Antifa, Germany has not banned mention of the crimes of the Nazi's. In fact, it is the opposite. Children in school are repeatedly taught about the crimes of the Nazi's. There are reminders throughout the country and especially here in Berlin, of the Holocaust. What is banned is the glorification of the Nazi's and denial of their crimes. The Holocaust is a fact and therefore is not open to debate. I am not sure how you see it as rational that the US allows debate on the matter (In the case of Britain, there is a good chance that you will be prosecuted for incitement to hatred for Holocaust denial). There is no logical reason why anyone would display the Swastika or do the Hitler Salute, other than in a museum. I see no reason why any country should allow anti-semites the right to spread their vile lies. It always saddens me that the US allows such people the protection of freedom of speech. Incitement to hate other people should not be covered by freedom of speech. Indeed, to the best of my knowledge, no country in Europe (including Britain and Israel) allow freedom to incite hatred. Tens of thousands of Nazi's do not march. They muster a few hundred. They are not protected by the police. They are carefully monitored by a large police presence to prevent them attacking the anti-fascist movement (always present in force several times the size of the Nazi's). They cannot display anything that is likely to incite hatred or to glorify the Nazi's. They will be arrested if they do so. The large police presence is also to signify that their actions are not supported and will not be tolerated and are in fact, treated with disdain and disgust by the German population. Also, they receive miniscule votes in national and regional elections. They occasionally beat the 5% barrier in some states, but all five main parties treat the Landstags (regional parliaments) that they sit in (currently just Sachsen (1 out of 16)), as though they were not there. They always fail to be reelected in the subsequent Landstag election. They have no members of the Bundestag or the Bundesrat (Federal Parliament and Federal Council of the Regions). I really think that you need to read more about modern Germany before you make any further comments.

In regard to this article, it was completely inapproriate for the two Israeli women to use the term "nazi" to describe the German officals. #4, you say that Israelis should not travel to Germany. Why not? Germany is a changed place. Sure there are some neo-nazis, but we have more here in the US than they have in Germany, should Israelis not travel to the US, either? It was not the Germans who were racist, in both cases, it appears that the Israeli women tried to do things outside of the law (ie. bring in/take out more than the allowable amounts of cigarettes) and the Germans therefore, following their job guidelines, stopped. The fact that the Israeli women, understably upset, would dare called them Nazis for simply doing their job, is COMPLETELY unacceptable. We all know that Israelis/Jews can be quite pushy, maybe they/we should work on their/our manners first before we start with name-calling.

And I am sure if a similar opinion poll were carried out in Sweden the nummbers would be MUCH higher.

Anyone who criticzed the Nazis were also beneath contempt. The only difference is you don't get killed for doing it vis-a-vis Israeli policies which makes it even more questionable why society is so indifferent and silent to the brutal treatment of the Palestinian population collectively. I did not create the racist laws and policies that Israel uses against the Palestinians in the occupied territories and its own non-Jewish citizens, so if you really hold racism in such contempt, you should be criticizing that. To think that an Israeli woman of all people would call a German customs official a Nazi who had not abused her seems rather ironic considering how Palestnians are abused and humiliated at checkpoints right in her own backyard, even how pregnant women have been denied medical treatment. Moreover, I am quite familiar with the situation in Israel as I already lived there so don’t even begin to lecture me on my awareness. The problem is that in Israel, there is always justification for dual laws according to one’s identity and outright racism. That is exactly how Jews lived in Germany before World War II with excuses as well for why the Nazis had to do what they did, which was also against the Roma Gypsy population. What a bunch of hypocrites most of you are…If you detest racism,. then at least have the guts to speak out about it irrespective of anyone's identity.

instead of nazi used the world zani it will be normal to all the israili and germans ,,ha ha ha

about the Jews. You will hear what they think about us when they are out of balance. It would not be pleasant but it will be the truth

