The German Embassy has a pretty interesting Website (www.germany.info) that covers an interesting array of current events, cultural news, sports facts and a sampling of pretty amusing off-beat humor; all with a decidedly pro-German, but pleasant slant.
The site recognized Helmuth James Graf von Moltke's birthday last Wednesday, March 11th with an interesting piece on this member of the German aristocracy who allowed members of the Kreisau Circle; an alliance of Germans united in their opposition to Nazism, to meet on his estate. The Gestapo eventually arrested him and he was executed in 1945.
After looking at my last post I want to make sure I'm not confused in any way as some kind of Deutschland-basher.
Quite the contrary, I've visited Berlin on two different occasions and can say from my personal experience that as an African-American during my two ten-day stints, I had countless positive exchanges and experiences with German citizens and people from a wide variety of nationalities. I had a blast and the Berlin nightlife I got to experience gets four stars.
I felt far fewer outward displays of prejudice because of the color of my skin than in a number of American cities or towns. Are there German neo-Nazis and or political extremists in Germany? Sure. But I never saw or met any - only outgoing, friendly fellow world citizens with a generous capacity to enjoy life.
No comments:
Post a Comment