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Germans cannot turn backs on Nazi past, Angela Merkel says

Lord ZeN

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BERLIN: Germany cannot simply draw a line under its Nazi past and must remain sensitive to the damage it caused to other countries including Greece, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday, just ahead of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two.

Speaking in her weekly podcast, Merkel said she was looking forward to a May 10 memorial in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin. She and other leaders have said they will not attend Russia's traditional May 9 military parade amid tensions with Moscow over its annexation of Crimea and fighting in Ukraine.

In the German capital, the 70th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Berlin, the climactic battle of the war, was marked in tributes on Saturday. The war ended on May 8, 1945.

"There's no drawing a line under the history," Merkel said, dismissing a yearning that many post-war generations of Germans harbour.

"We can see that in the Greece debate and in other European countries. We Germans have a special responsibility to be alert, sensitive and aware of what we did during the Nazi era and about lasting damage caused in other countries. I've got tremendous sympathy for that."

Also on Saturday, President Joachim Gauck, who has little real power, reignited a debate over reparations, saying Germany should consider Greece's demands for 279 billion euros ($312 billion) in reparations for the Nazi occupation.

Greece's calls have fallen on deaf ears in Berlin, even though legal experts say it has a case. Merkel's government says has paid its obligations to Greece, including a 115 million deutsche mark payment in 1960.

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The picture shows French prisoners singing the national anthem, 'La Marseillaise', after the camp was liberated by the US army on April 29, 1945. American trucks rolled into Dachau, northwest of Munich, on April 29, 1945 to discover the unspeakable horror that had led to more than 41,000 people being killed or having starved or died of disease. German Chancellor Angela Merkel will join elderly survivors of the former Nazi concentration camp at Dachau on May 3, 2015 for a solemn ceremony to mark 70 years since its liberation by US forces. (AFP Photo)


"It's the right thing to do for a history-conscious country like ours to consider what possibilities there might be for reparations," Gauck told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

Post-war German governments have paid a total of 71 billion euros for damages caused by the Nazis, the Finance Ministry says.

Gauck also said Germans should reexamine other forgotten aspects to the war.

"We've truly done a lot in coming to terms with our Nazi past. But are some victims that haven't been taken into account at all or sufficiently -such as the Soviet prisoners of war."

The spectre of the Nazi era still haunts Germany in the form of neo-Nazis, who regularly demonstrate against immigrants and asylum seekers and occasionally turn violent.

One member of such a far-right group is currently on trial for the deaths of eight Turks and a Greek.

At a union rally in Weimar on Thursday, four people were injured and 29 people detained after far-right protesters stormed the speaker's podium, took the microphone and shouted Nazi slogans.

Germans cannot turn backs on Nazi past, Angela Merkel says - The Times of India
 
Well Japan can. They even go beyond that and started to revise history to their nationalist benefits again.

Why can't Germany?
 
Nazis werent bad, Only the propaganda made them look bad.

History is written by the victor.
Do not be afraid. :{
 
Good luck ebola-chan!
You know that Nazis wanted to get rid of everyone except Aryans right? Do you think they would spare the lives of millions of Muslims if they were there at that time?

I have an idea why you think Nazis were good but im not gonna expand it further.
 
You know that Nazis wanted to get rid of everyone except Aryans right? Do you think they would spare the lives of millions of Muslims if they were there at that time?

I have an idea why you think Nazis were good but im not gonna expand it further.

14682_901838776547543_5721256143635241719_n.jpg

oh my, Whats that? Non-aryan SS Division?
 
14682_901838776547543_5721256143635241719_n.jpg

oh my, Whats that? Non-aryan SS Division?
So what, you think Hitler loved muslims, he used them for his own gains is that something new?
Neo Nazis established a underground organisation and killed 8 Turks and one Greek, burned numerous houses where Turks are living, better be quiet on stuff you have no clue about.
 
So what, you think Hitler loved muslims, he used them for his own gains is that something new?
Neo Nazis established a underground organisation and killed 8 Turks and one Greek, burned numerous houses where Turks are living, better be quiet on stuff you have no clue about.

Did hitler love europe? nah.
Theres no need for a love-hate relationship to each and everything in the world.
he loved animals, thats that.

But it seems you have something against them and i can not argue with that.
Lets leave it at this.
 
Did hitler love europe? nah.
Theres no need for a love-hate relationship to each and everything in the world.
he loved animals, thats that.

But it seems you have something against them and i can not argue with that.
Lets leave it at this.
Oh believe me you would also hate Nazis if you as a Pakistani was living in Europe, its easy to assume thing from far away.
 
Oh believe me you would also hate Nazis if you as a Pakistani was living in Europe, its easy to assume thing from far away.

That kind of nationalism will surely have something against outsiders, but do know the fact that "Racial discrimination" is only exaggerated .

Oh and dont worry, ottomans are still my favourite! :partay:
 
That kind of nationalism will surely have something against outsiders, but do know the fact that "Racial discrimination" is only exaggerated .

Oh and dont worry, ottomans are still my favourite! :partay:
Im quite sure you have no clue about Nazis at all, yesterday it was Jews, tomorrow it will be Muslims if the shyte hits the fan Europe believe me.
 
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