I hope that few people on this board will believe the falsehoods that #61 is promoting. Notice how the modern German would smear anyone telling the truth as uneducated and unfamiliar with the *resurgent German Nazi movement*. I have been to Germany more than once, and I am very familiar with what is going on there. #61 may be correct that 10,000 Neo Nazis have not marched altogether yet, but it is only a matter of time. There are certainly hundreds of thousands of them in Germany today. Don't take my word for it: http://www.guardian.co.uk/germany/article/0,2763,1412355,00.html "The political establishment appears to have been taken completely unawares by the far-right's recent renaissance and the rise of the neo-Nazi National Party of Germany (NPD), which won 9.2% of the vote in last September's elections in Saxony." This march last year of 5,000 Nazis was apparently the largest since WWII. You can expect this year that they will bring more jackboots to march freely with police protection. Bernard Cantillion must think we're stupid if we are to believe his rediculous statements. If Germany is so reformed and perfect, why is it that: * You allow Nazis to march with Fascist flags and uniforms by the thousands. * You allow Nazis to sit in parliament and spew their hatred freely, all completely legal and tolerated. * You allow Nazis to have an equal voice in the media as if they are a legitimate political movement. * Your police brutally repress the anti-fascist movement and prevent them from confronting the Nazis. Please don't speak badly about the USA. We don't have 5,000 Nazis marching around with police protection. In Germany, the police arrest the Jews in the airport for saying the word Nazi, and they protect the Nazis as they call for a new Holocaust.

German companies sell arms , build armaments and weapons factories and give training to the worst of Israel's enemies. What Germany says publicly and what they actually do are completely different things. Also, many non-Jewish Americans, especially those of German descend, encountered anti-Semitic attitudes of too many Germans, while working or serving in Germany and wrote about it.

Stop lecturing us and look inwards. 60+ years ago, you, or your parents had murdered or corroborated in the murder of practically the entire people – the European Jews, and now you act insulted if somebody dares to bring it up. How dare we remind you, or even worse, tell you to return the stolen property. US is a country, not a paradise, but, let’s face it, Europe has nothing to teach us, least of all about tolerance.

of the younger German generation growing up in shame and with reminders of their fathers crimes. Nothing but resentment, contempt and fading sympathy while substituting hatred. Germany and its people will always secretly idolize Nazism and its head figures. Nazism and anti-Semitism is growing at an alarming rate all over the world and on the internet. I was shocked when I overheard kids playing basketball teasing a kid “what are you Jewish” This type of behavior has been going on since I was a young kid in the eighties, except now its cool to be down with the ss and be called hitler. With history channel here in the States seeming to run documentaries constantly that glorify the nazi’s and their so called leadership, military and technological genius between specials on sci fi “ss super trooper” and people sympathizing with the Palestinian terrorist methods; it proves that what the Germans started has spread all over the world. A Personal experience that was not to long ago; I was at a brunch and was introduced to 3 young women. During the conversation one of the women said she was from Germany and at that moment we both looked at each other and it occurred to me she might have Nazi grandparents and She realized I was probably Jewish. As I peered into her eyes I have never seen such hatred and it was a bit scary even though she was blond haired and thin. Right there I knew that is how nazis must have looked at Jews in Germany. Our conversation halted and it was awkward after that even though the other young ladies weren’t sure of what was going on.

