Anti-German sentiment
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- Anti-German sentiment should not be confused with Anti-German (ideology), sometimes called Anti-German.
Anti-German sentiment refers to the view of the German people or of Germany with suspicion or hostility. As with all anti-ethnic terms, important distinctions should be made between sentiments in opposition to the people and culture, versus those against the government or its policies. However, such distinctions are often not made.
World War I
During World War I, in many countries, propaganda attempted to dehumanize the German enemy. The Germans were depicted as Huns capable of infinite cruelty and violence.
See Main Article Organised persecution of ethnic Germans
When Australia, Canada, and the United States entered the war, some German-American immigrants were looked upon with suspicion and attacked regarding their loyalty. But it even went further and columinated in the killing of a German-born immigrant, Robert Prager. Prager was a coal miner living in Maryville, Illionis and on the night of April 4, 1918 a group of co-workers accused him of spying, forced him to kiss the American flag and even so Prager insisted on his innocence he was hanged by the angry mob, on the outskirts of the town. In England, anti-German sentiment was so severe that the ruling House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha became the House of Windsor, Battenberg became Mountbatten and the German sheperd was renamed the Alsatian.
Anti-German sentiment due to World War II
More recent anti-German sentiment is often related to World War II. Anti-German sentiment was particularly strong in countries that were in war with Germany and its allies during WWII. Although also present in some western countries, anti-Germanism was a predominantly Eastern European/Slav phenomenon. As a result of the devastating consequences of the war, anti-German sentiment was widespread and strong just after WWII.
Among Jews, Anti-German sentiment remains widespread among some, although surprisingly not as strong in Israel as among certain diaspora Jews. Among some Jews mostly of Russian origin and with nationalist attitudes the German language is taboo; despite being one of the historically most prominent languages of European Jewry and strongly present in the early years of the existence of Israel. Even today a sizable percent of the Israeli public, mostly of Russian origin, refuses to set foot on German soil or associate themselves with anything German.
However, Germany has been Israel's most prominent supporter next to the US and contributed strongly to the state's existence. When Israel critized the European countries for anti-Jewish stance, they made an exception for Germany, saying Germany was a true friend of the Jews. Germany's rapidly growing Jewish population also contributes to a more German-friendly attitude among Jews. In recent years more Jews from the former Soviet Union immigrated to Germany than to Israel, and the fall of communism in Europe has led to a strong revival of Jewish life and culture in Germany.
Postwar Germany
Germany has after the second world war had generally good relationships with all of its western neighbouring states and after the end of the cold war also with the eastern states. It is a co-founder and member of the European Union, and has a strong relationship with France, its prominent enemy ever since the French invasion of Germany under Napoleon. In spite of all of this, anti-German sentiment endures in some countries, mostly in Poland. German people often complain the unfair and unrealistic, insulting, stereotypical association of them with acts and a regime of more than sixty years ago, like the use of anti German sentiment as a headline made often by parts of the British press, i.e. when German Cardinal Josef Ratzinger became Pope.
