The Germans are very crafty.

The Germans are very crafty.

Diplomacy had failed to stop the Germans.

Many Jews were expelled by the Germans.

Not all Germans like to drink beer.

What sort of mobile payment do Germans want?

Italy has done something similar for decades, with its northern regions subsidizing the poorer Mezzogiorno. But such permanent fiscal transfers are politically impossible in the eurozone, where Germans are Germans and Greeks are Greeks.

So Cochrane then goes to the Germans who are running the prison camp.

At the same time, 8 May is a day of liberation for Europeans, including for Germans.

Finally, misleading peoples and parliaments by presenting a bank bailout as an act of solidarity, while failing to help ordinary Greeks indeed, setting them up to place an even heavier burden on Germans was destined to undermine cohesion within the eurozone. Germans turned against Greeks

Superior German economic performance has bid up the euro and European interest rates to levels that, while comfortable for the Germans, put pressure on the euro zone s laggards. The appropriate level of the euro for the Germans is too high for the French and Italians.

The same, incidentally, applies to France, except that the French, unlike the Germans, find it difficult to transfer political sovereignty, whereas for us Germans, it is all about the money. Both of these mental political blocks are threatening the European project in equal measure.

Germans are not willing to produce nuclear energy, but are not against using that of their neighbouring countries.

And they had a canary hung inside the thing to make sure the Germans weren't going to use gas.

More recently, they have attracted considerable criticism, e.g. expulsion of the Sudeten Germans from Czechoslovakia after the Second World War.

Germans sunning themselves on Greek islands, one hopes, would be inspired by such reading. But it is hard to be confident.

A study conducted by the Bertelsmann Foundation in January showed that 35 of Germans have no problem making that connection. In what might presage a shift in the bilateral relationship, the poll also revealed that 58 of Germans believe that the past should be consigned to history, and 62 disapprove of Israel s policies today.

The 7,000 ton Rheinland Pfalz is believed to be twice as heavy as similar class ships used by the Germans in the Second World War.

We took all the Germans, we divided them roughly in two, and we gave the ones in the East communism, and you see the result.

First, Germany must play an even larger role in conducting and coordinating the eurozone s policy responses. I know that many Germans are uncomfortable with this.

For Germans this question was not easily answered, though clearly our family was liberated in every sense. The question then was this liberated for what?

Given these benefits, it seems masochistic for Germans to oppose the ECB s strategy. So, again, why is there so much resistance to it in Germany?

Like Grass, Germans especially the younger generations, who feel further removed from the events of WWII are increasingly abandoning the notion that they owe it to Israel to remain its silent, steadfast supporters. Indeed, as Israel s right wing government moves to bury the two state solution for good, Germans are joining other Europeans in vocally opposing Israeli policy in Palestine.

And the Germans were not much better in Southwest Africa. Indeed, two of history s most terrifying ideologies, fascism and communism, were devised and embraced in continental Europe.

Russia should have repented for Stalinism and the gulag system. The whole nation, with no exception, should have repented, the way the Germans have repented since 1945.

Even now, many years after the Cold War, there is still much bitterness between Germans and Russians, especially in areas which were occupied by the Soviet Union.

Both Jews and Germans emerged from WWII as defeated and crippled peoples, but the Jews had the moral high ground, while the Germans very much did not. Yet, in a global opinion poll conducted in 2013 by the BBC World Service, Israel ranked as one of the least popular countries just above North Korea, Pakistan, and Iran whereas Germany emerged as the most popular.

Even now, many years after the Cold War, there is still much rancor between the Russians and the Germans, especially in areas once occupied by the Soviet Union.

And everyone goes, Great! He leaves the country and the French and the Germans go, No, no, forget about that, absolutely not. Nothing happens. He goes to Strasburg.

The people of Poland will not be lacking in commitment in reaching understanding and reconciliation with all nations, particularly with our largest neighbours, the Germans and the Russians.

Because the Polish leaders refused to exonerate the Russians, Stalin accused the Poles of collaborating with the Germans in trying to shift the blame for Nazi crimes onto Russians.

At one of the tensest moments, as Cyprus was seeking an alternative rescue package from Russia, the German Bundesbank announced the results of a new European Central Bank study indicating that average German wealth was lower than in the southern European states, largely because fewer Germans own their own houses. The message seemed clearly intended to influence the negotiations Why should poorer Germans be expected to sacrifice to support Mediterranean millionaires?

Not so long ago, Germans and other Continental Europeans pointed to America's working poor, as well as to the sorry state of public services in Britain, as defects that supposedly reflected the inevitable price Anglo Saxon countries must pay for their ruthless form of capitalism. Europeans (Germans in particular), on the other hand, enjoyed the Rhineland model a market economy that harnesses economic success to the cause of social justice.

Three illusions are responsible for the German public s growing aversion to European integration and for many Germans failure to understand that Germany has the most to lose from the euro s collapse.

But, until recently, the divergences were viewed in terms of interests, not philosophies. Americans wanted additional demand for their goods and higher prices, while the Germans and Japanese defended their export industries.

But even these measures, which foreign observers have largely overlooked, have failed to boost consumer demand. So what more could the German government do to wean the Germans off their abstemious habits?

That won t come cheap. If Merkel s government believes that paying lip service to growth is enough, it is playing with fire a euro collapse in which not only Germans would be badly burned.

They may not want to be Americans, or Brits, or Germans, or South Africans, but they want their own version of a life which is more prosperous, and more dynamic, and more, you know, enjoyable.

This view is gaining ground politically as well, with a new, explicitly anti euro party, Alternative for Germany, rising quickly. Moreover, an increasing number of Germans, openly or secretly, want to have the Deutschemark back.

But Germans, like many other rich countries citizens, are not producing enough children. These countries need immigrants with youthful energy and skills to fill jobs that locals, for whatever reason, are unable or unwilling to take.

Just as last year when there was unwarranted growth pessimism in Europe, this year there is unwarranted growth euphoria. Many Germans, in particular, are in denial that the cyclical upturn may be coming to an end.

Of course, the Germans have reluctantly come to accept the necessity of a banking union that includes common deposit insurance. But the pace with which they accede to such reforms is out of kilter with the markets.

If Soros were right, and Germany had to choose between Eurobonds and the euro, many Germans would surely prefer to leave the euro. The new German political party would attract much more support, and sentiment might shift.

NATO was created in 1949 as an alliance to contain Soviet power. Its focus was on Western Europe, and, as one joke went, it was designed to keep the Russians out, the Germans down, and the Americans in.

Indeed, at the seminar, European economists and journalists especially the Germans, and even some of the Britons in the room adopted a dismissive tone. Monetary policy's power is limited, particularly when the interest rate is so low, some said.