Thursday, March 31, 2011

We Mentioned the War

Yesterday's tour of Perth bars was conducting by a charming German guide. And as we got chatting, the topics were many and varied, and at one stage I mentioned movies. A hypothetical other person in the group then described a recent film she'd seen portraying the round up of Jews in Paris in 1942, and as she got further into her description, she realised she'd ventured into awkward territory, but that it was too late to back out. She sensitively continued, and the German guide listened quietly, not revealing any discomfort, but who knows what she was feeling inside.

Later in the evening, another member of the group happened to mention Concentration Camps, and again, we found ourself in a curious place, until the conversation changed again.

That got me wondering. Is 65 years enough time for young Germans to feel distanced from these events. Would it cause offence to them should atrocities in the Second World War be mentioned?

Can my German readers please advise?
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1 comment:

  1. BodApril 1, 2011 at 8:30 PM

    John Cleese once mentioned in an interview, that he is surprisingly popular in Germany. Arriving at a hotel, a call from across the lobby greeted him from a German hotel guest “don’t mention the war’ (a line from probably one of the most famous Fawlty Towers sketches ... see link below). And the other guests, mainly German, found this most amusing. I think this says something.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfl6Lu3xQW0

    Give these events another 60 years, and I guess they will not even be a topic of general discussion. Whether this is right or wrong.

    But I'm English, so can't speak from a German or Jewish perspective.

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