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todaviia · 4 years

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Was denkst du an Willy Brandt?

Without trying to sound mean, I honestly can’t figure out if you’re a non-German speaker trying to find out what I think of Willy Brandt or if you’re a German speaker who’s passive-agressively asking me why I reblogged this post

If it’s the second, I’m not really? I just saw the post on my dash…

If it’s the first, which is probably more likely bc I don’t post that much Willy Brandt related content, I actually think he’s one of the best politicians Germany ever had and our left desperately needs people of his format and integrity. I am also obviously very grateful to him for his anti-fascist activities between 1933-1945 (btw he actually worked together with Fritz Bauer!) and for the fact that he was so progressive in (West) German politics at a time when that was very much not the norm and was used against him. Mainstream politicians at the time like FSJ actually called him a traitor for emigrating and “working against Germany” during WW2.

As mayor of West Berlin, he was stuck with what was probably one of the worst political jobs during that phase of the Cold War and I honestly believe that if he had been worse at it, it might have triggered WW3.

Of course, he was the one to finally give up the Hallstein-Doktrin (the policy where West Germany said they would break off diplomatic relations with countries that recognized East Germany… which was basically just them trying to fuck over East Germany on an international stage) and to establish relations with DDR, which was a huge step forward. Iirc he was also the first head of government of Germany to visit Israel (where he was quite respected bc of his history of fighting against fascism).

For the Kniefall at the Warsaw Ghetto, I think it was an incredibly important gesture. The only thing that bothers me a bit is when people act like its symbolic of a beginning of “German shame”.

That’s not criticism of him though but rather of the modern reception of it in Germany, which kind of wants to.. retroactively project a feeling of guilt and shame onto the (West) German “national consciousness”? Like “oh look, we had learned our lesson, we felt so bad about the Nazis even back then, Brandt even fell to his knees”, when in reality, a lot of “the Germans” who had committed those atrocities felt absolutely zero guilt or shame at the time and very loudly criticized Brandt for doing that, while Brandt himself had not been complicit in fascism at all and in fact had his German citizenship revoked by the Nazis.

Simply judging his actions, tho, I don’t think it can be overstated what an incredibly powerful - and controversial!!! - act it was for the most powerful man of West Germany to fall to his knees at a memorial for murdered Jews in an Eastern European country during the Cold War.

Idk how to phrase it other than it was an acknowledgement of the tremendous injustice and responsibility of Germanness on an institutional level and it was done not by Willy Brandt, the person (who was innocent), but by Willy Brandt the Chancellor of Germany (which was not - and which was unwilling to deal with that fact).

For me, that is the most important lesson that we can learn from postwar West Germany, because right now there are a lot of people going “well I was not involved in Nazi fascism, why should I take responsibility for it?” without realizing that this very question has been the center of Germanness since 1945 (with variations - before people could distance themselves because they were born too late, they said they weren’t personally involved with gassing anybody, or if they were, they said they had acted under orders)

and Willy Brandt actually offered an answer to that by basically saying, regardless of our individual histories, we are responsible (not guilty, necessarily, but responsible) because we are German.

Which is like… the only morally defensible interpretation of Germanness I can think of.

#also just fyi if that is indeed the question you wanted to ask #the better way to phrase it would be #was denkst du über willy brand #ive just had a few weird anons so i cant rule out the other version #also this is an entirely different rant #but this is the interpretation of history DDR was trying to enforce on a state level #only to fail because this understandin cannot be enforced #(they had to try though i will go to my death defending the fact that they tried)#it has to come out of itself #i hope this answered your question #Anonymous #also sorry this got long

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danithebookaholic-blog · 5 years

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SPOTLIGHT!

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Scythe (Dimension Drift Worlds #1)

By Christina Bauer

Publication date: April 24th 2018 Genres: Dystopian, Fantasy, Young Adult

Synopsis:

“Fans of A Wrinkle in Time can’t miss Dimension Drift!” – Christina Trevaskis, The Book Matchmaker

Truth time. I go to a Learning Squirrel High School. Don’t judge.

On second thought, judge away. Learning Squirrel is one step above attending class in a junkyard. But what do you expect? Everything’s made out of garbage these days. At least, I have my freelance work to keep Mom and me housed, clothed, and fed. How? I’m your regular high school science geek for hire, except my work manipulates space-time. The good news is that these gigs pay really well; the bad news is that the government likes to kill people like me. Whatever. I’m not worried; hiding from their detection systems is easy for me.

Then I screw up one of my illegal projects. Badly.

In fact, things go so sideways that my house slips into two-dimensional space-time. The shift only lasts for a few seconds, but that’s long enough to set off a dozen government alarms. If those goons track me down, Mom and I are as good as dead. Long story short, I need to pay someone off, hide the evidence, and keep us safe.

Unfortunately, that means asking the Scythe for help. He runs the local underground crime scene and has absolutely no conscience…Or at least, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t. It’s hard to think straight when a guy’s that hot in an ‘evil Mafioso kingpin’ kind of way. Most importantly, the Scythe is a crime lord who can conceal my slip-up with a few clicks on his minion’s computer keyboards. But the man has his price. In this case, the Scythe wants me to finish a certain dimensional prototype for him in twenty-four hours. I can do it, but it might mean Learning Squirrel High gets blown up in the process. Oh yes, and there’s also my new hot classmate who may or may not be an alien…and he says he’ll do anything to help me.

This job won’t be easy, but I’ve gotten out of worse scrapes. Maybe.

Goodreads

Excerpt:

The Scythe

“Here’s what happened,” I say. “The Ozymandias factory slipped into two-dimensional space-time for a little while. It’s showing up as a nuclear blast to the Authority because no one’s gone 2-D before.”

“I don’t like Merciless crawling all over my part of the state, Meimi. The Scythe pays big money to stay off grid.”

“I’m sorry. Mom wanted to work the drift and—” I stop myself before saying anything about aliens or finding Luci. “—I guess we got caught up. Please clean things up for me, like you did with RCM1.”

Muscles flicker along Fritz’s thick neck. “Not so easy this time, Meims. You’re coming to me with a major science crime and all of twenty minutes to cover it up.” He narrows his eyes. “And all because you flipped an entire factory into two dimensional space-time.” Fritz presses some buttons on the top of his desk. “Did you hear that, boss?”

My stomach seems to tumble through the floor. Fritz has been transmitting our conversation to the Scythe.

A crackle sounds over the intercom. A deep, silky voice fills the small room. “Bring her in.” I’d know that tone anywhere.

The Scythe.

Purchase:

Amazon / B&N / iBooks / Kobo

Author Bio:

Christina Bauer knows how to tell stories about kick-ass women. In her best selling Angelbound series, the heroine is a part-demon girl who loves to fight in Purgatory’s Arena and falls in love with a part-angel prince. This young adult best seller has driven more than 500,000 ebook downloads and 9,000 reviews on Goodreads and retailers. The first three books in the series are now available as audiobooks on Audible and iTunes. Bauer has also told the story of the Women’s March on Washington by leading PR efforts for the Massachusetts Chapter. Her pre-event press release—the only one sent out on a major wire service—resulted in more than 19,000 global impressions and redistribution by over 350 different media entities including the Associated Press. Christina graduated from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School with BA’s in English along with Television, Radio, and Film Production. She lives in Newton, MA with her husband, son, and semi-insane golden retriever, Ruby. Stalk Christina On Social Media – She Loves It!

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From one bookaholic to another, I hope I’ve helped you find your next fix. —Dani

Have a book you’d like to suggest or one you’d like me to review? Please feel free to leave your comments down below.

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