I get the feeling you ignore anything that doesn't agree with your worldview. How typically American of you. "I have been to Germany more than once, and I am very familiar with what is going on there." --Gee, I'm sold. Being an occasional visitor obviously makes you an expert on Germany. "#61 may be correct that 10,000 Neo Nazis have not marched altogether yet, but it is only a matter of time." --You haven't seen tutu-wearing elephants singing Sinatra songs on a chorus line, perhaps that too is only a matter of time. "The political establishment appears to have been taken completely unawares by the far-right's recent renaissance and the rise of the neo-Nazi National Party of Germany (NPD), which won 9.2% of the vote in last September's elections in Saxony." --The fact that the Nationist Party of Germany won 9.2% of the popular vote in a regional election obviously shows that the country is about to become the Fourth Reich next week. If you'll notice, a lot of those far right parties (which are usually xenophobic anti-immigrant parties) are gaining significant amounts of votes in European countries with stagnant economies and high unemployment. That doesn't make it right or excusable, but it doesn't make it a purely German issue either. "This march last year of 5,000 Nazis was apparently the largest since WWII. You can expect this year that they will bring more jackboots to march freely with police protection." --How can you be sure? You're stating opinion not fact. "You allow Nazis to march with Fascist flags and uniforms by the thousands" --Facist flags and uniforms, not Nazi flags and uniforms. This may come as a surprise to you, but facism and nazism are not the same thing. Germany and Italy weren't the only countries at the time to have facist governments, but they were the only ones to send Jews to death camps. "You allow Nazis to sit in parliament and spew their hatred freely, all completely legal and tolerated." --If they are elected with everyone already knowing their positions, they have every right to express their constituent views. Freedom of speech applies to everyone, not just who you think it should. "You allow Nazis to have an equal voice in the media as if they are a legitimate political movement." --Once again, we get around to free speech. In the US nazis and white supremacists use the right to free speech to promolgate the same ideas, so stop trying to turn this into a purely German issue. Also, if they are able to elect members to parliament, they are obviously a legitimate political movement. Despite what you may think. "Your police brutally repress the anti-fascist movement and prevent them from confronting the Nazis" --Keeping facists and anti-facists apart from one another is brutally repressing anti-facist movements? So by your estimation preventing violent riots is repressing anti-facist movements. Wow. "Please don't speak badly about the USA. We don't have 5,000 Nazis marching around with police protection." --There are neo-nazi and white surpemacist rallies in the US all the time. At those rallies police are used to keep demonstrators away from the rallies to prevent violence. So in fact, the police do protect neo-nazis. "In Germany, the police arrest the Jews in the airport for saying the word Nazi" --Before you make a judgement on this, perhaps you should try calling a customs agent a Nazi and see what happens. I think you may be surprised. In summation, take your damn blinders off and start seeing the world, not just what you want to see.

Well antifa, it's well known that antifa is a terrorist extreme organization just as bad as the nazis so your words doesn't really mean much. but the neo-nazis marching every year in Germany is a drop in the ocean when you think of the fact that the country has over 80 million inhabitants. besides those marches gather neo-nazis from all over europe, i don't really remember when it is but i think it's like the birthday of hitler or something like that. in any case, they're fully entitled to hold those marches in a democracy. in a democracy you can't decide which party people should vote for so just to ban another party isn't really right either. saxony(the state where they made 9% of the votes) is a former east german state, they're not used to democracy and odd parties often do fairly well there once or twice but then they go out just as quickly as they came in. if you seriously believe the nazis have an equal voice in the media then i doubt you can speak german and have EVER read a german newspaper or seen german tv. they get ZERO time in the media to push their views. and another thing is that the nazi party in germany isn't open about their agenda, and they're denying being a nazi party. and they're not exactly called "the nazi party" so it's a big probability that people had no idea they voted for a nazi party. the "anti-fascist movement" is a terrorist organization just as bad as the nazis, so it's only good that germany clamps down on you horrible people. the USA isn't a good example when you want to make an argument for the police giving questionable protection to nutheads. your police protects the insane protestors from the westboro baptist church when they picket even furnerals yelling at the grieving that they're happy their relatives died and when they send congratulation cards to parents whose gay children have died. To Marc from EU, i doubt the numbers would be higher in Sweden than in the UK. i can't rule it out though since we haven't really had an opinion poll like that here yet.

