“Joy is not in things; it is in us.”
“I hate this fast growing tendency to chain men to machines in big factories and deprive them of all joy in their efforts - the plan will lead to cheap men and cheap products.”
“One supreme fact which I have discovered is that it is not willpower, but fantasy-imagination that creates. Imagination is the creative force. Imagination creates reality.”
"After your death you will be what you were before your birth."
"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."
"Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they shall think."
"Change alone is eternal, perpetual, immortal."
"Every person takes the limits of their own field of vision for the limits of the world."
"Martyrdom is the only way a man can become famous without ability."
"Reading is equivalent to thinking with someone else’s head instead of with one’s own."
I just don’t get it. So many people are into Nazi porn, buying Hitler’s dinner plates, Wehrmacht medals or old German Helmets. I understand the fascination for weapons - but not for a perverse political dogma that ruined Europe.
Soon it will be twenty years that the war ended for the two Germanys. East and West become one again. Today is a public holiday celebrating the big event.
But is Germany reunited?
No. Huge amounts of money have been spent to bring east Germany up to western standards. The infrastructure has been updated to world class levels. But the economy is simply not speeding up. East Germans have been leaving their homes in droves (1,3 million) for the golden west - while the golden west is loosing it’s shine, because all the money for infrastructure went to the east. Public funds and people went in different directions. The effect was pretty stupefying.
Chancellor Helmut Kohl promised east Germans they would be as fat and loaded as he was …
Today east Germany mass unemployment, unhappiness and depression rule the land. Neo Nazis and old communist found fertile grounds for their ideas. Both parties got seats in local parliaments. Plus there is growing hostility towards foreigners. Again and again brown or black people have been beaten up on the streets. Is Fascism rising again? Not really, these are just underprivileged people trying to find someone to blame and beat up - while the rest of the brave citizens wallow in innocent ignorance.
But the whole country is still under an extra tax burden to still finance the cost of reunification. More money to waste. Politicians and companies have filled their coffers with shady deals and subsidies. The usual. most east German states are already in debt, because is irresponsible spending. So much about German planing and precision.
Germany is still bugged down by the cost of reunification, the economy and the people are slowly coping with the effects of globalization as well. All social programs have been cut down pretty harsh, very similar to Britain during the Thatcher years.
Hair density equals amount of brain cells.
German culture is built on steadfastness and mutual consensus - not exactly qualities you need for global competition. Germany has to learn to be more flexible, fast, creative and aggressive.
We still have good educated work force and good engineers, but Germany has dangerously neglected it’s education system. PISA has repeatedly given Germany some of the worst scores for European countries. That is a national shame. But for years now there has only been talk, talk and even more talk. The school system is regulated by each state, which has created a chaos over the last forty years: some states do not recognize other states diplomas. You would thing that an knowledge society like Germany would be smart enough to develop a good national education system? Nah …
We are better at developing weapons than putting many troops in the field. The German Bundeswehr hardly scares anyone these days - maybe except Liechtenstein …
The new Germany has shed of it’s historical restraints. We have sent troops to Kosovo and Afghanistan. Germany always spent a lot of money on international support and development. Our politicians would love to have a permanent seat at the UN, while the average Teutone doesn’t really care. Plus our military budgets is still shrinking, so our few soldiers here and there are hardly equipped with the right stuff to do any serious fighting. But we are pretty decent in rebuilding stuff - like we do in Afghanistan.
Our dreams of power are long over, all we want to be is to be good Europeans - fly somewhere for a nice vacation, do some nude bathing and watch stupid TV shows like everybody else.
Fifty years after WWII it’s ok to be a German again …
Last years World Cup brought an unexpected boost in moral for the country, but I am afraid that the lack or slow speed of reforms will cause a lot of trouble in the future. Germany still is a strong economic power and pulling it’s weight on the in international scene. But it should concentrate more on it’s internal problems instead of trying to be a world player.
Two more issues are important: the Muslim integration and the aging society. But I consider these European issues, since all members have shrinking populations and yet to fully integrate our fellow Muslim citizens.
Overall Germany is a ‘normal’ and a nice country now with some baggage that’s slowly fading.
More? Wikipedia entry on Reunification
It must have been an eerie scene: flying between the cloud in bright daylight, coldness and bullets around you. The air war over Germany cost the lives of many thousands of Soldiers and Civilians - and till today it’s not really ‘proven’ it stopped Hitler’s war machine. Albert Speer moved the production underground and the output never declined. The ever shrinking number of troops (pilots) and fuel put a serious dent into the war machine of the third Reich.
Military marches are a strange breed of music. Pompous, patriotic and mostly idiotic.
Preußens Gloria is the most famous German soundtrack for war. It has been used and abused for almost anything.
I think Glen Miller did the American troops and all soldiers a great service when he played his own compositions instead of the traditional crap - while those poor souls marched to their deaths.