They are wearing stahlhelms again and doing torchlit parades in front of the leader. Do they not know this is a very bad aesthetic for them, does the Red Army need to roll into Berlin again since they obviously didn't learn their lesson from last time.
:NOOOOO: LET ME OUT IT'S BEEN 15 EPISODES JUST FUCKING GET THE BALL IN
They are celebrating the departure of a dear leader who caused more damage to Greece than years ofNazi occupation did. Cool.
does the Red Army need to roll into Berlin again since they obviously didn’t learn their lesson from last time.
But there is no Red Army this time :(
It is December 3 and Stalin apparently didn't quite save the world from fascism
very bad anesthetic
On the contrary, these parades are very good at putting people to sleep
Curses! Damn you autocorrect.
I've changed it becuase that would have bothered me the whole day.
Lmfao the best part is the symphony playing Darude's Sandstorm for Merkel's last day lol https://twitter.com/dauersteiffen/status/1466496948580630533
Someone should tell these guys this looks really sinister, simply a bad look
this looks really sinister if literally all you know about our country is hitler
im not typically one to defend germany but come on mate, this is merkel's departure ceremony and they were playing songs from the 70s that she asked for
this country does enough real bad shit that you can criticize, can you not scream about nazi germany over a completely harmless tradition that has existed for like 200 years?
Nazis tend to taint lots of traditions and symbols that have existed for centuries. See: swastika (at least in the west).
It’s a completely understandable response to immediately be reminded of the nazis when you see a bunch of german soldiers marching in black, wearing stahlhelms, and carrying torches.
Might be overboard, but the rest of the world has every reason to see that shit and be like :what-the-hell:
The wrong germany won the reunification struggle.
Rest in power :GDR-emblem:
I mean, like the poster above showed, DDR did this as well and they were playing Nina Hagen and other 70s songs.
It seems a lot less threatening in action than in pictures.
Wait, they were playing Nina Hagen for Merkel? What the fuck
She is from the DDR and was young in the 70s. Of course she is a Nina Hagen fan.
Huh. Didn't know she was from the DDR. Explains why she wasn't full fash despite being a conservative.
On the contrary if you look at the fash distribution in germany. The west fucked over and neglected the east so hard post reunification till today, that many there have a rightful anger that then gets entirely misdirected because the solution could of course not be to the left where the evil DDR is.
Better to reclaim it from its use by Nazis than leave a pretty cool looking thing to neo-Nazis
Naw dude, firm disagree. This line of thinking is really similar to “patriotic socialist” brainworms.
Give me your lunch money.
But also I’ll take a paper, it does sound cool.
too late I've already decided fire is cool and I'm sticking with it
no fire is cool and good and I'm gonna make fire a communist thing now
Agreed. Germany shouldn't get to decide what is and is not tasteful for Germany to do which it has ANYTHING to do with Nazis. "oh we dont see it like that here" is not a good excuse,
The teutonic skull shape compels them to goose step in silly outfits
East Germany can have a little bit of cringe, as a treat. Still cringe tho
The DDR changed pretty much the entire march and turned it into an explicitly anti-fascist ritual lol
Nerd deets if you give a fuck
East German
The East German Großer Zapfenstreich, although using the Prussian practice, was different in all respects. Its components, when summarized, are as follows:
- Formation march in, the military band plays the NVA Parade March no.1
- Formation halts in place, torchbearers post march followed by the formation turning into lines Formation then stands at ease, then falls in to be dressed
- Opening fanfare by the military band, fanfare section and timpanists
- Report of the commanding officer for the beginning of the ceremony proper
Großer Zapfenstreich proper:
- Locken zum Zapfenstreich (Announcing the tattoo) by the drummers and fifers
- Preußischer Zapfenstreichmarsch (Prussian Tattoo March) by the band and the drummers and fifers
- Festliche Zapfenstreichmusik (Festive Zapfenstreich Medley) by the band, Corps of Drums, fanfare section and timpanists. The medley is a potpourri of the various German and international socialist songs arranged for the band.
- First fanfare by the fanfare trumpeters and timpanists
- Ehrung der Opfer des Faschismus und Militarismus (Honors to the victims of Fascism and Militarism): the color guard marches in slow time to the center, then when it halts the color is then lowered to the tune of the Russian revolutionary funeral march "You Fell Victim" by the military band in honor of all those who died during the first German Communist revolutions of 1918-19, the Nazi regime and the subsequent resistance during the Second World War, and after the color is recovered the color guard marches off in quick time back to its place to the tune of the Corps of Drums
- Second fanfare by the fanfare trumpeters and timpanists
- Nationalhymne der DDR (National Anthem of the German Democratic Republic - Auferstanden aus Ruinen) by the band, fanfare section and timpanists Zapfenstreichfinale (Grand finale of the Zapfenstreich) by the military band, fanfare section and timpanists - "For the Peace of the World" by Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich
- Reformation of the torchbearers
- Parade falls in attention and forms again into parade order
- March off and march past, the military band plays the Yorckscher Marsch as the parade marches past the dignitaries and when it marches off.
