Brit in Germany: “I Found the Answer to a Very German Question”

Oct 27, 2024 | In this video I discuss some interesting elements of German culture, society and explore why I seem to run onto Germans wherever I go. No matter which country.

Niklas Frank on the German People

A rare honest appraisal of the German People by a son of one its cruelest Nazi murderers. Niklas Frank is the son of Hans Frank, the German Governor-General of occupied Poland during World War II. He spoke about his father and the German nation on the SBS Insight Program broadcast on 4 August 2015.

HARDtalk Niklas Frank Son of Hans Frank, Governor of Nazi Occupied Poland 1939 – 45

HARDtalk is in rural northern Germany to meet Niklas Frank, a journalist and writer but also the son of Hans Frank, the brutal Nazi Governor of Poland from 1939 to 1945. He was convicted of war crimes and executed after the Nuremberg trials for the major role he played in the deaths of millions of Jews and Poles during the Second World War. Niklas Frank tells Stephen Sackur how he's coped with the crimes of his father and why he will not let his fellow Germans forget the worst aspects of the Nazi era.

Nazi Leader's Son: 'Don't Trust Us' Germans – BBC News

Germany could return to authoritarianism if the economic conditions were to seriously worsen in the country, the son of Hans Frank the governor general of Nazi occupied Poland during World War Two, has told BBC Hardtalk. "As long as our economy is great, and as long as we make money everything is very democratic," said Niklas Frank, but "if we have five to 10 years heavy economic problems the swamp is a lake, and is a sea and will swallow again, everything," he added. Niklas Frank said he "despises" his father for the crimes he committed while he was governor-general of Poland from 1939 to 1945, and tours Germany giving speeches about his father and the legacy of the Nazi era. Hans Frank was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg trials and executed in 1946.

What Are Germans Most Afraid Of? | DW English

According to a survey conducted by the German insurance company R+V, Germans are generally less afraid than they were last year, but they are still most afraid of the same things. DW compared the results with its own less scientific survey in Berlin.

SPIEGEL Interview with Daniel Barenboim: 'The Germans Are Prisoners of Their Past'
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: World-famous Argentine-Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim is noted for his strong views on the Middle East peace process and for performing Wagner's music in Israel. In a SPIEGEL interview, he explains why the Israeli antipathy toward Wagner is grotesque and argues that Israel shouldn't depend too much on Germany and the US for support.

SPIEGEL: Mr. Barenboim, why are you fighting to perform the music of Richard Wagner in Israel? No other composer is as hated there as this anti-Semitic German composer.

Barenboim: It saddens me that official Israel so doggedly refuses to allow Wagner to be performed -- as was the case, once again, at the University of Tel Aviv two weeks ago -- because I see it as a symptom of a disease. The words I'm about to use are harsh, but I choose them deliberately: There is a politicization of the remembrance of the Holocaust in Israel, and that's terrible. » | Friday, June 22, 2012

Most Germans See Muslims as a Burden
THE LOCAL: More than half of Germans see Muslim immigrants as a drag on the country, a poll published Thursday has found.

According to the Allensbach poll commissioned by the Financial Times Deutschland, 55 percent judged that the migrant group “has cost significantly more financially and socially than it has yielded economically.”

Only one fifth of respondents believed Muslim immigrants were more a benefit than a burden. The skepticism is particularly strong in the former east of the country, where 74 percent of respondents saw Muslims as a drain on the nation. In the former west, the figure was 50 percent.

Furthermore, more than one third of the population believes Germany is indeed becoming “dumber on average” because of immigration, as former Bundesbank board member Thilo Sarrazin has controversially claimed. Migrants were poorly educated and had more children, many respondents said. In the former east, 37 percent of people believed this to be the case, compared with 33 percent who rejected the proposition. Read on and comment >>> | Thursday, September 30, 2010

Why Angela Merkel Is a Winner with the Germans
THE TELEGRAPH: Despite the recession and claims that she is "boring", the German Chancellor is on her way to a second term, report David Wroe in Berlin and Colin Freeman.

The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, is on her way to a second term. Photo: The Telegraph
The unfashionable bowl haircut has been shaped into an elegant bob, and the frumpy hausfrau dresses replaced with smart designer outfits. For someone who started out in office wearing less make-up than Tony Blair, Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, has certainly yielded to the image consultants over the years.

Yet in a political scene dominated by men, Germany’s first-ever woman leader has long made it clear that she prefers to be judged not on her looks or personality, but on her policies. So when a series of election posters appeared last week, showing her in a revealing low cut dress, the response from her office was as predictable as it was icy. The pictures, put up by a well-intended parliamentary candidate for Ms Merkel’s own party, were “not authorised”, said a spokesman - despite them enlivening a lacklustre campaign.

One item on the offending posters, however, might well have won Ms Merkel’s endorsement - the printed strapline across her bosom, declaring “We have more to offer”. After four years in office, the woman dubbed the Teutonic Margaret Thatcher is enjoying popularity ratings that are the envy of other European leaders - and is almost certain to secure a second term in next month’s elections.

The August break has not been the happiest of holidays for the rest of Europe’s largely male leadership. Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi is mired in sleaze allegations, France’s hyperactive Nicolas Sarkozy has suffered heart problems, and Gordon Brown barely has the confidence of his own party. Ms Merkel, 54, however, felt confident enough to take off on an extended mountain biking holiday in the middle of her election campaign, and when she returned from the Italian Tyrol last week, it was mainly to good news. >>> | Sunday, August 16, 2009

Related:
Deutschland: Dekolleté-Plakat sorgt für Ärger >>> Red. | Dienstag, 11. August 2009

Hausfrau Appeal >>> | Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Merkel Tops Forbes List of Powerful Women >>> Associated Press | Thursday, August 28, 2008

Angela Merkel as You’ve Never Seen Her Before! >>> | Wednesday, April 16, 2008