How Do German Schools Teach About WWII?

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  • Опубліковано 24 гру 2024

КОМЕНТАРІ • 24 тис.

  • @TodayIFoundOut
    @TodayIFoundOut  4 роки тому +3568

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    • @worri3db3ar
      @worri3db3ar 4 роки тому +22

      After watching this it, now has me curious about how colonial countries/states taught history during colonialism and after said country/state change how they teach their country/state's history.

    • @dedmanzombie
      @dedmanzombie 4 роки тому +19

      Very interesting I've wondered what it was like and you gave great insight to that cause well here in America I feel it's very opposite we always portray ourselves as the great victor who stops all tyranny goin on
      As an American though I don't agree while our involvement in many a conflict has most likely stopped many a horrible thing from continuing i think all global powers need to really get together to make the world a much better place no one is better than anyone else we all bleed red and we all need to come together to make the short time we currently have to make things great for the ones to come and tbh we've done a terrible job
      Bring peace to all you encounter and share in the joy that is real humanity

    • @nxj18xbmc
      @nxj18xbmc 4 роки тому +6

      "Plethora" means an overabundance or "too much." You probably would be better off using the word "myriad," even though the original definition of "plethora" has been diluted over the years. You have the power to stop the dilution and maintain the different meaning of the two words!

    • @thetruthwillout9094
      @thetruthwillout9094 4 роки тому +9

      History, no matter how bad, should never be brushed under the carpet or changed. We can not change history. How are we supposed to learn from our mistakes otherwise? I wish the left would realise this.

    • @rockylewis5218
      @rockylewis5218 4 роки тому +4

      I have a question for a video... how/why did 'The Nutcracker Suite' by Tchaikovsky come to be so closely associated with Christmas?

  • @Wufgang
    @Wufgang 4 роки тому +17344

    I went through the german school system and i can say, this is quite accurate. I do however disagree a bit on the "original sin" point. We were never told that what happened is in any way our fault or even really related to us. What was strongly implied however was that it is our "duty" to make sure nothing like that ever happens again.

    • @creativedesignation7880
      @creativedesignation7880 4 роки тому +1714

      True. There was no talk of sin at all, rather of resposibility. The responsibility of our teachers to inform us about what had happened and by extension not allowing for this history to be forgotten, aswell as our collective resposibility not repeat what our ancestors did.

    • @ShadowKueken
      @ShadowKueken 4 роки тому +826

      Yeah, its not "our fault" , its always "our responsibility"

    • @lenkacfk7155
      @lenkacfk7155 4 роки тому +378

      When did you attend school? I went from 1980-93, and back then, they still made us feel a little guilty about the Nazi-regime. It was also often used in politics, by other countries trying to get Germany to make concessions by pulling the Nazi card... Attitudes changed a lot after the reunification, I think.

    • @Wufgang
      @Wufgang 4 роки тому +360

      @@lenkacfk7155 i finished in 2016 (i think lol) and i didnt really feel like they were trying to guilt trip us. Might have been different back then.

    • @MrMyzel
      @MrMyzel 4 роки тому +170

      @@Wufgang yeah today the schools also focus a little more on what the germans went through before the nazis. it's no surprise to me, that they wanted revenge and domination.

  • @Hobbyimker
    @Hobbyimker 4 роки тому +48427

    As a German who went trough the German school system, I can say: The video is quite on point, well done.

    • @LadyNikitaShark
      @LadyNikitaShark 4 роки тому +565

      At what age do you start to learn about that part of history?

    • @IksEnwie
      @IksEnwie 4 роки тому +1177

      9 - Age 14/15 is holocaust. i think the whole timeperiod including ww1 is starting 8th(maybe 7) class. but in the 9th class you mostly only have WW2 in historyclass

    • @bort_1265
      @bort_1265 4 роки тому +706

      @@LadyNikitaShark if I remember correctly, I was 13 when the NS regime was first thought in school.
      Should be grade 7 or 8. Many schools will do trips to concentration camps when the students are older

    • @Blackstaralpha
      @Blackstaralpha 4 роки тому +282

      @@LadyNikitaShark As this is rather recent history its taught later in school - for me (Realschule) around the age of 15. It's not just history class though we also read books in German lessons (my German teacher was also my histrory teacher so I am not sure how universal this is :_))

    • @howzeman
      @howzeman 4 роки тому +235

      ​@@LadyNikitaShark as soon as we learned reading, we red a book about it elementary school. I think it was 2nd or 3rd grade. The book is called Damals war es Friedrich. It's a book about two boys growing up in Nazi Germany, one being a jew.

  • @francis7336
    @francis7336 4 роки тому +13746

    "How do German schools teach about WWII?"
    Me, a German: Interesting question, let's find out

    • @fabi3790
      @fabi3790 4 роки тому +413

      When you forgot everything you learnt in school so we have to watch this video
      I mostly remember that we were though about the cold war and the differences between east and west germany etc
      Idk what exactly we learned about the wars
      But I remember that almost every student teached himself something so everyone could say something

    • @shiro4833
      @shiro4833 4 роки тому +18

      Same

    • @000CherryBlossom000
      @000CherryBlossom000 4 роки тому +129

      Unser Lehrer hat jahrelang nur WW2 durchgenommen und ich konnte es irgendwann nicht mehr hören :/

    • @Oncer_Soldier_
      @Oncer_Soldier_ 4 роки тому +6

      Same xD

    • @Oncer_Soldier_
      @Oncer_Soldier_ 4 роки тому +31

      @@000CherryBlossom000 ich musste zweimal durch. Einmal in der Mittelstufe und einmal in der Oberstufe

  • @daisho509
    @daisho509 Рік тому +1225

    Crazy to think that I hated sitting through lectures like this in school, but as an adult when I actually WANT to learn things, it's the most fascinating thing on the planet.

    • @kesenex2883
      @kesenex2883 Рік тому +150

      Its more like its fun to learn on our own terms and not being forced to by an education system

    • @toooydoeur
      @toooydoeur Рік тому +14

      THATS WHAT IM SAYING

    • @trav_dakiller8969
      @trav_dakiller8969 Рік тому +14

      As a freshman nah UA-cam just makes it better becuase you are not forced to do it it’s hard to explain and I love learning about history and etc also we get to choose what to learn about not have a schedule for when and how

    • @fruitlandgrizzly
      @fruitlandgrizzly Рік тому +28

      Most schools do a very poor job and making information engaging

    • @trav_dakiller8969
      @trav_dakiller8969 Рік тому +3

      @@fruitlandgrizzly 📠

  • @MrMielten
    @MrMielten 3 роки тому +5971

    I am a German History teacher and I focus on two things mainly: a) the events and flaws which led to Hitler's chancellorship and how he managed to turn a democracy into a dictatorship (to make them aware of the dangers democracy may face in the future) and b) the Holocaust (how ordinary people could turn into heartless killers)

    • @MrMielten
      @MrMielten 3 роки тому +108

      @MR.random57 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤪🤪🤪

    • @gigirigips
      @gigirigips 3 роки тому +67

      Do you also teach kids about the Communist Party and who were its leaders after the WWI ? Is it allowed to talk about the German citizens from Danzig and how Polish administration threaten them with cutting all ways of traveling on Polish soil to and from Germany ? Is there any chapter dedicated to ethnic Germans from Czechoslovakia , from the Sudeten Mountains , who were humiliated and beaten on the streets just because they were Germans ? I hope you do not . It is impossible to explain WW2 without explaining how in the WW1 German people had to fight and die in another war of another country who inslaved surrounding nations for hundreds of years , another German country that created its own empire and did not take responsibility for its own actions . I cannot find a purpose or a way how to tell kids that after WW1 all Europe hated ethnic Germans because of Austria . How to tell kids that Germany was punished severely after the WW1 instead of Austria and the communists took advantage of the situation creating more instability ? Kids do not care about politics . WW1 and WW2 are like a football game , you cannot talk only about the second half , better remove this chapter completely from the books than lying about it .

    • @MrMielten
      @MrMielten 3 роки тому +20

      @@gigirigips Do you mean the communist leaders Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht who were both killed by conservative secret service members in Germany? Tells us a lot about the democratic attitude of the Conservatives, doesn`t it? 😉🤣🤣

    • @gigirigips
      @gigirigips 3 роки тому +15

      @@MrMielten Yep ! Apparently both possibilities were bad . The thing is all Europe had national parties at the time and the only multiethnic party was the Communist Party . What is a national party ? It is a party made entirely out of citizens that are ethnics of that country and could not accept members that do not meet this criteria . Considering the social and economical conditions in Germany after the Great War , with the national pride shaken , it was easy for any national party to rise into power . So , why the Nationalsozialistiche Deutsche Arbeiterpartei ? Easy ! Because the other national parties did nothing for social security or to improve life in Germany a little bit at least and the only active party was the Communist Party . Well , in that time in Germany lived a lot of other non-Germans and they were part of society too , but they had no party to get in or to represent them , so the only option for them was the Communist Party . From this point it is easy to understand why most of the communist leaders were Jews and how this thing was exploited by the Nazis turning slowly the propaganda against communism into propaganda against its leaders and because most of the audience was hungry and angry and looking for someone to blame for losing the war and for all that came after , people just associated the danger of communism with the "foreigners" and put all the evil in behalf of communist leaders and later extended the hate to all Jews , communists or not . When the mind is blinded by hatred mixed with false pride and hunger and it is very likely to overreact and take the wrong decisions . All this chain of awful events that happened to Germany was triggered by Austria in 1914 when Franz Ferdinand was killed and culminated with the split of Germany during the Cold War .

    • @Ultamami
      @Ultamami 3 роки тому +1

      @@gigirigips *enslaved

  • @Julewlt
    @Julewlt 4 роки тому +7207

    As a german who is currently in 10th grade I can say that we don’t talk about the World Wars only in History class but in several different classes on different levels

    • @minerskills
      @minerskills 4 роки тому +310

      Even though the history class is probably the class which makes the damage done by the nazis extremely visible. Next on my list would be German but that probably depends on the book you read

    • @Julewlt
      @Julewlt 4 роки тому +107

      @@minerskills in our school it’s actually religious education

    • @smileyxd6240
      @smileyxd6240 4 роки тому +371

      I'm German as well and I can totally agree. Of course, it was a very important topic in history class, but we also discussed it in German, Politics, Music, Religion and French class

    • @fumo9980
      @fumo9980 4 роки тому +40

      You gonna learn about it more in your Abitur

    • @ze_georgedraws4962
      @ze_georgedraws4962 4 роки тому +59

      Same but Im in 8th Grade
      I can say that we had a whole hour talk about the mustached man in economics it is pretty weird but hey at least we’re discussing it and we will learn about it in 9th Grade I believe 🤷🏻‍♂️

  • @sonicgoo1121
    @sonicgoo1121 4 роки тому +8837

    This could be a whole series. How Do British Schools Teach Colonialism? Or the Westward expansion or slavery in the US? Stalinism in Russia? WWII in Japan? Etc. etc.

    • @georgew59
      @georgew59 4 роки тому +984

      British schools barely cover colonialism

    • @StolenGalaxy
      @StolenGalaxy 4 роки тому +330

      Here from the U.K. We basically just learn about it how it is. Well as far as I know

    • @iliekcheesesteakk1814
      @iliekcheesesteakk1814 4 роки тому +564

      US would be hard to say, because states have varying curriculum standards

    • @That1CoolChick
      @That1CoolChick 4 роки тому +560

      Slavery in the US is grazed over. There is talk of abolitionists and certain figures are glorified for their acts of racial heroism: Harriet Tubman, Abe Lincoln, etc. But the overall atrocities are nowhere near as in depth as when we get to the Halocaust. Teacher showed pictures of piles of bodies at a Nazi camp. I think that it is much easier for most parties to point out other groups mistakes in a sense to lighten the burden of their own misdeeds, but idk. Another interesting thing, I'm from Los Angeles. I would love to know how things like the civil war, which tore the country and families apart, differ in teachings.

    • @richardhawkes4719
      @richardhawkes4719 4 роки тому +132

      Product of a British education here. I remember being taught about the British Empire but it was part of a wider topic of European Colonialism, including Spain and Portugal etc. However this might even have been later in school after most students had given up studying history. I took history up to age 18 and we never studied US history - the American War for Independence and the American Civil War for example. I was always aware of those events but most of what I knew came from American TV (the Simpsons is a big one), films and some video games like Assassin's Creed 3. I don't think it's considered very important in forming the UK into the place that it is today.

  • @martinlarkin8066
    @martinlarkin8066 Рік тому +671

    I visited Dachau concentration camp once and a school party was there. The teacher was describing in detail what happened there. Some kids were visibly shocked and one was crying. The teacher didn't try to comfort than. She let the horror of the place sink in. You can guarantee that those kids will never forget what they learnt that day!

    • @theCosmicQueen
      @theCosmicQueen Рік тому +17

      in the usa we were shown movies documentairies, about the concentration camps. i remember it , and we all learned what we will not allow to happen here either. but it is sometimes falsley described , so it must be done truthfully . we saw a lot of stacked up corpses etc and other horrible things. It was so scarey . " Night and Fog"

    • @belletaunde102
      @belletaunde102 Рік тому

      @@theCosmicQueen same. American schools did a good job of drilling the horrors of nazi camps.

    • @pjtaintz
      @pjtaintz Рік тому +22

      I'm an American who visited back in 2008 and to this day, it was one of the most humbling things in my life
      There is still a smell when you are there that unless you have been you can't understand.

    • @pjtaintz
      @pjtaintz Рік тому

      ​@theCosmicQueen it's crazy to think it can't happen here when we literally did that to the japs at the time

    • @mandibiedermann2246
      @mandibiedermann2246 Рік тому

      Dachau is an disgusting propaganda invented by England and USA to guilty the German people, all victims there were dead German soldiers and people showed as Jews to brainwashing all other European people

  • @ThePrisoner881
    @ThePrisoner881 4 роки тому +11961

    You should do one called "How Do Japanese Schools Teach About WWII?" You'll find it's very, very different. And that's putting it gently.

    • @ComdrStew
      @ComdrStew 4 роки тому +3152

      I have a couple friends from Japan. They were never taught about WW2. When they moved to the US they were surprised we were once at war with them.

    • @edward3320
      @edward3320 4 роки тому +650

      Unit 731

    • @kyoukotoshino5600
      @kyoukotoshino5600 4 роки тому +417

      They don't

    • @devinboysen6814
      @devinboysen6814 4 роки тому +1203

      The US send big sun bomb

    • @mailysh.jenkins6565
      @mailysh.jenkins6565 4 роки тому +858

      Fair enough even we in Germany basically skip over all of the 'oh and there were allies and we called ourselves axis powers' part. I only learned about that because our teacher had a Japanese wife and then when I changed the school a year later (in history class we now learn about the aftermath) my new history teacher basically fell from his seat when I asked "and what happened to Japan??" Turns out some history teachers don't even know...

  • @TexasRed649
    @TexasRed649 4 роки тому +1606

    Simon: “Curiosity stream is available world wide.” North Korea: “bet.”

    • @matthiasbeer13
      @matthiasbeer13 4 роки тому +37

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    • @jesuschrist2612
      @jesuschrist2612 4 роки тому +21

      Nick Moos north korea and china***

    • @alfr1
      @alfr1 4 роки тому +2

      South Korea: "We had great reception here." Got your super-fast wide band internet yet? 5k yours, 50k ours. I was there just last year.

    • @bennyboiart7781
      @bennyboiart7781 4 роки тому

      @@jesuschrist2612 Ah yes, the grumpy hippo and the yellow, honey-eating bear.

