News /
Will PiS be happy if AfD wins elections in Germany? [1303]
Rich, The Federal Republic most certainly does struggle WITH freedom
in the sense that even today, references to Hitler, however casual or ironic,
much less a mock Hitler salute, will land the offender in the clink for an
indefinite period of time.
In the US, such an offender will be reviled and probably attacked verbally or
physically, yet we still allow such a person the right to freedom of expression.
In Germany, this is still not the case.
Why only recently, a seemingly harmless pun landed a Duesseldorf teacher in hot water,
albeit spoken after work hours! It went something like this and was oft heard in private circles
during the early years of the Third Reich: "Hitler wollte Fuehrer sein, hat doch keinen Fuehrerschein."
As with any such word play, it can't be translated verbatim. Suffice to say, it's a take off on the German
words "Fuehrer" (leader,guide) and "Fuehrerschein" (driver's license).