Prejudice Against Germany

I actually wrote this as a forum post, but I decided to repost it here.

I just finished a very good article in the August '06 issue of BBC History (I know, I'm a little behind, lol) about "the way in which football illuminates the historical development of Germany's relationship with England". Here's an excerpt:

"The Second World War ended over 60 years ago. And yet, despite the emphasis placed by the British and German governments upon the excellent state of their relationship - meeting at Berlin in February 2006 Tony Blair and Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, reaffirmed the point - the two countries have yet to learn to live comfortably together at all levels of society. A substantial gap remains between a predominantly harmonious official bilateral relationship and a frequently hostile British media discourse focused upon a Germany that no longer exists. Certainly, football's role in mirroring, influencing and articulating British perceptions of Germany, at least at the popular and media level, should never be underestimated. In fact, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) is currently exploiting such stereotyping in annual essay competitions organised for British university students on the subject of "But don't mention the war"."

I'd never really thought about it before, but there really is a certain prejudice surrounding Germany. When most people hear the word, they instantly think of Hitler and the Nazis. People never really consider that Germany is just like the European countries surrounding it.

I think part of the reason is that people like having a country that "they're better than", just like most people have someone that they compare themselves to, but I think the biggest problem surrounding such attitudes is a combination of bad educators, the media constantly bringing up Germany's Nazi past, and people being blind to their own ignorance.