Thread: Germans and Russians are brothers

Europeans hate the Russians???

Possibly the British hate the Russians but at least i know for sure that Germans dont. Russia holds the largest Palace of the Honour Street Unter den Linden in Berlin. (the German Palace was destroyed by the British in WW2) German government has recently said that the cultural and political ties to Russia are stronger than the ties to USA. President Vladimir Putin speaks perfect German and knows Berlin better than most Germans. (he worked there as KGB chief for a couple of years)
Germany is the Number 1 economic partner of Russia and holds percentages of Gazprom and Lukoil. The cooperation must be enhanced much stronger in the future.

The Germans and Russians are close brothers who have fought passionately and illustrously each other in the past, but now come to be brothers again.

Yes, you are quite right. There is indeed a very strong alliance between Russia and Germany. It's probably even stronger than ever before. Rammstein (a German rock band) is widely known and popular in Russia. I am also pretty sure that Tatu was popular in Germany long before it was in the US or Canada.

*I* was speaking some German to this girl I know... who happans to be Russian... and happans to be my girlfriend, and she asks me "what does Stadt mean?"

Anyone who knows German knows that that means city. It turns out to mean State in Russian. So what's state in German? Staaten. Yeah...

Hmmm...

A couple conversations, and hours later I bring up this word, "Vulkan" (tanz auf dem Vulkan!) and she asks, she asks *me*, "what does Vulkan mean?"

Anyone who knows Ger... it means Volkano. And in Russian too!! What a co-winky-dink.

That's my story, interesting, huh?

Originally Posted by Vijak

Possibly the British hate the Russians

Well, this Brit loves Russia and Germany. I think Britain has a lot in common with Russia. To give just two examples:

We're both half-in, half-out of Europe. On the edge, taking advantage of being European when it suits us, but nervous of it and proud of our differences from the rest of Europe.

We're both ex-Empires, more powerful in the past and still coming to terms with the change.

Britain also has a lot more in common with Germany than we'd like to admit sometimes - I think the Brits are nervous of countries that are similar to us - it's like seeing yourself in a mirror.

I love the similarities between German and Russian. A number of times I understood what my Russian friend was saying to me because of the similarity with German especially with technical physics vocab.

Well I think the volcano one is a coincidence, since they both originate from the Roman god Vulcan. A vulcano was his chimney.

Давайте выпьем на брудершафт!

well, maybe thats how the country ties are, but this russian girl at my school said she hates germany because of ww2, i was like wow that was like 60 years ago. but, hey she's still pissed, so what can you do.

Dogboy brings up an interesting question.

What-CAN-you-do?

Well, to me at least, it seems the Germans, looking at what they did in Russia (war of extermination killing 26 million, "only" some 8 million of them soldiers, the rest civilians and POWs) are thought of quite well in relation to the Netherlands, although they weren't all that bad here for there fellow "Germanic tribesmen".

And it may be 60 years ago, but with such a body count, no family has been able to escape death. If every single Russian has a babushka with a story of how horrible the Germans were, how she lost her husband in the war etc., etc. the thing sticks in the nationals conciousness (sp?). In St. Petersburg, where 1,000,000 people died during the blockade, the wounds are quite deep, as you would imagine. I know a woman in St. Petersburg who was 3 years old when the blockade started. She was the only one of her family to survive, the rest all died. That does tend to leave a strong impression on a person.

Originally Posted by Dogboy182

well, maybe thats how the country ties are, but this russian girl at my school said she hates germany because of ww2, i was like wow that was like 60 years ago. but, hey she's still pissed, so what can you do.

А чего вы хотели?
Я например "благодаря" немцам, никогда не видел своих дедушек.
Нет они не погибли, но оба пришли домой настолько израненные, что рано умерли.
И если мой отец еще помнит своего отца, то моей маме было два года, когда умер её отец.

Но странно, сколько не пересекался с немцами (они к нам часто приезжают на фирму, оборудование монтируют), никаких эмоций. Так обычные люди. Да и большинство русских (99%) нормально к ним относятся. Единственно, что на празднование дня Победы у нас в городе их просили: "Ребята, говорите потише и лучше на английском, а то возможны совершенно неожиданные ситуации" Кстати, они и произошли, но всё закончилось большим брудершафтом, ну очень большим.

Зато множество эмоций вызывают высказывания наших "союзников"-американцев. Как они нас спасали всю вторую мировую войну, а мы такие неблагодарные...