Astonishing. Are you aware that last year, there were Landstag elections in Nordrhein-Westfalen and Schleswig-Holstein. The Nazi's failed to win any seats in either parliament. They were far closer to 1% than 5% in both. In Baden-Württemberg, Rheinland-Pfalz and Sachsen-Anhalt, last month, there were state elections, at which the Nazi's failed to get into parliament. Yes, they won 9,2% in Sachsen in 2004, but since then they have received no media attention. The German government has repeatedly tried to ban them. The problem is that they have gotten very clever. If they glorify the Nazi past, they will be banned, if they call themselves Nazi's, they will be banned. They use waesel words and soforth, but the majority of the population is not deceived. The Nazi's have nothing like a hold on German media. In fact, the media is totally anti-fascist. I have never seen an NPD (National Partei Deutschland) rep on a German political affairs programme. Of course, there is worry that there is a new far right active, but that is common across Europe (and dare I say it also in Israel - The support for Neo-Nazi's is less than that for Baruch Marzel's National Front in Israel). There are always people in any population with repugnant views, but the Nazi's in Germany cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be seen as a force that is about to topple democracy and bring back the Nazi regime. Of course, we must always be very vigilant, but we must also be free of racist hysteria, which is what your postings are usually full of. Just a word on the Antifa, real Antifa people fight fascists and Nazi's. They do not pillory a national group. Real Anti-Fascists challenge fascists, whether they be German NPD, American Ku Klux Klan, French FN or Israeli NJF. They do not attack people because of their nationality. People who pre judge others because of their nationality are called racist usually. Maybe, you should mull that over!

The 2 silly, noisy Jewish gals cheapen and trivialize Shoah when they casually throw the word "Nazi" in the faces of honest government workers just doing their job over a pack of cigarettes or a few bucks. Germany has faced up to its past crimes honestly, which I cannot say about the English. After 60 years of silence, isn't it about time to start talking about the unspeakable evil done by the English people unto the Jewish people, when the British war criminals blocked the desperate Jewish refugees from reaching a safe haven in the Mandate territory intended by the League of Nations for that very purpose? While Jews are too shy about bringing up that subject, poisonous English bigots in the UK academia, media and government do not restrain themselves the least in their rabidly anti-Israeli and often openly anti-Semitic rhetoric. Many boycott campaigns against Israel have been launched by poisonous English sociopaths, and their biggest competition for the title of Eurabia's lowliest comes from the Norwegians, who go out of their way appeasing nasty Arab tyrannies, terrorists and terrorist dictators at Israel's expence.

I am just astonished by your hatred of German people. Your way of viewing Germans is no different from the way that Nazi's viewed Jews. Closed minds always get the answers that they are expecting. Just a note on your encounter with the young German lady at a brunch. I was not there, so obviously have no idea of the circumstances, but might I suggest something. First, I will quote from your posting. "A Personal experience that was not to long ago; I was at a brunch and was introduced to 3 young women. During the conversation one of the women said she was from Germany and at that moment we both looked at each other and it occurred to me she might have Nazi grandparents and She realized I was probably Jewish. As I peered into her eyes I have never seen such hatred and it was a bit scary even though she was blond haired and thin. Right there I knew that is how nazis must have looked at Jews in Germany. Our conversation halted and it was awkward after that even though the other young ladies weren’t sure of what was going on. " It occurred to you that her grandparents may have been Nazi's. OK. Now remember back and think how you looked at her after that. Did you give her a look of blind hatred. Might she have thought, not that you were Jewish, rather that there was some crazy giving her a dirty look and reacted with her own look, which said "get this strange person away from me". Did your attitude and appearance change totally on noting that she was German? Your immediate thought on meeting a pretty German girl was that she was probably the descendent of Nazi's. Even better, did you ask her about her ancestry, her own political opinions. But actually, forgive my ignorance, why would you bother. Sure, didn't you have all you needed. You knew she was German, therefore her forefathers were obviously Nazi's and well as a result, that means that she is a Nazi sympathiser. I used to work as an Anti-Racism and Equality Officer. We called such ways of thinking (Your way, not the girls) racism. You saw what you wanted to see. Shame on you!

Both of my social-democratic grandfathers died in nazi detention camps, my grandmothers and parents suffred for 12 long years. but I am German, so I am a Nazi. Thank you!

