America gets a big fat "F."

[Haggis@wk]

The anti-German thing lasted well and truely in Britain and France.

Heh. Historically, I think France has always been on the top of the list in the UK.

I vacationed in Yugoslovia before it became a war zone (beautiful beaches and inexpensive accomodations) and when I would go into a pub the locals would look at you until you spoke English rather than German, then you became their best friend. There were plenty of German tourists but they were really ignored.

Of course I remember going into a shop in Wales where the shopkeeper, who'd been speaking English to a customer when I came in, began speaking in Welsh until they heard our American accents, then all was well.

[dai bread]

By all accounts I've read, the Germans weren't nearly as brutal to their prisoners as the Japanese, unless they were Russian. There was absolutely no love lost between the Germans and the Russians during and immediately after WW2. I've never been able to find out why.

The Japanese, on the other hand, were happily impartial in their brutality, though the Chinese might disagree.

[shostakovich]

Hi DB. The Germans of WWII treated all other nationalities as inferior, and most of Europe looked down on Russians as "backward". They actually were, culturally. Hitler and Stalin signed a peace pact in 1938 (1939?) when Germany was not ready to fight on 2 fronts. A couple of years later Germany invaded Russia, which started their downfall. Stalin was beside himself. He was very used to doing the betraying, and couldn't believe he was done unto. This certainly heightened the antipathy between the countries.

The movie, Alexander Nevsky, deals with the invasion of Pskov and Novgorod by "Teutonic" knights and the decisive "Battle on the Ice", which cracked under the weight of the heavily armed invaders, who were looking into the sun, and didn't realize they were marching into water. It was definitely a cautionary tale for the Nazis. I think there has never been love lost between Germany and Russia. Anyway, the film was completed just before the peace pact, but not released because of the pact, till after it was broken.
Shos

PS: The music by Prokofiev is definitely worth knowing.

[Serenity]

Ffffffffffffffff!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dai bread]

I have the Prokofiev music, Shos, and I've heard a memorable performance of it live.

[shostakovich]

Hi DB. Glad to read you enjoy the Nevsky music. The old film had poor sound, and different versions feature slightly differeent translations. I believe there's a re-mastered version available with much better sound. The film will add a dimension to the enjoyment of the music.
Shos