I had a conversation with my (ex) German girlfriend last year in September. I thought it was interesting and it was one of the conversations with her that made a noticeable impact on me. That is to say, it’s evidence of part of the reason why I liked her as much as I did. When I spoke with her, she would continue with the discourse even if she disagreed with me. She never nuked the conversation just because I said something she didn’t like. She actually gave thought to what I said. In the summer before this, I had several other similar conversations, where she called me a racist, a misogynist, and an asshole. By the time I was done talking with her, she only called me an asshole.

This particular conversation started with me finding a playlist of German songs on YouTube. I was thrilled because they sounded beautiful to me – and I thought they’d sound beautiful to someone who might not otherwise care to hear German spoken or sang.

I say with positivity, that from where I stand, not all is lost with my generation. Or my game is getting better. Either way, I’m moving forward. Or maybe I’m just a monster.

11:19
Me:
This is a good song

11:27

Her:

You mean the song I send you the other day?

11:27
Me:
I guess so
I’ve been listening to it a lot
it’s on a playlist with lots of German musik
it’s German music that sounds nice

11:28
Her:
Hahaha really?! I like that

11:28
Me:
without being dark and metallic like Rammstein
it almost brings a tear to my eye

11:28
Her:
Hahaha
Right XD
Why that?

11:28
Me:
Because
I love German
I consider it beautiful when most consider it ugly
I am proud to know German and to have German blood

11:29
Her:

11:29
Me:
when many Germans are afraid to say the same because of past history
but how can they not be proud?
Germans have contributed much to the advances of science
Much to music with the likes of Bach and Mozart
Mendelsohn
Psychology with Freud and Jung
Philosophy with Kant and Nietsche
Engineering with the quality of cars, trucks, machines, tools

11:30
Her:
Yeah I know… I’m proud of those parts of German history and not of 1WW and 2WW stuff …

11:30
Me:
Efficient society despite all the rules
I accept Germany

11:31
Her:
Hahaha

11:31
Me:
for the beautiful things
and the ugly things
warts and all

11:32
Her:
That’s so nice to hear
I like that
And it is a rare thing to hear someone say that he/she considers German to be a beautiful language …. most think it sounds too hard and aggressive …
I don’t know … I mean I can’t tell, cause I grew up speaking German and I don’t know how it sounds to foreigners
I’m proud of Germany nowadays
I think more my grandparents and my parents generations are the ones who have problems with being proud, because they were more affected by the war … my grandparents directly and my parents were always told not to be too proud of Germany ….
But that has changed now… for my generation the war is quite far away, so it doesn’t affect us that much anymore

11:40
Me:
Fuck the people who say you should not be too proud of being German
They want to hold you down for whatever reason.
If a child commits one bad act in their life

11:40
Her:
Hahaha xP true

11:40
Me:
a horrible act
are the a bad child?
what if this child has done many good things in its life and never did something like this before?
does that one bad act make it a bad child?
Germany has been around since 1871
and Germans have been around since the Holy Roman Empire
12 bad years out of a thousand, does not a bad or evil people make
I am not catholic
but
Jesus did say – let he hath committed no sin throw the first stone
who hath*
No one is without sin
The Americans exterminated the Indians
The Turks genocided the Armenians
The Russians had pogroms – literally groups of peasants going around to kill Jews
In ancient times, the Jews themselves genocided peoples to reach and secure their “Holy Land”
The English, Dutch, and Americans had slaves
and other nations too
the Belgians massacred Africans in Congo

11:44
Her:
Spanish conquered Mexico and Southamerica and killed the Indians

11:44
Me:
Exactly.

11:44
Her:
You’re right
Horrible things have happened through history all over the world (sadly)

11:46
Me:
In history classes it was taught that WW2 was caused by how the allies handled WW1
denegrating Germany
making Germany responsible for paying off war reparations
making Germany responsible for the war in the first place
punishing Germany with occupation
and a pitiful military with which to “defend” itself
and what did they do after WW2?
War Trials
Denazification

11:47
Her:
Yes, part of the reason …Germans were pissed
Yeah…

11:47
Me:
Deported many Germans to Soviet Gulags
Crushed the Germany spirit
and made Germans ashamed of being German

11:48
Her:
Hmmm..

11:48
Me:
What of the Germans who were born after the war?
Did they choose to be born German?
How can you be ashamed of something over which you have no control of?
How can you be penalized for such?
Do we get mad at disabled people for being disabled?
Do we tell people who were born deformed that they must be ashamed of being deformed?

11:50
Her:
Well of course not..

11:50
Me:
So why make Germans ashamed of being German?
So why should Germans not be proud of being German?

11:51
Her:
There is no logical reason for that

11:51
Me:
Surely being proud of being German is different from “being proud” of the 12 bad years
Exactly.
Fuck the people who tell you to not be too proud.

11:51
Her:
Yes, big difference between does two

11:51
Me:
“Fick dich – ich bin stolz Deutsch zu sein”

11:52
Her:
Hahahaha XD
Exactly ;D
But still sometimes if you say that too much some parts of the society will call you a Nazi that’s annoying

11:53
Me:
Fuck them too

11:53
Her:
Hahaha

11:53
Me:
I am American
Yet I am proud to have German blood
What will they say to that?
My answer will remain the same
“Fick dich – ich bin stolz Deutsch zu sein”

11:54
Her:
Hahaha I don’t know XD
Hahaha
Good good ^^

11:55
Me:
I have to go get lunch and get to work
Talk to you later

11:56
Her:
Haha alright
Mein kleiner Deutscher
Bye bye
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~Wald

P.S. The video above was from a youtube playlist. Here’s the link: It doesn’t embed well, unfortunately.