I’m only `Einvierterdeutsch’ myself. There was a time when I admired everything great & good about German culture especially music and I still regard the Nazis as hijackers & robbers. Guess I still believe in the best of Germany. I just wish more of today’s Germans did.
But as my Dad taught me, the more you know, the more you realize how little you know (this while I was being told to study hard & get good grades. Didn’t make sense then.)
I’m older now & I have to concentrate my diminishing intelligence on the only society I ever grew up in - America. In over a century Germany hasn’t found its soul yet IMO and the solution would seem so simple - turn back to Christian traditions. Maybe the Muslim threat will finally awaken der Deutschen Volk and remind them that their roots & rock & bulwark is no further away than the nearest Bible.
Where is the modern Pastor Niemoeller?
“their roots & rock & bulward ARE no further away...”
Quatsch!
“Where is the modern Pastor Niemoeller?”
Exactly. It would be so simple...God. The strong, brilliant German race—as bullheaded and stubborn as they are, needs a firm upbringing immersed in God with the Judeo-Christian Ethics. Pastor Bonhoeffer, I recently read the biography by Metaxas, was a brilliant, wonderful person who stood up to the evil Nazis also.
Hitler’s father treated him very cruelly, actually kicking him like he was a dog when he was a young boy. Pastor Bonhoeffer’s family was extremely supportive of their young children and Ms. Bonhoeffer only allowed tutors—never allowing her children to attend the Prussian school system until after ages 7 and 8. She stated that two things break the Germans-—the schools and the military. (We adopted the Prussian school system BTW, which the Bonhoeffers hated. )
But it was Nietzsche and the German Postmodernists in the 1800’s who thought they could go beyond Good and Evil-—and get rid of God after years of Lutheranism and Christianity. It really was a catastrophe in Germany and the ideology swept God almost completely out of all of Europe.
If you look at the “barbaric” Germans prior to their Christianization-—they were pretty brutal then, also. It was Christianity which gave such beauty and organization to the Germans who created such brilliant music and authors like Goethe. Same with the Russians. Without Christianity, there never would have been a Dostoevsky.
I received my degree in Art so have studied much Western Art. I have been to parts of Germany and seen the Roman ruins in Trier, but also the absolutely beautiful cathedrals and the countryside with little towns—houses surrounding a church with a steeple. And the wooden toys in the shops etc. Italy is beautiful also—all because of Christianity and that glorification of God. I climbed up the Dome in Florence recently-—and saw the wonder of Brunelleschi’s genius-—only because of Christianity.
That constant search for Truth and something greater than self —and the command to glorify God and treat others as you would yourself-—is a perfect way for any society to flourish. It should be obvious to anyone.