The opening ceremony is for us to present our ideas and thoughts, and the War is in our thoughts.
I don't really care about what France or Poland think, if they were hosting, then they'd do whatever they want to do, but no, its Great Britain hosting and like it or not, the War is a very important issue for the British people. No-one in my family left fought in the War, but just because they're dead doesn't mean we can just forget what happened.
You know for a fact that nobody has a problem with Germany here, I love Germany. But it is your fault if your representative makes a sign like a Nazi one. Why couldn't he have just waved?! He did it purposely to cause a fuss imo.
I guess you didn't properly read my post. I said that the opening ceremony was totally fine and I also never said that we should forget what happened (which won't happen as we go through WW2 at least 2 times in school, visit concentration camps and so on). However, the thing that bothered me was the fact that
some Brits constantly draw the conclusion Germans --> Nazis. It's just ridiculous to assume that a German dignitary would make that sign in such an event which is even forbidden in Germany and where you would go to jail for making it in public. The thing I criticize is that only because we're Germans everyone assumes we are Nazis if we wave in a certain way. No other website (like French, Polish etc.) mentioned this incident, but the British media seemed happy to have yet another proof of the stereotype without even doing some research. Just for the clicks.
Please understand that it just gets annoying for us young Germans that we have to watch out how we wave to someone. Some photographer could stand in front of me while I wave to someone and make a picture which might look like I'm doing the Nazi salute. We should not forget the war, but we shouldn't raise the topic with every little incident which might be related to the war because then it just gets ridiculous. That you presume that he did it on purpose just proves the point: Just because he's German he has to be especially careful as he could be a Nazi. That's just plain stereotyping. If the Chinese had waved this way nobody would have cared.
Edit: I found a nice picture which demonstrates quite well what I mean. On the picture you see our former president with his wife. Of course he was just waving to some journalists as he would go to jail if he made a Nazi salute. Therefore no one complained and everyone with a brain could imagine that he and his wife were just waving to someone. Imagine this picture being published in the UK. Everyone would go like: OMG NAZI!
I'm not asking to forget what happened in the war, but I would like to see a more modern approach to these incidents. First think and then judge. (Obviously the majority of the Brits have enough brain to see the difference)
Sylwia Bogacka
I was impressed by the Queen as well - good work, a real pro (