    • @rea9473
      @rea9473 4 роки тому

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  • @otaku_roman_1024
    @otaku_roman_1024 4 роки тому +13289

    Me: Is going to a school in Germany.
    Also me: I wOnDeR hOw WwIl iS tEaChEd In GeRmAnY

  • @roni4398
    @roni4398 Рік тому +96

    I'm Polish, and I visited Auschwitz a couple of times (it's located within the Polish borders). I was very happy to see many German tourists there! They were very respectful and kind.

    • @blacktriangle388
      @blacktriangle388 3 місяці тому

      girl your eyes are beautiful ❤

    • @ancientmingyu0604
      @ancientmingyu0604 21 день тому

      We stayed at Warsaw for our graduation trip and visited Auschwitz as well. We had a super nice guide who showed us a lot of historical places in Warsaw's old town. I had a fantastic time there! Everyone was so nice and kind, Warsaw's old town is absolutely beautiful and the hostel we stayed at had a "Hostel 3" (the horror movie) poster right by the reception, which I found absolutely hilarious as a super edgy 16 year old back then xD

  • @Mo_Okln
    @Mo_Okln 4 роки тому +13128

    I think the reason why germans click on every video that has "germany" in its title is because we are always curious how people from other countries view Germany....

    • @leunam3004
      @leunam3004 4 роки тому +639

      Also, could just be me but I think because people don't really talk much about us, except they talk about the world wars or something big is happening in Europe so that our government has to give out a statement. So it's a nice change of pace when people talk about us and it's something different for once.

    • @ludity7628
      @ludity7628 4 роки тому +249

      Don't worry, french people do the same

    • @adityaranjan7916
      @adityaranjan7916 4 роки тому +80

      Same with Indians bro

    • @richardmangelmann4975
      @richardmangelmann4975 4 роки тому +77

      Yeah I was asking myself the same question. I often catch myself watching vids that portray Germany in a good light for once, so maybe thats also a reason, idk...

    • @charlie37234
      @charlie37234 4 роки тому +185

      In England we think Germany is a pretty great place. I love your language.

  • @jimbeaux89
    @jimbeaux89 4 роки тому +3171

    So much respect to Germany for owning up and acknowledging their country’s dark days. Takes a lot of courage to take ownership of something like that, but the Germans do it with such grace. Hats off to you Germany!!

    • @povilas007
      @povilas007 4 роки тому +58

      I agree! For me Germany and Japan are two countries I respect probably the most in the world! Don't know even why...maybe because they are very hard working people.

    • @martinfranzer2254
      @martinfranzer2254 4 роки тому +73

      @@povilas007 kinda funny that you agree to his comment and say you respect japan in the sentence after that.
      (I mean, it's ok because they are working f*cking hard but...)

    • @povilas007
      @povilas007 4 роки тому +8

      @@martinfranzer2254 I always pair them together ;)

    • @jimmy2k4o
      @jimmy2k4o 4 роки тому +111

      Povilas D well japan haven’t ever owned up or apologised the way the honourable krouts do.
      Infact a Japanese embassy once complained that a memorial to comfort women offended them. I think it was in s.korea or the phillipines or something.

    • @ertvonzukonigvonrahm835
      @ertvonzukonigvonrahm835 4 роки тому +61

      @Jacob yt
      What? WHAT?
      A forgeiner telling A German what is ok and what isnt? When ? If i Remember correct Germany told Greece what to do Not the other Way around. And most of the Immigrants that live in Germany are either from EU or Turkey meaning that they came to Work for Germans Not to make Germans Work for them.
      And what Communist Take over?
      In Germany there is a saying:
      "If you arent a Communist or a socialist at 20 You have no heart..
      If you are still a Communist at 30 You have no brain."
      Most Germans are old and hate Communism so who exactly wants Communism in Germany ?The young? Once they Turn 30 at the age where they are finaly a full member of the productivity of Germany they nologer want Communism.
      And Nobody denies in Germany what the ALLIES did. Rape, Deportation, theft ( mostly by UDSSR but a few Americans and English did it too) but they pale in comparison to Killing 6 000 000 Jews, Killing 20 000 000 Russians and Killing POW.
      Germans know what happend at Königsberg so what exacly are you talking about?

  • @merinsom2548
    @merinsom2548 4 роки тому +4047

    We don’t just talk about WWII in history class. We talk about it in german class, in geography class, in philosophy class and others as well. And we talk about it with out grand- and great grandparents. We don’t allow us to forget because democracy is incredibly fragile.

    • @1983simi
      @1983simi 3 роки тому +165

      plus countless documentaries and related movies all throughout the year on TV and memorials for the victims of the holocaust in most every town and city

    • @janeyannachicken9053
      @janeyannachicken9053 3 роки тому +49

      We don't talk nearly enough about all the N@zis who were still employees of the state after the so-called de-n@zification, though.

    • @nrw64
      @nrw64 3 роки тому +4

      GDR im a joke to you ?

    • @madinat1218
      @madinat1218 3 роки тому +29

      We even talked about it in maths

    • @locephaxthearchseducer4621
      @locephaxthearchseducer4621 3 роки тому +29

      Do you talk about firebombing of your cities or mass murder and rapes by Soviet soldiers

  • @barryt4455
    @barryt4455 2 роки тому +1699

    I am an American and lived in West Germany in the early eighties. One day myself, my German friend and his wife went to a Gasthaus (neighborhood bar) for a few beers. One old man at the bar was drunk and started talking loud. The only thing I caught was "Mein Furher". Without saying a word, the bartender came around from the bar, grabbed the man by his shirt collar and belt and literally threw him thru the front door onto the sidewalk. My friend told me that the old man was spouting off about how he had been an SS officer in WWII and that "Mein Furher" was right in trying to exterminate the Jews. Then my friend said, "That piece of shit is lucky the bartender didn't put him in the hospital"

    • @donegal7
      @donegal7 Рік тому

      jesus.... that is some story, to think that it was just 80 years ago when those atrocities were committed... wish the bartender beat the shit out of that scumbag

    • @jout738
      @jout738 Рік тому +1

      Damn how old man like that who thinks Hitler did great things was still free to walk in the 1980s? He was maybe in his 20s or 30s in WW2 and was still pissed that Germany lost WW2.

    • @samsaasen4922
      @samsaasen4922 Рік тому +45

      Holy cow what a story!

    • @envitech02
      @envitech02 Рік тому +64

      I'd do the same and I'm not even German.

    • @n.c.pictures
      @n.c.pictures Рік тому +78

      Or called the cops. Pretty sure you can go to jail for that. Not sure how much far right shit you have to do till it comes to that though

  • @new_romemusic4212
    @new_romemusic4212 3 роки тому +2202

    Having visited Germany in 2016, as part of a exchange programme... they wear their history on their sleeve. They are not proud of it, but they will not deny it. One of the German students I spoke to told me how they must always strive to ensure they never go back to that. They are truly committed to being fantastic people.
    Wish I had kept contact with my host family, I'd like to make more German friends.

    • @myron8676
      @myron8676 3 роки тому +1

      Of course they won’t deny it wtf 😂 damn near everyone knows about wwII , if they were to deny it they’d look like hypocrites maybe like sympathizers any smart German would definitely not deny it

    • @new_romemusic4212
      @new_romemusic4212 3 роки тому +89

      @@myron8676 And Japan should probably take queues from Germany on that front

    • @ethans7914
      @ethans7914 3 роки тому +38

      @@myron8676 as much as this angers and enrages me there are Americans who dont believe that the Holocaust happened...WW2 hurts their feelings and it scares me so much as personally i love history and my kids WILL know the real history when i feel like theyll comprehend it. I dont know if by then they will even teach it in schools here at least what really happened because this can never happen again

    • @JoeMcknart69
      @JoeMcknart69 3 роки тому +30

      @@myron8676 the US, particularly the south, has been denying our racist past for the last couple centuries...don't think people won't deny it.

    • @ItsMe-ic7on
      @ItsMe-ic7on 3 роки тому +11

      @@JoeMcknart69 don't understand what their problem is about accepting and moving on and trying to be better. Don't understand why they wouldn't actually deny something like that and makes no sense to me. Unless they figured denial makes the shame go away. And yet it doesn't

  • @leleolupus713
    @leleolupus713 4 роки тому +3673

    German here: just fnished school. Quite accurate but I would say that I personally have never felt responsible for those atrocities rather it‘s a sense of responsibility to not let something like this happen again that I gained from those classes, which is way more important and more constructive imho. Also please visit a memorial concentration camp if you ever get the chance to. It‘s terrible and really gruesome but it really let‘s you see and feel the horrible things that were done and empathize with the victims. A museum about the Holocaust or WWII in General can be a similar experience if it‘s done well. (There‘s one in Berlin which really made me cry)

    • @Laffy-ix5xy
      @Laffy-ix5xy 4 роки тому +165

      I'm British and I agree. I don't believe that the Germans of today should be held responsible for what happened 75 years ago. This was an interesting video. And it's interesting to read a comment from a German person on the subject 👍

    • @jessikalina7224
      @jessikalina7224 4 роки тому +107

      it is the grim silence of walking around a holocaust memorial that makes one realise the horrors of the nazi regime. in my opinion everyone around the world should see it and realise what hate can do. And not just hate but ignorance as well.
      for we should never forget: its not just the nazis who practized genozid and caused horror among the people. in fact it is still happening today around the globe. and it makes me furious and desperate. totaliterian regimes are on the rise again, but what can we do to stop it? how can we prevent or at least end it?
      we can at least question our governments decisions and our own prejudices and fears. speak openly about racism, talk to new people, hear new opinions, engage in politics and always know:
      there ist no 'them and us', we are ALL part of the human race.
      thanks for reading through it all. greetings from germany.

    • @dustinbennett7869
      @dustinbennett7869 4 роки тому +60

      As well you shouldnt that's like saying as an American I should feel responsible for slavery. You can be taught to have disdain for the actions committed by our ancestors without the guilt

    • @satchemo24
      @satchemo24 4 роки тому +36

      True you should not feel responsible or guilty at all! Even if you had family that were Nazis. You have no control over any of that. Learn from the past and live so it never happens again.

    • @juandavidnustesgutierrez9796
      @juandavidnustesgutierrez9796 4 роки тому +26

      No German need to apologize to me. And no German should apologize for WW2, none of them needs to pay for the madman on the leadership.

  • @svejobaron
    @svejobaron 3 роки тому +4385

    The teaching about Nazis and their crimes is not supposed to make you feel guilty, but to make you feel responsible to never let such things ever happen again. There are right wings in germany who call this history a "memorial of shame" and want to change the way we look at our past, but I feel proud for the way we get teached history considering how history is teached in other places.

    • @ItsMe-ic7on
      @ItsMe-ic7on 3 роки тому +62

      Well it is kind of a memorial of shame. The fact that they let this happen back in the day. But it should also serve as a memory to not let this happen again and that's what the average citizen is telling people to not let this happen again that reminds them to never let that type of brutality enter their country again and I agree with that no country should be that way at all

    • @doubtshadow1
      @doubtshadow1 3 роки тому +8

      The Germans suffered enough in the aftermath. Fascism, as with all forms of authoritarian socialism, must be guarded against, and never should it's Marxist roots be forgotten. The participation of the Soviets against the fascists, and so their position as victors, allowed them and their trash ideology to slip through the cracks and infiltrate the West with relatively little resistance, in part because of the disingenuous presentation of Marxism as somehow diametrically opposite to fascism; it is certainly not. Fascism is gone. Marxism is an ongoing and vile threat, however.

    • @bradjohns6442
      @bradjohns6442 2 роки тому +43

      Not being mean just trying to help based on the assumption that English is a second language (it’s my first and I still make mistakes). The past tense of teach is taught.

    • @ihatecoffee7185
      @ihatecoffee7185 2 роки тому +63

      @@doubtshadow1 fascism is very much NOT socialism💀 fascism is far right authoritarian ultranationalism.
      Fascism opposes marxist/socialist ideologies completely.
      Someone did u wrong in your edu there bud...

    • @V1Salvo
      @V1Salvo 2 роки тому +13

      @@bradjohns6442 I wanted to correct OP too but I didn’t know how to correct them without unintentionally sounding rude. Glad you did it whilst sounding nice lol!

  • @M.B___
    @M.B___ Рік тому +30

    I really admire that they do teach history that way in Germany. It's a very valuable lesson, and it reminds me of a quote, "those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them".

  • @TikoVerhelst
    @TikoVerhelst 2 роки тому +5038

    As a Dutch person, I have always wondered why our eastern neighbours are so conscious about their history. After seeing this video and reading the comments, everything makes sense now.
    Germans are I think one of the most polite folks of Europe nowadays. They have truely built an amazing nation which I have had the pleasure of spending a couple of holidays in.
    Viel Liebe einer Ihrer westlichen Nachbarn.

    • @alisonunddaswars480
      @alisonunddaswars480 2 роки тому +168

      thank you so much! Thats soooo cute und viel liebe zurück

    • @-autumnfeelings
      @-autumnfeelings 2 роки тому +127

      Hey from germany. Its nice that you find us nice. Same goes Back to you. Dutch people are so lovely

    • @joelstuckwisch
      @joelstuckwisch 2 роки тому +82

      Hey, thats very nice to hear as a german. But believe me, Germany have a lot of political problems too. Not as much as the USA or even authoratic states, like Russia and China, but we have worrying right wing parties and stupid people, who call themselves "Querdenker" or people, who deny the climate change. This parties and people call the democracy in Question and are a very serious danger for our Country. But still I agree, we have mostly very good history lessons and this is something we can proud of.

    • @starwarsfan-kk2jx
      @starwarsfan-kk2jx 2 роки тому +32

      Wenn sie das deutsche Volk so betrachten, waren sie sicherlich noch nicht auf Mallorca.

    • @Dan-fo9dk
      @Dan-fo9dk 2 роки тому +19

      Germans....."....polite...." ....haha....that might be you ........both mine and others has several experiences with Germans being mind blowing rude/aggressive, including being physical violent..... Personally I found it a relief to get across the border into the Netherlands. I know people who travelled to Germany to attend a science conference..... They were never able to get to that conference, but left Germany immediately.... ...a country which they will never visit again......guess why.... There are certainly good and friendly people also, but there are to many in that country with to much arrogance and aggressive genes.... I have been in a lot of other countries but never experienced something like the German style....

  • @bikkiikun
    @bikkiikun 4 роки тому +3193

    Acknowledging ones mistake is infinitely more honourable and glorious, than trying to bury them or lie about them.

    • @bigdaddygibbs251
      @bigdaddygibbs251 4 роки тому +266

      Wish half of America understood this

    • @ramsa01Yt
      @ramsa01Yt 4 роки тому +60

      I live in Lithuania, country, which was occupied in WW2 by RUSSIANS first (pact between Molotov and Ribentrop) and then Germans. I won’t go into the details of soviet education or rather indoctrination based on lies - our parents and grandparents worked hard to persuade us, kids that what we hear at schools are shameful lies.
      My impression of grandparents thoughts was that they thought Germans were rather saviors than true occupants. My parents didn’t think Germans were bad because of ADolf Hitler, because Stalin was ten times worse. The rest of the world still doesn’t know how many people have been killed by soviets. The soviets themselves did not bother to count.
      That leaves us with the present day. As Lithuanian, I always respected Germany and germans, I liked their country and culture. Unfortunately, I see the souls of german people are crippled: they are not proud of their country and history. I recognize indoctrination when I see it. Maybe german people themselves do not feel like been castrated, their national pride removed, but I know Merkel would never happen if majority of German population would not feel certain way. I saw here removing national flag, I saw her making crime if bringing millions of immigrants to Germany, I saw her lying to her people. What I fear is that Germans will have to flee their own country. We will shelter them, of course, but it makes me mad how country can be lost without a war, without much of resistance. Socialism/feminism is a cancer. I wonder whether it can be stopped before destruction of this civilization.

