what do the german and japanese history books say about america

in my history class we just got done with studing world war 2 and i was wondering what do the german history books say about the war does it condone natzi germay or tell a diffrent story? and for the japanese i woud really know what there point of veiw is on the wars and whether they think america was wrong for dropping the atomic bomb

ps if you coud tell me about russias point of veiw on the cold war that woud be grate

reply to post by ninjas4321


Just flagged this, and I hope that's a good thing! I would love to know this too. Interesting!

Yes I would love to know the perspective of these people on this history. I think we all could benefit from a little sharing.

reply to post by ninjas4321


I've done multiple tours of duty in Germany. As far as I'm concerned, they are a great people...just like everybody else.

One friend I had though was quite peeved over what was taught in the schools there. He spoke much of how I think about Slavery. He was not there, so what should he feel guilty about?

The sins of the fathers do not transfer to the son.

Originally posted by David134
Yes I would love to know the perspective of these people on this history. I think we all could benefit from a little sharing.

I think that the sharing nowadays would be from people who were'nt involved in WWII. Those are the folk I would like to hear from.

I've read that Japan teaches their students a different history than what is truth. You can read about it HERE.

Of course, very few of us know what ACTUALLY happened, so we don't know if the Japanese textbooks or the American textbooks are more accurate.

I can't really speak for Germany, but I can talk for Austria and I don't think there will be any difference.

In my opinion our books tells the true story about the WWII and doesn't condones anything that happened in that sad area. If you have any specific questions feel free to ask anything you'd like, I would try my best to share the German/ Austrian view.


Edit: Our books condemn everything Hitler and the Nazis did just like yours and I don't think they tell a different story.

ask your grandfather...lol, seriously.. odds are if they are 70+ and are into politics they have information that you will never see in a book.

Originally posted by faint1993
I've read that Japan teaches their students a different history than what is truth. You can read about it HERE.

Of course, very few of us know what ACTUALLY happened, so we don't know if the Japanese textbooks or the American textbooks are more accurate.

I think the controversy is not what happened, but how to portray it. From a cold objective viewpoint, or from a positive/negative viewpoint. This is what is meant by "history is written by the victors", the winner gets to portray his view on the defeated.

Military bases in your country for 60+ years

=

we tell story closely as told by beloved overlord!

reply to post by ninjas4321


Every history book tells a flawed story. Why? Because history is written by the winners.

Case in point: the Civil War. Most people believe the war was fought over slavery. In fact, while slavery was a part of the fight, the South really viewed the war as one about states' rights. If the South had won, would you be reading about the inhumane conditions of slavery? Would the history books mention Harriet Tubman?

History will always be biased, no matter who writes the books. Don't accept what you read at face value. Instead, look for yourself. Find primary source documents or, if possible, talk to the people who were there. Form your own ideas and opinions. Ask questions and seek answers!

By the way, let me commend you for this thread. You asked a very intelligent question, a question many young folks would never even consider. Keep this up and you'll go far....

History has been written to some degree by the same puppet masters or their puppets.
It's just the background for the show given to the sheeple, at all levels of awakenness, IMO.
The true historic records are in our hearts / subconcious.

My school days are quite some time over, but i can tell a about Germany:

The time from 1933 to 1945 is obvious the central point of history class in schools here. In fact, i've been to two different types of schools and in both i learned the same stuff, five years overall of "evil, evil Nazis" and "good americans, good allies who saved the day"
It's all just propaganda, they don't talk about the bad things, the other countries did (you'd get the impression that Stalin was a very fine man who did only good things) or for example what the russians did after arriving in Germany in 1945 (mass rapes, killings, looting).
The history books try to stay neutral on the whole Atomic bomb thing. (Same with the infamous bombing of Dresden, it's basically "Britain did what they had to do") We don't even learn about Japan and the Asian wars, the japanese concentration camps and everything else that was going on at the time.. There are only minor blurbs about Japan and Germany having some sort of connection. It's all just about Nazi Germany and how evil they were.

You also visit at least one concentration camp, i've been two times to Dachau and once to Theresienstadt. While Theresienstadt was informative and also reported about the Czech People suffering from the russian invasion that followed the Nazi time, Dachau was just the same propaganda all over again.

At least back then it was very one-sided and full propaganda. I don't know if it changed since then, after all, we had various documentaries on TV that showed the russian attrocities and talked about that the other countries weren't the pure heroes. But back then in school, you basically learned that Nazi Germany was very evil and you still have to feel ashamed for this time

Originally posted by smyleegrl
reply to post by ninjas4321

 

Every history book tells a flawed story. Why? Because history is written by the winners.

