Zeig Heil.

[MrNobody]

Yeah, the information I'm giving you is only one tile in the Mosaic. I have no experience in the GDR - maybe it was different, there. I just keep my experience in mind when people talk about those days.

Merckel was up in the national organization, and that may have been a different beast from the one I was familiar with, as well.

(See Edit of my of my previous post.)

In one of the last bands I played with before I retired, we've had 1 Russian and 2 Ex-GDR-citizens. All about the same age and all living in West Germany for many years.

Although there were quite a few similarities, there were also significant differences in their 2 "frames of references".

From what I've heard fro their conversations, the Russian experience must have been a lot more pleasant than the GDR one. One Ex-GDR guy even said so - he's spent a few years working in Russia, so he should be able to tell, I guess.

 

[Smurf]

I've been told by someone who lives in Germany that their government is so co-dependent on the U.S. State Department & fearful of getting a negative rating in the State Department's annual Human Rights report, that they've, essentially, buried their heads in the sand, thus allowing destructive cults like Scientology & neo-Nazi groups to flourish in Germany.

"I think Angela Merkel has done next to nothing to address this problem (Neo-Nazi violence). From a politician's point of view, that is quite understandable. It's not a major electoral issue; it's not a vote winner. And Merkel is known for focusing her policies on vote maximization, so I'm not surprised."

http://www.dw.de/germany-must-wake-up-to-neo-nazi-threat/a-17100205

 

[Udarnik]

(See Edit of my of my previous post.)

In one of the last bands I played with before I retired, we've had 1 Russian and 2 Ex-GDR-citizens. All about the same age and all living in West Germany for many years.

Although there were quite a few similarities, there were also significant differences in their 2 "frames of references".

From what I've heard fro their conversations, the Russian experience must have been a lot more pleasant than the GDR one. One Ex-GDR guy even said so - he's spent a few years working in Russia, so he should be able to tell, I guess.

When I was at MPEI, our dorm had a lot of Cubans in it. We got together to teach the Russians baseball - North America vs Europe, until the Russians got wise and demanded some Americans and Cubans for their team.

I got to be friends with some of them. This was 1990, things were not so hot in the USSR, economically. I asked them if they were going back to Cuba after graduation. They looked at me as if I'd just told them I was a $cientologist, and said "no fucking way, we are staying here!".

 

[MrNobody]

Apparently, some people in Germany didn't get the message.

http://www.thelocal.de/20140304/ger...ng-nazi-greeting-sieg-heil-in-front-of-pupils

I've just read the article. It seems she just made a very stupid mistake out of severe ignorance. Not a nice trait for a teacher, but that alone doesn't make her an instant Nazi. Important enough to keep an eye on, though.

 

[Nicole]

Apparently, some people in Germany didn't get the message.

http://www.thelocal.de/20140304/ger...ng-nazi-greeting-sieg-heil-in-front-of-pupils

Shouldn't happen, but sometimes it does...

From my own experience I know, that if are any nazi symbols eg. painted at schools, the secret service comes and watches what happened there and kids like to do this kind of shit, because it is forbidden.

 

[Nicole]

Since we're both not operating in our "own" language here, it might just be some sort of language barrier. :wink2:

Hmmm and I believed my English is getting better. Damn.

One thing that separates Scientology from many other religions, is the fact that it definitely has a political agenda. But how much different is that from certain Islamic sub-sections?

Na, not lots, but they get observed too. :wink2:

But I wasn't talking about cults/religions, I was talking about totalitarian groups - which is a slightly different topic, IMHO.

Ich würde sagen, "der Übergang ist teilweise fließend".