Category Archive: Germany

True American Exceptionalism: We, Us, Our vs THEM

Paris, France. July 4, 2025. by Socrates George Kazolias

Why do we Americans say “We” or “Us” or “Our” when referring to our country’s actions even when we deeply disagree with them while the Germans and French, for example, distance themselves from that collective identity when critical?

At least this is the case for my generation and my father’s generation, a period of European immigration and descendants of slavery with a solid Anglo-Saxon education and environment. I can’t say whether this is true of post 1970s immigration from other parts of the world.

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Germany’s Firewall Tumbles over Migration

Stuttgart, Germany. January 31, 2025. By S.G. Kazolias

German Lawmakers held a riotous debate over immigration on January 31 which was more reminiscent of parliamentary mayhem in Paris or Rome rather than the well-disciplined Bundestag.  Tempers are running high in Germany. The country is deeply divided.

Germany goes to the polls on February 23, at the height of the Carnival: the Catholic festival of partying, heavy drinking and debauchery. Usually, the clowns and monsters are reserved for the parades and beer halls. But the election campaign at the end of January brought the clown world to the fore where lawmakers were yelling, shouting, huffing and puffing, over immigration and whether or not it is ‘Catholic‘ to accept the votes of the ‘extreme right.’

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2024 Antipodes

By S.G. Kazolias, Paris, December 27, 2024.

Hypocrisy: Orwell’s “Doublespeak,” or Raymond Devos’s “Antipodes”1 found their home in 2024 and truly made it the year of the grotesque which may give renewed youth to Ionescu’s Theater of the Absurd.

Yes, every word has its ‘Anti.’ But 2024 also demonstrated that repeating lies enough does not cause most people to believe they are true.

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Germany: 2 States Spark Electoral Earthquake

Stuttgart, Germany: by Socrates George Kazolias.

Germany’s right wing  Alternatif für Deutschland, AFD, made strong showings in the eastern German states of Thuringia, first place with 33%, and Saxony, one point behind the conservative CDU, on September 1, as was expected. Although these were state elections, their consequences are shaking the country’s foundations.

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Germany: Jailed Cats to get their day in Court

Baden-Württemberg, Germany, by Socrates George Kazolias:

A small town in Germany imposed the toughest lockdown in Europe so far: a 24-hour a day curfew until August 31. It has nothing to do with Covid but everything Avian. All cats in the south-western town of Walldorf, County Rhein-Neckar, are to remain under house arrest, indoors, without exception.

The Murder Victim–Crested Lark
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Munich & the Legacy of War Crimes

The new a bandage on our lost heritage

Munich, Germany: This visit to Munich was another reminder to me at how criminal it is to bomb civilians and cultural targets, pardon war criminals and carry out preventive strikes and targeted murders. Those who come to wonderful Munich should understand what we all lost from stupid kids with armies breaking irreparable windows. The Allies hanged thousands of Germans and Japanese for what they had done themselves and we continue to do it.

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Germany: Anguish and Prosperity

The Germans are a funny bunch. Germany is certainly Europe’s most successful nation and yet probably among the most stressed of its people. Just a few of my observations as we enter an uncertain 2020. Oh mein Gott!

Lorenz Clasen 1860 — Germania auf der Wacht am Rhein

Stuttgart– I must give credit where credit is due: the Germans listen to each other. I think this is in part because German grammar throws their verbs at the very end of every sentence which forces you to wait for the conclusion to know what they are really trying to say before you can yell back. For those who don’t understand German, it is easy to think they only discuss serious things which, in fact, is not necessarily wrong.

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Campus Galli: Live your Carolingian Dream

Messkirch, Germany: If you have nothing planned between April and November over the next 40 years or so, and would like to live and work in the early Middle Ages, there is an association in the Schwäbische Alb (Schwabian Alps) that has a job for you.  But they will take you as well if you only have a week to spare.

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Europe – Elections: Reflections

‘Jupiter’ made the EU elections a referendum

I was asked by an international radio to answer a few questions on my reflections on the European elections May 26. I thought I’d share a slightly modified version with you here.

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WWI Celebrations: Revising History to Do It Again!

The First Casualty of War is the Truth!L1030416

There is a conservative movement in France rewriting the history of World War One. These people say the Allies should have never accepted an Armistice and marched on to Berlin once the German 1918 offensive was broken, thanks to US intervention. They say this would have prevented World War Two. They made the 100th anniversary of the Armistice a celebration of the Generals. They claim the war was fought by “patriots for liberty.” They say we are wrong to measure the killing with today’s yard-stick.

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