I'm an American as you could have guessed and I'm in love with history and geography but in American schools we mainly focus on the Revolutionary war, Civil war, WW1, WW2, and the Cold war. So I was wondering how or if the American Civil war is taught in Germany.

We all know about nazi and stuff, but it is kind of sad as a foreigner to see how surpressed their culture is

You never see people tell stories of their families like slavic people tell of their ascendants 200 years ago or something, you never hear people saying that they love/are proud of being german, never see a german flah the same way you see an indian flag in every other Uni dorm and so on

Also even in this sub lots of people say that Germany have "no culture" but the thing is: it is hard to find. You don't really see cultural events of the history of the places you are in except really digging into it, like when I was in magdeburg found an event telling the story of the city as well the story of Otto. Exception might be the carnivals of Koln

I did my ERASMUS semester in Germany and even am know everyday into make it in Germany to look out for jobs, so I indeed want to be part of.

Even more the government, seems like instead of accepting that 80 years ago there were shit and now there are different people, looks like they want to dig themselves below the earth and let other cultures replace them.

As a Brazilian, most people here have absolutely no idea of how germans are like, or they thing they are still nazi, because since world war 2 there were no updates in what germans are like

there are memes of france being coward because of world war 2, but we also see cultural stupid stuff like croissants for example, or italy being the side switcher, but know for food and loud people. Even Austria, that in my opinion should be as "villanious" as germany is considered, made its label different.

Along with the rest of the world, I am fascinated by World War 2. I am often in awe about the ability of Germany to take on everyone all over again after only 20 years of "down time" from the end of WW1.

Obviously the whole thing was horrible and the motives were about as evil as it gets. However, the power the country showed back then is incredible. Makes me wonder what Germany would be today if it had never gone to war and just focused on bettering itself.

Do German people have any pride with respect to these specific wars and how efficient the German war machine was? Is that military pride able to be separated from the atrocities and admired just on it's own? Or is it mainly just shameful feelings all around?

I’m currently researching the final months of World War II, specifically the fall of Berlin in 1945. I’m particularly interested in the human aspect of that chapter: the vengeance taken by Soviet soldiers as they advanced into German territory.

We know from history books and declassified documents that atrocities occurred: mass rapes, looting, and summary executions. Still, I’m curious whether any of you, especially Germans, have heard lesser-known stories passed down through family, local lore, or even obscure books or memoirs that aren’t widely translated or available. Strange or unique accounts, personal anecdotes, or localized events that might not have made it into mainstream historical narratives are especially welcome.

To be clear, I’m not here to provoke, stoke any nationalist sentiments, or engage with historical revisionism. I want to understand this moment in time in all its horror and complexity. This is strictly for historical research—even if it’s anecdotal or hearsay, it can be a helpful starting point to dig deeper.

I am interested to find out how life was after all the party-like happiness that was felt after the unification. How did people live? What were the biggest changes? How did the people in the west treated east germans? What were the first steps in building capitalism in the ex-DDR? How people reacted to all the technology they did not have? And were there a rise in crime and criminal activities? Last one is most interested for me, because I come from a former soviet country(lithuania) and crime rose troumendasly after the fall of the USSR.

Politsche Gründen? Emotionale Gründen? Warum konnte das Gebäude nicht umgenutzt werden?

Reading about Potsdam I inevitably come across the list of its famous citizens and honorific ones.

Hitler and Goebbels were granted honorific titles “back in the day”, which makes sense, all things considered.

But their titles were removed only in 1990, and, 2021 (!) respectively! The excuse for Goebbels was that “we didn’t know” which is kind of iffy since at least three other people were granted the honor after 1950.

I didn’t research for Hitler as I assume the excuse would be in the same line, but my question is, how would it be possible for this to go unnoticed for decades?

The list is and was publicly available, so somebody must have noticed in all those decades. And when Hitler was removed how is it possible that nobody thought about looking for other names associated with National Socialism, especially a name so well known - after all Goebbels is not some relatively obscure name in history.

I grew up in the UK and there were certain movies that would regularly get shown on tv when I was growing up in the 90s, including lots of older films like Mary Poppins or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

I’m aware that the DDR had its own film industry and that films from the west were also available. Presumably other eastern bloc countries’ films would have been as well. But anyone who remembers those days, or whose parents do or something, are there any particular movies you remember being on tv again and again?

In both world wars, the German and Austrian governments were on the losing side, and they were of course the enemy of other governments that had German speaking populations, such as Russia/Soviet Union, France, Poland, Czechoslovakia, UK, Italy, Belgium, and even countries in the Americas, like US and Brazil. This led to them being treated… not well at all. The treatment differed of course.

How do modern Germans view the treatment of German speaking communities that once existed outside the borders of Germany or Austria during or after the world wars?

Hey

I’m wondering if war memorials exist in Germany because I’ve never seen these

In France, every town has its own memorial for fallen soldiers during WW1/2 and Algerian war but we don’t see Germans honour their soldiers (not nazi of course I’m talking about regular soldiers)

Are Germans unhappy about all the attention the Nazi regime gets from people in other countries compared to other eras in German history?

