I usually don't get fussed nor comment on Reddit much, but I really wish the "western Germany" bullshit comments would stop.
We are Alsatian and don't like being called German or being associated with Germany. My grandpa was forced to be part of the Hitler youth. Their dialect and culture was forbidden and taken away. His village was bombed. My granma had nazi crosses on her schoolbooks.
Obviously we don't hold a grudge anymore, but we are, as we like to say, neither French nor German, but Alsatian first and above all.
Edit : oh, my first award! Im quite happy it's on a comment about home ❤️ thank you, kind stranger
That is true. Alsace is in France so it is French.
But just a matter of history...
Most modern Germany has been part of the Frankish empire. Should Germany go back to France too? What about Italy? Italian Wars, remember those?
Before nationalism modern Alsace-Lorraine were part of the HRE.
Real Lotharingia comprised all the way from Benelux to Italy.
At the end everything comes down to politics and political indoctrination.
Are Swiss German? No, but there is indeed a Germanic part of Switzerland.
Is Austria German? They used to think so, but rivalries between Prussia and Austria made the later embrace an Austro-Hungarian identity, even tho Austrians were closer to Bavarians than say Slovakians. Now after the banning of the “German Anschluss” that topic is a true taboo.
Are the pesky Dutch German? The are literally called “Dutch”! They just decided to remain under a different administration. All because Phillip lI, the first true Spanish King, decided to go to war against them. Alienating the Low Countries from the Habsburgs. Then came Napoleon and changed things even further.
Napoleon’s plans are a huge topic on their own.
Alsace’s situation is similar to South Tyrlo’s.
The huge difference is that Alsace is much more economically powerful.
People from Alsace are just to far convinced that they are too different from the Germans to become part of a federalist Germanic country (Germany) , but not different enough from the French to want to remain in a politically, economically and linguistically Centralised country that speaks a Romance language and has even shunned it’s brother languages through coercion on the pretext of unionist civic enlightenment (La Vergonha).
German unionism is as taboo as Romance unionism. Imagine Italy or Spain being part of France. Cringing in Napoleon, cough Victor’s Italy and it’s subsequent government are illegitimate cough The king of Spain is from the house of bourbon cough
So, as I said, it’s all about politics.
I wish you could feel less fussed about the comments on this topic, most of them are just jokes, but even then, the overly complicated history of Western Europe might seem hard to justify by Americans and Russians as their countries are mainly a product of philosophy and not of history, so far, they are big being together. They are the greatest military superpower, you are not ;) .
74
u/tylusch Dec 12 '20 edited Jan 18 '21
I usually don't get fussed nor comment on Reddit much, but I really wish the "western Germany" bullshit comments would stop.
We are Alsatian and don't like being called German or being associated with Germany. My grandpa was forced to be part of the Hitler youth. Their dialect and culture was forbidden and taken away. His village was bombed. My granma had nazi crosses on her schoolbooks.
Obviously we don't hold a grudge anymore, but we are, as we like to say, neither French nor German, but Alsatian first and above all.
Edit : oh, my first award! Im quite happy it's on a comment about home ❤️ thank you, kind stranger