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I agree that I have to expect Hitler topics here in the history forum. Duh!
I am asking the question here, because the topic doesn't stay here - it gets all over tv in other shows/movies, where you don't expect them and where they don't belong.
Example: If I hear a stand up comedian. If I watch a sitcom. If I watch a funny movie. Or highschool dramas, whatever I watch, I get reminded what horrible country I come from.
I know that slavery is not recent. But I also spoke to people who grew up not being able to use the same restroom as white people. They are still alive. And I wonder why they even talk to me - THEY got over it even though they have experienced racism first hand and still do on a daily basis.
I'm 50 years old and grew up in the household of a WWII combat vet. I hear more about WWII today on a daily basis I think than I did my entire childhood.
I remember learning about it in American History in HS and asking my Dad about it since he was a vet. He would say very little except that it was a dark chapter in the history of the world. It wasn't until after he died and we found his medals he kept in an old cigar box that we realized just how much action he must have saw.
In recent years you're right, seems we hear something everyday. Some wingnut compares somebody to Hitler or some other wingnut says the US wasn't very important in the war.
Just seems everyone with a wacky opinion is quoted and repeated as well.
I agree that I have to expect Hitler topics here in the history forum. Duh!
I am asking the question here, because the topic doesn't stay here - it gets all over tv in other shows/movies, where you don't expect them and where they don't belong.
Example: If I hear a stand up comedian. If I watch a sitcom. If I watch a funny movie. Or highschool dramas, whatever I watch, I get reminded what horrible country I come from.
I know that slavery is not recent. But I also spoke to people who grew up not being able to use the same restroom as white people. They are still alive. And I wonder why they even talk to me - THEY got over it even though they have experienced racism first hand and still do on a daily basis.
.....Vietnam is more recent. Afghanistan, Irak ...
This is a fair discussion, allow me to throw my 2 cents in.
1. WW2 unlike even WW1 was truly global in scope and resulted in an estimated 70million dealths give or take. So just on sheer size and scale there is NOTHING even close to it in scale. Heck, just the Russian offensive vs. Japan lead to 1 million japanese deaths in the last months of the war and few have ever even heard about that.
2. It sets the stage for the last 60+ years of global-conflict. Pakistan vs. India? Formation of Israel? Middle east strife? Korea? Vietnam? All of those were by-products of WW2. As is the ongoing hatred between Japan and many other asian nations, land disputes with Russia etc etc.
3. Profound technological changes including computing, jet age, electronics and of course nuclear.
4. Instrument of social change, especially here in the US where the civil rights movement, women in the workplace and so forth were brought about or infused due to WW2.
5. It was the first major war during the age of film. It is incredibly well documented.
P.S. You can be proud to be a German and march and wave your flag and so forth....(just not the Nazi flag.)
Before there was the Internet or History & Military channel I worked with a gentleman who had been in the Hitler Youth in his teens.(16 in 1945) He was amazed regarding the fascination Americans have with the war and Hitler/Nazism in particular. It exasperated him that folks would constantly ask him about life under Nazism and bring up the genocide. He could not understand why we, Americans, cannot let it go. He was not an unrepetent Nazi it was just something he lived through. I imagine what he would say now with the dedicated forums and television shows on Hitler and The Nazis.
A serious version of "Don't Mention the War" from Fawlty Towers.
About the flags: We had the soccer world championship in Germany in 2006. That was the first time since WWII where we dared to hang out some flags, wear shirts in our colors and have pride in our nationality. It was a complete unknown feeling. We felt good but also still a little guilty, because the world around us still let's us know what evil roots we have.
Right after the end of the championship we got told to go back to normal and some cities even threatened with punishment if we don't pull down the flags.
When I moved to the US, I was surprised to see so many US flags hanging around. I hung one in my yard and it feels good
I think World War II nostalgia/WWII-related media already peaked several years ago, and is slowly receding. Actually, I think it's all-time peak was probably in the late 1990's, after the rise of cable TV and a wave of post-50th anniversary documentaries and books about the war.
Cable TV and the internet were both important in the growth of the WWII "industry" - WWII was the first major war where lots of video footage from a variety of angles is still available today. WWI actually had lots of footage taken, but a lot of it was lost over the years, or the film stock was erased/destroyed to make space.
So, as cable TV subscriptions became more prevalent in the US, cable channels needed big, headlining shows to capture viewer attention. World War II material was ideal for this purpose - it was easy and inexpensive to take pre-existing footage and add some narration and graphics, and put it on the air.
That trend lasted for years, but it seems to be in decline these days. From what I recall reading, one of the highest-profile WWII series of recent years (WWII in HD on the History Channel) did not match the ratings of other big-name WWII series aired in the early 2000's.
About the flags: We had the soccer world championship in Germany in 2006. That was the first time since WWII where we dared to hang out some flags, wear shirts in our colors and have pride in our nationality. It was a complete unknown feeling. We felt good but also still a little guilty, because the world around us still let's us know what evil roots we have.
Right after the end of the championship we got told to go back to normal and some cities even threatened with punishment if we don't pull down the flags.
When I moved to the US, I was surprised to see so many US flags hanging around. I hung one in my yard and it feels good
Also, there's another thing.
Capitalism. The best stories sell
Stoking up emotions and sentiments is an immense revenue generator.
So why are there not more movies about Irak and Afghanistan? The emotions are there, fresh, and recent? I would like to see more of these kinds of movies to get reminded on how many brave people had to die there?
I'm 39..my dad who was 54 when I was born served in WWII, and we are PA Dutch (German) It's still very relevant to me and my family.
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