Do Germans Talk About World War II? What Do They Teach About the Holocaust? | Feli from Germany

Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to fill out the survey! It was important to me to have different German voices heard in this video. What were your experiences like learning about World War II and the Holocaust? Did you go to school in Germany or somewhere else? Let me know in the comments!

I lived in Germany for three years while in the US army. This was in the 80s. I was dating a German girl and she took me to visit her grandmother. While there, her grandmother got upset about modern politics and blurted out, “We just need another Hitler.” My girlfriend looked at me and said, “Time to go!!” lol. I really miss that girl.

As an American, it sounds to me like a lot of Germans have a strong distinction between blame and responsibility. The attitude seems more forward looking than backward looking, like 'we're not going there again.' Which I respect. I wish my own country could address some of our dark chapters as well.

My father fought in World War II under General Patton. He lived in New Jersey after the war. His neighbor, across the street, was Herb Kracker. Herb's father fought for Germany in World War II. There was great concern about the two meeting one another since my father met weekly with others from what America calls the Battle of the Bulge. However, when they did met, they became fast friends over having fought in a war. Most men did not fight due to politics, they fought to stay alive. My father and Herb's father understood one another. They both endured the hell of fighting in a war to stay alive.

My husband’s uncle is from Germany. He was 3 during WW2 and was used as a distraction by his parents while they snuck Jewish to freedom. They would hide them in their house and would send his uncle outside to play while the Nazis would do their routine patrols and searches. After all, there’s absolutely nothing suspicious about a little German boy playing in his own front yard. They would just look at him and smile. If his parents didn’t immediately grab him to bring him inside when they arrived, then they weren’t afraid of them. No fear clearly means they weren’t hiding anything. Their goal was to be perceived like minded. They were never suspected and saved many people.

I can only speak as an American but I think Germany has done an exceptional job of tackling this very difficult topic. I also think it's incumbent on people EVERYWHERE to learn how/why it happened and ensure it's never allowed to happen again. There are plenty of wannabe authoritarians out there, it's not a Germany-specific threat, and we need to make sure those hard-learned lessons aren't forgotten as time passes.

As a Russian, I wish our schools have adopted yours' approach teaching how such a thing can happen at all and recognize the red flags early. Instead they taught us how bad Germans were and how heroic Russians were fighting against the invasion and how we suffered immensely but eventually won the war. Which made sense (and also bored most of us), but kinda missed the main point: how to avoid creating the same horror. Now this "heroic fight against the nazi" narrative that was programmed into us is being used as a trigger to suddenly hate some claimed-to-be-nazis in Ukraine, all the way to actually going and killing innocent people. It seems that our education system that programmed us to hate nazi and be proud of our nation as winners has as a result actually produced something very similar in our own country... And yeah, thank you for covering this topic, I was never sure if it's ok to talk to German people about it!

Hi Feli, thanks for an excellent video on this sensitive topic. As an Israeli who’s worked with many Germans (still do) and has visited Germany many times for both work and leisure, I’ve always found Germans to be well informed on this topic. Most Germans living today are of course not to blame for what their grandparents or great grandparents did, but knowing the facts and accepting the historical context is important. Whenever the Holocaust was brought up, it was always by my German counterparts who were either curious about my family history in that regard, or simply wanted to broach the topic and address what they thought was the elephant in room (it isn’t, I don’t feel compelled to ask every German I meet about it…) I wish other countries were as honest and astute about teaching their unrevised histories as Germany is about this topic.

This video was a true gem of a find and this is exactly why I watch YouTube now instead of TV. I consider myself decently educated on WWII because I've always been extremely interested in that era of history specifically and have devoured nearly every bit of documentation about it that still exists. However, one of the things that has always been absent or foggy in my overall picture of WWII, is the feelings and reactions of everyday Germans that stayed, and remain, in Germany post-WWII. I feel like it's partly because US schools and historians have a way of just blacking out/glossing over that part like it doesn't even matter how average German citizens felt or what they went through and still go through even to this day in regards to societal and geopolitical consequences, guilt, and reparations. As an American, I've always wondered these exact questions that you have addressed here and I think that it's only fair to let actual Germans speak for themselves on the subject because they're the only ones that we haven't really heard much from, which, it is now clear, is no fault of theirs. I feel like that part is necessary for everyone to digest so we can all seal these lessons in the past and move forward without lingering prejudices, misunderstandings, or soreness due to historic silencing or white-washing by the powers that won the war. Thank you for this video. (Also wanted to compliment you on your American English, it's probably the best ESL non-accent from a German-born person I have ever heard. 99.5% undetectable.) Lastly, to all Germans, you've done an amazing job emerging from WWII with an admirable balance of ownership, repentance, grace, silence, and resilience. We can't erase the past, but we can learn from it, hopefully. Don't ever be ashamed of being German because fascism is not a German flaw, it's a human one. My own country, the USA, could still learn a thing or two from Germany about owning it's dark past and taking real steps towards repairing the damage we have caused to get to where we are today. (Native Americans, Slavery, Hiroshima/Nagasaki/Internment, Pacific Islanders, Mexican/Central Americans, Iraq/Afghanistan, Vietnam, Korea, and on and on)

