When you hear "Germany," what do you think of?

Answer 1

1. My model/computer friend from Berlin
2. Nazi, Hitler and Eugenics
3. The movie Shining Through with Michael Douglas
4. The book Third Reich by Robert Ludlum
5. One of the countries that I want to visit
6. World Cup
7. The movie Munich with Eric Bana

Answer 2

This is a very acute and penetrating question.

The first thing I think of, perhaps like many others, is the attempted extermination of Jews, Romanies, Homosexuals, Dissidents, and God knows who else and who would have been next. Contemporary German people have to live with the knowledge that that is still in the minds of so many.

The second thing I think of is why we haven't learned from this. If you think your identity is attached to your nation, your culture, your language, your religion, then you are attaching it to something that is artificial - manufactured by men (mostly). There is a natural world to which we all belong. It is indiscriminate, sometimes unforgiving. It supports us, for a while, then let's us go. When Life, itself, is such a challenge, what is the need for conflict? When Death will come, anyway, what is the need for war?

A quote --
"The more highly public life is organized the lower does its morality sink; the nations of today behave to each other worse than they ever did in the past, they cheat, rob, bully and bluff, make war without notice, and kill as many women and children as possible; whereas primitive tribes were at all events restrained by taboos. It is a humiliating outlook - though the greater the darkness, the brighter shine the little lights, reassuring one another, signalling: "Well, at all events, I 'm still here. I don’t like it very much, but how are you? " E M Forster.

So, little light, how are you?

Answer 3

I think of the home of my ancestors, the great culture, and how proud I am to say that I am of Germanic decent. Sure Germany has had things in its past that don't necessarily make of the proudest moments or memories, but overall it is a great place.

I think it is important to know about, understand, and be proud of the place you come from. Most Americans don't know, much less understand, their heritage and everything held within it. It is sad to see people walking around without knowledge of real culture. The lack of this knowledge, whether you believe it or not, results in a certain lack of spirit, and the feeling of not belonging to something. And because people feel as if the don't belong they tend to drift from from one thing to another. (Corporations love this because drifting from thing to thing envolves consumption of material items.)

No matter where you are from it is important that you accept it proudly. Even if it has parts that aren't highly looked upon so does every other place. What is important is looking for the good and discarding the bad with a lesson learned.

Answer 4

Ocktoberfest - Beer
Brats & Kraut
Berlin Wall and CheckPoint Charlie
Ah - Nightlife in Berlin

Answer 5

I think how much I would love to meet my 2 nephews again, My brother married a German girl, sadly they divorced, I have not seen my nephews since. Jonathan would have been about three and Dennis just about one year old, they would be twenty and eighteen or there abouts... Maybe one day.

Answer 6

Nazis. Can't help but think of it sorry. Second thing I think of is Pennsylvania because that is where most German immigrants settled in the late 1600s early 1700s.

Answer 7

The castles I want to see along the Rhine River, various beer brands, mountainous scenery.

Answer 8

@immortalnorsegoddess

I live I Germany almost my whole life and I can definitely say that the do not have a culture at all...they never had...

Answer 9

For some reason this word is connected to the blue color in my mind's eye. Apart from that, I imagine discipline, high stress levels, a sharp language (you have schatz for darling - oh my god), blond boys with blue eyes, funny girls' names ending in "-ilda", precision and punctuality. Rain.

Answer 10

Where my great Grandfather was born, Bavaria. The charming village of Aschau.