Fighting to win an unprecedented third term in office, Poland's nationalist government has seized on a target close to home: Germany, its NATO ally and biggest trading partner.
I´m afraid it worked in the past considering they have now been in the government for more than one legislative period. Understandably since WW2 Germany is not quite popular in Poland. It´s a cheap populist tactic that sadly seems to work pretty well.
Yeah! It´s so much fun! Source: I spent half of my childhood and teenage years in Austria and was bullied and mobbed constantly, simply for being of german heritage and they did not care at all that I was born in 1981, several decades after the Nazi regime had ended. With Poland having been invaded by the Wehrmacht and not “angeschlossen” like Austria, it´s only natural that the rejection is even deeper. We must also consider that, while we were born long after the Nazi regime ended, there are still elderly people in Poland, who witnessed the war horrors and the atrocities of the Warsaw Ghetto and the Holocaust. All these horrible things were done mostly by Germans. That is why I, while not feeling responsible on one hand, can also not judge people for still being angry about those horrible crimes. The thing I really condemn though is when populist politicians instrumentalize these emotions for their own advantage.
I get being angry. I don’t get (or accept) blaming everything that’s shit. Instead of working together in union they stir up bullshit like that constantly to keep their audience entertained. And that I’m angry about. Get your shit together and let’s move on a as a union.
As a humanist I personally agree with that but PiS voters -who are mostly nationalists, similar to AfD voters in Germany- are a whole different story …
Not saying they are right or wrong, but when you are born in a country you are directly affected by his history, and they are affected by something your grandparents were (?) responsible for. Look at more extreme examples, imagine a person born in the Belgian Congo, knowing all atrocities Belgium did to keep the country a shit, how you would expect this person to look at Belgium as a partner? To nurtur any kind of admiration towards the ppl?
Besides not agreeing I can totally understand the feeling,
Germany was split but received tons is Marshal’s money even being the aggressor, while Poland was stuck in URSS after being traded by Hitler and Stalin and then abandoned by thr allies in the Yalta conference even being the first victim.
How much is enough to repair this kind of damage? How much of their modern failures are actually stupid decisions and how much is historical inheritance?
I just hope people in Poland ignore it as much as we do.
I´m afraid it worked in the past considering they have now been in the government for more than one legislative period. Understandably since WW2 Germany is not quite popular in Poland. It´s a cheap populist tactic that sadly seems to work pretty well.
There’s nothing like being made responsible for something my great grandparents were at least somewhat responsible for…
Yeah! It´s so much fun! Source: I spent half of my childhood and teenage years in Austria and was bullied and mobbed constantly, simply for being of german heritage and they did not care at all that I was born in 1981, several decades after the Nazi regime had ended. With Poland having been invaded by the Wehrmacht and not “angeschlossen” like Austria, it´s only natural that the rejection is even deeper. We must also consider that, while we were born long after the Nazi regime ended, there are still elderly people in Poland, who witnessed the war horrors and the atrocities of the Warsaw Ghetto and the Holocaust. All these horrible things were done mostly by Germans. That is why I, while not feeling responsible on one hand, can also not judge people for still being angry about those horrible crimes. The thing I really condemn though is when populist politicians instrumentalize these emotions for their own advantage.
I get being angry. I don’t get (or accept) blaming everything that’s shit. Instead of working together in union they stir up bullshit like that constantly to keep their audience entertained. And that I’m angry about. Get your shit together and let’s move on a as a union.
As a humanist I personally agree with that but PiS voters -who are mostly nationalists, similar to AfD voters in Germany- are a whole different story …
Not saying they are right or wrong, but when you are born in a country you are directly affected by his history, and they are affected by something your grandparents were (?) responsible for. Look at more extreme examples, imagine a person born in the Belgian Congo, knowing all atrocities Belgium did to keep the country a shit, how you would expect this person to look at Belgium as a partner? To nurtur any kind of admiration towards the ppl?
Besides not agreeing I can totally understand the feeling,
Germany was split but received tons is Marshal’s money even being the aggressor, while Poland was stuck in URSS after being traded by Hitler and Stalin and then abandoned by thr allies in the Yalta conference even being the first victim.
How much is enough to repair this kind of damage? How much of their modern failures are actually stupid decisions and how much is historical inheritance?