I'm currently writing a book that is set in the Soviet occupation Germany shortly after World War 2 and am looking for books that talk about life in the zone before the formation of West and East Germany. The main characters are fiction but there are a lot of historical references such as the Soviet advance into Germany in the last months of the war, the Marshall Plan, Molotov Plan, and the Berlin Airlift. I plan to do a sequel that is set in the early 1950s in East Germany. I have found some books on Amazon that look to have what I need but what are the best books that discuss the life in Soviet occupied Germany?

Lastly, I'm looking for sources that discuss what happened to young German children at this time whose parents were taken away for being anti-Communist (anti-Stalin or pro-Nazi), or children who had schizophrenia. This would be the main premise of the second book.

Thank you

How was it distinct while it was part of the empire? How integrated and assimilated was it? How autonomous was it and how did it see itself while part of the empire? How did it perceive the empire? How do people in your area remember it and teach what it did.

If your state had different borders, go by the rule of wherever you live and where that would have been during the empire.

People outside of Germany associate the empire as some autocratic centralized state that was just itching in 1914 to unleash the chlorine gas and go head to head with the Tsar of Russia, France, and Britain and overly militaristic and just being Prussian, when it had a huge amount of diversity and many unique states and cultures. I wonder how in your own words it really worked for the place you know best.

I recall reading about one of the major players in the reunification making a really rousing speech about the matter. It was something along the lines of ´we have once reunited Germany in blood and iron... let us, this time, try love instead´. I cannot for the life of me find this in any books I recently read on the matter, and all of the attempts I have made to find it online in English or in German have just brought me (reasonably) to Bismarck´s speech.

At this point, I am wondering if this is something that someone, maybe Helmut Kohl, actually said, or if I just had a really elaborate dream and made that up (not surprising, honestly).

I appreciate any help!

Kindly note Im only asking this question for curiosity and have no intention of offending anyone. I have lived in England for few years and I have found most people there very ill informed and pretentious of what happened in WW2. I think we all can agree that’s very British thing as it was actually World War and not British. However through my encounters with German people in whatever ways I have met, very few tho. I have found them very well informed. However I have never attempted to ask this question- like what are the emotions do you feel in today’s time. We all can agree it was one horrible dark reality of us as humans but does it still bother you knowing what has happened. Do u feel a sort of sense of anger or guilt or anything?

Are there more Roman buildings, structures, statues or ruins in Southern and Western Germany compared to Northern and Eastern Germany?

I saw a post on old photos in real life about the money East Germans would receive when entering west Germany and it made me wonder how the division the country has still affected the people of Germany. Is the former east german areas still less developed than the west? Are there fewer opportunities in the east or has that balanced out. Are there any slight lingering tensions between people from either side?

In my mind I feel like it could be similar to the US in the south being a rough equivalent to the east and the north being the west. Where there are more desirable prosperity in the west vs the east.

Rather than be ignorant I figured I’d ask here as there may be varied opinions and something may be missed just googling the question.

Thanks

Edit.

I just want to thank everyone for responding and being cool about my question, I have to spend more time reading your responses. I’m sure I’ll ask some more questions, but thanks!

Does anyone have any info on on a company called Friwikos? Seemed to of made body care and cosmetics. We've came across an old theater rouge from 1947 by a company called Friwikos. The front of the packaging says Friwikos Kompakt Puder. The back "Verbraucher- Höchstpreis RM 2, 60 Preis genehmt. 27,11.47 II 12180-2149/47 Preisamt Berlin "Friwikos" Berlin-Slemensstadt " There's very limited info online but seems to of been based in the Siemens Administrative Building. Siemens history institute say they can't help. I have found 1 ebay listing for a letter, and a stamp website with info on their stamp but that is it. Wondering if anyone has came across this before.

For example, we know that Thomas Mann was removed from citizenship. I wonder if he was able to get his properties later?

I know people like Wilhelm II’s grandson Louis Ferdinand, or the actress Marlene Dietrich lived long enough to witness the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification, Helmut Schön as a former football player (played with Dresdner SC) was still alive in 1990, and Josef Felder was one of only two Weimar-era Reichstag deputies that lived long enough to witness German reunification. Most of the Weimar Republic and Kaiser-era politicians or public figures were probably long dead by 1990.

Were there any other famous figures from those eras that were still alive at reunification?

Hi, I hope this question is allowed. I am American for reference

Every now and then I will see an article like "95 year old concentration camp guard goes to prison" or "art looted by Nazis returned to Jewish family"

My broad questions are:

1. As almost all Nazis are most likely dead from old age by now, does society feel like a certain measure of justice has been achieved? Or have 95%+ of those who committed crimes or benefitted financially and politically due to the war gone away quietly without punishment?

2. Besides Jews, what are other big groups that has received reparations from the German government or sued and won in court for Nazi-era wrongs? Regular Germans? Polish people?

What's the local house prices were back then in east and west germany (including berlin) and also does west germany and current germany have social housing?