Case in point: the Civil War. Most people believe the war was fought over slavery. In fact, while slavery was a part of the fight, the South really viewed the war as one about states' rights. If the South had won, would you be reading about the inhumane conditions of slavery? Would the history books mention Harriet Tubman?

History will always be biased, no matter who writes the books. Don't accept what you read at face value. Instead, look for yourself. Find primary source documents or, if possible, talk to the people who were there. Form your own ideas and opinions. Ask questions and seek answers!

By the way, let me commend you for this thread. You asked a very intelligent question, a question many young folks would never even consider. Keep this up and you'll go far....

I have often wondered myself other countries thoughts on American history, so this topic has me very intrigued.S&F in hopes that this thread gains traction. With concerns to the civil war you are very much correct. Although it was only an underlying issue, it didn't come to the forefront until about two years into the war. The south saw it as State versus Federal rights as well as various economic issues. To get a good perspective a simple quote from Robert Lee "This war is not about slavery" There are two sides to every story, the truth always lies somewhere in between.

Originally posted by faint1993
I've read that Japan teaches their students a different history than what is truth. You can read about it HERE.

Of course, very few of us know what ACTUALLY happened, so we don't know if the Japanese textbooks or the American textbooks are more accurate.

So are you saying that American history is a lie ? Because it sure seems that way . There is plenty of eye witness testimony about the war both on a personal level and overall war picture . My dad fought on both ww ll and Korea as did most of my friends fathers. I believe that what is portrayed in the books is accurate . Try watching the history channel you might learn something .

Originally posted by ninjas4321
in my history class we just got done with studing world war 2 and i was wondering what do the german history books say about the war does it condone natzi germay or tell a diffrent story? and for the japanese i woud really know what there point of veiw is on the wars and whether they think america was wrong for dropping the atomic bomb

ps if you coud tell me about russias point of veiw on the cold war that woud be grate

I can safely say what Russia's point of view on the WW is. They believe they won it on their own and would have won it even if the UK and US never got involved. A fairy tale i know but that is the truth.

reply to post by Azadok


History is written by the victors remember. We have to go by what we are told, I'm not doubting it for a sec, but there is nothing to say some things were twisted to make us sound better and them sound worse.

in my history class we just got done with studing world war 2 and i was wondering what do the german history books say about the war does it condone natzi germay or tell a diffrent story?

Well they give tests in history class, and if you don't feed the teacher back what they want to hear on the test you will get an "F". I'm not sure its safe for everybody to go roaming around in the revisionist history undergrounds. The book that made Hitler famous "Mein Kampf" is available in English. Its a very emotional book clearly targeting "the Jew" as the cause of all Germany's problems.

Before you all gather under the blood flag though you might want to narrow that blame down a little. Lots of threads on ATS about the Jekyll island elite and military complex conspiracy's.

There is a thought provoking WW2 military complex conspiracy involving William F Friedman and the Pearl Harbor invasion.

The US Civil war must have been dreamed up at the West Point military academy. Generals from both sides went to school together there. All the slave ships that sailed to Africa and kidnapped the African natives were registered to the northern states. No slave traders ever flew a confederate flag.

The right to choose ones own master (and pay ones own taxes without representation) would probably have been implemented without the civil war. There were even some black confederate soldiers that fought for the south, perhaps some of them realized that if the south lost the war their lifestyle would be worsened.

In Japanese history books, they learn that they only made it as far as the Phillipnes in WW2, when in actual fact they made it to New Guinea, really, on Australia's doorstep.

Originally posted by Azadok

Originally posted by faint1993
I've read that Japan teaches their students a different history than what is truth. You can read about it HERE.

Of course, very few of us know what ACTUALLY happened, so we don't know if the Japanese textbooks or the American textbooks are more accurate.

So are you saying that American history is a lie ? Because it sure seems that way . There is plenty of eye witness testimony about the war both on a personal level and overall war picture . My dad fought on both ww ll and Korea as did most of my friends fathers. I believe that what is portrayed in the books is accurate . Try watching the history channel you might learn something .

Whoa whoa whoa, relax. I'm not suggesting that American history is a lie. All I'm saying is that it is ignorant to accuse another nation of lying in their textbooks without looking at our own, considering none of us were there. I'm sure it's all very accurate, but there's still a chance that it's not. I'm an open-minded person and I will probably never accept that something is 100% true unless I've seen it myself. As far as I'm concerned, American History is probably 95% true.

Not trying to offend anyone in any way.