Originally Posted by Ger

Зато множество эмоций вызывают высказывания наших "союзников"-американцев. Как они нас спасали всю вторую мировую войну, а мы такие неблагодарные...

Есть такой вариант что союзники ждали как можно дольше перед тем как открыть второй фронт....

Originally Posted by garmonistka

Originally Posted by Ger

Зато множество эмоций вызывают высказывания наших "союзников"-американцев. Как они нас спасали всю вторую мировую войну, а мы такие неблагодарные...

Есть такой вариант что союзники ждали как можно дольше перед тем как открыть второй фронт....

Так оно и было.
Сидели и ждали, когда мы уничтожим лучшие силы рейха.
Как там говорил "добрый дяденька" Трумэн, недословно -
"Пусть русские и немцы больше убивают друг друга"

Originally Posted by Dogboy182

well, maybe thats how the country ties are, but this russian girl at my school said she hates germany because of ww2, i was like wow that was like 60 years ago. but, hey she's still pissed, so what can you do.

I know exactly how that feels. I am still pissed at the North for winning the war and that happened like 160 years ago. I'm pissed at the Muslims for taking over Constantinople and that happened like 550 years ago.

I'm still upset about a tribe of Neanderthals in southern France getting pushed out by another tribe. And that happened 30,000 years ago. They say time heals all wounds, but I don't know. The damage has been done.

haha... nice sarcasm

I agree with many of woolliamser's points. Also Gollandski Yozh makes a good argument too.

My Russian friends are 50-50 on Germans, some still don't like or trust them, others are indifferent to them. And one says live and let live, it was a long time ago etc etc.
I don't think it's the Germans that Russia should worry about, the muslims are coming! And they are all carrying a lot of baggage with them!

PS..if you didn't already know, i love Russia. So that's two Brits now, at least.

actually, brandon i'm quite glad the north won the civil war. and one time i fell down, i will never forgive myself for that.

One thing I get very upset about is when I hear people saying they hate "all" Germans because of WW2. I have many German friends in their mid 20s. They tell me that every year at school they were taught to learn from their grandparents mistakes, to feel guilty for being German. And they say... but what can we do? We weren't born then, we can't change the past. What happened in Germany back then was terrible, the war that followed was also terrible. But it is not so simple as "the evil Germans wanted to take over the world, which is a complete part of their character that two new generations can't destroy." No. Germany was left at the end of WW1 in a very bad state, by the British and Americans. It's not directly "our" fault that Hitler rose to power of course, but it was a combination of factors. Germany has done what it can since to ensure that it never ever happens again and continues to pay huge reparations to Israel, which Israel spends on ... (but I don't want to start another arguement).

Someone asked what can we do about people like Dogboy's friend. I know the answer: it is so important that young people get to know people of other nationalities, if she met some Germans her own age, I think her opinions would soften. That was the worst thing about the Cold War --- a wall dividing people so we could never make friends with each other. Now it's come down I think both sides realise that the other side was not quite how we thought.

It's a naive view point, I know. But I still have hope that the people of this world can live together.

My Grandfather was a prisoner of war in Germany. He wrote a poem while in the camp which really moved me. I can't remember the poem now, but the message was that one evening he was standing by the fence, looking at the moon and the German officer came up to him and said "It's a beautiful moon". And for one moment, they shared something positive together. Later on he was almost killed trying to escape. Immediately after the war he became a teacher, and only 5 years after the end of the war he organised the first of an annual school choir exchange between his school and a German school. That was the most important thing for him---that the young people met. Interestingly the men who'd been soldiers were really enthusiastic about this exchange. It was the people who had stayed in Britain that said he was wrong.

Originally Posted by woolliamser

Germany has done what it can since to ensure that it never ever happens again and continues to pay huge reparations to Israel, which Israel spends on ... (but I don't want to start another arguement).

Германия до сих пор платит репарации Израилю?
А интересно почему?!
Germany till now pays reparations to Israel?
And it is interesting why?!

Good post. But war on the West and war on the East were too different. On the military forums I often meet young Germans that proudly say "We were better! Those wild hordes of bolsheviks just outnumbered us. We killed much more Russians than they killed us!". In that moment I think Uncle Joe was too kind to Germans. I think very few of Russians would blame him if he ordered to make the score equal.

WW2 is still an open wound in almost every Russian family.