Be Yourself - Everyone Else is already taken

glasmond:

ponthion:

letyourfreakflagwave:

lonelyeyesonly:

shelovesmitexx:

audiodrops:

the-unpopular-opinions:

Did you know we’re actually NOT Nazi’s and there’s a lot more to our history than just Hitler? Did you know a lot of Germans were forced into supporting Hitler because otherwise the Gestapo would take you in the middle of the night and kill you and possibly your family? And that children were taught to tattle on their parents if they weren’t in support of the Nazi party? Did you know SS soldiers and Concentration Camp soldiers were actually executed for secretly sneaking food or helping the prisoners? Did you know a German made the first globe, first car, alcohol and mercury thermometer, electron microscope, the first freely programmable computer, the bunsen burner, etc? 

Probobly not since you’re too busy insulting my country and only thinking of Nazis when you hear it’s name and calling me a Nazi when I say, “Yes I’m German.”

NO I AM NOT SAYING FORGET THE HOLOCAUST AND THE WAR. I’m just saying you don’t need to bring that up when I say I’m German. If that’s all you know about my country, kindly shut up.

Talk to me about it.

Germany has an extremely colorful and fascinating history, and today continues to pay reparations and support Israel as an ally.

So yes. This.

Not a german, but so much THIS.

THIS

THIS and I’m seriously so tired of it!!

Very relevant since I’m informing myself about a semester abroad or just an internship in England, and I’ve stumbled across so much irrational hate against Germans it really makes me uncomfortable.

A quick exchange of experiences:
A friend of mine (girl, she was 14 back then) was beaten up abroad because not for being mean (she was very kind and quiet) but simply for being German. Almost every time when I did a student exchange with another country the group leaders told us in the bus that we shouldn’t tell anybody except our exchangefamily (who of course did know) that we’re from Germany but Austria or Switzerland because it was too dangerous. Back in school my teachers told us that we never should say something like “Germany rules!” and that we shouldn’t act like patriots (like america, for example). All those events caused shame. I remember that when I got in contact with international people in the internet for the first time I was extremly ashamed for being German. And I know many other Germans on Tumblr who begged me not to reveal their nationality because they are ashamed and/or afraid to be hated.

       Having lived abroad most of my life, going through school as, usually. the only German person there, I can really understand this. I can’t quite recall who said these words but they went something like this: We bear the weight of our forefathers sins. 

This is so true. Every German today has or will at some point in their life feel the burden of the previous generations’ mistakes. Mistakes may not be the right term for them, but either way, the shame still exists. I don’t understand how we, as a nation, continue to repent, when other countries have done similar in past ages. I guess that’s just the way it is. I, for one, can say that I am proud to be German.