Dear Kate, can you please tell me the source of the data you presented? Who was questioned? People from all over the society? Im asking, because Im in doubt about the correctness of the numbers. And to ANTIFA: Its nice that you have been to Germany. You are very welcome to visit us. But you yet don't know our country perfectly: We always have a lot of police arround, when the extreme right wing people demonstrate. They are numbered out by police as well as by people who are demonstrateing against neo-nazis. The police does not come to protect them, but to protect the city from them. The police is needed, no matter if there are left wing activists arround or not, because we consider neo-nazis to be dangerous. It might be interesting for you, that neo-nazis get much less chance to talk about their fews in the German media, than for example in the Guardian. Besides, the fact that an Israeli woman is not afraid to fight with a German official prooves, that he did not seem dangerous to her. So obviously she knew that he was no nazi. Im sorry that they made her all the trouble. Most German officials would not have taken the matter that serious. Just an angry woman....

Just as I am offended by being called a 'heeb', 'yid' or 'kike', I am sensitive to the feelings of others. We are not exempt from convention, common courtesy and common sense. I am glad that this is an exception rather than the rule.

The Jews pushed for the suppresion of Nazi sentiment in Germany, and not they complain when THEY break the law? I think the anti-Nazi laws are stupid, but until they are repealed they ARE the law of the land and everybody- yes, even Jews- are obliged to obey it.

Benard. I do not hate Germans I know not all Germans still feel this way. And I also know there were Germans that helped the Jewish people. And I acknowledge the steps the government has taken to raise awareness. I cannot say that much for the youth. The point I was trying to make is; The feelings and beliefs of nazi Germany are still there and have spread throughout the world. There were many good Germans that coexisted in a peaceful community with the Jewish people until that Night of broken glass. Where those same people formed mobs to lynch Jewish people and even children in an orphanage. They were not nazi soldiers. As far as my personal experience; I did not look at her with a dirty look and I had no hatred towards her either. It seemed it exploded in her eyes and the way she looked at me, I had to look down momentarily and I looked back she look disgusted and I smiled and did the gentlemanly thing and tried to move on to another subject. There was no need to ask about her heritage because it was obvious. And yes she was pretty, though very ugly inside.

Dear Isrealis: please come to Germany. We want to get to know you better.

This just goes to show you that the Germans are still into government control of everything, especially freedom of speech. They now use Naziistic tactics to enforce anti-Naziism, so nothing's really changed. They simply will not learn from history. Those poor women.

... I (non-jewish German) and my Israeli Girl Friend decided to go our own way ... we will go to bed now, and make something to improve ... intercultural understanding :-p Have fun all of you, who hate us (especially U US-americans)! As long as I can see every day that life has changed I don't need your stupid remarks.

Lets get this straight. - When trying to break the law, do NOT insult local customs officals.

anne i suggest you to visit www.stormfront.org for us all to find the german forum, i found the french/british/austrailien/latin... forum Open your eyes, you havn't been to germany i haven't been to america, but the most "white-pride" internet activity comes from USA

thou who sits in a house of glass shall not through the stone (:-

I must say that i am quietly impressed with some of the self-effacing Jewish opinion here about the behaviour of their fellow Jews abroad. I've always thought that that is is a hallmark of a mature people when some members of a group, be they English, Israeli, German or whatever can be embarrassed by the behaviour of some of their less cultured compatriots. Obviously on here there are those with the 'how dare they' attitude about those 2 german customs chaps, (sad to say most of that venomous opinion is American), but there are many on here, mostly Israelis it seems who take the view that 'when in Rome, do as the Romans do'. Full marks. Good stuff. Lastly, it does annoy me when people suggest that ONE OR TWO visits to a country renders them an expert on that country. Chances are, that they entered the country for the first time with pre-concieved ideas about its people, but were too busy reading maps and signposts to have their prejudices either confirmed or dispelled. And on their second visit, met one unpleasant individual in amongst 200 pleasant people, but then only remember that one unpleasant person. And with that, they spin round and say i'm never coming to this damn country again !! Some people eh ! What can you do ?