    • @brown-eyedcheese5440
      @brown-eyedcheese5440 4 роки тому +27

      Kyle Gibbs all of America*

    • @ankaplanka
      @ankaplanka 4 роки тому +27

      @@ramsa01Yt The second wave feminism was the good one. This current wave is rather messed up. It was created originally to help women gain the rights they deserve. The ones who put everyone else down are just assholes. The feminists who acknowledges the problems men face, along with LGBT+ people, etc. So the thing itself should never be stopped. It's the third toxic wave which needs to be stopped.

    • @angelomma2155
      @angelomma2155 4 роки тому +88

      *Cough cough* japan

  • @Listoric
    @Listoric 4 роки тому +1346

    Also the movie “Die Welle” (The Wave) is commonly shown in school. It’s a movie about a teacher who tries to show his students, that even now they might be more accepting of Nazi tactics than they like to think.

    • @JK-jj8fs
      @JK-jj8fs 4 роки тому +30

      Oh I remember, my school actually performed a play of this book and we read it in class, for me it was even before we started talking about ww2

    • @pixiewitch517
      @pixiewitch517 4 роки тому +95

      By the way: The book bases on a true story from a teacher in die US who made this experiment with his students because they thought that this couldn't happen again and he wants to proof them otherwise. When the experiment went terrible wrong he was getting arrested.
      In the original book there's an interview with this teacher when he was in prison.

    • @Benderofdemise
      @Benderofdemise 4 роки тому +12

      F*cking good movie.

    • @cinemaatrium3863
      @cinemaatrium3863 4 роки тому +2

      There are more than one movie called the wave.

    • @SydneysDrawings
      @SydneysDrawings 4 роки тому +27

      We actually also read the book in german class and also watched the movie. It still gives me the chills how all of this could just happen all over again...

  • @valentinstrobel1791
    @valentinstrobel1791 Рік тому +60

    As a German in ninth grade i can say this is spot on. I actually visited the former Concentration Camp Memorial in Dachau just a Month ago and it was the most desolate place i have ever been to.
    The best word i have to describe the feeling in there is hopelessness all around you. You feel like you have no rights, no dignity whatsoever. It is something everyone should do at least once to prevent anything like this from ever happening again.

    • @raphaelhenker8771
      @raphaelhenker8771 Рік тому +5

      This feeling of hoplessnes i felt to. Like a creeping fog, judging your every move.

  • @robb4394
    @robb4394 4 роки тому +2154

    “So this Austrian guy came over...”

    • @globalautobahn1132
      @globalautobahn1132 4 роки тому +53

      Haha Damn Austrians...

    • @corbin30
      @corbin30 4 роки тому +11

      420th like

    • @mr.pigeon9314
      @mr.pigeon9314 4 роки тому +16

      Arthur: Herr Strauss, my favorite Austrian.

    • @chrisg4rr377
      @chrisg4rr377 4 роки тому +9

      Fascism: Hold my beer

    • @SeasideDetective2
      @SeasideDetective2 4 роки тому +15

      "...and overthrew our great Weimar Republic which had stood for 1,000 years."

  • @DanielBowens
    @DanielBowens 4 роки тому +14411

    Now we just need to get japan to do something similar. They don’t even acknowledge their atrocities

    • @maulcoal
      @maulcoal 4 роки тому +1873

      Japan: What attrocities???

    • @jeffthevomitguy1178
      @jeffthevomitguy1178 4 роки тому +1328

      @Alex Reinheart Allied Forces: what attrocities?

    • @sassyviking6003
      @sassyviking6003 4 роки тому +594

      @@jeffthevomitguy1178 i don't know of atrocities we committed in world war 2, but we certaily aren't facing the unrelated atrocities we are still commiting to this day with respect to racial hate, injustice (concentration camps for immigrant children) and the genocide and desecration kf religious sites of the native people's who mostly still live in opressive poverty, on land we forced them to, and to this day are still victims of genocide in the form of cultural destruction and unknowing/uneilling sterilization.

    • @realtalk5329
      @realtalk5329 4 роки тому +782

      Fr they tortured and experimented on Chinese prisoners

    • @mori6780
      @mori6780 4 роки тому +454

      I think they know about their ww2 history but the fact that Hiroshima and Nagasaki we're nuked down let them deal with it in a whataboutism way.

  • @diabetesman4030
    @diabetesman4030 4 роки тому +4896

    German schools: ok kids something not that chill happened in the 1940s...

    • @nanochad2979
      @nanochad2979 4 роки тому +40

      how does this not have 20k likes yet?

    • @mclz_
      @mclz_ 4 роки тому +30

      @@nanochad2979 cuz its a new comment?

    • @justarandom8824
      @justarandom8824 4 роки тому +4

      Lmao

    • @KSPUnitedYT
      @KSPUnitedYT 4 роки тому +42

      @Sometimes Blue no.

    • @ananasandy6595
      @ananasandy6595 4 роки тому +122

      @Sometimes Blue ok, that goes a bit too far

  • @sadteen39
    @sadteen39 Рік тому +56

    German student here! I’m in my last year of school rn and graduate next week. When we talked about WW2 in history class this year there was one history lesson where our teacher put on a documentary about the holocaust. Of course all of us already knew of the events in detail from reading about it in class not only this year but in previous school years as well so I thought the documentary probably wouldn’t be all that shocking to me. I was wrong however. Before starting the video our teacher told us that we were allowed to leave the classroom if we needed a moment, as the documentary was quite graphic. The documentary showed the aftermath of the mass genocides in concentration camps. Mountains of dead, naked, starved bodies being thrown into huge graves like they were dolls or something. Videos of mass shootings not only of adults but children as well. Lifeless bodies laying in the streets of the Ghettos.
    It was beyond shocking and horrifying to see, I couldn’t help but cry. You can read about it all you want but I don’t think it fully clicked in my head before that those things actually happened, that those lifeless bodies had minds and souls once, it suddenly all became real.
    Yeah I think it’s safe to say that I will never forget or underestimate the gravity of the crimes against humanity committed by germans in the NS time.

    • @Soumsi01
      @Soumsi01 Рік тому +5

      Do you happen to know the name of the documentary?

    • @leredditcommander8208
      @leredditcommander8208 Рік тому +4

      There is also a soviet movie called "come and see", highly recommended, graphic AF

    • @schwurbelhunter
      @schwurbelhunter Рік тому

      Heul leise

    • @maryse3846
      @maryse3846 26 днів тому

      @@leredditcommander8208 i felt nauseated and shaken after watching come and see. such a graphic movie that does not shy away from the ugly truth.

  • @NotAnirban
    @NotAnirban 4 роки тому +5691

    I looked at the thumbnail and my mind instantly went like: *"hey vsauce, Michael here!"*

  • @NothingtoseeHere.Movealong
    @NothingtoseeHere.Movealong 4 роки тому +1402

    Being German, I have to say that atleast from my experience not a feeling of 'original sin' as you say, but more a responsibility to never let such a similar thing to happen again. A task we seem to be failing at considering our non-commital stance towards China's cultural/ethnic cleansing of minorities and other cases

    • @debbiemoore2747
      @debbiemoore2747 4 роки тому +17

      Sadly humans are destructive by nature and they need to evolce past their ego and grow eq and self awareness

    • @swanpride
      @swanpride 4 роки тому +87

      That sums it up pretty well. The mantra which is taught is less "you did that" and more "Never again". It is our job to learn from history and ensure that it will never happen again. And frankly, it should be the job of everyone, not just us.

    • @hydrowolf363
      @hydrowolf363 4 роки тому +24

      @jdtrickster4 and Israel too. The amount of human right violations and illegal activity they partake in without punishment is insane. Like how the US *would* be punished for selling weapons to N.Korea but Israel *did* get away with it.

    • @clxwncrxwn
      @clxwncrxwn 4 роки тому +6

      hydro wolf Israel is the only democratic country in the Middle East, country’s have done worse than selling weapons to n nkorea

    • @hydrowolf363
      @hydrowolf363 4 роки тому +18

      @@clxwncrxwn *cough* *cough* Palestine *cough* *cough* ...Although, what Saudi Arabia is doing to Yemen is fcked up too.

  • @X-Prime123
    @X-Prime123 4 роки тому +2260

    As a guy born in Poland, with Polish ancestry, I never once had ill feelings towards Germans of today. I did however always hate Nazis from a young age, not because of indoctrination by the school system or my parents(neither of which ever happened) but rather as a result of being aware of the war as I was growing up. My grandfather's life was spared by a German soldier by the way. His village was being rounded up by the army into trucks, likely to be sent to some sort of a camp. He asked a soldier if he could go to the bathroom, and the soldier answered with a yes. So my grandfather went behind a barn, and then started running for his life across a farm field. He looked back to see that the soldier saw him running but didn't raise an alarm nor try to shoot. He just let him go.
    Anyways, you can't blame an entire nation today for the evil deeds of their relatives from the past. That's stupid. They are not the ones who committed the crimes. Let it go and move on, sheesh. If your grandfather was a thief does that make you one too? No.
    The Americans could learn a thing or two from this post.
    .....Of course if anyone still feels bad, I'll take some German chocolates :D

    • @MadMarco
      @MadMarco 4 роки тому +89

      What a beatiful story

    • @maliiiin
      @maliiiin 4 роки тому +109

      You're absolutely right. No one should be blamed for something their ancestors did. I watched just this morning a documentary about a son from the main war criminal Hans Frank. And he tries to educate people who think for example that the Holocaust never happened or who want the immigrants should "go there, where they come from".
      I just hope it doesn't get worse with the anti-Semitism but as the last month's and years showed (e.g. the attack of Halle) many people haven't learned from that bad time age.
      Greetings from Germany/Halle

    • @Tara-id3rk
      @Tara-id3rk 4 роки тому +158

      I agree with your thought that the U.S. could learn from this. I feel like the racism in this country has gotten so ugly and out of control. And white people today are targeted as bigots and that we owe other cultures for the slavery of generations ago-even if our families weren’t even American at that point, most not emigrated over yet. I’m white and I’m not racist. I can’t help the systematic racism that some experience, nor did my family ever have any part in owning slaves. In fact, white Irish immigrants were sometimes forced into slave labor once in America. But you don’t hear those descendants berating today’s population. I’m made to feel like I’m hateful, and prejudice, and entitled. When I don’t feel like I am any of those things. It’s so bizarre to me. Blame the actual problem. But why create so much division and hate toward a demographic of people who aren’t the problem?

    • @Duckzilla-54
      @Duckzilla-54 4 роки тому +14

      Can I have some?

    • @blainwilson7937
      @blainwilson7937 4 роки тому +76

      “Systemic Racism” in the U.S. is a farce and a ploy used by Marxist groups like BLM.

  • @maximusstorm1215
    @maximusstorm1215 Рік тому +23

    *German Grandpa gives birthday present to grandchild.*
    *Kid opens it and Father takes it away.*
    Father: "He said he wanted Minecraft, not Mein Kampf."

  • @lunyny458
    @lunyny458 4 роки тому +1795

    Considering recent events, I feel like Jana aus Kassel wasn't taught about Sophie Scholl and WWII properly

    • @DaGuys470
      @DaGuys470 4 роки тому +21

      🤣🤣🤣💀💀💀

    • @darnoc4470
      @darnoc4470 4 роки тому +212

      If youre wondering who the hell Jana aus Kassel is, she is a girl/young woman who compared herself to Anne Frank because of the Corona Lockdown. All whilst participating in a completely legal demonstration and trying to hold a speech against said Lockdown.
      Needless to say, she is being mocked quite a bit.

    • @p3chv0gel22
      @p3chv0gel22 4 роки тому +24

      @@darnoc4470 as someone from Kassel, i would be pretty happy, if i would see positive headlines some time in the future. But maybe this city is just to messed up xD

    • @duchessred5426
      @duchessred5426 4 роки тому +88

      @@darnoc4470 sorry to correct you. But she said she related to Sophie Scholl, the woman mentioned in the video as well. Though an 11year old girl stated before at a similar event, that she feels like Anne Frank. The Anne Frank thing was “popular” to relate at the start of the pandemic online, not just Germany but general, I believe.

    • @darnoc4470
      @darnoc4470 4 роки тому +22

      @@duchessred5426 Damn, mixed that up, thanks for correcting!

  • @KarstenFink1986
    @KarstenFink1986 4 роки тому +2434

    We, the people of germany today, are not responsible for what has happened in the 30's and 40's of the last century. But we are very responsible that something like that must never happen again. That is our collective resposability today.

    • @papadop
      @papadop 4 роки тому +66

      Well put!

    • @papadop
      @papadop 4 роки тому +27

      @Ivy Agreed!

    • @thejkyle
      @thejkyle 4 роки тому +18

      Well said.

    • @shanesrandoms
      @shanesrandoms 4 роки тому +10

      Exactly

    • @michak8029
      @michak8029 4 роки тому +20

      so maybe you can finally return all stolen goods - mostly art masterpieces and pay reparations for countries almost completly grounded during war? German people living in 40s and 50s somehow didn't feel like doing it...

  • @entity1566
    @entity1566 3 роки тому +3925

    I am German and I can still remember 2 years ago, we visited the concentration camp dachau in 10th grade. You just felt so uncomfortable standing in that wide gravel field and the enormous tree lined pathways, knowing that thousands had to suffer through the worst thing imaginable day in and day out.

    • @MidnaTheTwillightPrincess
      @MidnaTheTwillightPrincess 3 роки тому +114

      my class did that aswell we where 15 and honestly we could not take it serious at that age also there where like 5 germans in the class the rest where turkish and russian kids so we joked a lot about the nazi times all in all nobody cared exept for the teacher we wanted to see guns and all the cool stuff but today i can reflect back to that moments and can remember what i saw so it served its purpose even tho half of the class was drunk like on almost every school trip

    • @seppshlllearningcenter419
      @seppshlllearningcenter419 3 роки тому +76

      Do you feel the same way walking in cities that were bombed into complete destruction? If not, you've been emotionally manipulated

    • @MidnaTheTwillightPrincess
      @MidnaTheTwillightPrincess 3 роки тому +43

      @@seppshlllearningcenter419 im just not attached to it i mean yeah that people had a really bad time but that does not make me feel bad i was not there so i dont feel the pain. I also have enough things to worry about in my own life so if i would get sad by something like that i might aswell get myself into an mental asylum

    • @treskyplesky1189
      @treskyplesky1189 3 роки тому +146

      @@seppshlllearningcenter419 I did feel bad when I walked through Dresden for all the people that died during bombing but it's completely different than visiting a concentration camp. Like srsly, those places were literaly factories made for killing people as efectively as possible, that's the most inhumane thing ever.

    • @entity1566
      @entity1566 3 роки тому +12

      @@seppshlllearningcenter419 I still do when I walk through Berlin. Because of WW2 and the iprisonment and spying on of innocent people in the DDR.

  • @TheGwennyGreen
    @TheGwennyGreen Рік тому +10

    I went through the German school system and I can’t believe how accurately you described it 🙌 Great video!

  • @jamesh.dickens7682
    @jamesh.dickens7682 3 роки тому +3004

    Germany: we accept our atrocities and strive to make sure they never happen again
    Japan: world war what?

    • @thegreatpapyrus2306
      @thegreatpapyrus2306 3 роки тому +49

      “Huh”

    • @adrianbollmann2088
      @adrianbollmann2088 3 роки тому +124

      I mean, this can be applied to many major countries like the US and the UK. From what I now, the schools don´t really emphasize the bad things from the past. If I am wrong, please correct me.

    • @bigmanroadman3910
      @bigmanroadman3910 3 роки тому +99

      @@adrianbollmann2088 I’m English and they never taught us about most of the atrocities and racism and shit the empire did or how Irish people used to be really oppressed. To be fair we do lean about some bad stuff the country did from medieval times and Henry VIII but not really anything in the past 100 years.
      Edit: I feel like I should point out that I only did history in secondary school and not collage or anything like that so there’s chances that you learn about the empire more later on in education.

    • @cloutelfin8323
      @cloutelfin8323 3 роки тому +3

      Lmfao

    • @harverc229
      @harverc229 3 роки тому +29

      In Russia: We are proud of our Soviet history. Killings were necessary for the greater good. Gulags were for bad people. The collapse of the Soviet Union was set up by the west and Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin were traitors for letting it happen and Stalin was a hero while Lenin revolutionized Russia. Putin is doing good for the country and the world.

  • @user-ym1bs7om9e
    @user-ym1bs7om9e 4 роки тому +4482

    "those who don't learn history are doomed to repeat it."
    Japan:

    • @riodemark9999
      @riodemark9999 4 роки тому +46

      Good thing i love history

    • @KolbyGarrett
      @KolbyGarrett 4 роки тому +44

      Know your history...

    • @LeftToWrite006
      @LeftToWrite006 4 роки тому +88

      I would say that this quote is missing a word: from. Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it; learning history isn't always the same as learning the lessons from said history.

    • @genghisghost
      @genghisghost 4 роки тому +4

      then we better stop teaching hitler

    • @mcfcfan1870
      @mcfcfan1870 4 роки тому +46

      @ai jao Not what the quote means.
      People who know history will start hearing alarm bells when someone in a mustache starts shouting in german.

  • @CaptainSinaSparrow
    @CaptainSinaSparrow 4 роки тому +2369

    I'm a German who spent a year in America, going to High School. When I found out that the pledge of allegiance was a thing it made me feel extremely uncomfortable and despite some teachers' outrage, I refused to participate. Took me a little while to understand just why I found the POA as well as the national anthem being sung at assemblies so unsettling. Many years later now, I do. And this video makes quite the point for it. I wish this existed in 2012 so I could have shown it to all my teachers who gave me dirty looks for not standing and saluting a flag.

    • @Quallenkrauler
      @Quallenkrauler 4 роки тому +627

      Huh. I wonder if they had expected an American student abroad to salute a foreign flag and pledge allegiance to that country...

    • @CaptainSinaSparrow
      @CaptainSinaSparrow 4 роки тому +363

      @@Quallenkrauler Can't speak for other countries but in Germany that surely would not happen :'D

    • @pablosturm6640
      @pablosturm6640 4 роки тому +362

      I mean, germans are patriotic, we just arent as loud about it. Its quiet, behind closed doors and never accompanied with some song or flag, just a few sentences hushed when watching the news and some foreign country/politician/company fucks up again. Overt displays of patriotism are just viewed as childish in germany, so what you felt probably was some type of lowkey cringe when everyone stood up to hail some flag.

    • @ion1226
      @ion1226 4 роки тому +29

      for us we didn’t have to pledge if we either A didnt want to or B weren’t from the US

    • @realtalk5329
      @realtalk5329 4 роки тому +40

      I'm American but as a kid I always refused I dnt remember why but I think the teachers said I just had to stand I didn't have to put hand to heart or say it. But I think another teacher mightve said I could stay seated.

  • @ciamango2898
    @ciamango2898 5 місяців тому +1

    Most of this is very well researched! one thing I´d like to add as someone who experienced this school system first hand is that this way of teaching ww2 is an achievement of the past couple of decades. During the first years after the war it was barely taught and many had more hard feelings towards the allies than towards the nazis. The topic was mostly ignored and the ones that were alive at the time mostly tried to forget about the NS time and leave it behind. Only in the student movement in the 60s and 70s the younger generation started asking their parents tough questions and people like Fritz Bauer that wanted to document nazi crimes gained more influence. That ultimately led to the German way of dealing with this dark period that we have nowadays and is described very well in the video.

  • @darkling_04
    @darkling_04 4 роки тому +5350

    I'm german. I spent a year abroad in 10th grade and people I met asked me if I'm a nazi. They weren't joking, they really thought that most germans are still nazis. Smh
    (Edit: typo)

    • @JR-hh7kv
      @JR-hh7kv 4 роки тому +380

      Beyond obscure, of course most Germans are not Nazis. People need to stop with that stupid idea of thinking it is a “joke” to call someone something they aren’t based on what one was taught in school.

    • @JR-hh7kv
      @JR-hh7kv 4 роки тому +40

      @@diabetesman4030 Lmao no, stupid question of yours unintelligent one.

    • @diabetesman4030
      @diabetesman4030 4 роки тому +4

      @@JR-hh7kv I was asking magnus bane

    • @JR-hh7kv
      @JR-hh7kv 4 роки тому +35

      @@diabetesman4030 Mm, still, dumb question. I got the notification and it was under my comment. 😊

    • @marcelschunemann9641
      @marcelschunemann9641 4 роки тому +162

      I had the same experience on my year abroad...i dont want to compare myself to someone who might has to deal with discrimination every day...but i might have caught a glimpse that day how it feels when people have a specific opinion on u based on where u re from. Its a weird and uncomfortable feeling...

  • @Gorm169
    @Gorm169 4 роки тому +2725

    Watching this as a German makes me feel like Hermione taking Muggle Studies.

    • @jonathanrich9281
      @jonathanrich9281 4 роки тому +216

      Did not expect a Harry Potter reference in the comments, but I love it.

    • @greyblue7400
      @greyblue7400 4 роки тому +135

      Yes that's quite accurate comparison. As a German you know what should be in the Video and you are curious if they get it right and how much you will see which isn't correct. I think it was a really good Video that paints a good picture of how it is taught here in Germany. The only thing i was missing was a mentioning of the film "Schindlers Liste". Everything else was definately there.

    • @djboogymonster
      @djboogymonster 4 роки тому +22

      Some of us from the States think Uber means “car for hire”. We want to know this stuff.

    • @Asgar1205
      @Asgar1205 4 роки тому +20

      Kristie C well sorry but Uber is not a word. Only the Americanised version on an actual word. The word you mean is über and even that usually doesn’t comes close to the meaning Americans attribute to it 🤣

    • @MirageGSM
      @MirageGSM 4 роки тому +6

      @@greyblue7400 Schindlers Liste came out just two years before I left school so it was too recent to be used as a teaching material, but I think today it would probably be in every history curriculum.

  • @jackshen5093
    @jackshen5093 4 роки тому +908

    I’d love to see a video on How do Japanese Schools teach WWII. You’ll be amazed.

    • @ExtraVictory
      @ExtraVictory 4 роки тому +15

      There's nothing wrong with how it is done here. If you want to feel guilty fine lol

    • @l.c.8475
      @l.c.8475 4 роки тому +6

      Joo dee: there was no massacre in Nanjing

    • @Nobody-zl3kk
      @Nobody-zl3kk 4 роки тому +125

      @@ExtraVictory so... no problem with historical revisionism or the mistakes of the japanesse educational system when teaching WW2... right.

    • @shafwandito4724
      @shafwandito4724 4 роки тому +160

      @@ExtraVictory mate, Japan completely ignore their dirty hands against of East Asia. This is why there is still some Japanese student that didn't know they do a genocide to this day against ton of countries

    • @Alfosan2010
      @Alfosan2010 4 роки тому +109

      Japan approach:
      -Rape Nanking way too hard
      -Loose WWII even harder with 2 atomic bombs
      -Play victim

  • @fayprivate7975
    @fayprivate7975 Рік тому

    As the spouse of a GI, I spent 3 years in Germany in the 1960s, 20 years after the war ended. I visited Dachau. There were still some large buildings bearing pockmarks from the war. But Germany was largely rebuilt. I wondered so often how the people felt about the Nazis and the war. We had German friends. We were welcomed wherever we went. I never asked questions. One elderly couple rented us an apartment. The wife proudly told us that her husband had been a major. I had decided in my mind that he must have been in the Wehrmacht rather than the SS. I always wondered what kids were taught in school, what people were told afterwards. Your video explains all this very clearly. It’s important to know everything you brought up. Thank you!

  • @Von_D
    @Von_D 4 роки тому +1753

    Very interesting. Will you be covering post-WWII Japanese education? I would be interested to learn of it in this format.

    • @EthelredHardrede-nz8yv
      @EthelredHardrede-nz8yv 4 роки тому +83

      As far as I can tell they think the war was a 'mistake' and otherwise avoid dealing with it. Mistake does not seem to be much of an admission that it was wrong. But I don't even live there. Its just what I have read about it, and that was not much.

    • @NoBudjetFilms
      @NoBudjetFilms 4 роки тому +71

      I would be interested in this as well. Same thing for Russia/Soviet Union/former countries that were a part of the Warsaw pact.

    • @whydoweHistory
      @whydoweHistory 4 роки тому +17

      I second that motion

    • @absolutshadow876
      @absolutshadow876 4 роки тому +10

      That would be interesting to know.

    • @drtm1718
      @drtm1718 4 роки тому +34

      Blow up these comments with likes. I wanna see these videos happen. Particularly the ones about Japan and the USSR.

  • @wannabeth2815
    @wannabeth2815 4 роки тому +2891

    Video title: *has "german" in it*
    60% of the comments: "As a rare german in the wide foreign fields of englishspeaking youtube, I can..."

    • @Karash770
      @Karash770 4 роки тому +269

      We feel a strange sense of acknowledgement when America-senpai notices us.

    • @georgehh2574
      @georgehh2574 4 роки тому +40

      @@Karash770 He's British not American

    • @miqseri
      @miqseri 4 роки тому +191

      @@georgehh2574 Britain, America, Canada and Australia, same thing

    • @c.c7606
      @c.c7606 4 роки тому +14

      Miqseri GX That’s funny

    • @solothurn20mm31
      @solothurn20mm31 4 роки тому +40

      @@miqseri Ask a Bavarian if he's the same as a Prussian. Or a German if he's the same as a Austrian.

  • @richardlindsay7064
    @richardlindsay7064 3 роки тому +2898

    I taught History in Hamburg, Germany from 1972 thru 1979. Believe me, those.kids got the whole story. Parents were upset and complained, but the school.backed me up and the whole story came out a number of times, school.grade by school grade.

    • @LaVilder
      @LaVilder 3 роки тому +65

      I agree those kids need to know that shit happend there all of that torture those peoples were expirienceing it isnt humane
      JEWISH OPINION BTW

    • @lucinikkalsnik1244
      @lucinikkalsnik1244 3 роки тому +194

      @@LaVilder should it be something special cause its a "jewish opinion"?

    • @alwaysmeepin9609
      @alwaysmeepin9609 3 роки тому +57

      Do you guys teach all your history? Because in Canada we teach about all the horrible things we did to native Americans but I have never heard about what we did to Asians. I only learned about the atrocities we committed against asians through my mother. It’s like focusing on the Holocaust, but only The Holocaust and nothing else.

    • @mementomori5580
      @mementomori5580 3 роки тому +37

      Frankly, I thought it was to much / to often. At one point I just stopped caring about WW2 at all because every school year there were month' of history class dedicated to WW2 and I just thought "I got it, it was bad and the Nazis were bad, I get it, you don't have to repeat it for the 100th time".

    • @industriouspolyglot1976
      @industriouspolyglot1976 3 роки тому +8

      What do you mean by “the whole story “?

  • @dusandinic2649
    @dusandinic2649 Рік тому +1

    I find your program extremly valuable, real food for thoughts. Only one tiny proposal: Could you speak little bit slower? It will help your listeners to reflect during you speak. Good job!

  • @Mad_Oph
    @Mad_Oph 3 роки тому +60

    One of my favorite teachers I've ever had was my professor for European History and he was a German immigrant. Inevitably we reached WWII and the Holocaust, and he was very solemn and direct about it. He recalled seeing a man he knew from his childhood on the television being tried at Nuremberg. The professor took great efforts to explain that he was proud to be a German, he loved his country and his countrymen, and that that meant they could never allow themselves to forget what their forebears were guilty of, nor allow it to ever happen again. It was powerful stuff; you could tell that he saw the Nazi regime as a stain on their history that had to be studied and curated, not forgotten.

  • @Jack50xD
    @Jack50xD 4 роки тому +752

    As a German Student myself this is pretty on point.

    • @nyuchannokawaii
      @nyuchannokawaii 4 роки тому +6

      Exactly my thoughts. I'm genuinely impressed with the research he made.

    • @zottelhuehs6375
      @zottelhuehs6375 4 роки тому

      It fits with my experience as well

    • @cv4809
      @cv4809 4 роки тому +1

      How is ww1 taught? What about Franco Prussian war?

    • @Antiklimax1989
      @Antiklimax1989 4 роки тому +8

      @@cv4809 we don't have time for that. German history lessons are basically French revolution and Nazi regime again and again.

    • @iPostPwnedU
      @iPostPwnedU 4 роки тому

      That's the point of the video...what did you think this was a fiction channel LOFL?

  • @derschmiddie
    @derschmiddie 4 роки тому +622

    There is a quote by Juli Zeh: "If you've been raised in Germany after the 1980ies you've had the topic of the Holocaust in every school-subject exept for maybe maths at least once."

    • @eliasgerlin609
      @eliasgerlin609 4 роки тому +30

      Just thinking about how ridiculus it Sounds, its probably true. History, German, Englisch, Music, Politics, even Biology at one point

    • @TinyPierogi
      @TinyPierogi 4 роки тому +4

      @@eliasgerlin609 Not to forget education science about the Hitler youth!

    • @kayla4551
      @kayla4551 4 роки тому +18

      @@eliasgerlin609 we talked about it also in geography, art, economy. We even briefed the topic in programming and Physics

    • @JJumper8888
      @JJumper8888 4 роки тому +11

      Yup like we've been constantly told how awful we are in every bloody subject

    • @doroparker1702
      @doroparker1702 4 роки тому +7

      There used to be two Germanies. Two different educations.
      DDR changed education at school in 1990 at the earliest.
      Remember, there used to be a wall in Germany.
      The Wall came down in 9th November 1989.
      It is nine-eleven put down the German way of writing dates.
      Sachsen, Thüringen, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern were GDR.
      They had to change school programs after reunion with BRD.
      They had to change from Russian as a second language to English as a second language.
      Geography was mainly taught Eastern Europe as they were not allowed to travel to western countries.
      So history was taught different in GDR, I guess.
      No matter on which side of the wall, education was important. It was for free for everybody.
      I grew up in western Germany. Remember being sick and tired of WW II and Holocaust as I had it at school minimum three times.
      Anne Frank's diary in German language class was OK and interesting. Kids still have Anne Frank's diary nowadays.
      Families in GDR with educated parents and grandparents always found a way to gather knowledge. When Western families came to visit,
      books, tapes and information as well as certain foods and other items wiggled through to people in GDR.
      Border patrol always took their share.
      A classmate was very proud. She smuggled a tape with Bee Gees music to her cousin in her bra.
      Young people cannot imagine nowadays how it was back in the 1980ies.
      Internet takes any music to any place on earth.
      My classmate took a high risk. Her parents did have no clue and the music was highly appreciated from her cousins, friends etc.
      Lots of movies show this time of Germany. Even comedies are being made.
      Watch
      das Leben der anderen mit Martina Gedeck about GDR
      Good bye Lenin mit Daniel Brühl about end of GDR, a comedy.

  • @kiwimiwi5452
    @kiwimiwi5452 Рік тому

    I have an amazing history teacher this year. He is making sure that not only do we get to know the history through texts, films, documentaries, photos, propaganda analysis etc, but that we also get a sense for those "politicians" as people. Showing photos that weren't intended to be seen by the public eye, talking about their upbringings etc. He is teaching us that especially Hitler wasn't some kind of special person, and that his entire public persona was precisely manufactured by using said propaganda. He was just a random guy with terrible views who managed to climb the ladder of politics and caused immesuarable pain and suffering. That his intelligence made him so much more terrifying. Anyone could try to do the same, and that it is our duty to make sure that we never, ever let anything like this happen again.
    My teacher puts all those public figures of the past into perspective so we get a feeling of how close this history is to us still.

  • @itsSebastianl0lz
    @itsSebastianl0lz 4 роки тому +315

    I basically clicked on the video to find out how close it is to reality.
    It's really accurate to what I learned in school.

    • @SebastianBTM
      @SebastianBTM 4 роки тому +3

      I am here for the same reason

    • @tomjoe1599
      @tomjoe1599 4 роки тому +4

      And you think what you learned in school was true? What a sheep

    • @itsSebastianl0lz
      @itsSebastianl0lz 4 роки тому +3

      Tom Joe tell me what true then, PLEASE! :P

    • @hanszimmer9224
      @hanszimmer9224 4 роки тому

      @@tomjoe1599 There are for sure many families which believe every word from the government but there are also german families which questioning the TV and instead believe their own grandfathers or old people from towns and villages.
      But in general germans are quite dumb, naiv and easy controlled by fear.

    • @alamoemperor3845
      @alamoemperor3845 4 роки тому

      @Kurt Barryman oh boi, u picked up alot of false info

  • @wolfslp7202
    @wolfslp7202 4 роки тому +242

    The sentence we get to hear the most in history class in germany is "it happened so it could happen again and it is your responsibility to not let that happen"

    • @philippm9927
      @philippm9927 4 роки тому +1

      Thats why history is a subject in school and not only in university

    • @11Survivor
      @11Survivor 4 роки тому +11

      @@philippm9927 history is a subject in school in literally all of europe.
      In fact, I'm pretty sure the US *is* the only country that doesn't have it as a mandatory school subject.

    • @TheBlissfulCyberGuardian
      @TheBlissfulCyberGuardian 4 роки тому

      @@11Survivor it was for my school

    • @someonesomething9282
      @someonesomething9282 4 роки тому +4

      As someone who grew up in the public school system in America's deep South, I think we should take note of this method.

  • @Caroharox3
    @Caroharox3 4 роки тому +249

    I'm not sure if it's the same at other schools, but at my school, at least, we'd also have a field trip to a prison where they held (, tortured and murdered) people who criticised the regime or didn't follow the rules captive, and a crematorium (at the one we visited, they mostly gased and cremated the disabled). Visiting both of those places was very heavy, and apparently it has broken apart a couple of families when students found relatives in the book of the murdered. We had guides talking about these places as well, and one of them had actually grown up in the village with the crematorium in post-war Germany. She told us how back then it was a no-go to ask or talk about it - the denial was big. She also said that it always - as she's been told - smelled sweet when the bodies, you know, turned to ashes.
    We also had the privilege of meeting a concentration camp survivor. He visited our school yearly and talked about his time there, how his wife had been lucky enough to escape this death sentence (if I remember correctly), and at the end we were allowed to ask him questions. For anyone who's interested, his wife wrote down his story and published it. It's called "Miecius später Bericht" by Felicia Langer.

    • @chitaperra2025
      @chitaperra2025 4 роки тому +3

      I would love to read this. Unfortunately, I can’t read German. Has it been translated into English? Or perhaps French or Spanish? I could work with those languages.

    • @p3chv0gel22
      @p3chv0gel22 4 роки тому +2

      @@chitaperra2025 i think the english Version is named "Miecius Report. Youth between the Ghetto and Theresienstadt" or something similiar

    • @ohitsjustmia7969
      @ohitsjustmia7969 4 роки тому +1

      I don’t know in which part of Germany you went to school but in Baden Württemberg (at least in the area of Karlsruhe) we also go to a KZ in class 9 I think.

    • @TheRadioControLEmma
      @TheRadioControLEmma 4 роки тому +2

      We also had a holocaust survivor come to our school and speak to us 9th graders here in Sweden. I remember it strongly and it was impactful to say the least. And I feel fortunate to have had listened to first hand accounts as it is rare/not possible now as time moves on.

    • @aikok903
      @aikok903 4 роки тому

      yeah we had that as well, was a bit shocking to see to be honest..

  • @yymaxovCjewishom
    @yymaxovCjewishom 2 роки тому +1

    Thank you so much for doing all this research and making this video.

  • @mws3779
    @mws3779 4 роки тому +1717

    I always wondered what the Russians teach about Joseph Stalin.

    • @armands3153
      @armands3153 4 роки тому +264

      It's quite obvious... Considering that Russia denies any occupations and war crimes done in the occupied territories (not even mentioning the large list of crimes done inside the USSR before the war) and plays the victim. It's triggering and disgusting.

    • @dacoda8220
      @dacoda8220 4 роки тому +12

      Spaniard triggering lol

    • @armands3153
      @armands3153 4 роки тому +5

      @@dacoda8220 The hypocrisy of it all triggers me.

    • @harryt.5068
      @harryt.5068 4 роки тому +14

      @@armands3153 The Soviet Union was awesome and needs to come back

    • @Tetsuza_3
      @Tetsuza_3 4 роки тому +86

      @@harryt.5068 ah yes, war crimes and forceful compliance a plenty.

  • @ZebSound
    @ZebSound 2 роки тому +4808

    We germans love videos from not germans about Germany because we can not really say something good about us. Its quiet a nice and good feeling watching some people arround the world say nice things about germans :)

    • @wa_demon__9156
      @wa_demon__9156 2 роки тому +81

      I’ve heard generally Germans have alwys been very accepting and kind people so when the whole thing with nazis happened it was a bit of a surprise to many

    • @joboatthecrossroads
      @joboatthecrossroads 2 роки тому +51

      I can write you something else: my Polish grandmother, when asked which occupation was worse? German or Soviet? Without thinking, she stated that the Soviet one: the Germans had rules, they were people, and the Soviets were the wilderness, animals.
      I feel sorry for you that you cannot be proud of heroes and war history. The blood on the flag stained the bravery.
      Everything then came from pride, hope and poverty. Today, it is a pity that you still treat others with contempt, although, for example, your attitude towards Russians is strange and incomprehensible.
      A friend of mine in 1994 died in an accident caused by the Neonazists, he was a Pole and a great actor.
      I feel best in Bavaria, there is not so much aversion to Poles there. Unfortunately I don't have the inscription on my forehead that I have half of my family German and brother fought against brother.

    • @irgendeinname9256
      @irgendeinname9256 2 роки тому +2

      @@wa_demon__9156 bruh when "the whole thing with the Nazis" happened Germany was f*cked and already startet a world war a few years before so i guess that wasn't that surprising.

    • @herminecobainjulesvernedas5177
      @herminecobainjulesvernedas5177 2 роки тому +129

      I think Jan Böhmermann summed it up pretty well: "We are proud of not being proud"

    • @christianlehmann2050
      @christianlehmann2050 2 роки тому +5

      100% richtig

  • @thyson228
    @thyson228 4 роки тому +612

    As a German: I approve this, no errors that I could point out. Well researched!

    • @caimaccoinnich9594
      @caimaccoinnich9594 4 роки тому +2

      Are you taught about the Nama and Herero genocide Germany committed in Namibia?

    • @thyson228
      @thyson228 4 роки тому +4

      @@caimaccoinnich9594 As far as I know. No, not in regular history classes in my state.

    • @clamum
      @clamum 4 роки тому +2

      Thanks for your comment! Good to hear from Germans about it.

    • @caimaccoinnich9594
      @caimaccoinnich9594 4 роки тому +1

      @@thyson228 That's sad😔 Thank you for the answer!

    • @caimaccoinnich9594
      @caimaccoinnich9594 4 роки тому +6

      @Zhào Liǔ What are you talking about? I never even spoke to you.
      As a South African we learn about the concentration camps for the Afrikaners. I have no idea if the British learn. They should though.
      Same for the JP/US happenings.

  • @daehr9399
    @daehr9399 Рік тому +2

    A great uncle of mine was in Germany when his squad was ambushed. Everybody was killed but him - he played dead. Being a German-American, he understood and spoke German, and realized they were debating whether to shoot the soldiers again, to make sure they were dead. They decided it would be a waste of ammunition. He lay there, playing dead, among the corpses of his brothers, until it grew dark. When he was sure he was alone, he got up, jumped in a nearby creek, and ran 2 or 3 miles back to American lines. He was never the same after that. I wonder if they teach stuff like that in Germany?

    • @Nick-tv3hh
      @Nick-tv3hh Рік тому

      Its not a important thing to talk about. They teach us about the date were what happened in europe and asia and we talked about the concentration camps. Also we talked a little bit about the communism

  • @MirageGSM
    @MirageGSM 4 роки тому +312

    When I was at school (in Germany), the focus on the *reasons* for why a war happened and the social and political structures of a nation before and after a war were not restricted to WW2 but to all of history classes from ancient Greece and Rome to the French Revolution and WW1.
    We hardly ever learned about specific battles and dates and outcomes thereof, and personally I think knowing about the reasons for war and/or the great changes in history are much more beneficial to know about.
    I think I learned more about the battles of the romans in Latin classes when we read Caesar's Gallian War than I did in history class.

    • @swanpride
      @swanpride 4 роки тому +18

      True...military history isn't really a meaningful subject unless you want a miliary career. Hence the emphasis is always on the political background, no matter WHAT part of history is discussed. There are a few battles which are emphasied, like the battle in Teuteburg forrest or the Vielvölkerschlacht or Stalingrad, but that is mostly because they symbolise turning points.

    • @siblinganon66
      @siblinganon66 4 роки тому +3

      @@swanpride just occurred to me... it's basically the whole "war is a continuation of politics with different means", isn't it? Why focus on the 'how two bunches of people try to kill each other' and look at the why.

    • @SebastianBTM
      @SebastianBTM 4 роки тому +4

      I have still one year in a german school ahead of me and had similar experiences so far. We were taught how such a regime gained power in the first place and how group thinking influenced the lives of citizens. We were also taught the effectiveness of propaganda at that time and how it worked.

    • @swanpride
      @swanpride 4 роки тому +1

      @@siblinganon66 Yeah, pretty much.

    • @DarkWardancer
      @DarkWardancer 4 роки тому +2

      @@swanpride the only "issue" with not teaching about all those battles is probably that if you start to raise all children not to admire military achievements and rather become pacifsts, the german defence forces will be hurting for recruits. Not saying this is bad, since it would be wonderful if that was the case anywhere on the world, but with dictators on the rise all around the world currently... lets just say if the "new" russian tsar decides to start shit in europe, the allies better come running or germany will be quite screwed :/

  • @BeWe1510
    @BeWe1510 4 роки тому +319

    I think the comment section could use another german giving his thoughts, so here I go:
    It is pretty accurate indeed, well done. Some things I wanna add
    The positive view towards the allied armies is not as strong when it comes to the soviets. We are slowly beginning to talk a bit about their atrocities too, like the expulsions of Germans from the eastern territories or their general behavior as occupiers, where they are seen as the worst of the four.
    I don’t think, that our schools are trying to make us feel guilty. This is a statement you hear sometimes and I even made it myself but today I don’t think it’s true. The goal is only to prevent it from happening again. When demands for reparations gained a little traction in Poland and Greece there was a public outcry based on the supposed innocence of modern day Germans. So while some people who feel guilty might exist, they are definitely the minority.
    However I do agree that the topic is overrepresented in schools as well as in tv programs. Thats not because I think we shouldn’t talk about it as much but because I think we should talk about everything else more, the Nazi topic leaves not enough space for the rest of history imo. History was mandatory for us from 6th to 12th grade and I am not entirely convinced that everybody from my class knows what the Holy Roman Empire is or has any clue about the most important battles of our history, like the ones in the Teuteborg forrest, near Augsburg or the battle of the nations at Leipzig.
    I am not saying, that these should be taught with patriotic triumph, thats not my point. But they and their long term effects are important to appear in class in a dialectic way because without them Germany would be drastically different, if it exists at all. They are as much part of our roots as the Nazi times

    • @thirstwithoutborders995
      @thirstwithoutborders995 4 роки тому +13

      As an Austrian with a similar curriculum I agree in that there is not enough space for the rest of history. I got into an argument with my German and History teachers, because for two years it was either about the Nazis or Nazi-metaphor books. Like nothing had happened in between 1945 and now that might explain the world today. I would not have liked to learn about battles, because nothing can be learned from that, unless you plan to become a military strategist, but there are many a lesson to be learned from other historical events too.

    • @leonl9123
      @leonl9123 4 роки тому +9

      I think we should look at pride and patriotism to our pre ww histoy, so many great things happened in the last 2000 years, that it would be wrong to not teach in a proud way about them. Having nacional pride is also something positive, and it doesnt make people automaticly into rasissts or nazis.
      While it is true that we conciously dont feel guilty for ww2, but we still see it as bad to wave a german flag, or express any kind of pride about who we are or who we have been.

    • @BeWe1510
      @BeWe1510 4 роки тому +8

      @@leonl9123
      Yeah I mostly agree actually. I like to consider myself a moderate patriot if that makes sense. The German flag should definitely be raised more because otherwise we are risking to loose this symbol of unity and democracy to the extreme right, which is a shame because of what the flag actually stands for, it has nothing to do with the Nazis, in fact they hated it so much, that they immediately scrapped it.
      I am just not sure about teaching with pride. I think the goal in class should be that you know what happened and what that means for you not how you feel about it. If you develop a certain pride because of that thats fine and if you do not, than thats fine too, imo the schools shouldn’t force either of those feelings

    • @leonl9123
      @leonl9123 4 роки тому +6

      @@BeWe1510 I don't say that we should teach pride over the second world War, but we should not ignore everything before it. If I would say that I am proud about Germanys history a lot of people would accuse me to be a nazi, because those few years are everything that people see when they think about German history. They don't think about how Germany ruled Europe for Centuries through the Holy Roman Empire, how german tribes defeated the Roman legions in Teutenburg or about the glory of the Prussian Empire. And that comes down to school. We learn how Germanys history was so terrible because of the 2 ww, and how we have to prevent history from reoccurring. And that's fine, would it not cover 80% of the curriculum. We did the first World War in 2 hours, just to spend countless hours on German war crimes in the second world War. Ignoring most important historical events for it.

    • @Tessa_Gr
      @Tessa_Gr 4 роки тому +4

      @@leonl9123 Why should any of us be proud of that? Patriotism honestly just doesn't make any sense and is useless. I don't have anything to do with the outcome of any of the wars and battles that happened before I was even born. Feeling pride over that is ridiculous.
      If you said we should learn about stuff pre WW1 more because it still influences our country/is part of important general knowledge I would maybe agree (even though we do learn all that extensively anyway). But patriotism just isn't a good argument for anyone who didn't grow up with it and therefore doesn't know why they should feel it (in that sense it sometimes feels like religion - you're more likely to want to defend it and feel like you belong to that group if you learnt about it at a time where you didn't have any critical thinking.) (not that religion is wrong, you do you)

  • @rockstarJDP
    @rockstarJDP 3 роки тому +1429

    As a Brit that's visited Germany a number of times and explored many of its regions, I can say that I have the utmost respect for how Germans wear their history on their sleeve. Munich is particularly interesting in how it memorialises the war in that the memorials are all over the city, but are very subtle, often small plaques or painted cobblestones for example, and are designed to make you think about them and encourage you to do your own research into the stories behind them.
    Also I did ask about the very subject of this video to some of the German friends I made along my travels, and my understanding is that it's considered impolite to mention the war, however they feel obligated to answer any questions you have regardless, because to change the subject would be disrespectful. In any case, Germans are the friendliest and most helpful, wonderful people I've ever met and it is such a beautiful country, I can't wait until I can visit again! 😊

    • @stever1002
      @stever1002 3 роки тому +75

      Thanks for the nice words from a German. :) Our english friends are always welcome!

    • @rockstarJDP
      @rockstarJDP 3 роки тому +19

      @@stever1002 Likewise my friend :)

    • @kayzenl7911
      @kayzenl7911 3 роки тому +31

      When you travel in France. If you ask about WW2 there is an strange reaction. People will first lost their eyes and said “ we lost the battle because of the high command” this is true and suddenly they change it to, Napeolon or Ww1

    • @anurag15271
      @anurag15271 3 роки тому +17

      Expecting the same from Japan, the things they did is not written anywhere in the world. My great grandfather was in the army and he told so many horrific stories to my dad about the ww2. I hope history will remember wht they did to us.

    • @rockstarJDP
      @rockstarJDP 3 роки тому +9

      @@anurag15271 There is another video on this channel about just that if you haven't seen it already :) but yeah I agree, my great uncle fought with the Commandos in Burma and my grandfather in the RN throughout the Pacific, neither were the same when they came home and both refused to ever talk about it. That's not even to mention the Sino-Japanese wars that predate our involvement. All of it should be taught in schools because it isn't about assigning blame, it's about preventing anything so awful from ever happening again.

  • @davidlogansr8007
    @davidlogansr8007 Рік тому

    We hosted a German student during the 99-2000 school year, and during a discussion one night I was able to play a recording of part of one of Hitler’s speeches. The young man said he had never heard his voice before ( this was before UA-cam) and found what he was saying to be fascinating.

  • @colinalbert5109
    @colinalbert5109 4 роки тому +435

    As a German I wanted to write a comment how accurate it is until I saw the 12000 comments starting with "as a German" XD

    • @p3chv0gel22
      @p3chv0gel22 4 роки тому +4

      As a German, i can say:
      Agreed

    • @waluigi3515
      @waluigi3515 4 роки тому +2

      As an American I'm startng to wonder if all of these people are really Germans.

    • @youju26
      @youju26 4 роки тому +2

      @@waluigi3515 It’s a German Tradition to watch every Video about German things and after that to write a comment. As a German I also noticed that this got a meme for some Germans.

    • @checkcommentsfirst3335
      @checkcommentsfirst3335 4 роки тому

      @@waluigi3515 we are germans🗿

    • @multifan6679
      @multifan6679 4 роки тому +1

      @@youju26 jep, wir übernehmen jede Kommentarsektion, die das Wort "German" im Titel hat...It is honestly really funny to me, just saying...

  • @catgirl-jj8no
    @catgirl-jj8no 2 роки тому +3299

    This is why I love the quote "Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it." I wish we'd get better history teaching in America :(

    • @iHaveACrushOnPrincessDiana
      @iHaveACrushOnPrincessDiana 2 роки тому +53

      I guess Putin didn’t learn history

    • @Malachi-Rhodes
      @Malachi-Rhodes 2 роки тому +76

      To be honest with you I wish our entire school system was a lot better.

    • @varianwrynn8272
      @varianwrynn8272 2 роки тому +55

      @@iHaveACrushOnPrincessDiana well it was the exact opposite in russia cause they were the winners. my colleague (born and lived in moscow for her entire childhood) told me that when ww2 (or great patriotic war, as they call it) was taught, it was all on "heros against nazis". No mention of Finland, Poland or anything bad on the russian side. she at first didnt even believe me when i told her about Poland and Finland. she was so shocked when she read about it. makes you wonder....

    • @keiricstephenson9231
      @keiricstephenson9231 2 роки тому +6

      That quote was by the same guy who said, “ History is a pack of lies about events that never happened told by people
      who weren't there.”
      He also believed history changed and should be constantly rewritten. Not that the quote is necessarily wrong, but if he believes truth isn’t even real, it makes you wonder

    • @Someone-qy3kv
      @Someone-qy3kv 2 роки тому +17

      We do have a lot of good teachers. They are just under paid and under funded and have their hands tied depending on which district/state they work in. It’s the system that needs a complete rework. However if the population was properly educated. Then well?! We can’t have that! People might actually vote in their best interests. That be a shame.

  • @nickgonzales64
    @nickgonzales64 3 роки тому +1520

    This guy speaks in the longest sentences I’ve ever heard.

    • @EJLeas
      @EJLeas 3 роки тому +31

      He’s German just look at the German language there’s ur answer

    • @ewwpoorpeople5684
      @ewwpoorpeople5684 3 роки тому +81

      He speaks how research papers write

    • @ArkinMC
      @ArkinMC 3 роки тому +5

      Your statement shocks me.

    • @guysumpthin2974
      @guysumpthin2974 3 роки тому +5

      Severe wordiness

    • @sharronmccombs1716
      @sharronmccombs1716 3 роки тому +32

      I like it. I wish I could speak so well and really purely expressive using the most accurate terms possible. It does sound long-winded, but he isn’t hemming and hawing, um-ing, or wasting breath on points that aren’t important.

  • @simgel6286
    @simgel6286 Рік тому +1

    Very nice Video.
    Im German (19yr) and just finished school this summer. And i remember exactly when we had to go to a concentration camp in 9th grade. It is mandatory and even the people who were sick that day had to do this trip with the classes of the following year.
    We were all about 14-16yrs old. On the way to Dachau there was a lot of laughing and joking about the the time back then and what the people had to endure. I know that was very f'ed up, but you know how teenagers are.
    But just after arriving and standing at this huge open field where all these poor souls arrived too back then and seeing just how big the complex was, we all went silent pretty fast. Not because we were scared or anything like that, but because you can feel that very bad and frightening thinks happend here. Its a feeling i cant really describe to be honest.
    The tour was fascinating and our guide could literally answer every question we could think of. But we all had this depressing and ashamed feeling the whole time. We were ashamed and also kind of surprised/shocked that the n*zis did this to others.
    The first shock was then seeing how the people had to "live", crowed the whole time, sleeping in beds five at a time where one person could barely fit in. And even know i can still remember the smell of that place. But the most shocking thing was not seeing the gas chamber and listening to the guide explaining what these marks on the wall are (scratching of these poor panicking souls, realizing that they wont escape) no, it was the 20 minute video we saw.
    The End of the tour is always the cinema. There you will see a small documentation of the camp. From the building to the arriving of the first prisoners, the day by day humilation, the killing etc. and even videos of the freeing through the russians.
    You see the skinny people who are almost skeletons. You see how scared they are. No hope, no happiness. Its a depressing feeling seeing the last moments of people. Even after they were dead, they were not treated with dignity of any kind. Just thrown in a pit, burned to ashes. I can't imagine how its must have felt being inside one of these camps.
    I know this didn't make it sound like a fun tour for the whole family, because it isn't and it shouldn't be, but i still recommend it. If you ever are in poland or gemany, go and book a tour. It is a very humbling experience and i promise it will change you. Because on the bus ride home there wasn't a single person joking anymore and we were all pretty quiet and in our thoughts.

  • @InstandXXNightmare
    @InstandXXNightmare 2 роки тому +669

    We Germans are very direct. We can be stubborn as all hell but we can also admit when we fucked up. And in this case especially, Germany fucked up really badly. And that's exactly what they tell us in school. They teach us about this mainly when we are around age 15-16 and usually finish the topic of WWII by visiting a former concentration camp. For me it was Bergen-Belsen, the place where Anne Frank was killed. A guide will walk the class around and tell the story of how life was there, what the camp was about (since there were different "kinds") and what happened when soldiers came and freed the camps. With literal video footage. The stories are already a lot to listen to but there's something about being a 16 yo with nothing to worry about in life and being confronted with real footage of so many dead people who where killed right where you stand not that long ago. It really puts a need in your head to prevent that from ever happening again, you really push for that afterwards. So no, they for real don't sugar coat anything, they are very real with so you understand what happened, what went wrong and what you have to do to help that this won't happen ever again.

    • @deantasty7421
      @deantasty7421 2 роки тому +32

      Oh yeah... The pictures, the videos, the piles of bones... This room where masses of people got gased and the big ass oven where they got burnt. These field trips had a diffrent vibe than the ones before. But I'm so glad I experienced it!

    • @Supermariocrosser
      @Supermariocrosser 2 роки тому

      Not if hitler won the war. Germans would be still forced listening to hitler.

    • @michael2704
      @michael2704 2 роки тому +13

      same here - visitted KZ Natzweiler-Struthof as a 17 yo kid and will never forget the pictures I saw there. Of course I was aware about the crimes that were committed during WW2 before that day but the whole atmosphere of the KZ really burned into my memory

    • @גוגל.קום
      @גוגל.קום 2 роки тому +3

      Most people wouldn't think twice when they're shown a picture of Anne Frank literally posed in writing position for visual reinforcement.
      Break the conditioning

    • @hx20303
      @hx20303 2 роки тому +3

      Thank you for this

  • @chocofudge1932
    @chocofudge1932 2 роки тому +220

    I'm from Germany and I have to say your summary of the schedule German schools go through covering WWII and the atrocities committed by the Nazi Regime is very accurate. In terms of the actual battles, our schedules do cut these short. However, I've found that many of us gathered up the courage to ask about the experience of war in our own families only a few generations down because of these classes. And when I did, I learned that no soldier from my hometown who was born in 1928 and forcibly recruited to the frontline in Russia in 1943/44 made it back home. I learned that my grandpa just got there when the war was declared over and had to travel back home by foot. He met refugees from concentration camps in the woods in Czechia. They were all starving, traumatized and scared. It is so surreal what this war did to people. It's important that we know and don't forget.

    • @suidelikeson21
      @suidelikeson21 Рік тому +16

      I remember the horror of finding photographs of my great grandfather in front of the Auschwitz trains. I felt so ashamed and horrified. But then my Oma told me why he joined the SS. My family had been potato farmers up until the war. The Nazis came and forced my great grandad to sign up. If he didn't, they would kill the children and burn the farm down. My great grandfather never returned from the war. And our farm was burnt down anyway. My family's livelihood was gone. A lot of people don't see that some of them were forced to join. Uropa just wanted to farm.... he had 11 women employed on his farm. Then everything was gone.

    • @kalaoahaole
      @kalaoahaole Рік тому

      DEUTCHLAND forever! Germany NEVER!

    • @dalewins9782
      @dalewins9782 Рік тому

      THEY WERE STARVING BECAUSE THE GOOD OLD U.S.A. WAS VERY BUSY BOMBING THE FOOD SUPPLY LINES AND PRISON CAMPS.

  • @jefftriphahn3496
    @jefftriphahn3496 3 роки тому +562

    I did a student exchange to Germany in high school, fucking loved it, loved the country, loved the people. Great experience, Germany is the shit. That being said, when we got to WW2 in class, it was definitely a sensitive topic, probably more so because there was an American in class. I got a feeling more of sorrow than anything else. Generally, they are ashamed of that period in their history, even though they and their parents had nothing to do with it.

    • @Monkofthecaribbean
      @Monkofthecaribbean 2 роки тому +9

      Every other country has done the same fucking shit. You dont see Russians crying about Stalin's atrocities.

    • @euphoriaggaminghd
      @euphoriaggaminghd 2 роки тому +48

      @@Monkofthecaribbean agreed. Tbh as much as its honourable that germans are taught of their history to never repeat it again, it also sort of sounds like constant shaming for atrocities they didn't commit. To this day Japan still hasn't apologised for their atrocities, the US hasn't apologised for the atomic bombs, Russia for Stalins atrocities or even the British for their bombing of Dresden and famine in Bengal. I think the German people should give themselves a break and realise that nearly every other major power during WW2 committed similar atrocities, maybe not on the same scale but they weren't innocent.

    • @kankerbende
      @kankerbende 2 роки тому +3

      Yeah, you should take a look at documentary from the war. You will see nobody with his arm up to salute Hitler !! Wir habben es nicht gewust !! We didn't know !!!That is what they all say !! Ofcourse there are good people in Germany, bud don't forget, they voted for Hitler. I am a Dutchman, and mine vader was a German. Sometimes mine mother made an joke ! Give them boots and a pistol, and they wil start again !

    • @johanna7096
      @johanna7096 2 роки тому +5

      „They“ who voted for hitler are almost all dead now. I know no german who does not hate that part of our history and who is not deeply concerned that something like that could ever happen again. You seem to have a very narrow perspective that is build on 2/3 ppl only. There will always be delusional and horrible people. In every country, religion and political movement. But they are not the majority - at least i. Germany

    • @nia-juni
      @nia-juni 2 роки тому +34

      @@euphoriaggaminghd hi, i do understand where you are coming from, but for me personally this does not mean anything about the education in Germany should be changed, quite contraty, is shows the necessity for every country to learn and teach about their history. Most important, about what went wrong and especially why it went wrong so every citizen has the best capabilty of recognizing certain behaviour and developments right away, to prevent things like genocide, slavery or just fascism from happening again. We call it "Erinnerungskultur" (commemerative culture), the Holocaust and dictatorship of the Nazi-Regime is something that left a mark and so it is our responsibility, as individuals but also as a society or country, to not only say "never again" but to be able to mean it. Being educated so well about what hate and horrible thoughts can cause is what makes nowadays Germany a mostly politically left-oriented country. I would wish for this to be normal everywhere. History is and always will be the best way to learn for now and the future.

  • @assaixfedajini
    @assaixfedajini 8 місяців тому

    As a German teacher, I can agree with every single word in this video. You have done incredibly good research on that, guys!! Well done!

  • @annaverena2415
    @annaverena2415 4 роки тому +868

    There is an interesting movie on the topic. It's called "The Wave" and it's from 2008. Really shows how the youth in Germany feels about the nazi guilt, as we are bombarded with it from a very young age. I absolutely recommend it :) at least watch the trailer

    • @taskmaster1234
      @taskmaster1234 4 роки тому +112

      The Movie is based on a Book centered around a US-Highschool experiment. The teachers purpose was to show his students how easy it is to brainwash people and exclude and persecute oppositions. As far as I remember we read it in English Class to improve our English skill while simultaneously adding to our history lessons about the third Reich. Speaking of German school system btw.

    • @giovannipineda84
      @giovannipineda84 4 роки тому +26

      I watched it and it was good but strangely not very popular. It's strange that people pay close attention to the drama and "not repeating" but don't ask why millons of people were willing to kill others... Curiously they never talk about how hitler was not as important as the identity politics that grew in that time and it is regrowing nowadays again. NO ONE talks about it. Check videos of Hitler talking (there are not well translated videos on youtube) about themselves as minorities...

    • @LAWless_Nonsense
      @LAWless_Nonsense 4 роки тому +8

      @@taskmaster1234 the book plays in the US?
      Well I be damed,
      I had to read it in German but I still liked it!
      Some things just scared the shit out of me and I had to set it down sometimes, but it's very good.

    • @Ben-ig3bf
      @Ben-ig3bf 4 роки тому +8

      I had to read that in german
      Ihateit

    • @LAWless_Nonsense
      @LAWless_Nonsense 4 роки тому +3

      @@Ben-ig3bf ooof
      I'm sorry for you

  • @its_herocast276
    @its_herocast276 3 роки тому +2674

    Expected him to say “Hey Vsauce, Michael here”

  • @jotriDerSalzige
    @jotriDerSalzige 3 роки тому +971

    I'm from Germany and everyone I asked was on the same page with me:
    We, the new generation are not at fault for the crimes our ancestors did, but we are responsible for stopping history from repeating itself.

    • @MaxMustermann-hy9in
      @MaxMustermann-hy9in 3 роки тому +3

      Ünd dö möchen wir doch gröde ähnün öchd güden Jöb im Ösden, gel? "Wö word ihr sölvöstah" - Göschüchde wörd sich schon nüschd wüderhölen!

    • @flawedandbeautiful4166
      @flawedandbeautiful4166 3 роки тому +19

      @jotri
      That's basically how we (mid US) view you too

    • @MaxMustermann-hy9in
      @MaxMustermann-hy9in 3 роки тому +26

      @Flawed and Beautiful - I once knew an American exchange student who honestly asked me if Hitler was still King of Germany...

    • @flawedandbeautiful4166
      @flawedandbeautiful4166 3 роки тому +25

      @@MaxMustermann-hy9in
      😂😂😂 just wow. It sounds like that person Really needed that exchange

    • @SyndikatChannel
      @SyndikatChannel 3 роки тому +5

      And now its repeating again ... leider

  • @sashaconrad3939
    @sashaconrad3939 Рік тому +1

    This is quite fascinating. Thank you for an interesting and informative video.

  • @KirstyM100
    @KirstyM100 2 роки тому +1655

    I live in Australia and we had a German exchange student when I was in school. She grew to be a close member of the family and we kept in contact. Subsiquently we went to visit her in Germany when she was in University.
    She said she had something she wanted to tell us and hoped it wouldn't cause us to change how we felt about her.
    She proceeded to tell us that her Grandfather had been an SS soldier and she was not only horrified but also ashamed.
    It had been something that was not talked about in the family and she'd only found out when he'd died.
    She is the sweetest, kindest person and we assured her that everyone makes their own decisions but that it would have also been incredibly difficult for her Grandfather during that time.
    For me it was profound at how genuinely apologetic she was for what her Grandfather had been a part of.
    She knew that as Aussies, we had relatives who had fought, and some died, fighting her countrywho were, in her eyes, clearly in the wrong.

    • @MarkEliasGrant
      @MarkEliasGrant Рік тому +134

      She sounds like a great person to condemn the horrors of the past but she owes no one an apology for what her grandfather did.

    • @joekane8026
      @joekane8026 Рік тому +66

      @@MarkEliasGrantI wish ppl in America looked at it the same way as far as American History.

    • @kichigan1
      @kichigan1 Рік тому +63

      Not being a Nazi was a dangerous stance in those days. Soldiers who opposed Nazis were systematically exterminated. A lot of Germans joined for survival reasons.

    • @KirstyM100
      @KirstyM100 Рік тому +6

      @@kichigan1 yes, it must have been so hard

    • @lfritschy
      @lfritschy Рік тому +16

      @@kichigan1 true. The father of my grandfather was against the regime, however they found out and sent him and his son to fight in first row. He sadly returned without the son, as he refused to use a weapon against the enemy.

  • @notfakeaccount5742
    @notfakeaccount5742 4 роки тому +1411

    German schools: that was not very cash money of us

  • @somerelativleyuninterestin4763
    @somerelativleyuninterestin4763 3 роки тому +1428

    Germany history: *“we committed one of the most prominent genocides in the history of the world and are willing to not only make ourselves better but teach about the awful things we’ve done to make sure they not only don’t happen again but so the younger generations don’t glorify the atrocities”*
    English history: *”damn we had a tyrannical empire. Based lol”*

    • @kprk4102
      @kprk4102 3 роки тому +140

      Also English History:
      'Proceeds to continue sweeping colonialism/former invasions, crippling descriminations/racism and native genocides under the rug'

    • @Rosie_88
      @Rosie_88 3 роки тому +24

      Israel's history: " We've outdone Hitler, our predator is nothing compared to us. We learned well from him and became much better. We are pros at his craft, be proud kids!".
      Yes there, I said it ! Whoever likes to comment negatively to what I said, spare me the ANTISEMITISM bs. It's a fact and a reality!

    • @kprk4102
      @kprk4102 3 роки тому +10

      @@Rosie_88 Do people often happen to call you a Nudzh or Yenta?

    • @Rosie_88
      @Rosie_88 3 роки тому +6

      @@kprk4102 I understand, not everyone can swallow the truth pill.

    • @FakenameStevens
      @FakenameStevens 3 роки тому +47

      Japan: Wikipedia isn't nice to look at. This "second world war" is a bad story

  • @AnyNotEverything
    @AnyNotEverything Рік тому +1

    my australian teacher was visiting germany with a history class,and visited a death camp while they were there. according to my teacher, a german school was visiting at the same time and students were laughing, posing, and treating it as a normal tourist attraction

    • @EvilsTwin66
      @EvilsTwin66 Рік тому

      I think, this is what you search for, right!?
      This was a topic in the news in germany as well.
      So, when all assholes are here in Germany you can be sure your save, only god boys around.
      Yes! And there is one who walks on water. Believe it... ;)

  • @parabellum1002
    @parabellum1002 2 роки тому +855

    In the United States, though this was college, our professor, a really energetic Jewish lady from New York (she’d get so excited when talking about history and bounce around the lecture hall) didn’t sugar coat the concentration camps, murders, etc. she very emphatically discussed the atrocities. However, she did spend a good bit of time explaining why and how it happened, which IMO is the most important part of history. After world war 1 Germany was punished too harshly and the sanctions & fines too great. There was suffering and desperation among the German people and it became a breeding ground for a radical that promised change and prosperity. When Hitler came to power he stopped paying the fines and abiding by the sanctions and instantly had more money but because the rest of the world really didn’t want another war and were just starting to come out of the Great Depression (which affected most countries, just not all as bad as the US) they let it go and pretended they didn’t notice. He kept pushing and pushing and pushing the more he got the more he took (if you give a mouse a cookie) until the world had to respond. She said a lot of things could have made it different. The sanctions & penalties to have been more fair. Germany was made to pay back every country that fought against them when they were trying to rebuild themselves. It wasn’t possible. Had they had help rebuilding, they would have been less susceptible to allowing a radical come to power, had other countries intervened sooner or renegotiated it likely wouldn’t have escalated, etc. its important to understand the why of the past so it can be prevented in the future.

    • @handleonafridge6828
      @handleonafridge6828 2 роки тому +45

      I think the German fine was so harsh because it was a fine that should’ve been paid by multiple countries, but the other two big ones (Ottoman Empire and Austro-Hungarian Empire) were completely dissolved and you can’t really fine new countries, so instead of making the fine just for German damages the Allies put the fines from the other two on the Germans as well.
      Also late into the war Germany really became the only Central Powers country with fight left in it so it became the obvious scapegoat for the war

    • @mihaelamogildea7690
      @mihaelamogildea7690 2 роки тому +11

      But at the same time , if it wasn't for the conciliatorism of England and USA, Hitler wouldn't have gone that far .

    • @sebi0037
      @sebi0037 2 роки тому +47

      @@handleonafridge6828 Not really. The Versailler Treaty was mainly written by France because they wanted revenge for the war of 1871. Thats also why they meet at Versailles.(Frances surrender in 1871 was there, too and the German Kaiserreich got formed in the process) France also "bullied" the German state several times in the following years (annexation of the Rheinland), because Germany was short of their payments. US president Wilson actually tried the opposite, because it was clear, that Germany couldnt account for that, but he died, before the treaty could be ratified. Britain didnt bother that much. They mainly had an eye on the Highseas Fleet.
      TLDR: It was like that, because France wanted revenge for the war of 1971.

    • @lr7674
      @lr7674 2 роки тому +28

      There were a lot more factors at play for example germany was the only one to be blamed for ww1 which upset germans a lot or that many of the parties partaking in a democratic system were against that very system or that the reichspräsident held too much power or the great depression which caused over 1/3 of the population to become workless

    • @bluebird8221
      @bluebird8221 2 роки тому +28

      @@sebi0037 As a french, this is pretty much true. Even at the time, the treaty was obviously criticized in France, even by people like royalists. (Yeah, they still exists.)
      Even George Lloyd, the British Prime Minister at the time, who first thought about giving heavy punishment to Germany kinda change his opinions after to not give France too much in a way to try to keep a balance of power.
      Amongst the critics the treaty received from some French people at the time, there was:
      -A lot of things demanded from Germany with, for most of it, no guarantee to receive it.
      -The treaty is humiliating to them, but do not break their unity, only promising new conflicts and hostility.
      And Jean Longuet thought that the conditions were too heavy, the redistributing of territories not really fair for some of them, and all of that was the birth of future new conflicts. He wanted a more democratic, socialist and liberal Europe.
      So yeah, a lot of people predicted that was not a great treaty, be it for more self centered reasons (no guarantee to receive the payment etc) or for a more peaceful reason, because they thought about future conflicts. And, they were basically both right.
      So yeah, pretty bad move from France, even without insight. Even if, at the time, most people probably couldn't imagine the scale of atrocities that would happened in WWII.

  • @dataexpunged3914
    @dataexpunged3914 4 роки тому +3016

    Video: *related to anything German*
    Germans: dieser Kommentarbereich ist nun deutsches Staatsgebiet.

    • @Ilyiasyn
      @Ilyiasyn 4 роки тому +218

      Ein Volk. Ein Reich. Ein Kommentarbereich.

    • @beasvideojournal
      @beasvideojournal 4 роки тому +21

      Translation

    • @Ben-ig3bf
      @Ben-ig3bf 4 роки тому +1

      Haha genau

    • @amongussussyballs
      @amongussussyballs 4 роки тому +132

      @@beasvideojournal
      Video: Bla bla bla
      Germans: This comment section is now official territory of germany.

    • @gustavschnitzel
      @gustavschnitzel 4 роки тому +58

      @@beasvideojournal The other one says: One people. One empire. One comment section.

  • @kylewoodcock8075
    @kylewoodcock8075 4 роки тому +1944

    Me: *opens UA-cam*
    “How do German schools teach about WWII”
    Me who’s never had an interest in Germany or the world wars: Well let’s find out

    • @jimbert4988
      @jimbert4988 4 роки тому +122

      You should! Learning about war and how bad it is will open your mind and show you how terrible it is. We can only learn from the past!

    • @kylewoodcock8075
      @kylewoodcock8075 4 роки тому +21

      @@jimbert4988 that is true but I’m more interested in the war between humans and animals and the natural world than any wars between humans and humans

    • @rogueshadow3850
      @rogueshadow3850 4 роки тому +7

      My great grandfather and great uncle were Nazis

    • @kylewoodcock8075
      @kylewoodcock8075 4 роки тому +11

      @@rogueshadow3850 I think you mean role models (for legal reasons this is a joke)

    • @jackp6466
      @jackp6466 4 роки тому +22

      Kyle Woodcock so ur into Aussies vs emus?

  • @markdschedler
    @markdschedler Рік тому

    I have liked everything Mr. Whistler has been in. I like this format very much. Thank you.

  • @TinyPierogi
    @TinyPierogi 4 роки тому +705

    Funny story: I'm German and went to a high school in Japan for a year. My world history teacher taught about WW2 at this time (we even watched Schindler's List during class) and asked me seriously, if we Germans view Hitler as bad or good. Smh

    • @UpularProject
      @UpularProject 4 роки тому +21

      maybe she meant like are there people that see him that way? idk you’d know how she meant it but just throwing it out there

    • @Karash770
      @Karash770 4 роки тому +57

      In India, people view Hitler as a sort of an "amusing grump".

    • @aidang2717
      @aidang2717 4 роки тому +47

      I think that in Japan many people might not know much about modern European views on history but I may be wrong

    • @cjin3680
      @cjin3680 4 роки тому +9

      Comes down to what she actually meant/said. Did she mean all germans or parts of the population? Because we still do have quite a lot of nazis in Germany, which often are very open about their ideology and don‘t act "undercover"

    • @cjin3680
      @cjin3680 4 роки тому +8

      Joey Simek There are many organizations that are extremely right and beyond that there are extremists/neo-nazis that aren’t in organizations. And probably many that will be in a few years. They don’t seem to decrease, so I think it‘s a serious issue. If nazism keeps being taken so lightly, history may repeat itself.

  • @hinatanin
    @hinatanin 4 роки тому +1562

    As a German: how did other countries teach their children about the crimes of WW2?

    • @biancaolivier3319
      @biancaolivier3319 4 роки тому +251

      In South Africa, we were taught about what triggered the war and how it played out with key dates and people of interest. But essentially painting Germany and Russia to be the bad countries. I am always one for 2 sides of a story but couldn't really get anything back then (2004) as South Africa is always behind with technology. Our textbooks were, to me were very outdated. I am a 3rd generation half German on my mother's side as my great grandfather fled the country and would love to visit Germany in the future :) I feel the past is in the past and no one now should be held accountable for things that happened back then.

    • @lindaandersen5723
      @lindaandersen5723 4 роки тому +164

      When I was in school (in Sweden), we learned about the war like described in this video. Every year in my old school the pupils in year 9 went to Berlin to visit a concentration camp, the remains of the Wall and other areas of historical importance. What was the most emotional to me took place before the trip. It was a visit from a survivor of one of the camps who came to Sweden after the war ended as he had no family left.

    • @mcarrowtime7095
      @mcarrowtime7095 4 роки тому +224

      in the us we talk about what caused the war and the holocaust. heaviest focus on the holocaust. we talk a bit about what drew America into the war. its just generally excepted that the Nazis were horrible.

    • @mmcharchuta
      @mmcharchuta 4 роки тому +117

      In Poland we are familiarised only with our perspective of the story.
      We heroicise our own nation and have major problems with admitting any singular examples of collaboration.
      Oh. And having a thousand years old animosity towards germans we call nazis germans, rather than nazis.
      Many poles believe that we were betrayed by our sworn allies - France and Britain, which then backfired on these traitors, because they lost the chance of a favourable military position.

    • @mrsimonebucher
      @mrsimonebucher 4 роки тому +27

      In the Italian part of swizerland, we learned about key points and not really on a philosofical way. We had to learn German too, and there we had a second "hisory" class, from WW1 to the fall of the URSS and how it influenced Germany. So for around 6 month we touched the problem of nazism from a philosofical view instead of a stratigic one.

  • @buckydee1310
    @buckydee1310 4 роки тому +921

    Germany: We lost a war!
    Italy: YOU lost a war!

    • @douglasweiss8656
      @douglasweiss8656 4 роки тому +92

      Also Italy: “Yeah we couldn’t admit we lost every campaign that didn’t have Germany’s help so we’re gonna switch sides.”

