And it sure is reassuring to know that a big European war like that could never, ever happen again. Cold or otherwise. Right?
The situation in Germany after World War II was dire. Millions of Germans were homeless from Allied bombing campaigns that razed entire cities. And millions more Germans living in Poland and East Prussia became refugees when the Soviet Union expelled them. With the German economy and government in shambles, the Allies concluded that Germany needed to be occupied after the war to assure a peaceful transition to a post-Nazi state.
What the Allies never intended, though, was that their temporary solution to organize Germany into four occupation zones, each administered by a different Allied army, would ultimately lead to a divided Germany.
“Only over time, as the Cold War eroded trust between the Soviet Union and the Western Allies, did these occupation zones coalesce into two different German nations.”
“Even in Hamburg, which is more than 150 km (93 miles) from the island,” he told me, “a schoolteacher kept a document which said the British had warned everyone to leave doors and windows open to help the buildings withstand the blast.”
Officially, it’s the 75th anniversary of the city’s “liberation” (Befreiung) as World War II ended. They couldn’t call it “Boy Did We Ever Get Our Ass Kicked Day,” I suppose.
Or maybe you could say it’s a day to commemorate the biggest daylight savings time reset ever. It’s when all the clocks in Germany were set to “zero hour.”
May 8, 1945, was ‘zero hour’ for Germany in multiple ways – Adolf Hitler was merely ash among the rubble when World War II ended in Europe. The desolate aftermath was dubbed “zero hour” by Germans — a more prescient term than they realized, for it also paved the way to rebirth.
Berlin: WWII Bomb Find Leads to Evacuation of Thousands, Including the Mayor – In Berlin’s ‘Mitte’ district, a large WWII bomb was found on a construction site on Tuesday. Police started evacuating thousands of people in the evening. They included Berliners and visitors.
Berlin’s Governing Mayor Michael Müller, the Senate and their staff were evacuated from Red City Hall on Tuesday, due to a World War II bomb find. The latter weighs 250 kilos (550 pounds). A bomb disposal unit was supposed to diffuse the bomb this evening, but the evacuation took time.
German Oddity 15. Germany is a place where huge underground bombs are routinely unearthed all around the country and this barely even makes second page news. In fact, most Germans directly affected are more annoyed about it than anything else. They grudgingly leave their homes until the bomb crews have disarmed or detonated the damned things. Over 5,000 bombs are found in Germany every year.
25-year-old German cookie heiress apologizes for downplaying her family’s history of using Nazi forced labor on the grounds that ‘we treated them well.’
Verena Bahlsen, whose great-grandfather Hermann Bahlsen founded the eponymous company that produces the Leibniz brand of cookie, told Germany’s Bild newspaper last week that the company did nothing wrong when it employed dozens of forced laborers during World War II.
“This was before my time and we paid the forced laborers exactly as much as German workers and we treated them well,” Bahlsen said, as cited by Reuters. The German newspaper published the remarks on Tuesday.
Keksunternehmerin Verena Bahlsen bittet um Entschuldigung – und will dazulernen.
That means a bomb from a world war (there have been more than one, you see). You know, like the one they just found in London forcing the closure of its City Airport today?
Please note here: It is a bomb from a world war. It is not an American or a British bomb. Nor is it a French or a Soviet bomb. It goes without saying that it certainly could not be a German bomb because it is a bomb from a world war, OK? Why somebody would bury it there like that is hard to say and no one knows who did it, either. So move along, please. Nothing to see here. Weltkriegsbombe, got it?
Bauarbeiter haben im Osten Londons eine Bombe aus dem Zweiten Weltkrieg entdeckt.
Disturbed about Moscow’s plans to have hordes of young Russians storm the German Reichstag, concerned politicians in Berlin wish to stress that this could led to a dangerous militarization of Russia’s youth.
“Friends just do not storm friends,” one top official said, also noting that a new attack upon the German capital would only contribute to a further deterioration of Russia’s relationship with Germany, a relationship that is growing increasingly estranged at the moment. Russian politicians could not be reached for comment as the Russian capital has been moved to a secret location due to fears of an imminent German youth attack.
“Oh, this Reichstag is in Russia somewhere?” another top official asked later, finally figuring out that this is all just a big game. “That’s pretty deplorable, too.”
The replica of Berlin’s historical Reichstag, which has housed the seat of Germany’s parliament since 1999, will be built in “Patriot Park” and be used by the Russian youth movement, called “Junarmija” or “young army.”
That means a city on the front or on the front-line. You know, like the Berlin of today?
Or at least that’s what certain people here in town seem to think about it. Some are even calling it a failed state.
Take a deep breath here now. They don’t really mean that, of course, but in terms of an upcoming city election the situation here is pretty dramatic for a large number of Berliners who might want to vote. Due to the continued chaos at the various Bürgerämter (citizen’s offices) throughout the various districts of the city (unbelievable waiting times for appointments being the main problem here) it is estimated that some 280,000 new and newly-moved Berliners will not be able to register to vote in time. They are now being encouraged to contest the results of any election they were not able to take part in.
One election researcher says that the last time Germany experienced this kind of chaos was shortly after World War II.
Ein Wahlforscher sagt, dass es ein derartiges Chaos in Deutschland zuletzt kurz nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg gegeben habe. Berlin ist wieder Frontstadt, erfreulicherweise ohne Bombardements.
Near these, a Nazi gold train was also discovered. And the Amber Room. And the Loch Ness Monster.
It too had been buried deep underground right next to the underground Nazi Time Tunnel device that helped Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan win World War II and occupy the dystopian alternative history-like America we all live in today, albeit in an underground fashion.
“Eventually, it will decompose, and we will have a second Chernobyl on our hands.”
“What Would Have Happened if Germany Had Invaded the U.S. During World War II?”
That’s easy. They would have ended up like this little Canadian robot dude who, like, just tried invading our country or something.
Philadelphia is the city of brotherly love, OK? Nobody ever said anything about robots.
Let’s be honest, whether fair or not, Philadelphia has a certain reputation. It’s a city where football fans booed and threw snowballs at Santa Claus. Baseball fans once threw D cell batteries (the big ones) at visiting outfielder J.D. Drew. And now, it’s where an adorable robot who was only counting on the kindness of strangers to hitchhike across the country was vandalized, effectively ending his summer trip.
Observing Hermann 