The DDR altered the entire march and added a mandatory section honoring the victims of fascism and militarism.
The outgoing chancellor just wore a plain black coat, the marchers were also a bit plain and black coated. They could have cheered it up a bit, wear a flower or ribbon or something. The place looked practically like a funeral. At least some songs were catchy. Auf wiedersehen.
I mean, it's a military doing military things. I don't like it but how is it worse than any other militaries doing military things?
Their military traditions come from the fucking nazis so yeah, it’s an extra level of terrible.
This particular one "only" comes from Prussian militarism via the Nazis
And Nazi militarism is just Prussian militarism taken to its logical conclusion.
In that case, we shouls torpedo the whole thing and make the Germans wear pastel colors only.
Unironically making Bavaria the new face of Germany is the second best thing.
Hitler fucking hate lederhosen
If only it was just the military traditions they got from the nazis...
Easy one: the version of the grand tattoo performed in “reunified” germany removes the section from the DDR version that honored the victims of fascism and militarism.
There was a whole part focused on everyone who died during the first German Communist revolutions of 1918-19, the Nazi regime, and the subsequent resistance during WW2.
Also, if your cultural military traditions have been co-opted by the textbook embodiment of evil, just drop them.
There’s a whole “traditionless” movement for the military in Germany because of the increase in “clean Wehrmacht” neo-nazis that showed up when Germany started accepting Syrian refugees.
Good luck!
I don't understand what your response means, are you saying "good luck in removing nazi traditions"? Because like... yeah, that's the whole point.
They don’t? Then who the fuck is marching in this?
I was going to say I was surprised Germany was able to keep their military while Japan didn’t, but Germany is also European / majority white soooo
Nevermind, apparently they too are allowed to play with toys.
edit: so Japan has a self defense force, not technically an army. But they have 52 billion in military expenditure on the books ….and so does Germany making these two the eight and ninth most funded miliaries in the world rsspectively.
Imperial forces gonna imperial
Lmfao of fucking course both of them liberaled their ways back into imperialism
Germany was only allowed to keep their military after a brief hiatus because of East Germany.
The US planned on military intervention in East Germany and wanted to use the FRG as a staging ground for a third war.
The DDR demilitarized after the war and even banned military toys (like for kids) until they were forced to remilitarize in response to FRG agression.
Both militaries maintained some of the old traditions, this was one of them.
Yeah not everywhere is america, and not everywhere is fucking Germany. It has fuck all to do with America, but rather the fact that it is Germany of all countries. Anyone else did it, yeah I'd likely give it a pass. But Germany should have to acquiesce to what makes anyone else uncomfortable, they don't get the final say in what is and is not too close to the nazis
The USSR was not Germany. It is not just the similarity, its that it is Germany. Germany should be obligated to get as far away from any evocation. They dont need a military even, so why have the most functional helmets, ones which the Nazis pioneered. Plus even if it was only americans and canadians, which I think is a silly assumption, that's still valid.
Ties are not easily recognized with Churchill, the Stahlhelm is pretty iconic. And yeah I know they come from ww1, they replace the goofy but lovable Pickelhaube. Also pretty sure those guards worse M1 helmets, not Stahlhelms, though the west german military did copy them but call them stahlhelm.
The point is Germany can just.....not use helmets like that for marches. I don't really think german martial traditions and style have any value or are worthy of respect. They shouldn't have a military, and if they are gonna have one, the uniforms and traditions should shy entirely away from anything even remotely connected to the nazis. "oh everyone else uses them" ok cool, everyone else is not Germany. It is the same shit with the Finns and the swastika on their airforce. That symbol predates the nazis by thousands of years and I am fine with say....the Basque liberation movements using a stylized version of it. but if Germany tried using it in even an innocuous way, I would say that's wrong.
Oh and "used across Europe" is hardly a defense, yeah we know what continuity there is in NATO and when the conversation involves nazis, best to avoid the association
I'm still gonna say it looks like nazi shit. Should be required to only wear like pastels or something.
Aww fuck who let JK Rowling write this episode goddammit
regarding the helmet, pretty much every modern army copied the ww2 nazi helmet because it offered better protection (especially around the ears) than shit like the british tommy helmet.