I'm from Poland so this topic is very hard for me. Almost 20% (around 6 million people) of Polish people were killed and our land was brutally occupied. Now we have another war just on the other side of our eastern border. Like you said: War is the worst thing invented by human kind. Thanks for your video. Hopfully we all learn from our history.

I worked for a German company in NYC. they were aware I was Jewish as I took off for my holidays. So much respect, so much love. I met some fascinating people and made friends.

Amazing and insightful content. So well explained. I’m from Norway. My grandparents also lived through wwii here in Norway. The Nazis came to their village in Gudbrandsdalen & occupied the village & neighbouring house (next to my grandparents house). I remember the stories that my grandparents told me. I’m in my late 40’s now. In my eyes, the effect of the war didn’t feel that long ago. It is important to talk about in the hope it never happens again. Greetings from Norway 🇳🇴

Hi Feli, as an American Jewish son of German Jews that fled the Holocaust, I want to thank you for your hard work and willingness to do an in depth dive into this subject. I thought that you might want to know that my father's family had lived near you in Germany for over 500 years until the 1930's. They always felt that they were "good Germans," (my great grandfather was even a bugermeister!), so you can imagine how difficult it was for my father to leave home. He was so homesick for Germany that he wanted to go back, but he knew it was too dangerous. My grandmother (his mother) stayed until 1938, refusing to leave! My mother in Berlin barely made it out alive right before Kristalnacht due to the difficulty of immigration at that time. I almost was never born! I would love to talk to you about my family's experiences, and some that were part of the 6 million Jews murdered. Most people don't know that there were only 9 million Jews in Europe in 1933, so 2/3 were killed. Only now, 80 years later has the Jewish worldwide population recovered to a level of 15 million, equaling pre war levels. Feli, thanks again, you are the best!

Proud of the German people for facing what happened there. When I was 16 yrs old I was sitting on a park bench in the Bronx. An older lady came over and started to talk to me about her experience as a prisoner in a concentration camp. This was in 1975 or so. She showed me the numbers tattoo on her arm. It helped me change my perspective and as I look back I can only love that sweet old lady that took 20 minutes or so to share her story.

I went to school in Germany, but as an American. I always found that the young people around my age were much more open and willing to discuss the holocaust than most older folks. I had the opportunity to visit Dachau and hear stories from a survivor. It was much more than I feel like many of my American peers learned and really understood about the subject. Excellent video and thank you.

Feli, This was very enlightening. Thank you for sharing your culture and experiences about this

Thank you for sharing! It’s important to understand everyone’s perspective. I love studying WWII and really love how there are more perspectives out in social media to learn from today. 🙏🙏🙏

As a 54 years old German, I do agree on every single word. This is 100% in line with my experience. Couldn' t be explained in a better way. Thanks a lot! The most impressive memorial for me in everyday life is the constant reminder on all paths through the stumbling stones. Also the constant exchange with the old hereditary enemy France and a visit to the wonderful neighbours, e.g. in Alsace, make us understand the value of the European Union today. Never before have we had such a long period of peace in Europe. A visit to the battlefields of Verdun helps to appreciate this value.

As an American Jew of parents who survived the Holocaust, (yeah, I'm 70 years old), your video explaining the curriculum in German education was very encouraging. I personally can not ascribe guilt to current German people but knowing that this German nation understands what their grandparents were involved with is all that can be asked of. Thank you for posting this very important video.

Been waiting for a video like this 😌 thank you! I love history around 1900 to 1991