Comments on: 3 German History books being read by Germans http://germanhistoryblog.com/3-german-history-books-being-read-by-germans/ German and Austrian History commentary and resources Tue, 29 Mar 2011 12:30:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Mygod http://germanhistoryblog.com/3-german-history-books-being-read-by-germans/comment-page-1/#comment-1004 Mygod Mon, 01 Nov 2010 08:55:57 +0000 http://www.germanhistoryblog.com/?p=896#comment-1004 "It’s always bothered me as a bit tasteless that Germans take credit for her writing despite the fact that Dutch was her main language, making her refugee and stateless person, and eventually murdering her. " My god, it always astonishes me that how much people can find to complain about Germany. Anyone who know the story - you don't even need to read the book itself will know what Germany has done to that girl, regardless of whether she wrote in German or Dutch, and how much it is related to Germany and German history. And yet you find it important to complain about it being classified as German history. “It’s always bothered me as a bit tasteless that Germans take credit for her writing despite the fact that Dutch was her main language, making her refugee and stateless person, and eventually murdering her. ”

My god, it always astonishes me that how much people can find to complain about Germany. Anyone who know the story – you don’t even need to read the book itself will know what Germany has done to that girl, regardless of whether she wrote in German or Dutch, and how much it is related to Germany and German history. And yet you find it important to complain about it being classified as German history.

]]> By: Bill Dawson http://germanhistoryblog.com/3-german-history-books-being-read-by-germans/comment-page-1/#comment-652 Bill Dawson Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:02:05 +0000 http://www.germanhistoryblog.com/?p=896#comment-652 Right. In fact, I'm going to edit this post and point out that Anne Frank wrote in Dutch. I think there is indeed a danger that people just assume she wrote in German. Right. In fact, I’m going to edit this post and point out that Anne Frank wrote in Dutch. I think there is indeed a danger that people just assume she wrote in German.

]]> By: Al http://germanhistoryblog.com/3-german-history-books-being-read-by-germans/comment-page-1/#comment-651 Al Fri, 08 Jan 2010 12:25:56 +0000 http://www.germanhistoryblog.com/?p=896#comment-651 According to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia</a>, her nationality was German until 1941 when she was stripped off it. It's always bothered me as a bit tasteless that Germans take credit for her writing despite the fact that Dutch was her main language, making her refugee and stateless person, and eventually murdering her. Anyway, technically, I suppose, it's OK, and I'm definitely not the one to decide. According to Wikipedia, her nationality was German until 1941 when she was stripped off it. It’s always bothered me as a bit tasteless that Germans take credit for her writing despite the fact that Dutch was her main language, making her refugee and stateless person, and eventually murdering her. Anyway, technically, I suppose, it’s OK, and I’m definitely not the one to decide.

]]> By: Bill Dawson http://germanhistoryblog.com/3-german-history-books-being-read-by-germans/comment-page-1/#comment-650 Bill Dawson Fri, 08 Jan 2010 10:41:06 +0000 http://www.germanhistoryblog.com/?p=896#comment-650 Hi Al, Great question! I would've taken whatever Amazon listed in their "German History" section, even if it was originally written in Chinese! :) (Unless I thought Amazon had merely miscategorized it.) We could characterize Anne Frank's diary in many ways... A work of Dutch literature (or dutch non-fiction), a Dutch memoir, Dutch history, Jewish history, Holocaust history and certainly also German history. Since Anne Frank was a born German (I think, anyway... though I should probably check that again) and her family moved from Frankfurt to Holland in order to escape persecution, and since she died as a result of her original country's actions, I can certainly see why Amazon or someone else would categorize it as German history. Hopefully they also categorized it as Dutch history, though I didn't check that. For similar reasons, I could see emigre memoirs being categorized as German history as well. Thank you for taking the time to comment! Bill Hi Al,

Great question! I would’ve taken whatever Amazon listed in their “German History” section, even if it was originally written in Chinese! :) (Unless I thought Amazon had merely miscategorized it.)

We could characterize Anne Frank’s diary in many ways… A work of Dutch literature (or dutch non-fiction), a Dutch memoir, Dutch history, Jewish history, Holocaust history and certainly also German history. Since Anne Frank was a born German (I think, anyway… though I should probably check that again) and her family moved from Frankfurt to Holland in order to escape persecution, and since she died as a result of her original country’s actions, I can certainly see why Amazon or someone else would categorize it as German history. Hopefully they also categorized it as Dutch history, though I didn’t check that.

For similar reasons, I could see emigre memoirs being categorized as German history as well.

Thank you for taking the time to comment!

Bill

]]> By: Al http://germanhistoryblog.com/3-german-history-books-being-read-by-germans/comment-page-1/#comment-649 Al Fri, 08 Jan 2010 10:22:42 +0000 http://www.germanhistoryblog.com/?p=896#comment-649 Bill, why is Anne Frank's Diary a German book, as opposed to a Dutch one? Bill, why is Anne Frank’s Diary a German book, as opposed to a Dutch one?

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