"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...

I go to Germany quite often, and have been doing so for over 20 years and
on a first social meeting with a new contact it is very usual that they
will raise the subject. It used to be that there was a bit of a guilt
agenda behind this although it related to what parents had sometimes done.
Nowadays it's an acknowledgment of what happened - not even a suggestion
that "we've changed all these things so it won't happen again" . There
are certainly educational visits to Dachau and such places and it's
treated as part of history. I certainly didn't have the impression that
it was being sanitised but there wasn't sackcloth and ashes either.

I would be extremely disappointed if it were sackcloth and ashes. Over half
a century, or a couple of generations, means it is definitely part of
history. I believe they've still got the laws in place to prevent a similar
thing happening again, and I think this is a good thing - learning from
history is sensible (mmm, Afghanistan...), but otherwise it really is far
enough away that it is well past the time to forgive and move on.

(now if one were eg berating the Japanese for some of their current cultural
problems, I'd not be arguing so much...)

I would say principled. There are too few people who are willing to
take a position on what they feel is important and to act accordingly.

Regardless of what that position is? Having "principles" isn't necessarily a
good thing - it rather depends on what they are. In this case it's fairly
harmless - but not necessarily for others. (although some of the worse ones
can be quite good for GDP)

clive