Don´t mention the war! This Fawlty Towers line is an absolute classic and the whole Germans episode is in my humble opinion the funniest piece of British comedy ever. The most hilarious line ever in the whole history of the world has got to be:
You started it!
No i didn´t!
Yes you did, you invaded Poland!
If you haven´t already guessed, I´m a big John Cleese fan. I´m also a big fan of the Germans, though that doesn´t stop me laughing at them. Nothing´s sacred! It´s good to make jokes, but on the other hand, something that deeply worries me is the negative perception of Germany among Britons today. What´s your stereotype of a German? A fascist without a sense of humour? That pretty much sums it up for most people i know. Germans are commonly supposed to be cold, arrogant, ruthlessly efficient, obsessive about order and discipline and totally unable to take a joke. Oh, and they always eat sauerkraut, drink beer and wear Lederhosen.
On the face of it, such stereotypes are harmless enough. Every nation has stereotypes about its neighbours and sometimes there can even be a grain of truth in them. Some Germans, specifically elderly Bavarian ones, do sometimes wear Lederhosen: i´ve seen them! But even to a lot of other Germans that seems weird. Other stereotypes are just stupid. I thought Germans were always punctual until the first time i went to Germany my train was an hour late. And out of the Germans i personally know, i can say they are no more punctual, efficient or precise than the average English person.
The important thing to remember about stereotyping national characteristics is that such sweeping generalisations are bound to be wildly inaccurate when you actually meet real people. Some people in Germany probably are very punctual, but then some people in Outer Mongolia probably are too!
Yet even if it´s misguided, the stereotype that Germans are efficient is unlikely to offend anyone. Some prejudices are more dangerous and hurtful. For example the idea that Germans dont have a sense of humour. For the record, Germans do have a sense of humour. It may not be quite the same as what we could stereotype as the British sense of humour, but then that´s so unique even the Americans don´t always get it. It´s perfectly possible to tell jokes in German, genuinely funny jokes. And it´s perfectly possible to make Germans laugh. I think the main reason why Germans are perceived to be humourless is because they use humour in a different way. They´re less likely to use it to lighten a business situation or ease tension in an embarrassing moment as we might. But at home, in their privates lives, they can be hilarious people. I know a German boy who asked his father to give him a Fawlty Towers DVD box set for his 14th birthday. And guess what his favourite episode is?! Yes, you´ve got it, the Germans one!
Which brings me back to the title of this page. Don´t mention the war! The most disturbing anti-German feeling which I have encountered in this country seems to be tied up with the war. Ok, let´s get a few things straight. The Second World War was a dreadful catastrophe which should never have happened. The behaviour of the fascists towards the Jews was despicable. Words can´t adequately express how terrible the actions of those people were. But listen up! The words fascists and Germans are not interchangeable. The National Socialists were human beings first and Germans second. That is to say, the terrible atrocities that occured in Germany did not take place because of some special inclination of German people to commit murder, but because of the human predisposition to do evil which is within us all. There is no German cause for the Holocaust. It happened in Germany due to political and economic conditions. Had we had those same conditions in Britain, it could just as easily have happened here.
That´s not to absolve Germany from the blame. Those crimes were commited by Germans and hence the German nation has to accept responsibility for them. The point is, it does. Far from not mentioning the war, the horrors of the 1930s and 40s are well taught in German schools. The vast majority of German people are as disgusted as you and I about the things that happened, and many of them feel a deep sense of guilt when confronted with sights such as Auschwitz. But look, the war ended a long time ago. Todays Germans are predominantly the descendents of the people who committed those atrocities and as such they are not personally to blame. We can´t blame children for the mistakes of their ancestors. It´s lucky for us that we can´t, because our own ancestors were hardly innocents.
In the course of that infamous British empire I dare say we massacred the odd hundred thousand people here and there. Not to mention the oppression of the Irish. Oh, and the small matter of the slave trade! You see, no country is without a shameful past. The important thing is the present and the future. Germany has done its best to atone for its sins and it´s high time the rest of us stopped irrationally condemning its citizens for crimes they could do nothing to prevent. If the British people and media could just drop their absurd anti-German prejudices and actually give the country a chance, they might be surprised what they discovered.
