Old Habits Die Hard

I think I'm usually pretty good at keeping things fun and easy-going in my writing, so I will try and discuss something that is a little bit darker in German history as lightheartedly as possible. I always enjoy having fun writing and it's important to cover a broad range of different topics.

As such, today I'm going to talk about the Holocaust. Well, not directly, but I will certainly express my own experiences with the aftermath of it as a post-WWII in Germany. It's been a little less than eighty years since the end of "The Big One" and most of us who have an understanding of the internet extensive enough to get to my blog easily often were not even a sparkle in our father's eyes at that point. That doesn't prevent the troubling (for me at least) reality that Germany has had a hard time escaping its haggard past. I'm just going to put forth a few observations I've had thus-far, maybe I'll amend this post after the entire year but what I've seen is probably not going to change in nine more months.

She's got ruby red lips blonde hair blue eyes; an' I'm about to bid my heart good-bye

I was very adamant in my belief that there was a huge misconception of the amount of blondes in Germany, I'd come to believe it was simply an oversimplification of the horrors that happened during the Holocaust and a tepid description of German culture. Now, however; there may be a little bit more to it. In my experiences during my university studies so far, I am confident to say that 60% of all the girls in my classes are blondes. There are other puzzling things about it though. Although I've seen a fair share of blonde guys during my time here, it's not even close, the blonde haired girls have to have at least a 5:1 advantage over their testosterone-laden counterparts.

Let's be clear, I'm at a single university in Germany, in a single state within the country...this is by no means a representative sample of all Germany, but it's certainly more than enough to open my eyes to the possibiity that anti-semitism may have had a greaeter effect on the proliferation of genes in the post-WWII era.

Hmm...I'm still not sure about it but I really think it's something that I'm going to continue to study because it's something very interesting. 

Does that star-spangeled banner yet wave...

I used to think that the constant wearing of American paraphernalia was a sure sign of someone in Germany who had some sort of origins in the United States. It would only make sense, right? That someone would be proud of the country even across the seas and wear an article representing the said country ever once in a while.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

Fact: 91% of statistics are made up. Fact: 97% of people you see in Germany wearing American paraphernalia are not from the United States.

It's one of the stranger phenomena I've ever discussed with Germans. It's such a constant problem in their lives, the fear of being identified as anti-semetic or having a secret swastika chilling in their basement, and so instead of wearing their country's flag with pride, they decide to borrow the next best thing, America's flag. Now I'm so happy that (for the most part) German's don't have too, too much negative to say about America, at least the one's with the intellectual/personal experiences that allow someone to objectively examine but it's really not okay with me that the only time I see a German flag is during international soccer* competitions.

I understand the fear of big government, I get the overcompensation for a dark past, but I really wish Germany could exhibit pride for its beautiful development since WWII, wave your flag with pride Germany, you've swayed my heart and I wear your colors proudly when I'm feeling spiteful towards my own country for whatever reason, you should be able to do the same.

Wave that Flag.

I throw my hands up in the air sometimes...

If a twenty-two year old were capable of going through her life without gaining any history of the second world war and Germany's situation during it, she may be very quick to notice the interesting phenomenon that occurs within German universities. Now being a twenty-two year old, with exceptional intellect, she would quickly notice that there was something different about the German's and their call and response hehaviors with their professors. Their hands would raise, but perhaps the palm would be tilted to the side, a slightly clasped fist perhaps, or maybe a single finger up into the air. A favorite of the curious German students would be to raise a slightly cupped hand into the air, palm facing back towards their own bright, brilliant visages while waiting patiently for the professor to address their concerns. She'd also be interested to see that while fist pumping to music, or in situations where hand-raising is seemingly acceptable, the Germans would be very hesitant to do so. It would, without question, be a very interesting event to her.

 

Never in Germany.

We all assume such a twenty-two year old doesn't exist in the United States--and as such, we all know the reason for why the hands are raised differently in Liebe Deutschland. This one I have a little less condemnation for than the lack of flags. Yet, it's still one of those things that I have to wonder, will this generation change the habit? Probably not, of course not, they'll mimic the behavior of their peers but it's something that I can't help but sadly accept as a grizzly part of German history. It would be, I think, like hearing the "n-word' in the United States--some might suggest that the word has exhausted any of its historic stigma, but it still doesn't appear to have a place in society--pretty similar situations if you ask me.

Though this be madness there's a method in't...

You receive money for returning empty plastic bottles to their designated disposal machines, beer and bread are valued commodities that many Germans couldn't live without and the thought of leaving food to waste is as foreign to most Germans as American Football is.

But there's reasons for all of it, extreme poverty is something that the generation of our grandparents in Germany faced, that means their kids were raised under the practice of conservatism and it seems to have rubbed off on their children as well. It's an amazing thing really, to examine some of the organizational things that seem to have be a direct byproduct of the second World War and it's really been for me, a paradigm shifting phenomenon.

Hopefully all this critical observation will carry on through the rest of my stay here and I'm curious to see what I can learn about America upon return and some of the roots of our practices.

Travel around enough and you never know what you'll learn.