Nazis don’t know about Germany, and they certainly aren’t German. The same way, these Alt-Right, Neo-Nazis, Confederate Fighters, KKK don’t know about the United States of America, and they certainly aren’t American.
When the torch-lit rally took place in Charlottesville, VA, it was eerily close to an old Nazi in Germany. It was the same with the soldiers who chanted “Blood and soil” and swore to do heinous acts. It was the same hate and intolerance that Germany had from the end of World War I, after being publicly embarrassed, through World War II. Of course the hate and intolerance did not end overnight after World War II, but it certainly decreased.
(There are many articles about race in the USA, but for the Alt-Right, Neo-Nazis, Confederate Fighters and KKK that use German words and German culture to fight their way through, here is the truth about Germany nowadays.)
Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, responded, “It is racist, far-right violence and clear, forceful action must be taken against it, regardless of where in the world it happens.” Merkel is a conservative under the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). She went on to say, “Before we point our fingers at others, we need to take care of that which is happening at home.” Chancellor Merkel’s spokesperson stated about the Charlottesville march of neo-nazis: “absolutely repulsive” and condemned the “outrageous racism, anti-Semitism and hate in its most despicable form.”
If there are any people who are well aware, it is Germans. There is nowhere in Germany that you can walk without seeing the history of World War II. Buildings have been destroyed and never rebuilt, just lying in ruin. The buildings that had been rebuilt are now cement blocks. Some of the buildings you see, like Breitenau in Guxhagen, Kassel, Germany, look so beautiful on the outside, but were once concentration camps.
In Berlin alone, it is hard to walk anywhere without tripping over metal plagues stuck in the ground. It is literally history. Scattered throughout not just Berlin but much of the country, these plagues say, “Heir wohnte (a name) J. B. (year) Deportiert (day/ month/year) Theresinstadt ermordet (to concentration camp and day of death).” For the people whose German is not there this states: Where they lived, what their name was, when they were deported, and where they what concentration camp they were brought to or what date they died.
These Stolperstein, or stumbling stones, are placed into the cobblestone sidewalks outside the homes Jews, disabled people, gays, gypsies and many others. These markers are meant to remind any person who dares to set foot inside of Germany to remember the past.
In Berlin, and there are many Holocaust memorials throughout Germany, there is a large park of of 2,711 stone slabs, shaped somewhat like coffins. It is silent inside as you walk down, where the ground is narrow and it is not flat. The stone slabs reach above you, and you are helpless in them. The Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas, or the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe, is a stark reminder of the country’s past.
As for the neo-nazis, whom believe Adolf Hitler got it right, in which he made history for the right reasons, many Germans will not claim he was a chancellor, for he never spoke in the Reichstag, or the capital building of Germany. Mysteriously, it burned down before the chance was ever taken. There are rumors who did it from Nazis doing it themselves to blame on communists, or communists not allowing Germany to be taken over. Hitler never spoke those dangerous, hateful and criminal words inside of the Reichstag.
Some people will claim the Charlottesville was about General Robert E. Lee or the Confederacy, which oddly enough died about Nazis came into power. But the way they dressed, like they were in uniform, and they held torches, somewhat like the KKK, it was however their sayings, the German ones used during the Nazi era, which puts them as Nazis.
These sayings of “Blood and soil” and “Jews will not replace us.” The swastikas on banners should’ve given something away too. If this wasn’t Nazism, then history class has confused me.
While Trump was yet running for president, the old Nazi saying came of “Luegenpresse” or lying press came from his supporters’ mouths. And most times, I would stare at them in disgust, and then I would correct their German. Many Germans who look at these neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, VA, and across the US look at these people in disgust. They know the history better that most people, and people who do not understand use it to their fight.
I have spent enough time in Germany to know that Germans are neo-Nazis. There is always the fringe, like there are in the US, but this is not usual. This is not normal. This is not right. I have seen the best in Germans to know that they are kind human beings who will try to help you in any case. I know this from getting lost and having to ask for help more than enough times.
I can tell you from having two German exchange sisters and one host family, Germans do not believe this anymore. They are open minded and tolerant. While there are many things to see online with xenophobia in Germany from many refugees coming from the Middle East and Northern Africa, it is not normal German. Like these neo-nazis are not normal Americans.
The eyes are on us as we are one of the few countries still fighting about this old thing. All countries look to us for economics, military and culture. This is not the first time other countries have looked at us and wondered what was going on, and most likely, it will not be the last time.
But the alt-right, neo-Nazis, Confederacy fighters, and KKK need to stop believing that they are right. The country who quite defined Nazism knowns this is wrong and they have condemned it. These people aren’t Germans and they aren’t Americans, but they plain racists who do not deserve to be heard.
