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.

    • Judge_Juche [she/her]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Someone should tell these guys this looks really sinister, simply a bad look

      • UmbraVivi [he/him, she/her]
        ·
        3 years ago

        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?

        • BolsheWitch [she/her, they/them]
          ·
          3 years ago

          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:

              • Barabas [he/him]
                ·
                3 years ago

                She is from the DDR and was young in the 70s. Of course she is a Nina Hagen fan.

                  • AnarchoCynicalist [any]
                    ·
                    3 years ago

                    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.

        • ChairmanAtreides [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Better to reclaim it from its use by Nazis than leave a pretty cool looking thing to neo-Nazis

      • BolsheWitch [she/her, they/them]
        ·
        3 years ago

        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.
    • BolsheWitch [she/her, they/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      The DDR altered the entire march and added a mandatory section honoring the victims of fascism and militarism.