking what Austria’s plans are?

It's Bulgaria's that I want to know about!

34 posted on 03/20/2014 8:22:35 AM PDT by Zionist Conspirator (The Left: speaking power to truth since Shevirat HaKelim.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Lmo56

Yep, look at any calamity, and usually the French planted the seeds......WWII, Vietnam, Rwanda....


35 posted on 03/20/2014 8:24:05 AM PDT by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator
Ah yes, the Treaty of Versailles—punishment. That is always such a successful strategy, isn’t it? (rhetorical)

We did the same to Russia, at the end of the Cold War, and now the chickens are coming home to roost.

That's funny. I don't recall a Versailles, and most certainly a Nuremberg, after the Cold War. If you ask me the Russians got away with it and a lot of the rulers today are identical to the ones back then.

I don't think Russia has paid anything for its crimes against humanity.

36 posted on 03/20/2014 8:25:57 AM PDT by Zionist Conspirator (The Left: speaking power to truth since Shevirat HaKelim.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

“The day not half over and ten thousand slain,”

And that’s putting it mildly.

Opening day of The Somme (1916) - 20,000 dead by lunchtime.


37 posted on 03/20/2014 8:26:27 AM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Zionist Conspirator
I don't think Russia has paid anything for its crimes against humanity.

So if you did make them "pay", what do you think that would accomplish?

38 posted on 03/20/2014 8:26:51 AM PDT by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: MuttTheHoople
It isn’t about payback, it’s about winning the war. By rebuilding and re-arming Germany after WW II, we helped turn them into a peaceful Parliamentary Republic (maybe too peaceful...now that we’ve shown them how to live at peace with their neighbors, I wouldn’t mind seeing them show some fight against possible threats from Russia).

Hmm. Maybe . . . but be careful what you wish for.

39 posted on 03/20/2014 8:27:33 AM PDT by Zionist Conspirator (The Left: speaking power to truth since Shevirat HaKelim.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator
I do believe at the end of the Cold War we should have had a “Marshall Plan” for Russia to get them on their feet.

Would have paid huge dividends down the road, and I think even Reagan would have supported the idea. But Clinton and Albright wanted to rub the Russians’ noses in it.

And just when did they do this?

40 posted on 03/20/2014 8:31:32 AM PDT by Zionist Conspirator (The Left: speaking power to truth since Shevirat HaKelim.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-47 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson