In Germany we have a law that states: If you notice someone in need, you are OBLIGED to help them within your capability (and as long as you are not endangering yourself directly). So, if someone breaks down in front of you and you have medical knowledge and/or first aid certificate, then you HAVE to help them. If you don't, you can be sued for 'failure to provide assistence' or 'failure to help'. If you have no medical knowledge, you have to at least catch that person and scream for help, there's always someone nearby knowing what to do and you better whip your phone out to call an ambulance, not for filming. And in Germany you cannot be sued for trying to help someone. Everyone has been raised with that to the point where ppl aren't even aware of that law but instead just cannot wrap their head around how you can NOT help someone (if you are able to). I help people in my daily life all the time, and be it just to keep the tram door open for an elder with rollator. It's just normal. And no matter what, everyone is glad when they get help and thank you. And of course there's always the knowledge that you could be (or most likely WILL be one day) in their place and how great it will be when someone helps you with something you struggle.
Came here to say the same, … Adding to that Germany has very strict public filming rules as well as explicit rules against watching, for example an accident on the Autobahn while slowly driving by, because this behavior has caused sever accidents on the other lane, not even mentioning filming while driving which is a complete no-no anyways. You are also neither allowed to film an interaction with a police officer , nor posting that on the internet without faceing 5 years, afaik.
I think this is generally the case in many countries, at least here in Europe. I’m always surprised to see how many Americans post such videos on social media. On the one hand it helps make people aware of social injustices, but very often it’s about an argument two people are having and you don’t get to see the beginning of the fight, so you can’t really say who’s right and who’s wrong.
I'm American (East Coast), and came to Germany for the very 1st time as an exchange student back in 1972. My initial experience was the perfect trifecta: landed in one of the most beautiful areas of the country (Schwarzwald), had a wonderful guest family, and - with the close proximity to both Switzerland and France - got the first taste of a world the US suburbs simply couldn't provide. When I got back, I experienced severe reverse culture shock, and couldn't wait to leave the States again. I ended up graduating from high school at the end of 11th grade, and spending a year in France before ultimately settling in German. Obviously, the Germany I found then was (very) different in many ways than the Germany this young man is experiencing now. At the time, too, Germany wasn't as diverse as it is now (and even now it's nowhere near as diverse as many areas of America are). Although I originally lived in a city with a strong US military presence, I later moved to places where my chances of meeting another Black person were worse than winning the Power Ball. There was a lot of unfamiliarity (on both sides) that sometimes had roots in racism (e.g. both of my in-laws were young adults during the 3rd Reich; one of my ex's grandfathers was an ardent, regionally prominent Nazi party member) and sometimes didn't. It's funny, because - after 45+ years in Germany - I can both agree and disagree with this young man. I think the 1st major difference for many Americans is the fact that race simply isn't seen through the lens we're used to. Does it mean there's no racism? Heck no! It just means that - as Americans - we can often take a sigh of relief from some of the structural US racism we've been exposed to since we were in diapers. Being a Black American came/comes with privilege, too. Many times I was treated noticably differently than someone from Africa or the Caribbean could expect to be. Sometimes even than Afro-Germans. A lot of Germans are genuinely curious about life in the States, know more about American history (including the Civil Rights Movement) than we usually do about German history, often like Black American music, and are familiar with a lot of Black American entertainers and athletes. Although that can lead to a lot of (positive) stereotyping, it often opens the door for deeper personal encounters that can be fruitful for both sides. They won't be shy about challenging you on the US government/US politics, though... ;-) Germans are famous for downplaying large-scale inequality and injustice due to race. For historic reasons, many statistics, etc., make NO mention of a person's race/skin color. Many see that as a positive - "color-blind" - thing, but it also makes it damn near impossible to gather credible evidence to actually PROVE systemic discrimination... So, when the the World Report and other international research spotlights racism in Germany, they officially rebuked the findings. While there have been prominent cases of blatant police violence against Black people and other People of Color (now, how are you going to take a lighter out of your pocket and set your own mattress on fire when you're handcuffed to the bed, Mr. Officer??), as well as a sometimes less than enthusiastic response to solving/prosecuting hate crimes, in general the German police are more laid back, polite and helpful. That has a lot to do with their better overall education (!!!), and the lack of "gun-happiness" that's so pervasive in America as a whole. But, just as in the US, the number of officers with far-right tendencies is (very!) alarming. If you haven't noticed, I very much stand by my decision to create a life for myself in Germany. That doesn't make me blind to it's obvious flaws. IMHO the easiest way to live well - and thrive - in Germany is to know how to walk the fine line between cultural adaptation and embracing (FLAUNTING!) your own uniqueness as a foreigner.
Bettering oneself is a continually ongoing process, never a finished achievement. I don't even think we are that exceptional in downplaying societal issues though. This seems to be quite common among humans. People get defensive when confronted with inconvenient information about their personal behaviour or that of the groups they identify themselves with. The real question is how you deal with it and there are hits an misses, as you said. I am glad that you could see a generally positive trend in the decades you spent here.
I came to Germany at age of 12 yrs and we have never experienced racism or discrimination of any kind from Germans. It is the friendliest country I have ever been to. Germans may not be very extroverted but they are very kind hearted and honest people - from my experience.
I'm from Germany and honestly, I already grew up with race not even being in the focus in any way. We just kind of didn't care. I didn't really become more sensitive until I was more active on the internet and started to interact with people from the US. There actually is a kids fairy tale called "Die Geschichte von den schwarzen Buben" or "The story of the inky boys" in the Struwwelpeter book. It basically tells the story of how there were kids making fun of a black man in various ways. Then a giant man named Nikolas caught them and put them in a pot and turned them even darker, quite literally black, from head to toe Now, if you would like to read it, feel free, just be warned that the language may seem rather....inappropriate however it was written in the 1800s. Anyway, that story just teaches children you shouldn't be mean to people based on their ethnicity cause it can always backfire. We're taught about the bad thing our country did in the past too. It helps, teaching us the repercussions of racism. Doesn't completely eradicate it but I guess it makes it a lot less prominent.
I guess one thing that might help you get some context to americans' reactions is that over most of the world it is not the skin colour that is the main target of discrimination but things like ethnicity, religion or language. In Europe unlike US concept of black-white doesn't play a big role- most tensions come from nationalities or by extension languages&accents. That's one of the reasons why black americans in vlogs say that they feel like in home - they are not considered as black, but as american.
Yes. Racism against Black people in Europe is more motivated by them being from African countries. There’s also racism against people from the Maghreb and the Middle East. That racism rarely extends to Black Americans since they’re considered American, not African. You’re right, discrimination here is more about geographical origin than actual skin color.
This is what I came here to say. He paints a pretty picture and don't get me wrong I'm happy he feels at home and have a pleasant experience he deserve it BUT he's American and is accepted as such. I l live in Sweden and it works exactly the same as you explained it. Americans gets respect but black Somali people or Arabs and more not so much.
It's actually forbidden in germany to take pics or videos of people without consent. You'll never see someone take out the phone and start recording before first aid or when help is needed in any way. That's the reason why dash cams are not a thing here. We love our data protection and privacy. 😅
Unfortunately we do have these kind off assholes here in the Netherlands. Sometimes it seems as if some people care more about social media likes, than the live of other people.
@@geoffpriestley7310 security cameras are allowed as long as they film your own property. Authorities have different rules: traffic cams and body cams for the police are also allowed. We talk about private persons here, right?
I regularly go to Germany as my sister lives there, I have never had any problems there. I always feel super relaxed when I’m there as a woman of colour. I’m from London btw
I’ve often said since I permanently moved here that Germany has fulfilled the promises that the US never did. I didn’t know what freedom really was until I came here. In every aspect. I do not and have not missed the states since I left. It was like a weight lifted and I could breath when I got here. Nothing but fresh air and being able to relax, melinated folks know what I mean when I say that. I really don’t even like to go back stateside to visit. The minute I land I get a tightness in my chest back and after a week I’m ready to come back home, home being Germany.
As a German i will NEVER understand why people want to move there... you work your ass off for NOTHING average income after taxes is about 2200€ and at the moment in germany on average you need 7500€!!!!!!!! Householdincome after taxes for a single family house....... up to 70% taxes is just modern slavery. Retirementsystem is colapsing in a few years. Healthcaresystem is on its last wheels. Immigration problems are just insane and so on....
@@Snakeshit294 I guess that depends on where you live here. The system is collapsing because young people would rather stay at home and get money from the Sozialamt than go to work, even brag about it on tv shows, and get away with it. The more people seeing that happening the more they want to do it as well. Yet even with those downfalls it is still better than what’s going on in the US.
@@lalaemm5985 already did 4 1/2 years ago. For me its amazing, i make 178K a year, just bought a small ranch and build a brand new 2690 sqft house on it.
@douglassherrod1248 Das Problem sind eher die ganzen Ausländer die unser Sozialsystem auf allen Ebenen belasten, diese Leute kosten den deutschen Steuerzahler Milliarden Euros. Mehr als die Hälfte der Sozialhilfeempfänger in Deutschland sind Ausländer, hinzu kommen dann noch Ausländer mit deutscher Staatsbürgerschaft.
@@Snakeshit294 it is good that you moved. Your perception of issues is out of bounds. If our immigration issues are so insane... why has the criminal statistic only rising in correlation to the population increase? Especially if you view the statistics under income perspective, the crime raise is nothing spectacular. Why are 37% of all "new" immigrants working (for german citizens, it is 60%)? Currently this "young" workers are reliefing the healthcare and retirement issues we have. Germany has three major issues at hand, and funnily people like you never mention them. We have issues with digitalisation. We have issues with climate change. We have issues with finding allies for improving the European Union. The rest is cake.
In Germany if you film someone in considerable peril instead of helping them you are (potentially) committing a felony (depending on the gravity of the situation). If you filmed someone dying e. g. and could have helped them without danger to yourself you'd be in BIIIG TROUBLE. We do have people filming accidents and emergency personnel doing their duty. But if they hinder/impede the rescue operation in any way, they can be subjected to heavy fines.
Here in Europe everyone is used to be among many different languages, because it is Europe's thing to have many different cultures living on small terrain.
You right. I’m not a black person from America. So it’s a subject which doesn’t affect me to the same extent as you or others. But i have an outsider perspective that i can share. It seems to me that the US especially struggle with truth. They don’t want to know, they don’t want to face it. Native people genocide, nope! Didn’t happen. Slavery? Nope! Didn’t happen. Let’s bury all that and move on. But you can’t move on when you haven’t processed what happened and why it happened. To avoid that in the future. Germany and South Africa are a little different. They haven’t done everything right and they will always struggle with their history. But it seems like they talk about it. They look at each other and talk freely to solve the problem. They try to process it. America is the king of politically correctness and it hurts more to not talk about real issues. Even in a family.
What has always been strange to us is they (of course not all) care more about genocides in other countries before acknowledging the truth about what has happened here. They are quick to scream that we have victim mentality for bringing it up and say it didn't happen to those of us who are living without realizing the things of the past still affects us with the laws and policies of today. Whoo! I have so much to say, but I'll stop. South Africa and Germany does a way better job at these discussions than we do. You hit the head on the nail, fam.
As a matter of fact Germany has a law that can charge you if you fail to provide assistance to an emergency or obstruct the police/fire brigade/ambulance to provide help.
@@maireweber I thought so too, but browsing through an american centric forum has taught me otherwise. The amount of people who watched dashcam footage and said "I would just keep on driving out of fear of making the situation worse" was shocking. There even was someone who claimed to be a nurse saying "I would keep on driving too because it's not my job to help". When I responded with "of course I would help, because the worst thing you can do is not doing anything at all" I got very angry responses. It didn't get any better when I said that in my country "not providing help in case of an emergency" is an offense. Bottom line: Don't get into an accident in the US because most people won't give a shit about you.
I'm German and this is not the first of these types of videos and I feel honored and blessed. I now live in the USA but somehow African Americans can sense that I'm different even when I just casually meet people on the street. Fancy that
I am a German, so I can speak to the question at 14:18 . If you see anything 'traumatic' as you put it, that usually means someone needs help. If someone needs help, you help them. It's just the right thing to do, as anyone in their right minds would tell you. But around here even the law acknowledges that fact, and so if you see something like that and you could help without putting yourself in undue danger but you don't, the law calls it Unterlassene Hilfeleistung. That is a crime which depending on it's severity will net you a pretty high fine or even jail time, as you directly contributed to another citizen's misery by doing nothing. Just one of the lessons we learned the hard way during the nazi regime.
Although you're basically right no-one, not even the law can force you to put yourself in danger. And that includes emotional danger. If you feel unfit to help then calling for help is all you need to do. Don't endanger yourself, act smart and call the proper authorities.
Policemen in Europe usually don't have this power trip going on. In Germany we view the police as our friend and helper. Of course there are a few bad apples here and there, but in general they are like firemen. They see their duty in just trying to help as best as they can. Also we Germans are very keen on order so it is normal to us to be pulled over if something is not in order with our car or whatever.
Funny sidenote: The Slogan „Die Polizei, unser Freund und Helfer” was made great by the Nazis and without them we wouldn't see the police as friend and helper. Okay, it is not funny, because this slogan helped to keep the civilians calm, while the police catched jews to deport them and later kill. Words can be a powerful and dangerous weapon.
Also, the training of police forces is much more extensive and takes longer in Europe. 2-3 years if I'm not mistaken. In the US, you can be a cop after only 6 weeks of training and are allowed to carry and use a weapon.
@solokom. After the six week training period the officers work while training and attending school. They have two years to complete their courses and take their initial exams and up to a third year to pass the exams and earn their criminal science degrees.
I'm from England and seeing people from the US living happy lives in the UK or Europe, is really heartwarming (whatever their ethnicity may be). I think positive change is coming for US citizens, it seems almost inevitable considering how candid the Internet is.
I agree, but would like to point out just two small things: 1) UK _is_ in Europe, it should not be seen as separate from Europe just because it’s an island, not on the continent. I get your point, though. 2) Unfortunately, the internet can also be very toxic and lead to more division, which is precisely what we’re seeing in the US and it’s sadly now spreading around the world. I hope for change, for acceptance of all ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations etc. and will never give up that hope, but I don’t see it coming soon.
@@patriciamillin1977 As far as geographically, yes the UK is on the same continental plate. Politically or ideologically (on topic), we're not European and someone from the EU would almost certainly agree. That doesn't mean I'm anti-EU in any manner. The present UK government has caused severe damage through corruption and neglect. If the Internet is causing division in the US, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Without healthy debate any society is susceptible to stagnation. From what I've observed, the division is between progressive thinking and those that want to cling to tradition. The problems affecting the US pre-date the internet and progressive thinking though.
@@ZombieATAT Agreed, but I was referring to _Europe,_ not _EU._ That’s two different issues. I’m British born and raised, but lived part of my youth in Cyprus until moving to Germany when I was 16. I consider myself to be European. Due to Brexit, I applied for dual citizenship in 2018, and am thus also still a member of the EU despite the UK having left. It’s also true that *healthy* debate helps growth, but that’s now what’s happening in the US at the moment. In fact the toxicity of the “debates” are extremely unhealthy and could lead to a new civil war. It’s more than just a difference between progression and clinging to tradition (which in itself is stagnation), though. It has always been around, I agree on that point, too. I’m old enough to remember what it was like in the 60s. However, the internet has allowed for conspiracy theories to thrive that are driving a much greater wedge between the two sides that goes far beyond just progression vs. tradition. Insofar, the division in the US is very much a bad thing.
@@patriciamillin1977 I'm not exactly young either. I most definitely Pre-date the EU by a long way. That being said, the people and government of the UK have always referred to Europe as a separate entity. The geographical technicality isn't predominant. The Internet has given the US an opportunity to view the rest of the world. I'm sure the US education system is still focused almost exclusively on the US? How US citizens digest the information is definitely a core issue. There isn't the same flexibility and open-minded framework that most other countries have. I don't believe adhering to the same Indoctrination will improve US lives or that seeking change will inevitably lead to civil war. The fact that narrow-minded conformists are becoming defensive, only highlights that change is inevitable. Saying "it was better in my day" is a common misconception.
@@ZombieATAT I know. As I said I grew up in England and I remember it always being referred to as Europe, but mostly as “the continent” or the “continentals”. When I first moved to Germany, the UK had not yet even joined the EC, as it was then known. For the first two years I had to annually renew my visa and work permit. Having spent so many years here now, though, I came to view it as wrong that the UK sees itself as separate from Europe. It also caused a lot of problems within the EU, with UK always wanting to be different and have things their own way; rather than working with the EU, they often worked against it. The Germans called it wanting an extra sausage. Yes, the internet has opened the Americans up to the rest of the world to some extent, and some seem to embrace it while others tend to retreat further into their nationalistic exceptionalism. It’s not the seeking change that will lead to civil war, it’s those that do _nit_ want change that are calling for it on a daily basis. You are absolutely correct that indoctrination will not improve US lives, but that’s what a lot of people want. I communicate with both sides almost on a daily basis and the differences between the two sides is shocking. The sad thing is, it’s no longer limited to the US, either. It has spread and affected many other countries in the meantime, like QAnon, that has become a worldwide phenomenon with millions of followers. I do agree that change is inevitable, but it won’t come easy; it may even take a second civil war to affect that change, as sad as that is. The problem with the US is that they never really learned to deal with the first civil war, what caused it, why it had to happen, what the aftermath of it was. The confederate states were never able to cope with losing and have been wanting a second civil war ever since. People like Trump, DeSantis, Abbott and the current rightwing media are pushing the kind of narrative that supports these war seekers. I don’t hear people on the left talk about it.
In Belgium (and a lot of other European countries) its pretty difficult to become a police officer, they have a very hard education and are well payed. Over here it takes at least 2,3 years to become a officer
Im from Germany, married to an kenyan women with to beautiful kids, 7 and 1,5 years. Our friends from Croatia, Rumania, Afghanistan, Syria, Eritrea, Nigeria, Italy, Austria, Ukraine, Russia, Netherlands, France, Turkey, Poland and some other countrys 😂so much different food to taste 🤣I love it... WE ARE ONE WORLD, God bless you 😇
I think in Germany you will be judged by what you do and how you behave, not by color of skin or country of origin. You should learn the language of course. Most Germans do speak English, but as long as you don't learn German you will be viewed as a visitor, not as an inhabitant. Many people from other countries find that Germans are a rather quiet people. So Americans, who are rather loud, often stand out uncomfortably. I think self-awareness helps a lot. ;) Many Germans are becoming very fed up by immigrants who invade the social systems right away and never even try to find a job and contribute something. At least carry your own weight and everything will be fine.
Most foreigners who immigrate to Germany do carry their own weight and contribute to society. I have seen more Germans leech from the social system than foreigners, unless they are asylum seekers, in which case they are not permitted to work until their application has been approved and they become legal immigrants. I believe they are (or were) discussing changing that rule and allow asylum seekers to get jobs, but I haven’t followed up on that discussion.
@@patriciamillin1977 Actual immigrants often come to work here in the first place. So I can relate on your impression. On the side of refugees, this is not as positive. F. e. only about 27,4 % of the syrian refugees who are registert on the job-market, are working a job, that pays into the social system. (Source: ZDF, 17.02.23)
@@anjafark But they are obviously registered to work, so maybe it’s just that they can’t find work, ie. because their German is not so good or that there aren’t many jobs available where they are. A lot of employers don’t take foreigners, especially is they can’t speak the language very well. It might also depend on their qualifications.
@@patriciamillin1977 Germany payed for courses to learn the language and gives a lot of support. I think, in more than 5 years as a youg man you are able to pick up at least some of the language basics to get started somewhere - if you want. Meanwhile enterprises invite young people from India an Latin-America for apprenticeships due to the shortage of workforce. At the same time we pay this mostly young male refugees social care. That is disappointing and makes no sence.
@@anjafark I’m sure there’s a reason for this discrepancy, it needs to be looked in to. I’m sure it has to do with the refugee status. I have to admit that of all the job applications that passed across my desk, I don’t remember ever receiving one from a Syrian refugee, but that might be due to the fact that we were an IT company and an outsourced subsidiary of a semi-conductor manufacturer, so very specialized. I don’t know about Latin-America, but India has a lot of IT experts.
We have some assholes in Germany who think it's ok to record an incident instead of helping. But sometimes they get charged with a felony of failure to provide assistance.
The problem in the US as far as I understand it is that race is so in focus In some states before you vote you have to answer what race you belong to, In Europe (even in Russia) this would be unthinkable - mostly even illegal In the US as far as I understand you still have black areas, white areas and other divides. In the country of Denmark poor areas with especially immigrants are torn down. So that everyone can live in mixed areas with poor and rich (no matter race) side by side I guess this is the reason why most afro-american youtubers moving to Europe get a shock. They are human first and then a ethnicity in stead of vise versa
They have gated communities (for the wealthy) with guards in the US. That is the creepiest and scariest thing i heard about US culture so far. Also from my experience (and my personal pov) someone is a human first, then they are their accent/dialect (e.g. for me it's always a question of how well their german is and if it wouldn't be better to switch to english or another language we both know), then their nationality and then i usually don't care enough anymore but that's when ethnicity comes.
In Finland, there are laws (rescue laws) that demand you as a civilian help victims of an accident, even traffic accidents or anyone who's wounded or in need of help in general. If you see a fire, you HAVE to call 112, and then help however you can. If you do not help, you can get fines or even go to prison. Many finns aren't even aware of this... Then again, most don't need to, since they will help anyway.
I always love watching positive reactions to germany, because most of the time I just reallly hate my own country for all it´s bad things and forgot about the good things... Thank you for cheering me up!
I’m not German but Dutch (right next to Germany), but in Western Europe we tend to not really care about heritage, we treat each other as humans and we’re cool. There’s always a small group who act like asses, but you’ve got those people everywhere.
I come from Austria and with us and in most of Europe you are a person and not a color. In addition, the training of a police officer is 2.5 to 3 years. That means solid professional training. America is lagging behind.
As a german i am always confused how positive other people see our country. We don´t do it in general, i guess, we are so used to it, that we don´t see the good things anymore. I am glad for everybody who enjoys living here. But we do have rasicm here, we are not always friendly, we are always very on our own, but in general, i guess, the most people here a nice and caring. And yes, we are idealizing the united states. The green is always greener on the other side. 😉
We Germans have a complex about this. If we are second best somewhere, then that really upsets us. In addition, the eastern half has a blatant inferiority complex. Because they were oppressed by the Soviet Union for decades.
In Germany the police is supposed to be our "friend and helper"...so yeah, they would rather help to fix an issue before risking that the plate falls down on the Autobahn, endangering other drivers. Doesn't mean that they don't have bad moments and there aren't bad apples as well as a system which has to be constantly questioned to ensure that the bad apples don't spoil the whole barrel. But a longer training which is more focussed on deescalation than attack options does make a difference in the interaction.
Germany isn't the paradis, you will have nice persons and unfriendly persons like overall in this world. That's the truth. How you been treaten is how you meet people. I'm German, native, but some people also don't like me, not because I'm not friendly, because they have problems. Doesn't matter, because it would be strange, everybody loves you. I accept it.
I´m german, living (now) in Berlin but originally coming from Hamelin (Pied Piper... ^^). I travelled and worked in several countries the last 30 years, eg. Spain, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia etc. I now realized some "America Reacts..." videos like Volker Pispers political cabarets and found you guys now. It´s impressing seeing your discussions how Germany and many Germans REALLY are! Thanks a lot for that! As you invited let me please tell something more about our history that maybe can show the differences of the way of living in Germany/Europe and the USA: my family history is a very old one, proved by facts until 1756. So my ancestors lived in an area formerly knows as Masuria (today it´s a part of Poland). Beautiful environment with huge forests and many lakes - my people lived and worked their as farmers for centuries and had to flee with WWII. To understand why german people as well as the most other european ones in many cases (of course not all) are treating like we saw in the video you have to see where exactly the area of Germany is in Europe (geographically) ... in the Center of Europe! With many other surrounding countries. Since the earliest time "Germanians / Germans" had to fight against all other surrounding countries to stay free or become free again. And there were many, many fights. And many european countries have an equal history. So "we" had to "generate" new ways of fighting on one side and to explore, research and learn on the other to preserve and teach all that knowledge to our children and our nation. And the Europeans had to learn that only understanding the "other ones", the "opponents" will give a future to everyone. Compared to the USA Europe is a small region with dozens of other countries. I think that is one major reason. Of course that´s how the most normal people on the street are thinking and treating. There are - of course - some few but powerful people who just want the power...! 😉
The ice cream joke is totally lost with all non-Germans, but the chocolate-vanilla-strawberry-ice-cream-mix is a traditional German staple. It is called "Pueckler Ice Cream" and is named after a very famous German botanist and very, very popular with all Germans, because you don't have to make a choice. There is also a famous German song: "Blond or black or brown, I love all women." Not very picky with colours...
The Europeans are 'relatively' open minded (take it on a case-by-case basis). They have been through a lot as a continent (WWI, WWII, the Holoucost, other wars in the former Yugoslavia, and now the Ukrain). I believe that their conception of universal humanity has evolved through these events. Not to negate the existence of racism, because it's still alive and well and on the rise in many parts of Europe. The thing about America and North America is the colonial master and subject/subordinate complex that comes with having conquered and eradicated the Natives and the constant need to assert themselves as the owners of the stollen land. It can be argued that the North American European settlers suffer from the insecurity of some 'other' people taking their place and dominating a country they took from the Natives through treaties of entrapment.
I`m sure you are right . There is a kind of arrogance in the USA, I have often ( quietly) thought that their attitude towards other nations would be vastly different if they themselves had suffered as many invasions of their homeland as we Europeans.
I think modern day Germans have a tough history so more than many countries there is a humbleness and I do enjoy visiting Germany and the German people are wonderful I’m white English but compared to the French experience I’ve had it is totally different.
My wife moved here from California bout 10yrs ago. She's asian and she kinda told me the same reason and thoughts and what not like the dude here. I'm German but I've also lived in the US before. Once I got detained with no papers and also got treated really bad by the feds. I'm Caucasian and Im not trying to compare myself here whatsoever. Just sharing my experiences and thoughts on this. To cut it short, I'm glad this guy's here enjoying himself. Blessings!
Well as a German, I just can't wrap my mind around the "race" thing you Americans have, we all are one race, skin color is just a matter of Melanin. For most of us (exceptions are here as well) we don't care what you look like, we care about who you are. If you are an A... you are an A... no matter what you look like, if you are a good person you are a good person no matter what skin color or where you are from. For instance I am like totaly white xD (sorry) and I got my first kiss from an African-American soldier, when I helped him find a adress he was looking for. The funniest thing is I am a guy, but I was 14 at that time and looked like a girl xD. And it didn't make me gay, I knew I was since I was like 5 years old :D So guys come on over and have a great time.
I am black and live in Germany ( Schwäbisch Alps ) and don't understand the ' race ' issue. I am from the Caribbean and we have mix race and culture for hundreds of years and my home country has never treated people who look different as an outsider. If you are born there or grown-up there , you are a native. ' Out of many, one nation is our motto ".
In Germany only about 2% of the population are of black African heritage. In the village I live in there was only one black guy and he was English. He was ex British army, just like me.
Hello from Germany! What I want to say is: I hate it when people talk about race! There is only one race, and it's called "human" with different skin colors! Skin color has to do with geographical origin. Skin color is a protection from sun exposure, the further north, the lighter the skin to absorb more sun exposure. The further towards the equator, the darker the skin, so that the body can protect itself from the sun! I was brought up that all people are equal and there is a difference between good people and bad people! Prejudice against people of color, has something to do with fear of the unknown, and not knowing about other cultures and origins! According to science, human beings began in Africa. So in the beginning all people were black! So all white people have black hearts! I like your channel and keep it up! Greetings Nephilim
There are no good and bad people - nobody wants to do bad. It's just the different perspectives on live, the world, culture, family that make a difference in behavior. As long as you don't know the perspective of a person in detail, you cannot judge about that person.
@@olivermeineke9707 I see the point you're trying to make here, but I must disagree, there are people out there who are simply bad. “Nobody wants to do bad.” The thing is no matter how you were raised in which situation you've grown up or life treated you or what ever at one point you have to make a choice. So when they know: I'm not allowed to do this. And they decide: but I want to do this. And I do this now. Then they are bad, guilty, and responsible! Whether people have adverse genetic predispositions and their environment and biography increase their risk of committing serious crimes, it does not excuse one key factor: the choices these people made. --Lydia Benecke
As a white german with an american base in my hometown... i always got used to african american soldiers in my neighborhood.... they were kind people... always! And they were and are welcome here!
i live by some selfimposed rules, one of them is: Respekt muss man sich in meinen Augen verlieren - You have to lose respect in my eyes meaning everyone starts with me respecting him/her/them as a person till his/her/their actions tell me otherwise. Another one is Bring mindestens eine Person täglich zum lachen/lächeln - make at least one person laugh/smile each day works for 52 years so far 😛
To me, there are two kinds of respect. 1st is the general respect I have for every human being. Like you described it. 2nd kind of respect is when I get to know you better and see you as an good human being who behaves in away or has achieved something for themselves they can be proud of.
I have seen videos of Germany on UA-cam and its beautiful however I have never been to Germany maybe I will never visit Germany in my life. This is because of an Austrian painter who started ww2.
there is some racial profiling in germany that leads to Black persons getting threated worse ... most Blacks in Germany are French so when a german sees a Black person we think "thats probably some Frog Eater we need to protect the hedgehogs"
As a German I just want to say: I believe that his experiences are much better in Germany than back in the US. However, Germany of course is not perfect, don’t get illusions. Maybe it’s not as omnipresent as in the US, but of course racism and stuff like that does exist here. Not trying to spoil it for anyone, my point is just, Germany is not a fairytale country.
2:56 *Equality* This is true. In Germany usually nobody cares where you come from (of course we have exceptions too) and we have two funny sayings about this _"So wie du in den Wald rufst, schallt es heraus."_ As you call into the forest, it echoes out... It means: as you treat others, others will treat you. _"Was Du nicht willst, das man dir tu, das füg auch keinem andern zu."_ What you don't want done to yourself, don't do to others either. 14:16 *recording things* its not really a thing in germany it is even forbiddenin lot of cases due to privacy rule. of course you will see people recording something, but mostly tourists 18:17 *what i think* for me everyone is welcome to live here, be a good part of the community, work hard, pay taxes. But please do me two small favors. Please don't be an idiot or an a**hole 😅
Not sure about germany, but in the UK we are more aw are that black people come from lots of different places and are not a monolith. West Africans are very distinct from East Africans and both have a distinct culture from people who have come from the Carribean.
im from switzerland (a little nation south to germany) we had made a strong sensitization of the tone of this topic in the last decades. In my grandmother's day, the N word was still in use because it wasn't necessarily used negatively. But the generations that followed didn't do this anymore and their children were also forbidden to use this word. Of the people i have met so far, i don't know any who would have a problem in our country because of the color of their skin.
I am a German who grew up in South Africa, and it always boggles the mind how SA with its Apartheid past, was so much talked about!! Apartheid was wrong!!! But what is different in the US?, people are still being treated as sub-human. It must be absolutely bad to live in a country where you were born and get treated like a second-class citizin!! People in Europe care about each other.
When my daughter was 9 or 10 we watched something on TV about how Obama made history. Then I had to explain the concept of racism to her because she never thought there could be different treatment for black or white people. Still there is some racism in Germany. Especially against poor immigrants ("they take our social benefits and won't work") or against other religions/cultures ("Islamisierung des Abendlandes"). I think the "color-racism" is secondary and mostly hidden except for right-wing people.
I think one of the biggest mindset differences between US and other parts of the world is America starts Race > country I understand there's a history there to explain why people think of things that way. But the rest of the world goes country > then maybe region > then race. Like different Asian countries don't all think of themselves as Asian first and they think of themselves as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Malaysian, etc. first, then asian. Same with Europe, you are German, French, Spanish, British, Greek, Swedish first, then you're white, black, asian, etc.
14:00 As being said here alreeady, there are severe penalties if voyeurs or bystanders interfere with emergency personnel during a rescue operation. If you can't help, make room for the rescuers, that should be a simple and understandable rule for everyone. The phenomenon that many people often stand idly by during an incident with injured people and maybe even filming the events and doing nothing else is called *Responsibility Diffusion* in psychology. The more spectators, the more each individual is convinced that "someone else will intervene" - as a result, in fact, ALL stand around idly. Unfortunately that issue is on the rise in Germany too, but of course you encounter this behaviour more often in the urban sprawls and less in rural areas
as a german i sadly have to say that for me america is not a democratic country in general there only rich people are elected and they often talk about human values etc. but you never stick to it yourself that contradicts a true democracy in its entirety and every person no matter where they come from on the planet earth he you come from is welcome in europe because here you are a person who is treated according to his character and not according to looks or what social status he has
Personally I'm Slovene (also European and we have similar laws to Germany and the rest of the EU). The police should act differently because they basically have more, and more varied, training than in the US. Our police (like in most of Europe) have to go to school after middle school (high school in the US) for an additional four years just to be able to work as police officers. Also, if a policeman is dismissed from the force they can't just apply to another because we have one national police force, it doesn't change by state or precinct. As for the idea of people recording other people, it's actually illegal for anyone to take a picture of you (or make a recording) without your explicit permission or a warrant from a judge.
The Traume thing you feel in your chest, is our anchient fear response, to tensen up and get ready to run or fight if needed. And i have it too in situations, that im not willing to discuss, but everyone has it.
I half Russian half Uzbek living 10 + in Germany my closest circle of friends are brown sugar they calling me whity or white sugar 🤣 most what I like they hospitality is same as mine get feeling like at home and warm, and we often making language tandem they learning Russian I’m trying to learn Swahili and cultural common things and differences.❤
Depending on the situatin, if you are just recording and not helping an injured person, you can get into a bit of legal trouble. The minnimum you have to do is make an emergency call. If it seems not so serious or if it is obvious that help is on the way or they are already help, some people start recording here, too. I find that very aggrevating, because it can be very demeaning. If you later publish that stuff however, you can get into trouble for violating data protection laws (technically the recording could already be problematic but I never heard that someone got into serious trouble for that).
We are not racists in Germany, if at all some of us are nationalists. So where does someone come from. In my experience, Americans are much more accepted than others from other areas, regardless of the color of their skin. That's a subtle difference.
Regarding the taking your phone out and starting recording: I think that there are some people, of course we got our Karen's to, but generally we are raised and taught to help and try to resolve a situation instead of snitching. I even had teacher's tell me I should not tell them anything about the situation and instead go help them handle it.
Boxed in thinking is global and still everywhere.Trauma is for me / generational habit when you can’t accept people in whichever way they want to live their life. Why bother, everybody is different but same - in wanting to belong/connect to someone. Than you decide if you match or not and with each new experience it can change if you match or at all. So find people who accept you for you. If you have one you are not alone anymore ❤ Seek things out what you want to experience with your people, be stable, peaceful, loving, financial, create your own bubble and live well. Solutions and examples are everywhere - you only need to accept the good ones.
Hey demouchets!?!?!😊😊😊 If you need help moving to Germany. I'm renewing my Aufenthaltstitel ( work permit) right now so I know all the in and outs now in dealing with the german immigration for 12 years now. I love your channel and I wish you luck in completing your goals.
German writing here. Of course, not all is golden! At the moment, right-wing parties are on the rise and for those guys, skin colour is relevant. However, up to now, I think mostly, people here really do not mind where you're from but who you are. Apart from that: the gun situation and criminality ... is quite different.
I'm german and in 1989 i lived near Augsburg and had a black girlfriend, which was at the US Army Base in Augsburg. Then there was the reunion with east germany and the military went back to the USA. But i know many black soliders, who didn't want to go back.
If you record an accident on the Autobahn such as when passing the crash site in slow traffic or if you see any kind of act of violence against anyone in the street and film it instead of calling the police or getting help or helping yourself, you can get a hefty fine in Germany! We always demand “Zivilcourage”/civil courage from passersby…
im a native german who's live in germany and i have the immage that ammerican officers think they are the law, germany offivers know! the law ^^. thats the different i want say something about, the friendliness, ehm its depend where you are as a black person in germany, if you be in a big city like berlin, ore hamburg yeah thats true the people are realy cool, will be friendly to you and will be a person not a color, if you be in an area may be of the countryside of the east part of germany, the people will be not so friendly to you, in some areas its could be verry dangerous as a black person in germany because you could be in an area where you have many fashists ore right whing people. its allway depends where are you stay. but the mostly of the germans are friendly and helpful people, im only want say what could happend if you be on a wrong place.
Coming from the countryside of the eastern part of Germany I call that bullshit. It's not like there are Nazi groups walking around attacking foreigerns or anything. That's just a complete misconception of how people act who might not be the biggest fans of migration politics. I've been living here for more than 40 years now and I actually never even met a Nazi. I've met a lot of people not liking the migrant politics, but none of them would ever dare to harm anyone, not even give a foreigner a strange stare. The worst those people usually do is ignoring the foreigner. That's not nice, but far from a dangerous situation and even this would rather be a rare occasion than something that happens on a regular basis. In general racism isn't defined the same in Germany like it is in the US. In the US racism is almost fully based on the color of skin. In Germany it usually is based on culture and sometimes religion. People of a similiar culture usually aren't perceived as different or even dangerous. It's the foreign culture, behaviour that isn't usual or acceptable where we live, what makes the aversion against others.
@@caliana5589 oh, you come from the east side of germany, well done ME FUCKING TO! und ich habe da deutlich andere erfahrungen gemacht! komme aus ner kleinstadt mit ca 70.000 einwohner. sehe gehöre dort zur lokalen Punk/Oi! alternativen szene. bei konzerten gehe ich bewusst umwege um bestimmte kneipen, straßen und stadtviertel um keinen faschos zu begegnen, wenn dies nicht möglich ist läuft die angst als begleiter immer! mit. gehe grundsätzlich nie alleine heim, oder versuche bei kumpels zu übernachten. tagsüber gibt es auch gewisse stadtteile die ich ganz einfach so gut es geht meide weil es quasi garantiert ist das dir ein fascho über den weg läuft. durfte auch schon 2 mal bekanntschaft mit diesem pack machen beide male hatte ich glück das ich flüchten konnte, und als schwarze person in ostdeutschland muss das ganze noch mal ne nummer schärfer sein! also erzähl mir doch nichts davon das, dit bullshit ist was ich geschrieben habe!
oder wenn ich zu irgendeinen punk konzert im osten auf dem land fahre, da fahr ich schonmal grundsätzlich nicht alleine hin! und das aus gutem grund! bei EM und WM hört man regelmaßig das skandieren von Nazi Parolen ect, und jedes mal ist es ein weiteres mal ZU VIEL!!! also erzähl mir nicht das ich Bullshit geschrieben hätte!
@@caliana5589 "stimmen der migrations politik nicht zu" ?! kuck mal in die kriminalstatistik, erst 2015,2016,2017 wie viele asylheime, turnhallen, ect da abgefackelt wurden... wie viele übergriffe es da gab! und und und..... da willst du mir erzählen ich hätte bullshit geschrieben das ich nicht lache! bei solch einen relativierungsscheiss könnte ich im strahl kotzen!
Hey guys, about the qwestion is it like when something hapens that people start to record it only.. no its not like that there is acrualy a law that stops you from not helping: Unterlassene Hilfeleistung. Witch means basicly if something hapens that by law, you have to help! And i think thats wonderfull here in germany
Sorry for being negative. But it's a different story in a rural area. I mean he is living in a big city and it's a different story. But it doesn't means it's every rural area here but some are difficult to be a colored or a diverse ethnical individuel to live in a village or a conservative place. But you will never get a offensive response. They will just ignore or let you alone. But it get better over the time. And I'm glad about that
I live in germany. And if i would record some kind situation and post it online i would get a shitstorm. I cant even imagine doing that because of the feedback 🤣😆
The thing about Germany having come to terms with its Nazi past is that this wasn't a thing until the late 60s, early 70s. Before that, everything that could have been swept under the rug was swept under the rug. Very often people who held positions of authority under the Nazis - and were usually fervent and outspoken Nazis themselves - still held the same positions of authority long after their reign was over. That only changed with a new generation of young people in the 60s who demanded answers, and accountability, and action. It was the "Generation of '68", and what we have here today - full information. education, and, really, having come to terms with it, in a way - is in large parts thanks to them. It almost needed a revolution though. At the very least, it needed their revolutionary spirit.
My mother was part of this generation and she went through a whole ordeal figuring out who her father really was after learning nothing useful about the past in highschool, she was a student politician, a social democrat, she was at every protest and although our relationship has a lot of negatives I'm grateful for receiving an early and honest education about the holocaust and social democrat values.
The US has many problems and led many wars, it is odd to me that you only ever talk about Nazis in Germany. That is long ago and they worked on themselves. The Us has never really tried to be better than they used to be. They are taught from early in that everything is great in their country. You can not improve if you don’t accept your flaws.
Many Germans still have left a little bit of, i would rather call it xenophobia than racism, in them, but are self-reflected enough to not act on their biases, knowing it's wrong or are simply way too polite to show the reservations they may have against non-traditionally german looking people. Reservations stemming from the fact that many of the more rural Germans never have even met or lived with any foreign-looking people in their lifes; the only information they've got, being the jokes and generalizations their parents taught them. On the other hand there are some documentaries (on youtube), interviewing black Germans living in Germany during the NS times, telling how they were excluded by the government, but never by the german people they lived amongst. Which kind of shows that not everything is always black and white, pun intended. Tbh, nearly every stereotype was at some point an accurate description of the, at least publically perceived, majority of the described group. I'll try explaining it with an example I have experience with: Most gay people you immediately recognise as gays are just like the movie-gays - and because those are the type of gays that are highly visible, everyone thought (sometimes still thinks) that's how all of us must be. Right up to the point the less "flamboyant" gays started to show themselves and suddenly the, then completely accurate, description became excluding to the "less obvious" gays and people started realising there are others that don't fit the, now outdated, description anymore. A stereotype is literally an outdated, but at some point in history having been accurate, characterisation of a group of people.. something I personally(!) don't find offensive and don't jump at someone's throat for using when still having this perception of us. Unless of course they know it's not completely accurate anymore, but use it anyway to hurt or insult our community by suggesting that it's still accurate, that all gays are feminine and flamboyant "sissies" to keep us from doing something others are allowed to - like sports or some professions. Then I'll start ripping heads and limbs off, not a second earlier. But if it was an honest mistake, a second chance definitely is in order.
Europe is in fact a great compromise for African Americans thinking about a return to Africa. (Or can be used for a test run / preparation.) Although each European country is different, we are generally culturally closer to Africa than the US is. We generally have a community spirit that is perhaps half-way between the more flexible/universalist Ubuntu philosophy of the Bantu people and the more rigid Japanese collectivism. (I would like to say that in Germany this is because we learned from the Nazi era, but the reality is unfortunately horrifying: the Holocaust happened despite this community spirit. The trick the Nazis used was to dehumanize certain people, so they were not part of the community. This is what 'the banality of evil' is about: Just like you can have a perfectly nice butcher who loves his family and helps his neighbors, you can have a perfectly nice concentration camp killer doing the same. He or she simply doesn't register their victims as human.)
as a german, i always say to every decent human beeing, come live here, we have breads, beers, and cheeses, as well as a munch (bunch) of other foods, and stuff.
As a german i‘m glad the feedback is quite positive. Maybe showing the world we aren‘t the nazis since a long time :) He‘s right it absolutely doesn’t matter which colour you have, but how you treat people. This should be everything that anyone rates ;)
I'm German. My wife comes from Burundi and is now naturalized. I see the situation in Germany as being similarly good, but things are a little worse in lower social classes, although the problems cannot necessarily be traced back to the color of the skin. We Germans have not yet emotionally accepted that Germany is a country of immigration. There is a lack of a workable immigration law. Immigrants from western democracies are often not even seen as immigrants. Refugees, and for many there is no other way to come to Germany, are a problem, especially when the numbers rise.
Getting pulled over is not very common in Germany. There might be some issues with your car like in his case or perhaps you really violated a traffic rule. If you're driving too fast there are usually random speed cameras. They take a picture of you and your license plate and send it to you via regular mail for evidence so you are able to pay the fine within a certain amount of time. Yes, they send it also to the US. 😜 If you're renting a car, the car rental company is going to charge you via your credit card. Driving too fast on the Autobahn (on the parts with speed limit) you may be filmed and the (most times neutral coloured) police car occasionally overtakes and puts a sign in the rear window 'Please follow'. But I'm not sure if you can pay then and there or how it works due to the lack of speed limits on the Autobahn and my missing experience with over-speeding. Beside that there are sometimes random traffic controls where they stand on the side of the street and stop random to all cars to check if anyone is driving with alcohol or if all safety equipment (e.g. warning triangle) is carried along. Usually they do not act authoritarian and you can get out of the car without asking for their permission. 😁
In the 70s my aunt became pregnant with a child from a US soldier when she was 16. He was an afro american. At that time it was not a good combination. So young, not married and expecting a baby with no white coloured skin. It was a scandal at that time (located near Stuttgart). The main reason was, that the men who fought for Hi..ler and made it home, the fathers of the pregnant girls, decided that. And so many families started to take the pregnant girls to a hospital, where they had to stay until giving birth to the child, and then the baby was taken away from them. That is not long ago, and still my cousin is out there somewhere. We know that he doesn't want to have contact to his birth mother, my aunt. She now lives in Houston/Texas and has 3 more children from another man. Also a afro american man. And last year 2 of them were here, visiting us, and they and I went to some locations. The turkish and arab people thought that my cousins are turkish, but that was all. I didn't see them being treated different and I was happy to see that. Because we once lost one of our family member because of racism and I hope it doesn't happen again 😢 Not that in Europe you don't find racists. Sadly you do! But most parts in Germany are ok places, even the small towns. One reason might be the immigration of many turkish and italian people in the 60s. We now had enough time to become friends. And another reason, I'm sure it is - there are not many people 100 % german. Myself and a lot of people have grandparents from all over Europe. I'm a cocktail of 4 different nations. And I'm not the only one. So I feel my roots are not only in Germany and I grew up with family members speaking different languages. That makes me being interessted in different kind of nations and I think that is what makes it easy, to live side by side with any kind of nations. Yes also we have problems, but compared to the US I'm really shocked that you make all these hard experiences. Good that you made this video! If I took the wrong words I'm sorry, please tell me then. My english is not the best and I'm not sure if my words are ok how I choose them.
14:10 - especially in a traffic accident situation that is actually illegal here in Germany. That doesn't mean, it's not happening, infact punishment has just recently become more severe, because it's a growing problem, that people film accidents, while passing by, but speaking generelly you are obligated by law to help people, who are in distress, you can actually get sued for failure to provide assistance, that's an actual thing here, in severe cases you can go to jail for that, so at least people will call the cops or ambulance, whatever one needs, in order to avoid ending up in jail.
Years ago a Black British friend who went with her church to Eastern Germany in 1990s had bad experiences maybe it was due to the change of government with the re unification but she was shocked at how blatant it was.
Nah. A couple of teachers sounded the alarm on how bad the neo-nazi stuff was at their school. They got chased out of the east. Eastern Germany is an unmitigated desaster and you probably should avoid it AF. A couple of weeks ago there was the first public admission by Nancy Faeser of how the neo-nazi stuff of the 90s had not been taken serious enough. Unfortunately at this point you should treat the East as a danger zone. Which is unfair to the people who live there but you know how many racists it takes. All of Brandenburg is tainted by the stink of the recent weeks.
as a german i can only say bits, as my area has a very low black population. Each interaction i had with black people was just like every other interaction. Ofc it can create distance if there is some language barrier, but aside from that, all interactions are alike
I personally haven't seen people start recording, but ome night out me and my friends saw a man harassing a girl and then start fighting with us when we tried to distance him from the girl. My friends having military training and me having studied martial arts we did a citizens arrest until a patrol officer came and took him. No one was hurt not even the man we arrested. I wouldn't say it was the norm but I believe there is a lot less of just recording stuff when ahit goes down.
As a white German I'm positively surprised, because I thought to have observed a lot of racism - towards Muslims mostly, but towards black and Asian folks as well. But maybe it depends on where exactly you are (Berlin probably being much different from a village in Bavaria or Saxony). Or maybe the racism in the US is simply so much worse and systematic that ours pales in comparison - which sure as hell is a terrifying thought, but one that's probably true nevertheless...
If people need help and you are not helping despite being able to you are comitting a felony. Also, you can't just film people without their consent. Germans are actually known for staring at people, but this is not based on your ethnicity. We stare at everybody
Just a general reflection: It's so difficult to discern racism from personal experiences. No one of us really knows what other people are thinking. Sometimes we don't even know why we ourselves are acting the way we are. We never get to see the counterfactual (i.e., how they would have treated us if we were X instead of Y). So the personality and interpretation of each individual will play a huge role in how much racism we perceive. I'm Swedish and I have many immigrant friends. It was really striking to me when my highly educated and successful Bosnian friend said he experiences racism quite often, whereas my Cameroonian blue-collar friend said he had never experienced racism in Sweden in 30 years. Obviously, they can't both be correct in an objective sense, and I find it quite hard to believe that a Bosnian who could pass for Swedish would experience more racism than a black guy. But they also have very different personalities, so I think it goes to show that our perception of places and cultures (everything from the prevalence of racism to threat levels, cleanliness, friendliness, etc) are filtered through our subjective judgment (which will be influenced by the experiences and worldviews we carry, and just our general outlook on life).
I've been in Germany for over a year now and I'm from Africa, and I'm always thankful for being here. Best place you'll ever be.
Thank you for your kind words.
Where are you from Africa?
@@Onizuka.Sensei Yes, I stated it above 👆🏾
@@ajm_star I think he means which afrifan country
@@ericl6386 lol...
In Germany we have a law that states: If you notice someone in need, you are OBLIGED to help them within your capability (and as long as you are not endangering yourself directly). So, if someone breaks down in front of you and you have medical knowledge and/or first aid certificate, then you HAVE to help them. If you don't, you can be sued for 'failure to provide assistence' or 'failure to help'. If you have no medical knowledge, you have to at least catch that person and scream for help, there's always someone nearby knowing what to do and you better whip your phone out to call an ambulance, not for filming. And in Germany you cannot be sued for trying to help someone.
Everyone has been raised with that to the point where ppl aren't even aware of that law but instead just cannot wrap their head around how you can NOT help someone (if you are able to). I help people in my daily life all the time, and be it just to keep the tram door open for an elder with rollator. It's just normal. And no matter what, everyone is glad when they get help and thank you. And of course there's always the knowledge that you could be (or most likely WILL be one day) in their place and how great it will be when someone helps you with something you struggle.
Same here in Finland. They're called rescue laws.
Came here to say the same, …
Adding to that Germany has very strict public filming rules as well as explicit rules against watching, for example an accident on the Autobahn while slowly driving by, because this behavior has caused sever accidents on the other lane, not even mentioning filming while driving which is a complete no-no anyways.
You are also neither allowed to film an interaction with a police officer , nor posting that on the internet without faceing 5 years, afaik.
Here in Greece is the same.
We grew up with the understanding that it is an honor and a pleasure to help others and I can proudly say that I love this about Germany.
I think this is generally the case in many countries, at least here in Europe. I’m always surprised to see how many Americans post such videos on social media. On the one hand it helps make people aware of social injustices, but very often it’s about an argument two people are having and you don’t get to see the beginning of the fight, so you can’t really say who’s right and who’s wrong.
I'm American (East Coast), and came to Germany for the very 1st time as an exchange student back in 1972. My initial experience was the perfect trifecta: landed in one of the most beautiful areas of the country (Schwarzwald), had a wonderful guest family, and - with the close proximity to both Switzerland and France - got the first taste of a world the US suburbs simply couldn't provide. When I got back, I experienced severe reverse culture shock, and couldn't wait to leave the States again. I ended up graduating from high school at the end of 11th grade, and spending a year in France before ultimately settling in German.
Obviously, the Germany I found then was (very) different in many ways than the Germany this young man is experiencing now. At the time, too, Germany wasn't as diverse as it is now (and even now it's nowhere near as diverse as many areas of America are). Although I originally lived in a city with a strong US military presence, I later moved to places where my chances of meeting another Black person were worse than winning the Power Ball. There was a lot of unfamiliarity (on both sides) that sometimes had roots in racism (e.g. both of my in-laws were young adults during the 3rd Reich; one of my ex's grandfathers was an ardent, regionally prominent Nazi party member) and sometimes didn't.
It's funny, because - after 45+ years in Germany - I can both agree and disagree with this young man.
I think the 1st major difference for many Americans is the fact that race simply isn't seen through the lens we're used to.
Does it mean there's no racism? Heck no! It just means that - as Americans - we can often take a sigh of relief from some of the structural US racism we've been exposed to since we were in diapers. Being a Black American came/comes with privilege, too. Many times I was treated noticably differently than someone from Africa or the Caribbean could expect to be. Sometimes even than Afro-Germans.
A lot of Germans are genuinely curious about life in the States, know more about American history (including the Civil Rights Movement) than we usually do about German history, often like Black American music, and are familiar with a lot of Black American entertainers and athletes. Although that can lead to a lot of (positive) stereotyping, it often opens the door for deeper personal encounters that can be fruitful for both sides. They won't be shy about challenging you on the US government/US politics, though... ;-)
Germans are famous for downplaying large-scale inequality and injustice due to race. For historic reasons, many statistics, etc., make NO mention of a person's race/skin color. Many see that as a positive - "color-blind" - thing, but it also makes it damn near impossible to gather credible evidence to actually PROVE systemic discrimination... So, when the the World Report and other international research spotlights racism in Germany, they officially rebuked the findings.
While there have been prominent cases of blatant police violence against Black people and other People of Color (now, how are you going to take a lighter out of your pocket and set your own mattress on fire when you're handcuffed to the bed, Mr. Officer??), as well as a sometimes less than enthusiastic response to solving/prosecuting hate crimes, in general the German police are more laid back, polite and helpful. That has a lot to do with their better overall education (!!!), and the lack of "gun-happiness" that's so pervasive in America as a whole. But, just as in the US, the number of officers with far-right tendencies is (very!) alarming.
If you haven't noticed, I very much stand by my decision to create a life for myself in Germany. That doesn't make me blind to it's obvious flaws.
IMHO the easiest way to live well - and thrive - in Germany is to know how to walk the fine line between cultural adaptation and embracing (FLAUNTING!) your own uniqueness as a foreigner.
This is a great comment. Thoroughly enjoyed reading that as a German. Thank you for that in-depth perspective and I'm glad we have you here 😎
one of the best comments I ever have read about this topic
Thank you for that comment. It's a quite good description of some relevant aspects of life in Germany.
well said. only at one thing you are totally wrong: the most beautiful areas are the islands in the noth sea!
Bettering oneself is a continually ongoing process, never a finished achievement. I don't even think we are that exceptional in downplaying societal issues though. This seems to be quite common among humans. People get defensive when confronted with inconvenient information about their personal behaviour or that of the groups they identify themselves with. The real question is how you deal with it and there are hits an misses, as you said. I am glad that you could see a generally positive trend in the decades you spent here.
Article 1, German constitution:
Human dignity shall be inviolable. To respect and protect it shall be the duty of all state authority.
🥰
I came to Germany at age of 12 yrs and we have never experienced racism or discrimination of any kind from Germans. It is the friendliest country I have ever been to. Germans may not be very extroverted but they are very kind hearted and honest people - from my experience.
I'm from Germany and honestly, I already grew up with race not even being in the focus in any way. We just kind of didn't care. I didn't really become more sensitive until I was more active on the internet and started to interact with people from the US. There actually is a kids fairy tale called "Die Geschichte von den schwarzen Buben" or "The story of the inky boys" in the Struwwelpeter book. It basically tells the story of how there were kids making fun of a black man in various ways. Then a giant man named Nikolas caught them and put them in a pot and turned them even darker, quite literally black, from head to toe Now, if you would like to read it, feel free, just be warned that the language may seem rather....inappropriate however it was written in the 1800s. Anyway, that story just teaches children you shouldn't be mean to people based on their ethnicity cause it can always backfire. We're taught about the bad thing our country did in the past too. It helps, teaching us the repercussions of racism. Doesn't completely eradicate it but I guess it makes it a lot less prominent.
Hä diese Geschichte habe ich noch nie gehört und schon gar nicht wird das in Schulen gelehrt, oder weiter gegeben.
Ganz im Gegenteil!
@@tijad8944 kommt auf die Schule und auf die Zeit an. 2005 steht nicht das gleiche im Lehrplan wie 2018.
@@tijad8944 ich kenne die Geschichte. Meine Eltern haben sie uns Kindern öfters vorgelesen und manch andere Geschichten. 🥰
Danke für die schöne Kindheitserinnerung. ❤
@@tijad8944 Du weißt schon, dass nicht jede Schule und jedes Bundesland exakt das gleiche liest?
I guess one thing that might help you get some context to americans' reactions is that over most of the world it is not the skin colour that is the main target of discrimination but things like ethnicity, religion or language. In Europe unlike US concept of black-white doesn't play a big role- most tensions come from nationalities or by extension languages&accents. That's one of the reasons why black americans in vlogs say that they feel like in home - they are not considered as black, but as american.
Very well said!👍🏻
Ja, das ist leider wahr..es werden genug farbige Menschen in gewissen Gegenden unter Generalverdacht gestellt und bevorzugt kontrolliert.
Yes. Racism against Black people in Europe is more motivated by them being from African countries. There’s also racism against people from the Maghreb and the Middle East. That racism rarely extends to Black Americans since they’re considered American, not African. You’re right, discrimination here is more about geographical origin than actual skin color.
This is what I came here to say. He paints a pretty picture and don't get me wrong I'm happy he feels at home and have a pleasant experience he deserve it BUT he's American and is accepted as such. I l live in Sweden and it works exactly the same as you explained it. Americans gets respect but black Somali people or Arabs and more not so much.
It's actually forbidden in germany to take pics or videos of people without consent. You'll never see someone take out the phone and start recording before first aid or when help is needed in any way. That's the reason why dash cams are not a thing here. We love our data protection and privacy. 😅
Unfortunately we do have these kind off assholes here in the Netherlands. Sometimes it seems as if some people care more about social media likes, than the live of other people.
I was with you until the dash cam part, fam. Let me go check your accident reports lol jk.
No recording would mean you can't have security cameras, traffic cameras or body cameras
@@geoffpriestley7310 security cameras are allowed as long as they film your own property. Authorities have different rules: traffic cams and body cams for the police are also allowed. We talk about private persons here, right?
@@geoffpriestley7310 Unless certain organizations are exempted specifically.
I regularly go to Germany as my sister lives there, I have never had any problems there. I always feel super relaxed when I’m there as a woman of colour. I’m from London btw
Hello beautiful, how are you doing.
I’ve often said since I permanently moved here that Germany has fulfilled the promises that the US never did. I didn’t know what freedom really was until I came here. In every aspect. I do not and have not missed the states since I left. It was like a weight lifted and I could breath when I got here. Nothing but fresh air and being able to relax, melinated folks know what I mean when I say that. I really don’t even like to go back stateside to visit. The minute I land I get a tightness in my chest back and after a week I’m ready to come back home, home being Germany.
As a German i will NEVER understand why people want to move there... you work your ass off for NOTHING average income after taxes is about 2200€ and at the moment in germany on average you need 7500€!!!!!!!! Householdincome after taxes for a single family house....... up to 70% taxes is just modern slavery. Retirementsystem is colapsing in a few years. Healthcaresystem is on its last wheels. Immigration problems are just insane and so on....
@@Snakeshit294 I guess that depends on where you live here. The system is collapsing because young people would rather stay at home and get money from the Sozialamt than go to work, even brag about it on tv shows, and get away with it. The more people seeing that happening the more they want to do it as well.
Yet even with those downfalls it is still better than what’s going on in the US.
@@lalaemm5985 already did 4 1/2 years ago. For me its amazing, i make 178K a year, just bought a small ranch and build a brand new 2690 sqft house on it.
@douglassherrod1248
Das Problem sind eher die ganzen Ausländer die unser Sozialsystem auf allen Ebenen belasten, diese Leute kosten den deutschen Steuerzahler Milliarden Euros. Mehr als die Hälfte der Sozialhilfeempfänger in Deutschland sind Ausländer, hinzu kommen dann noch Ausländer mit deutscher Staatsbürgerschaft.
@@Snakeshit294 it is good that you moved. Your perception of issues is out of bounds. If our immigration issues are so insane... why has the criminal statistic only rising in correlation to the population increase? Especially if you view the statistics under income perspective, the crime raise is nothing spectacular.
Why are 37% of all "new" immigrants working (for german citizens, it is 60%)?
Currently this "young" workers are reliefing the healthcare and retirement issues we have.
Germany has three major issues at hand, and funnily people like you never mention them.
We have issues with digitalisation.
We have issues with climate change.
We have issues with finding allies for improving the European Union.
The rest is cake.
In Germany if you film someone in considerable peril instead of helping them you are (potentially) committing a felony (depending on the gravity of the situation). If you filmed someone dying e. g. and could have helped them without danger to yourself you'd be in BIIIG TROUBLE.
We do have people filming accidents and emergency personnel doing their duty. But if they hinder/impede the rescue operation in any way, they can be subjected to heavy fines.
Here in Europe everyone is used to be among many different languages, because it is Europe's thing to have many different cultures living on small terrain.
You right. I’m not a black person from America. So it’s a subject which doesn’t affect me to the same extent as you or others. But i have an outsider perspective that i can share.
It seems to me that the US especially struggle with truth. They don’t want to know, they don’t want to face it. Native people genocide, nope! Didn’t happen. Slavery? Nope! Didn’t happen. Let’s bury all that and move on.
But you can’t move on when you haven’t processed what happened and why it happened. To avoid that in the future.
Germany and South Africa are a little different. They haven’t done everything right and they will always struggle with their history.
But it seems like they talk about it. They look at each other and talk freely to solve the problem. They try to process it.
America is the king of politically correctness and it hurts more to not talk about real issues. Even in a family.
What has always been strange to us is they (of course not all) care more about genocides in other countries before acknowledging the truth about what has happened here. They are quick to scream that we have victim mentality for bringing it up and say it didn't happen to those of us who are living without realizing the things of the past still affects us with the laws and policies of today. Whoo! I have so much to say, but I'll stop. South Africa and Germany does a way better job at these discussions than we do. You hit the head on the nail, fam.
As a matter of fact Germany has a law that can charge you if you fail to provide assistance to an emergency or obstruct the police/fire brigade/ambulance to provide help.
That's a great law to have! Save a life.
@@TheDemouchetsREACT Same in Switzerland, up to 2 years in prison (in the worst concievable case). I thought that was pretty universal?!
@@TheDemouchetsREACT also by law, when helping an injured person and you do harm by mistake, you are safe from prosecution.
@@maireweber I thought so too, but browsing through an american centric forum has taught me otherwise. The amount of people who watched dashcam footage and said "I would just keep on driving out of fear of making the situation worse" was shocking. There even was someone who claimed to be a nurse saying "I would keep on driving too because it's not my job to help". When I responded with "of course I would help, because the worst thing you can do is not doing anything at all" I got very angry responses. It didn't get any better when I said that in my country "not providing help in case of an emergency" is an offense.
Bottom line: Don't get into an accident in the US because most people won't give a shit about you.
Denmark here. We have the same law. Anyone is obliged to help however they can.
I'm German and this is not the first of these types of videos and I feel honored and blessed. I now live in the USA but somehow African Americans can sense that I'm different even when I just casually meet people on the street. Fancy that
i would bet its your accent :P :D
I am a German, so I can speak to the question at 14:18 . If you see anything 'traumatic' as you put it, that usually means someone needs help. If someone needs help, you help them. It's just the right thing to do, as anyone in their right minds would tell you.
But around here even the law acknowledges that fact, and so if you see something like that and you could help without putting yourself in undue danger but you don't, the law calls it Unterlassene Hilfeleistung. That is a crime which depending on it's severity will net you a pretty high fine or even jail time, as you directly contributed to another citizen's misery by doing nothing. Just one of the lessons we learned the hard way during the nazi regime.
Although you're basically right no-one, not even the law can force you to put yourself in danger. And that includes emotional danger. If you feel unfit to help then calling for help is all you need to do.
Don't endanger yourself, act smart and call the proper authorities.
Uncledrake6606 actually said that “without putting yourself in undue danger”. Witch means call the police or the ambulance. 😊
Policemen in Europe usually don't have this power trip going on. In Germany we view the police as our friend and helper. Of course there are a few bad apples here and there, but in general they are like firemen. They see their duty in just trying to help as best as they can. Also we Germans are very keen on order so it is normal to us to be pulled over if something is not in order with our car or whatever.
Funny sidenote: The Slogan „Die Polizei, unser Freund und Helfer” was made great by the Nazis and without them we wouldn't see the police as friend and helper. Okay, it is not funny, because this slogan helped to keep the civilians calm, while the police catched jews to deport them and later kill. Words can be a powerful and dangerous weapon.
Also, the training of police forces is much more extensive and takes longer in Europe. 2-3 years if I'm not mistaken. In the US, you can be a cop after only 6 weeks of training and are allowed to carry and use a weapon.
@@solokom 3 years
Not in France
@solokom. After the six week training period the officers work while training and attending school. They have two years to complete their courses and take their initial exams and up to a third year to pass the exams and earn their criminal science degrees.
I'm from England and seeing people from the US living happy lives in the UK or Europe, is really heartwarming (whatever their ethnicity may be).
I think positive change is coming for US citizens, it seems almost inevitable considering how candid the Internet is.
I agree, but would like to point out just two small things:
1) UK _is_ in Europe, it should not be seen as separate from Europe just because it’s an island, not on the continent. I get your point, though.
2) Unfortunately, the internet can also be very toxic and lead to more division, which is precisely what we’re seeing in the US and it’s sadly now spreading around the world. I hope for change, for acceptance of all ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations etc. and will never give up that hope, but I don’t see it coming soon.
@@patriciamillin1977 As far as geographically, yes the UK is on the same continental plate. Politically or ideologically (on topic), we're not European and someone from the EU would almost certainly agree.
That doesn't mean I'm anti-EU in any manner. The present UK government has caused severe damage through corruption and neglect.
If the Internet is causing division in the US, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Without healthy debate any society is susceptible to stagnation.
From what I've observed, the division is between progressive thinking and those that want to cling to tradition. The problems affecting the US pre-date the internet and progressive thinking though.
@@ZombieATAT Agreed, but I was referring to _Europe,_ not _EU._ That’s two different issues. I’m British born and raised, but lived part of my youth in Cyprus until moving to Germany when I was 16. I consider myself to be European. Due to Brexit, I applied for dual citizenship in 2018, and am thus also still a member of the EU despite the UK having left.
It’s also true that *healthy* debate helps growth, but that’s now what’s happening in the US at the moment. In fact the toxicity of the “debates” are extremely unhealthy and could lead to a new civil war. It’s more than just a difference between progression and clinging to tradition (which in itself is stagnation), though. It has always been around, I agree on that point, too. I’m old enough to remember what it was like in the 60s. However, the internet has allowed for conspiracy theories to thrive that are driving a much greater wedge between the two sides that goes far beyond just progression vs. tradition. Insofar, the division in the US is very much a bad thing.
@@patriciamillin1977 I'm not exactly young either. I most definitely Pre-date the EU by a long way. That being said, the people and government of the UK have always referred to Europe as a separate entity. The geographical technicality isn't predominant.
The Internet has given the US an opportunity to view the rest of the world. I'm sure the US education system is still focused almost exclusively on the US?
How US citizens digest the information is definitely a core issue. There isn't the same flexibility and open-minded framework that most other countries have. I don't believe adhering to the same Indoctrination will improve US lives or that seeking change will inevitably lead to civil war.
The fact that narrow-minded conformists are becoming defensive, only highlights that change is inevitable. Saying "it was better in my day" is a common misconception.
@@ZombieATAT I know. As I said I grew up in England and I remember it always being referred to as Europe, but mostly as “the continent” or the “continentals”. When I first moved to Germany, the UK had not yet even joined the EC, as it was then known. For the first two years I had to annually renew my visa and work permit. Having spent so many years here now, though, I came to view it as wrong that the UK sees itself as separate from Europe. It also caused a lot of problems within the EU, with UK always wanting to be different and have things their own way; rather than working with the EU, they often worked against it. The Germans called it wanting an extra sausage.
Yes, the internet has opened the Americans up to the rest of the world to some extent, and some seem to embrace it while others tend to retreat further into their nationalistic exceptionalism. It’s not the seeking change that will lead to civil war, it’s those that do _nit_ want change that are calling for it on a daily basis. You are absolutely correct that indoctrination will not improve US lives, but that’s what a lot of people want. I communicate with both sides almost on a daily basis and the differences between the two sides is shocking. The sad thing is, it’s no longer limited to the US, either. It has spread and affected many other countries in the meantime, like QAnon, that has become a worldwide phenomenon with millions of followers.
I do agree that change is inevitable, but it won’t come easy; it may even take a second civil war to affect that change, as sad as that is. The problem with the US is that they never really learned to deal with the first civil war, what caused it, why it had to happen, what the aftermath of it was. The confederate states were never able to cope with losing and have been wanting a second civil war ever since. People like Trump, DeSantis, Abbott and the current rightwing media are pushing the kind of narrative that supports these war seekers. I don’t hear people on the left talk about it.
In Belgium (and a lot of other European countries) its pretty difficult to become a police officer, they have a very hard education and are well payed. Over here it takes at least 2,3 years to become a officer
Im from Germany, married to an kenyan women with to beautiful kids, 7 and 1,5 years. Our friends from Croatia, Rumania, Afghanistan, Syria, Eritrea, Nigeria, Italy, Austria, Ukraine, Russia, Netherlands, France, Turkey, Poland and some other countrys 😂so much different food to taste 🤣I love it... WE ARE ONE WORLD, God bless you 😇
I think in Germany you will be judged by what you do and how you behave, not by color of skin or country of origin. You should learn the language of course. Most Germans do speak English, but as long as you don't learn German you will be viewed as a visitor, not as an inhabitant.
Many people from other countries find that Germans are a rather quiet people. So Americans, who are rather loud, often stand out uncomfortably. I think self-awareness helps a lot. ;)
Many Germans are becoming very fed up by immigrants who invade the social systems right away and never even try to find a job and contribute something. At least carry your own weight and everything will be fine.
Most foreigners who immigrate to Germany do carry their own weight and contribute to society. I have seen more Germans leech from the social system than foreigners, unless they are asylum seekers, in which case they are not permitted to work until their application has been approved and they become legal immigrants. I believe they are (or were) discussing changing that rule and allow asylum seekers to get jobs, but I haven’t followed up on that discussion.
@@patriciamillin1977
Actual immigrants often come to work here in the first place. So I can relate on your impression.
On the side of refugees, this is not as positive. F. e. only about 27,4 % of the syrian refugees who are registert on the job-market, are working a job, that pays into the social system.
(Source: ZDF, 17.02.23)
@@anjafark But they are obviously registered to work, so maybe it’s just that they can’t find work, ie. because their German is not so good or that there aren’t many jobs available where they are. A lot of employers don’t take foreigners, especially is they can’t speak the language very well. It might also depend on their qualifications.
@@patriciamillin1977
Germany payed for courses to learn the language and gives a lot of support. I think, in more than 5 years as a youg man you are able to pick up at least some of the language basics to get started somewhere - if you want.
Meanwhile enterprises invite young people from India an Latin-America for apprenticeships due to the shortage of workforce. At the same time we pay this mostly young male refugees social care.
That is disappointing and makes no sence.
@@anjafark I’m sure there’s a reason for this discrepancy, it needs to be looked in to. I’m sure it has to do with the refugee status. I have to admit that of all the job applications that passed across my desk, I don’t remember ever receiving one from a Syrian refugee, but that might be due to the fact that we were an IT company and an outsourced subsidiary of a semi-conductor manufacturer, so very specialized. I don’t know about Latin-America, but India has a lot of IT experts.
I'm a German and it broke my heart when you said "he felt like being human" ... holy sh** ... What a heavy load you're carrying day by day...
We have some assholes in Germany who think it's ok to record an incident instead of helping. But sometimes they get charged with a felony of failure to provide assistance.
The problem in the US as far as I understand it is that race is so in focus
In some states before you vote you have to answer what race you belong to, In Europe (even in Russia) this would be unthinkable - mostly even illegal
In the US as far as I understand you still have black areas, white areas and other divides. In the country of Denmark poor areas with especially immigrants are torn down. So that everyone can live in mixed areas with poor and rich (no matter race) side by side
I guess this is the reason why most afro-american youtubers moving to Europe get a shock. They are human first and then a ethnicity in stead of vise versa
They have gated communities (for the wealthy) with guards in the US. That is the creepiest and scariest thing i heard about US culture so far.
Also from my experience (and my personal pov) someone is a human first, then they are their accent/dialect (e.g. for me it's always a question of how well their german is and if it wouldn't be better to switch to english or another language we both know), then their nationality and then i usually don't care enough anymore but that's when ethnicity comes.
In Finland, there are laws (rescue laws) that demand you as a civilian help victims of an accident, even traffic accidents or anyone who's wounded or in need of help in general. If you see a fire, you HAVE to call 112, and then help however you can.
If you do not help, you can get fines or even go to prison.
Many finns aren't even aware of this... Then again, most don't need to, since they will help anyway.
I always love watching positive reactions to germany, because most of the time I just reallly hate my own country for all it´s bad things and forgot about the good things...
Thank you for cheering me up!
I’m not German but Dutch (right next to Germany), but in Western Europe we tend to not really care about heritage, we treat each other as humans and we’re cool. There’s always a small group who act like asses, but you’ve got those people everywhere.
Hello Yvonne, how are you doing today.
I come from Austria and with us and in most of Europe you are a person and not a color. In addition, the training of a police officer is 2.5 to 3 years. That means solid professional training. America is lagging behind.
Yeah it is less about skin colour, but we have plenty of xenophobia here.
@@j.a.1721 Every country struggles with this. Unfortunately
As a german i am always confused how positive other people see our country. We don´t do it in general, i guess, we are so used to it, that we don´t see the good things anymore. I am glad for everybody who enjoys living here.
But we do have rasicm here, we are not always friendly, we are always very on our own, but in general, i guess, the most people here a nice and caring.
And yes, we are idealizing the united states. The green is always greener on the other side. 😉
Hello beautiful, how are you doing today.
We Germans have a complex about this. If we are second best somewhere, then that really upsets us. In addition, the eastern half has a blatant inferiority complex. Because they were oppressed by the Soviet Union for decades.
In the Netherlands, being helpful is actually written on every police car: "waakzaam en dienstbaar" which translates to "vigilant and helpful".
"to serve and protect" - often seen on older US-Police Cars.
Ich unterscheide nicht nach Schwarz oder Weis. Ich unterscheide zwischen Gut und Böse.
In Germany the police is supposed to be our "friend and helper"...so yeah, they would rather help to fix an issue before risking that the plate falls down on the Autobahn, endangering other drivers. Doesn't mean that they don't have bad moments and there aren't bad apples as well as a system which has to be constantly questioned to ensure that the bad apples don't spoil the whole barrel. But a longer training which is more focussed on deescalation than attack options does make a difference in the interaction.
Germany isn't the paradis, you will have nice persons and unfriendly persons like overall in this world.
That's the truth.
How you been treaten is how you meet people.
I'm German, native, but some people also don't like me, not because I'm not friendly, because they have problems.
Doesn't matter, because it would be strange, everybody loves you.
I accept it.
I´m german, living (now) in Berlin but originally coming from Hamelin (Pied Piper... ^^). I travelled and worked in several countries the last 30 years, eg. Spain, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia etc.
I now realized some "America Reacts..." videos like Volker Pispers political cabarets and found you guys now. It´s impressing seeing your discussions how Germany and many Germans REALLY are! Thanks a lot for that!
As you invited let me please tell something more about our history that maybe can show the differences of the way of living in Germany/Europe and the USA:
my family history is a very old one, proved by facts until 1756. So my ancestors lived in an area formerly knows as Masuria (today it´s a part of Poland). Beautiful environment with huge forests and many lakes - my people lived and worked their as farmers for centuries and had to flee with WWII.
To understand why german people as well as the most other european ones in many cases (of course not all) are treating like we saw in the video you have to see where exactly the area of Germany is in Europe (geographically) ... in the Center of Europe! With many other surrounding countries.
Since the earliest time "Germanians / Germans" had to fight against all other surrounding countries to stay free or become free again. And there were many, many fights.
And many european countries have an equal history.
So "we" had to "generate" new ways of fighting on one side and to explore, research and learn on the other to preserve and teach all that knowledge to our children and our nation.
And the Europeans had to learn that only understanding the "other ones", the "opponents" will give a future to everyone.
Compared to the USA Europe is a small region with dozens of other countries. I think that is one major reason.
Of course that´s how the most normal people on the street are thinking and treating. There are - of course - some few but powerful people who just want the power...! 😉
The ice cream joke is totally lost with all non-Germans, but the chocolate-vanilla-strawberry-ice-cream-mix is a traditional German staple. It is called "Pueckler Ice Cream" and is named after a very famous German botanist and very, very popular with all Germans, because you don't have to make a choice. There is also a famous German song: "Blond or black or brown, I love all women." Not very picky with colours...
The Europeans are 'relatively' open minded (take it on a case-by-case basis). They have been through a lot as a continent (WWI, WWII, the Holoucost, other wars in the former Yugoslavia, and now the Ukrain). I believe that their conception of universal humanity has evolved through these events. Not to negate the existence of racism, because it's still alive and well and on the rise in many parts of Europe. The thing about America and North America is the colonial master and subject/subordinate complex that comes with having conquered and eradicated the Natives and the constant need to assert themselves as the owners of the stollen land. It can be argued that the North American European settlers suffer from the insecurity of some 'other' people taking their place and dominating a country they took from the Natives through treaties of entrapment.
I`m sure you are right .
There is a kind of arrogance in the USA, I have often ( quietly) thought that their attitude towards other nations would be vastly different if they themselves had suffered as many invasions of their homeland as we Europeans.
I think modern day Germans have a tough history so more than many countries there is a humbleness and I do enjoy visiting Germany and the German people are wonderful I’m white English but compared to the French experience I’ve had it is totally different.
My wife moved here from California bout 10yrs ago. She's asian and she kinda told me the same reason and thoughts and what not like the dude here. I'm German but I've also lived in the US before. Once I got detained with no papers and also got treated really bad by the feds. I'm Caucasian and Im not trying to compare myself here whatsoever. Just sharing my experiences and thoughts on this. To cut it short, I'm glad this guy's here enjoying himself. Blessings!
Im from Spain and Germany and I hope that you visit one day and I could meet you guys
Nice to hear that as a german from bavaria 👍💪
Well as a German, I just can't wrap my mind around the "race" thing you Americans have, we all are one race, skin color is just a matter of Melanin. For most of us (exceptions are here as well) we don't care what you look like, we care about who you are. If you are an A... you are an A... no matter what you look like, if you are a good person you are a good person no matter what skin color or where you are from. For instance I am like totaly white xD (sorry) and I got my first kiss from an African-American soldier, when I helped him find a adress he was looking for. The funniest thing is I am a guy, but I was 14 at that time and looked like a girl xD. And it didn't make me gay, I knew I was since I was like 5 years old :D So guys come on over and have a great time.
I am black and live in Germany ( Schwäbisch Alps ) and don't understand the ' race ' issue. I am from the Caribbean and we have mix race and culture for hundreds of years and my home country has never treated people who look different as an outsider. If you are born there or grown-up there , you are a native. ' Out of many, one nation is our motto ".
In Germany only about 2% of the population are of black African heritage. In the village I live in there was only one black guy and he was English. He was ex British army, just like me.
Hello from Germany! What I want to say is: I hate it when people talk about race! There is only one race, and it's called "human" with different skin colors! Skin color has to do with geographical origin. Skin color is a protection from sun exposure, the further north, the lighter the skin to absorb more sun exposure. The further towards the equator, the darker the skin, so that the body can protect itself from the sun! I was brought up that all people are equal and there is a difference between good people and bad people! Prejudice against people of color, has something to do with fear of the unknown, and not knowing about other cultures and origins! According to science, human beings began in Africa. So in the beginning all people were black! So all white people have black hearts! I like your channel and keep it up! Greetings Nephilim
There are no good and bad people - nobody wants to do bad. It's just the different perspectives on live, the world, culture, family that make a difference in behavior. As long as you don't know the perspective of a person in detail, you cannot judge about that person.
@@olivermeineke9707 I see the point you're trying to make here, but I must disagree, there are people out there who are simply bad.
“Nobody wants to do bad.”
The thing is no matter how you were raised in which situation you've grown up or life treated you or what ever at one point you have to make a choice.
So when they know: I'm not allowed to do this. And they decide: but I want to do this. And I do this now. Then they are bad, guilty, and responsible!
Whether people have adverse genetic predispositions and their environment and biography increase their risk of committing serious crimes, it does not excuse one key factor: the choices these people made. --Lydia Benecke
We will all end up beige
@@Silfarran Well, and the last car will always be a station wagon 😅
As a white german with an american base in my hometown... i always got used to african american soldiers in my neighborhood.... they were kind people... always! And they were and are welcome here!
i live by some selfimposed rules, one of them is:
Respekt muss man sich in meinen Augen verlieren - You have to lose respect in my eyes
meaning everyone starts with me respecting him/her/them as a person till his/her/their actions tell me otherwise.
Another one is
Bring mindestens eine Person täglich zum lachen/lächeln - make at least one person laugh/smile each day
works for 52 years so far 😛
To me, there are two kinds of respect. 1st is the general respect I have for every human being. Like you described it. 2nd kind of respect is when I get to know you better and see you as an good human being who behaves in away or has achieved something for themselves they can be proud of.
In Germany, even if you did something wrong the police treats you with respect as long as you do the same.
I am from the Netherlands and I am loving living in Germany more then in the Netherlands.
Yes its worth to live in Europe (Austria), but we have our problems too, its not perfekt like i hear here. But still better than in the US ;)
I have seen videos of Germany on UA-cam and its beautiful however I have never been to Germany maybe I will never visit Germany in my life. This is because of an Austrian painter who started ww2.
there is some racial profiling in germany that leads to Black persons getting threated worse ... most Blacks in Germany are French so when a german sees a Black person we think "thats probably some Frog Eater we need to protect the hedgehogs"
I'm from belgium so myight ne wro,g on this , germany has pretty strickt laws when it comes to privacy so i dont think you can film every "event"
As a German I just want to say: I believe that his experiences are much better in Germany than back in the US. However, Germany of course is not perfect, don’t get illusions. Maybe it’s not as omnipresent as in the US, but of course racism and stuff like that does exist here. Not trying to spoil it for anyone, my point is just, Germany is not a fairytale country.
2:56 *Equality*
This is true. In Germany usually nobody cares where you come from (of course we have exceptions too) and we have two funny sayings about this
_"So wie du in den Wald rufst, schallt es heraus."_ As you call into the forest, it echoes out... It means: as you treat others, others will treat you.
_"Was Du nicht willst, das man dir tu, das füg auch keinem andern zu."_ What you don't want done to yourself, don't do to others either.
14:16 *recording things*
its not really a thing in germany it is even forbiddenin lot of cases due to privacy rule. of course you will see people recording something, but mostly tourists
18:17 *what i think*
for me everyone is welcome to live here, be a good part of the community, work hard, pay taxes. But please do me two small favors. Please don't be an idiot or an a**hole 😅
That is nice. ❤️
@@TheDemouchetsREACT you have reacted really fast, i have accidentally posted to early and have added some more informations😅
Not sure about germany, but in the UK we are more aw are that black people come from lots of different places and are not a monolith. West Africans are very distinct from East Africans and both have a distinct culture from people who have come from the Carribean.
im from switzerland (a little nation south to germany) we had made a strong sensitization of the tone of this topic in the last decades.
In my grandmother's day, the N word was still in use because it wasn't necessarily used negatively. But the generations that followed didn't do this anymore and their children were also forbidden to use this word. Of the people i have met so far, i don't know any who would have a problem in our country because of the color of their skin.
I am a German who grew up in South Africa, and it always boggles the mind how SA with its Apartheid past, was so much talked about!! Apartheid was wrong!!! But what is different in the US?, people are still being treated as sub-human. It must be absolutely bad to live in a country where you were born and get treated like a second-class citizin!! People in Europe care about each other.
When my daughter was 9 or 10 we watched something on TV about how Obama made history. Then I had to explain the concept of racism to her because she never thought there could be different treatment for black or white people.
Still there is some racism in Germany. Especially against poor immigrants ("they take our social benefits and won't work") or against other religions/cultures ("Islamisierung des Abendlandes"). I think the "color-racism" is secondary and mostly hidden except for right-wing people.
I think one of the biggest mindset differences between US and other parts of the world is America starts Race > country I understand there's a history there to explain why people think of things that way.
But the rest of the world goes country > then maybe region > then race.
Like different Asian countries don't all think of themselves as Asian first and they think of themselves as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Malaysian, etc. first, then asian.
Same with Europe, you are German, French, Spanish, British, Greek, Swedish first, then you're white, black, asian, etc.
14:00 As being said here alreeady, there are severe penalties if voyeurs or bystanders interfere with emergency personnel during a rescue operation. If you can't help, make room for the rescuers, that should be a simple and understandable rule for everyone.
The phenomenon that many people often stand idly by during an incident with injured people and maybe even filming the events and doing nothing else is called *Responsibility Diffusion* in psychology. The more spectators, the more each individual is convinced that "someone else will intervene" - as a result, in fact, ALL stand around idly. Unfortunately that issue is on the rise in Germany too, but of course you encounter this behaviour more often in the urban sprawls and less in rural areas
as a german i sadly have to say that for me america is not a democratic country in general there only rich people are elected and they often talk about human values etc. but you never stick to it yourself that contradicts a true democracy in its entirety and every person no matter where they come from on the planet earth he you come from is welcome in europe because here you are a person who is treated according to his character and not according to looks or what social status he has
Personally I'm Slovene (also European and we have similar laws to Germany and the rest of the EU).
The police should act differently because they basically have more, and more varied, training than in the US. Our police (like in most of Europe) have to go to school after middle school (high school in the US) for an additional four years just to be able to work as police officers. Also, if a policeman is dismissed from the force they can't just apply to another because we have one national police force, it doesn't change by state or precinct.
As for the idea of people recording other people, it's actually illegal for anyone to take a picture of you (or make a recording) without your explicit permission or a warrant from a judge.
The Traume thing you feel in your chest, is our anchient fear response, to tensen up and get ready to run or fight if needed.
And i have it too in situations, that im not willing to discuss, but everyone has it.
I half Russian half Uzbek living 10 + in Germany my closest circle of friends are brown sugar they calling me whity or white sugar 🤣 most what I like they hospitality is same as mine get feeling like at home and warm, and we often making language tandem they learning Russian I’m trying to learn Swahili and cultural common things and differences.❤
Die Polizei, dein Freund und helfer.
The Police, your friend and helper.
this should always be the case.
Depending on the situatin, if you are just recording and not helping an injured person, you can get into a bit of legal trouble. The minnimum you have to do is make an emergency call. If it seems not so serious or if it is obvious that help is on the way or they are already help, some people start recording here, too. I find that very aggrevating, because it can be very demeaning. If you later publish that stuff however, you can get into trouble for violating data protection laws (technically the recording could already be problematic but I never heard that someone got into serious trouble for that).
We are not racists in Germany, if at all some of us are nationalists. So where does someone come from. In my experience, Americans are much more accepted than others from other areas, regardless of the color of their skin. That's a subtle difference.
Regarding the taking your phone out and starting recording: I think that there are some people, of course we got our Karen's to, but generally we are raised and taught to help and try to resolve a situation instead of snitching. I even had teacher's tell me I should not tell them anything about the situation and instead go help them handle it.
Boxed in thinking is global and still everywhere.Trauma is for me / generational habit when you can’t accept people in whichever way they want to live their life. Why bother, everybody is different but same - in wanting to belong/connect to someone. Than you decide if you match or not and with each new experience it can change if you match or at all. So find people who accept you for you. If you have one you are not alone anymore ❤ Seek things out what you want to experience with your people, be stable, peaceful, loving, financial, create your own bubble and live well. Solutions and examples are everywhere - you only need to accept the good ones.
Hey demouchets!?!?!😊😊😊 If you need help moving to Germany. I'm renewing my Aufenthaltstitel ( work permit) right now so I know all the in and outs now in dealing with the german immigration for 12 years now. I love your channel and I wish you luck in completing your goals.
German writing here.
Of course, not all is golden! At the moment, right-wing parties are on the rise and for those guys, skin colour is relevant.
However, up to now, I think mostly, people here really do not mind where you're from but who you are.
Apart from that: the gun situation and criminality ... is quite different.
I'm german and in 1989 i lived near Augsburg and had a black girlfriend, which was at the US Army Base in Augsburg. Then there was the reunion with east germany and the military went back to the USA. But i know many black soliders, who didn't want to go back.
If you record an accident on the Autobahn such as when passing the crash site in slow traffic or if you see any kind of act of violence against anyone in the street and film it instead of calling the police or getting help or helping yourself, you can get a hefty fine in Germany! We always demand “Zivilcourage”/civil courage from passersby…
The phone thing isn’t an America thing. It is a weird human nature thing, unfortunately.
I'm German. You are welcome here 😁
Jawohl 👏
Germans are very friendly. Good people, very good people.
im a native german who's live in germany and i have the immage that ammerican officers think they are the law, germany offivers know! the law ^^. thats the different
i want say something about, the friendliness, ehm its depend where you are as a black person in germany, if you be in a big city like berlin, ore hamburg yeah thats true the people are realy cool, will be friendly to you and will be a person not a color, if you be in an area may be of the countryside of the east part of germany, the people will be not so friendly to you, in some areas its could be verry dangerous as a black person in germany because you could be in an area where you have many fashists ore right whing people. its allway depends where are you stay. but the mostly of the germans are friendly and helpful people, im only want say what could happend if you be on a wrong place.
Coming from the countryside of the eastern part of Germany I call that bullshit.
It's not like there are Nazi groups walking around attacking foreigerns or anything. That's just a complete misconception of how people act who might not be the biggest fans of migration politics.
I've been living here for more than 40 years now and I actually never even met a Nazi.
I've met a lot of people not liking the migrant politics, but none of them would ever dare to harm anyone, not even give a foreigner a strange stare.
The worst those people usually do is ignoring the foreigner. That's not nice, but far from a dangerous situation and even this would rather be a rare occasion than something that happens on a regular basis.
In general racism isn't defined the same in Germany like it is in the US. In the US racism is almost fully based on the color of skin.
In Germany it usually is based on culture and sometimes religion.
People of a similiar culture usually aren't perceived as different or even dangerous. It's the foreign culture, behaviour that isn't usual or acceptable where we live, what makes the aversion against others.
@@caliana5589 oh, you come from the east side of germany, well done ME FUCKING TO! und ich habe da deutlich andere erfahrungen gemacht!
komme aus ner kleinstadt mit ca 70.000 einwohner. sehe gehöre dort zur lokalen Punk/Oi! alternativen szene.
bei konzerten gehe ich bewusst umwege um bestimmte kneipen, straßen und stadtviertel um keinen faschos zu begegnen, wenn dies nicht möglich ist läuft die angst als begleiter immer! mit.
gehe grundsätzlich nie alleine heim, oder versuche bei kumpels zu übernachten.
tagsüber gibt es auch gewisse stadtteile die ich ganz einfach so gut es geht meide weil es quasi garantiert ist das dir ein fascho über den weg läuft.
durfte auch schon 2 mal bekanntschaft mit diesem pack machen beide male hatte ich glück das ich flüchten konnte, und als schwarze person in ostdeutschland muss das ganze noch mal ne nummer schärfer sein!
also erzähl mir doch nichts davon das, dit bullshit ist was ich geschrieben habe!
oder wenn ich zu irgendeinen punk konzert im osten auf dem land fahre, da fahr ich schonmal grundsätzlich nicht alleine hin! und das aus gutem grund! bei EM und WM hört man regelmaßig das skandieren von Nazi Parolen ect, und jedes mal ist es ein weiteres mal ZU VIEL!!!
also erzähl mir nicht das ich Bullshit geschrieben hätte!
@@caliana5589 "stimmen der migrations politik nicht zu" ?! kuck mal in die kriminalstatistik, erst 2015,2016,2017 wie viele asylheime, turnhallen, ect da abgefackelt wurden... wie viele übergriffe es da gab! und und und..... da willst du mir erzählen ich hätte bullshit geschrieben das ich nicht lache! bei solch einen relativierungsscheiss könnte ich im strahl kotzen!
If you are an African American in Western Europe people are more prejudicial about being American than being black(or Arabic)
Hey guys, about the qwestion is it like when something hapens that people start to record it only.. no its not like that there is acrualy a law that stops you from not helping: Unterlassene Hilfeleistung. Witch means basicly if something hapens that by law, you have to help! And i think thats wonderfull here in germany
We in Germany not to care on Skincolor or Religion we are all Humans and as that what we here tried all People with Respect
Sorry for being negative. But it's a different story in a rural area. I mean he is living in a big city and it's a different story. But it doesn't means it's every rural area here but some are difficult to be a colored or a diverse ethnical individuel to live in a village or a conservative place. But you will never get a offensive response. They will just ignore or let you alone. But it get better over the time. And I'm glad about that
I live in germany. And if i would record some kind situation and post it online i would get a shitstorm. I cant even imagine doing that because of the feedback 🤣😆
The thing about Germany having come to terms with its Nazi past is that this wasn't a thing until the late 60s, early 70s. Before that, everything that could have been swept under the rug was swept under the rug. Very often people who held positions of authority under the Nazis - and were usually fervent and outspoken Nazis themselves - still held the same positions of authority long after their reign was over.
That only changed with a new generation of young people in the 60s who demanded answers, and accountability, and action. It was the "Generation of '68", and what we have here today - full information. education, and, really, having come to terms with it, in a way - is in large parts thanks to them.
It almost needed a revolution though. At the very least, it needed their revolutionary spirit.
My mother was part of this generation and she went through a whole ordeal figuring out who her father really was after learning nothing useful about the past in highschool, she was a student politician, a social democrat, she was at every protest and although our relationship has a lot of negatives I'm grateful for receiving an early and honest education about the holocaust and social democrat values.
The US has many problems and led many wars, it is odd to me that you only ever talk about Nazis in Germany. That is long ago and they worked on themselves. The Us has never really tried to be better than they used to be. They are taught from early in that everything is great in their country. You can not improve if you don’t accept your flaws.
Many Germans still have left a little bit of, i would rather call it xenophobia than racism, in them, but are self-reflected enough to not act on their biases, knowing it's wrong or are simply way too polite to show the reservations they may have against non-traditionally german looking people. Reservations stemming from the fact that many of the more rural Germans never have even met or lived with any foreign-looking people in their lifes; the only information they've got, being the jokes and generalizations their parents taught them.
On the other hand there are some documentaries (on youtube), interviewing black Germans living in Germany during the NS times, telling how they were excluded by the government, but never by the german people they lived amongst.
Which kind of shows that not everything is always black and white, pun intended.
Tbh, nearly every stereotype was at some point an accurate description of the, at least publically perceived, majority of the described group.
I'll try explaining it with an example I have experience with: Most gay people you immediately recognise as gays are just like the movie-gays - and because those are the type of gays that are highly visible, everyone thought (sometimes still thinks) that's how all of us must be.
Right up to the point the less "flamboyant" gays started to show themselves and suddenly the, then completely accurate, description became excluding to the "less obvious" gays and people started realising there are others that don't fit the, now outdated, description anymore.
A stereotype is literally an outdated, but at some point in history having been accurate, characterisation of a group of people.. something I personally(!) don't find offensive and don't jump at someone's throat for using when still having this perception of us. Unless of course they know it's not completely accurate anymore, but use it anyway to hurt or insult our community by suggesting that it's still accurate, that all gays are feminine and flamboyant "sissies" to keep us from doing something others are allowed to - like sports or some professions. Then I'll start ripping heads and limbs off, not a second earlier.
But if it was an honest mistake, a second chance definitely is in order.
Europe is in fact a great compromise for African Americans thinking about a return to Africa. (Or can be used for a test run / preparation.) Although each European country is different, we are generally culturally closer to Africa than the US is. We generally have a community spirit that is perhaps half-way between the more flexible/universalist Ubuntu philosophy of the Bantu people and the more rigid Japanese collectivism.
(I would like to say that in Germany this is because we learned from the Nazi era, but the reality is unfortunately horrifying: the Holocaust happened despite this community spirit. The trick the Nazis used was to dehumanize certain people, so they were not part of the community. This is what 'the banality of evil' is about: Just like you can have a perfectly nice butcher who loves his family and helps his neighbors, you can have a perfectly nice concentration camp killer doing the same. He or she simply doesn't register their victims as human.)
as a german, i always say to every decent human beeing, come live here, we have breads, beers, and cheeses, as well as a munch (bunch) of other foods, and stuff.
Exception of all this
As a german i‘m glad the feedback is quite positive. Maybe showing the world we aren‘t the nazis since a long time :)
He‘s right it absolutely doesn’t matter which colour you have, but how you treat people. This should be everything that anyone rates ;)
I'm German. My wife comes from Burundi and is now naturalized. I see the situation in Germany as being similarly good, but things are a little worse in lower social classes, although the problems cannot necessarily be traced back to the color of the skin.
We Germans have not yet emotionally accepted that Germany is a country of immigration. There is a lack of a workable immigration law. Immigrants from western democracies are often not even seen as immigrants. Refugees, and for many there is no other way to come to Germany, are a problem, especially when the numbers rise.
to be a police officer in the US: 3 months (depends on the state). in germany: 3 years or more. this might do a difference ^^
Getting pulled over is not very common in Germany. There might be some issues with your car like in his case or perhaps you really violated a traffic rule. If you're driving too fast there are usually random speed cameras. They take a picture of you and your license plate and send it to you via regular mail for evidence so you are able to pay the fine within a certain amount of time. Yes, they send it also to the US. 😜
If you're renting a car, the car rental company is going to charge you via your credit card.
Driving too fast on the Autobahn (on the parts with speed limit) you may be filmed and the (most times neutral coloured) police car occasionally
overtakes and puts a sign in the rear window 'Please follow'.
But I'm not sure if you can pay then and there or how it works due to the lack of speed limits on the Autobahn and my missing experience with over-speeding.
Beside that there are sometimes random traffic controls where they stand on the side of the street and stop random to all cars to check if anyone is driving with alcohol or if all safety equipment (e.g. warning triangle) is carried along. Usually they do not act authoritarian and you can get out of the car without asking for their permission. 😁
In the 70s my aunt became pregnant with a child from a US soldier when she was 16. He was an afro american. At that time it was not a good combination. So young, not married and expecting a baby with no white coloured skin. It was a scandal at that time (located near Stuttgart).
The main reason was, that the men who fought for Hi..ler and made it home, the fathers of the pregnant girls, decided that. And so many families started to take the pregnant girls to a hospital, where they had to stay until giving birth to the child, and then the baby was taken away from them. That is not long ago, and still my cousin is out there somewhere. We know that he doesn't want to have contact to his birth mother, my aunt. She now lives in Houston/Texas and has 3 more children from another man. Also a afro american man. And last year 2 of them were here, visiting us, and they and I went to some locations. The turkish and arab people thought that my cousins are turkish, but that was all. I didn't see them being treated different and I was happy to see that. Because we once lost one of our family member because of racism and I hope it doesn't happen again 😢
Not that in Europe you don't find racists. Sadly you do! But most parts in Germany are ok places, even the small towns. One reason might be the immigration of many turkish and italian people in the 60s. We now had enough time to become friends. And another reason, I'm sure it is - there are not many people 100 % german. Myself and a lot of people have grandparents from all over Europe. I'm a cocktail of 4 different nations. And I'm not the only one. So I feel my roots are not only in Germany and I grew up with family members speaking different languages. That makes me being interessted in different kind of nations and I think that is what makes it easy, to live side by side with any kind of nations. Yes also we have problems, but compared to the US I'm really shocked that you make all these hard experiences. Good that you made this video!
If I took the wrong words I'm sorry, please tell me then. My english is not the best and I'm not sure if my words are ok how I choose them.
14:10 - especially in a traffic accident situation that is actually illegal here in Germany. That doesn't mean, it's not happening, infact punishment has just recently become more severe, because it's a growing problem, that people film accidents, while passing by, but speaking generelly you are obligated by law to help people, who are in distress, you can actually get sued for failure to provide assistance, that's an actual thing here, in severe cases you can go to jail for that, so at least people will call the cops or ambulance, whatever one needs, in order to avoid ending up in jail.
Years ago a Black British friend who went with her church to Eastern Germany in 1990s had bad experiences maybe it was due to the change of government with the re unification but she was shocked at how blatant it was.
Nah. A couple of teachers sounded the alarm on how bad the neo-nazi stuff was at their school. They got chased out of the east. Eastern Germany is an unmitigated desaster and you probably should avoid it AF. A couple of weeks ago there was the first public admission by Nancy Faeser of how the neo-nazi stuff of the 90s had not been taken serious enough. Unfortunately at this point you should treat the East as a danger zone. Which is unfair to the people who live there but you know how many racists it takes. All of Brandenburg is tainted by the stink of the recent weeks.
Germany not only faced its past but also teaches the past in an honest manner in schools today.
Hello beautiful, how are you doing today.
as a german i can only say bits, as my area has a very low black population. Each interaction i had with black people was just like every other interaction. Ofc it can create distance if there is some language barrier, but aside from that, all interactions are alike
I personally haven't seen people start recording, but ome night out me and my friends saw a man harassing a girl and then start fighting with us when we tried to distance him from the girl. My friends having military training and me having studied martial arts we did a citizens arrest until a patrol officer came and took him. No one was hurt not even the man we arrested. I wouldn't say it was the norm but I believe there is a lot less of just recording stuff when ahit goes down.
As a white German I'm positively surprised, because I thought to have observed a lot of racism - towards Muslims mostly, but towards black and Asian folks as well.
But maybe it depends on where exactly you are (Berlin probably being much different from a village in Bavaria or Saxony). Or maybe the racism in the US is simply so much worse and systematic that ours pales in comparison - which sure as hell is a terrifying thought, but one that's probably true nevertheless...
If people need help and you are not helping despite being able to you are comitting a felony. Also, you can't just film people without their consent.
Germans are actually known for staring at people, but this is not based on your ethnicity. We stare at everybody
Just a general reflection: It's so difficult to discern racism from personal experiences. No one of us really knows what other people are thinking. Sometimes we don't even know why we ourselves are acting the way we are. We never get to see the counterfactual (i.e., how they would have treated us if we were X instead of Y). So the personality and interpretation of each individual will play a huge role in how much racism we perceive.
I'm Swedish and I have many immigrant friends. It was really striking to me when my highly educated and successful Bosnian friend said he experiences racism quite often, whereas my Cameroonian blue-collar friend said he had never experienced racism in Sweden in 30 years. Obviously, they can't both be correct in an objective sense, and I find it quite hard to believe that a Bosnian who could pass for Swedish would experience more racism than a black guy. But they also have very different personalities, so I think it goes to show that our perception of places and cultures (everything from the prevalence of racism to threat levels, cleanliness, friendliness, etc) are filtered through our subjective judgment (which will be influenced by the experiences and worldviews we carry, and just our general outlook on life).