A German book about Crown Princess Masako

[Mermaid1962]

I've found your latest posts extremely interesting, ChiaraC. For example, I didn't know that H.itler ordered the Germans to destroy all of Germany at the end of the War.

I've found comfort in the fact that the present Emperor of Japan, and now the Prime Minister--have refused to visit the shrine in which are entombed War Criminals. This is a huge shift away from Japan's previous "official" history of being the victims in the Pacific War.

Originally Posted by ChiaraC

(By the way: that is what H.itler did – when his own precious self was doomed to die he wanted, at least, to take with him as many Germans as possible. He ordered to destroy everything necessary for the survival of the German people, provisions, houses, harvest, cattle etc. Fortunately, just for this once many people – but by far not all! – disobeyed his orders.) But the Japanese tenno, in his turn, decided that the lives of his people were more important than his "face". He did not want to sacrifice so many human lives and preferred to "lose his face" instead. And he set the example for the Japanese to also rather give up a bit of their "face" in order to survive. Who knows how many would have committed s.uicide without his brave decision. That IS a true leader!

[tan_berry]

Extremely interesting, ChiaraC. Bismarck was an emperor. He reunited the 1789 to rule them by himself, since he only responded to the emperor, whom he absolutely manipulated in everything. He did not have to discuss matters with the Parliament.

Very interesting what you say about the obedience rule of prussians. One of the factors for Napoleon to lose in Waterloo, besides of being sick, was a general who did not dare to disobey him, even when the general´s lieutenants were hearing the sounds of the battle. Not at all a leader!

Why do you write Hitler with a point, like H.itler?

[Mermaid1962]

I've noticed it in other controversial words.

Originally Posted by tan_berry

Why do you write Hitler with a point, like H.itler?

[Elspeth]

Some people use a point like that to sneak a word under the radar of any automatic censoring software that a forum might have. As you can see, Hitler isn't one of the censored words. However, the s-h-i-t letter string is one of the censored words, which can cause problems with Japanese names since it's quite a common letter string there. So you'll sometimes see a period used in the middle of a Japanese name to allow that syllable to show.

[ChiaraC]

Originally Posted by Al_bina

ChiaraC,
Thanks for informative posts. I really appreciate your comments about Otto von Bismark. I have to say that I fully agree with your comments about Iron Chancellor. You have drawn interesting parallels between German and Japanese politicians.

Yep, Albina, I think the similiarities between Japanese and German values and politics are some of the reasons why I am so very interested in Japan. Although Germany certainly does not belong to Asia there are a lot of similiarities between the two countries, not the least of them is that they both in the end of the 19th century had the feeling that they had somehow "missed the boat" compared to other wealthy and powerful nations and tried to catch up in a way that in the end turned out to be very destructive...

But countries CAN change. As I said, even in the fifties people in Germany were generally not very fond of Stauffenberg and his friends, and today he is clearly a hero (as far as Germans still allow themselves to have heros...). And I absolutely agree with you, mermaid, I was also very glad to hear that the present Emperor of Japan, and now the Prime Minister have refused to visit this famous shrine.

If I put a period in a word, tan_berry, it is always because otherwise the word does not appear: In the library I was working yesterday I could not write Hitler without period but in the internetcafe where I am presently sitting it is possible.

[tan_berry]

Thanks for answering, everyone.

ChiaraC, when I was a teenager in the 60´s I watched here all the Sissi movies with Romy Scheneider, german speaking and spanish written translation. I watched, too, a musical movie I have never forgotten, Dolores´s legs, so much I liked it, with much dancing. I am planning to resume my german language learning at the Goethe institute (I went once for some 3 months) since it is very much recommended to avoid Alzheimer to study a language: my mother had that problem, but very late in her life. She died at 81, and only for the last two years we became aware, when she panicked home because she did not where she was. But it is true that I use my brain a lot more she used to.

I loved so much the sound of german in Romy´s voice.

We had a terrible dictator for almost 32 years, Trujillo; he was killed in 1961, and once he did a terrible slaughter of haitians in the border of the two countries for stopping their displacement to this territory. I have never felt guilty. He murdered and crushed us, too. We all condemn that horrible tragedy.

[ChiaraC]

Thank you, tan_berry, for your very good intentions to comfort me! Unfortunately, it would be too simple to say that the German people were simply overpowered by a monster and bore no responsibility whatsoever for what happened. But I cannot explain this here because this is really only very remotely related to Japan and the Japanese monarchy. So, please, you and everybody who should be interested in this matter, please follow this link. http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums...ilt-19068.html