    • @Tk-541
      @Tk-541 4 роки тому

      @@douglasweiss8656 again lol

    • @corahannen8631
      @corahannen8631 4 роки тому +19

      There is no such thing as loosing or wining a war. Its one state who gladly ends it. In case of WWII it was gladly right side and the allies established one of tge fairest and liberated system in History of the world, but in many other attamps the US failed and insteat of peace they brought harm and fear.
      I encourage more people to challenge there countrys history and even the dark parts of hustory or elswise we all are doomed to relive it. Therefor terms such as wining or loosing a war must go and we all must know that war ist the greatest horror and evil of human kind

    • @yn2603
      @yn2603 4 роки тому +9

      "A great man is hard on himself; a small man is hard on others." - Confucius

    • @silmaril8989
      @silmaril8989 4 роки тому +9

      "Italy" didn't switch sides, instead Mussolini was killed and the country overtaken by the resistance and allies starting in the South mainly. WW1 is a different story

  • @AstroMan2305
    @AstroMan2305 Рік тому +2

    I’m from Florida and the teachers I have had most definitely changed the way I see United States history. In the past, things I had learned were glazed over and chalked up to mistakes anyone could make. The last two teachers I have had have shown me that though these were mistakes anyone could make, many of those people CHOSE to make those mistakes, thus making them responsible and needing to be held accountable for their actions. The shortcomings the United States and associated parties felt due to these individuals or groups were sometimes simply ignored for greater agendas pushed by more powerful individuals or groups who simply pushed things they themselves enjoyed on others. There was a major lack of empathy and compassion for other humans simply because of how hatred was bred towards others simply because of inner struggles that pushed this hatred outward on everyone. Overall, the teachers I have now completely allowed me to see that what went on in my country’s history was far worse than it was made out to be.

  • @charlotteice5704
    @charlotteice5704 4 роки тому +602

    As a German, I can confirm that this was accurate. However, I'd like to add that at first, the denazification was not all that successful. Shortly after the war and up until the 60s, the topic was not really talked about in families and former nazis still held more or less important positions, for examples as judges, in many places. The 1968 student movement is what put an end to nazism in Germany for good.

    • @peterpoop7760
      @peterpoop7760 4 роки тому +17

      "The 1968 student movement is what put an end to nazism in Germany for good."
      There is still a lot of Nazism in Germany, as is witnessed by the continuing existence of a plethora of Neo-Nazi Groups, for example. Go to your Landratsamt or Einwohnermeldeamt and ask for their list of unacceptable organisations (that's if they're willing to hand it out). The last list I saw ran to 4 pages of A4 paper.

    • @charlotteice5704
      @charlotteice5704 4 роки тому +49

      @@peterpoop7760 what I meant by "put an end to nazism for good" is that it put an end to the societal acceptance of nazism, I should have clarified that. It is evident that there are still many nazis, but as opposed to the situation that was up until the 60s, they are not accepted now and national pride is heavily frowned upon now.

    • @noth606
      @noth606 4 роки тому +28

      @@charlotteice5704 national pride is by no means a bad thing, and it being frowned upon is nothing short of patethic. Being patriotic and proud of your country is the hallmark of a strong nation which is in many ways a requirement for civilization itself.

    • @ZiggyMercury
      @ZiggyMercury 4 роки тому +26

      Funnily enough, as a Jew from Israel (though I now study in Germany) I can tell you that there is a particular similarity in the way it was dealt with in Israel, although from the other side: at least until the '60s, the holocaust wasn't talked about much in Israel. As far as I know, there were two main reasons for that:
      1. Holocaust survivors who came to Israel after the war and wanted to share the stories of the atrocities they experienced often found out that Israeli-born people did not want to listen. Many of those born in Israel and raised with the mentality of "we shall determine our own fate" (by establishing a state of our own etc.) tended to view the holocaust as an event where European Jews were led "like sheep to the slaughter", i.e. led to their known death without putting up a fight. That's of course total nonsense (because they were guaranteed to lose their lives if they tried to resist), but that was the perception and attitude. I think that has started to in 1961 during Adolf Eichmann's trial, when many Israelis were first exposed to the personal horrors told by holocaust survivors who spoke as witnesses in the trial.
      2. Holocaust survivors who came to Israel usually tried to build a new life, with a new family, and did not want to dig in their painful past.

    • @robertbretschneider765
      @robertbretschneider765 4 роки тому +9

      @@ZiggyMercury Nice Comment. Did u ever hear of the christian embassy in Jerusalem? Its an organisation that unites mostly christians from all over the world, big part from germany too, in support of Israel. They also run a shelter for poor old holocaust survivors in haifa, where young germans come to help and work for one year as a part of healing those wounds that their nation caused the people that live there. It isnt anything i did myself sadly, but as a german i read this with a good feeling.

  • @smz3610
    @smz3610 3 роки тому +3076

    "Until the lion learn to write, every story will glorify the hunter"

    • @51tomtomtom
      @51tomtomtom 3 роки тому +26

      great saying !

    • @francescoferrigno2339
      @francescoferrigno2339 3 роки тому +90

      The lion is the hunter.....?

    • @madmadpoopoo1228
      @madmadpoopoo1228 3 роки тому +36

      @@francescoferrigno2339 Yeah, I was confused too. But that’s how the saying is. 🤷🏽‍♀️

    • @hammerjoe33
      @hammerjoe33 3 роки тому +5

      I love this

    • @PrimalNewt
      @PrimalNewt 3 роки тому +81

      @@madmadpoopoo1228 I think it’s referring to us as the hunter

  • @kallivino8346
    @kallivino8346 4 роки тому +135

    As a british woman living in Bavaria,I will never forget the day my son came home and told me their school trip was to Dachau. I have since taken German citizenship.we and the world should never forget.

    • @alibutt1465
      @alibutt1465 4 роки тому +5

      Unfortunately look where the world stands now. Bigotry everywhere

    • @aymennasri7669
      @aymennasri7669 4 роки тому +4

      What's wrong with Dachau?

    • @user-vv9wd1ez1c
      @user-vv9wd1ez1c 4 роки тому +8

      The best way to understand this topic is really to visit a concentration camp. Only if you feel that...

    • @jamesmorgan2064
      @jamesmorgan2064 4 роки тому +3

      Well then.. you wouldn't be a Brittish woman... would you?

    • @walterheimlich6207
      @walterheimlich6207 4 роки тому +4

      @@user-vv9wd1ez1c That feel when you do a swan dive into the auschwitz swimming pool ?

  • @flavialinauer7147
    @flavialinauer7147 Рік тому +9

    As a student in Austria I can say that we basically spend about 8-9 months just learning about WW2 in basically every single subject (but mostly in history, german, biology and arts) and we learn how terrible it actually was, seeing gruesome pictures, visiting Mauthausen/Auschwitz everybody has to do about 3 presentations with something concerning WW2 and we have a Memorial Day per year for the jews who had to leave the school because of antisemitism in ww2 (For most of them it was the first step to being murdered) And for this day we also have to write a text or poem/make a presentation/make a video. Also what rarely happens is that someone who lived during WW2 comes to our school and talks about their life- then often even the media comes to listen. So yea we do a lot about this subject

  • @barnabasb1128
    @barnabasb1128 3 роки тому +455

    As a German history-enthusiast and year 12 student, I can say that this video is researched EXCEPTIONALLY well. It's really accurate.

    • @jonburrows2684
      @jonburrows2684 2 роки тому

      Sad to see how Germany, England, United States and a few other countries have just handed their countries over to foreigners nowadays without a shot being fired.

    • @barnabasb1128
      @barnabasb1128 2 роки тому +3

      @@jonburrows2684 You might want to rethink about this comment again😐…

    • @jonburrows2684
      @jonburrows2684 2 роки тому

      @@barnabasb1128 I've rethought it and see how the world has been set up for the end of time. Satan's little pawns want the NWO so that it can prepare for Satan himself to one day rule.

    • @Steve-xo5pq
      @Steve-xo5pq 2 роки тому +3

      @@jonburrows2684 I wish there was something I could say to open your eyes. I see comments like this and I have even argued with a few of said commenters, and it seems like you are all walking around with you're eyes and ears closed. You see only your little slice of life, your perspective, and refuse to acknowledge anything else. Anyone who disagrees with you, is not only wrong, but not even worth listening to. Can you not at least acknowledge, that this kind of thinking is not conducive to learning and growing as a person?

    • @nodriveknowitall702
      @nodriveknowitall702 2 роки тому

      @@jonburrows2684 The end has been around the corner since time has been recorded. As Steve pointed out, you will not receive anything. You believe you have everything figured out.

  • @stoat5591
    @stoat5591 4 роки тому +256

    I live in the US state of Oklahoma and when I was in Oklahoma history I brought up the Tulsa race riots because my teacher skipped it in class and he pretty much told me to shutup quietly. I believe that no matter how bad or terrible the history is the school system should still teach it.

    • @zardsire2012
      @zardsire2012 4 роки тому +10

      In California history, we group the period when it was Mexican territory part of the Spanish history part so we only got to learn about it for a week since we took so long on learning about the Missions. They group the explores into a whole unit but when it was Mexican territory into a small part of the Spanish history makes no sense.

    • @danrook5757
      @danrook5757 3 роки тому +3

      Dr. Slap Back : what was that. A Canadian here

    • @amadeosendiulo2137
      @amadeosendiulo2137 3 роки тому +5

      Polish here, my history teacher didn't want me to talk about why there was Ukrain in Poland and if that has something to do with the Ukrainians being our enemys durring WW2....

    • @huntergriffin4907
      @huntergriffin4907 3 роки тому

      @@danrook5757 so there was a thing known asblack Wall Street” in Tulsa which was attacked by whites and basically it got destroyed it’s not taught in a lot of cases but has gained a lot more attention over the years

    • @VeraTheTabbynx
      @VeraTheTabbynx 3 роки тому +7

      "those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it"
      I know it's corny, but it really is important we learn from horrible things to know just what comes of needless prejudice.

  • @nathanperry94
    @nathanperry94 4 роки тому +557

    Die Welle is a really good German film that demonstrates how small, seemingly innocent things can turn into mob mentality.

    • @datzfatz2368
      @datzfatz2368 4 роки тому +9

      Its also a very good novel/graphic novel!

    • @lancelotgohel8460
      @lancelotgohel8460 4 роки тому +28

      Die welle, the wave? About a experiment done by a German teacher with his students that goes very wrong?

    • @datzfatz2368
      @datzfatz2368 4 роки тому +5

      @@lancelotgohel8460 exactly that one yeah

    • @lancelotgohel8460
      @lancelotgohel8460 4 роки тому +4

      @@datzfatz2368 I saw it in history geography and moral and civic teaching (French here), very interesting

    • @food7479
      @food7479 4 роки тому +12

      This experiment happend in real life.
      In the U.S. I don't think that gun part was true.

  • @theodoreeisele
    @theodoreeisele Рік тому

    Fascinating, thanks for making this video.

  • @joshbriggs1615
    @joshbriggs1615 4 роки тому +888

    "the first country Nazi Germany conquered was itself"
    This quote couldn't be more right

    • @joshbriggs1615
      @joshbriggs1615 4 роки тому +28

      @Logan Waltz just because they supported socialism does not mean they supported Nazi Germany
      Many German people did not support the Nazi regime but could not do anything as attempting to organise a rally or a protest would most likely have them captured and killed
      Aswell as the Gestapo constantly making German people fear that anyone of there friends or ally's could actually be agents meaning most people couldn't just contact fellow Germans to organise this as a Gestapo member or even a child going to Hitler youth could and most likely would find out and then tell the authorities

    • @YTscheiss
      @YTscheiss 4 роки тому +3

      Who exactly said this? First time I hear it. But I always tell people, Germany was the first victim itself. It's not that Germany became Nazi and that's it. Nazi conquered, kidnapped Germany! ...

    • @BadWebDiver
      @BadWebDiver 4 роки тому +1

      That statement is so profound, and brilliant.

    • @zykel621
      @zykel621 4 роки тому +5

      @Logan Waltz IDK where you got that from but its 100% false.

    • @ixlnxs
      @ixlnxs 4 роки тому +8

      @Logan Waltz In the Weimar Republic there were far more socialists than nazis. The nazis never got more than 40% of the votes. The first thing Hitler did when he took power, was prohibit all the left-leaning parties.

  • @SabrinaChach
    @SabrinaChach 4 роки тому +76

    I am German and I know how it is taught in school. But I clocked on the video anyway, to see if he got it accurate...And I'm amazed how good he got it. So, great job, Simon! Keep going. Greetings from Germany

    • @carola-lifeinparis
      @carola-lifeinparis 4 роки тому +7

      Same here, I was curious how good the video would reflect the reality and it is so accurate that I am surprised and impressed. Including the books we read in school about the subject.

    • @NathanCassidy721
      @NathanCassidy721 4 роки тому +4

      I’ve been following this channel for years and it’s quite rare that they get a dud when it comes to research.

    • @kabukimanindahouse
      @kabukimanindahouse 4 роки тому +4

      Every german comment ever ends with "Greetings from Germany"

    • @erebostd
      @erebostd 4 роки тому

      ihaveagiantschlongwannasee they are quite polite people, aren’t they?

  • @ich6654
    @ich6654 2 роки тому +772

    Some things to add, that I learned during my time in school:
    -a bit of Hitlers life before being the person he was in the end (so basically his rise as a polititian)
    -a general understanding of relationships between countries during the war (germanies allies, the pact with russia we abandoned when attacking them)
    -the whole situation with Japan and Pearl Harbour (how america got involved in the war, which basically created a war on two fronts for germany)
    -there's also alot of time spent talking about the fate of the jewish (during that time, we also visited an old concentration camp and the old facility that built the ovens for said camp)
    That all being said, I think you get really good, wide-spread education about the war in germany, despite the school system being pretty meh otherwise, but I digress

    • @123pik1
      @123pik1 2 роки тому +2

      Are you from Germany?
      So I have a question (only because my curiosity)
      What do you think about reperations for Poland (one of the most destroyed countries during II WW)?

    • @mmgs1148
      @mmgs1148 2 роки тому

      I hope you are concious that russians planned attack on you too, you were just faster. This fail turned for russians very well, they can now play victims

    • @Truthseeker88888
      @Truthseeker88888 Рік тому

      @Nah Brah Your Wrong I don't think the Germans at the time necessarily fear the Jewish people as much as how the culture clashed with German culture ideals. One of Hitler's biggest criticisms were around Usery. Which is a big reason why the Jewish people were kicked out of places around Europe and the world historically. Getting into banking practices that prey on the less fortunate by charging interest that makes it hard to repay. Then seize collateral for the loan and gain wealth through shady business practices. Today, we just accept that as the norm and don't talk about how detrimental it is for the world as a whole (debt,) but back then it was looked down heavily to do against your own culture. The Talmud encourages it as an us vs them tribal mentality, which encourages lying, swindling, and usery to gentiles. And that's wrong.
      Yes, there is a whole lot more to unpack, but this part is never talked about in the origins. Nor do I agree with how it was handled either.

    • @NeuroticNightmares07
      @NeuroticNightmares07 Рік тому

      Do they teach about Hitler's program killing disabled people just prior to the Holocaust happening? How he used them as a sort of pre-holucaust killing of disabled kids and adults? I feel a lot of people forget how he also killed disabled, LGBTQ people, people of color. Everyone knows about the Jewish people's horror they endured, but do they teach about the other people killed too?

    • @ich6654
      @ich6654 Рік тому

      @@NeuroticNightmares07 I can tell you, that they are pretty thorough on what he has done, and that they do teach all of this. The main topic is of course the holocaust, but we got coverage of the stuff you mentioned as well.
      Now I can only speek for normal history classes, because even though I wanted to get into the advanced course, it was full. It is very much possible, that they are covering this alot more in said course