Those Wonderful, Awful Germans: A Journey Deep into the Nation's Surface

[sysop]

Tuvia Tenenbom, who runs a Jewish theater in New York, spent a summer traveling through Germany. He found much to dislike, and detailed it all in a sometimes shocking, sometimes hilarious way. But the real value is in the telling, rather than the truth.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...-a-869937.html

[bluesky123]

Mr. Tenenbom writes "the Germans are the most narcissistic nation on the planet, they're a racist, supremacist, the most self-deluded and self-righteous people in the world."

I think most of the world thinks this about the Israelis. When the UN voted and 138 nations supported statehood for the Palestinians, it made Israel's global isolation very clear.

As for social radicals on the fringes of society, they are to be found in every large city in the US, Europe, Israel and the emerging world. I was on a business trip to a supposedly emerging market. The hotel was full of business people from around the world. I read the newspaper at breakfast in the hotel to find out that the churches in that country had been ordered to shut down by that nation's government. Religious and ethnic persecution is happening in large numbers of countries. So to Mr. Tenenbom's supposed great "insights", my response is "you need to get out more". Mr. Tenenbom seems unaware of what is happening in the world around him. All of the people he found in Germany you can find in New York, Manchester, Lyons, Rome, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Tel Aviv etc. So what? This is not an insight.

[nevermind]

Originally Posted by sysop

Tuvia Tenenbom, who runs a Jewish theater in New York, spent a summer traveling through Germany. He found much to dislike, and detailed it all in a sometimes shocking, sometimes hilarious way. But the real value is in the telling, rather than the truth.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...-a-869937.html

He would find Apartheid, murder and fascism all in one place. he migh be disturbed to see pregnant women giving birth at road blocks or children been shot through the mouth, deliberately, but he will learn a lot. Oh yes, he might try and read Avi Shlaims book called 'the iron wall', it will, open his eyes, cause what he learned at school might not what reality actually represents, nor is it the truth.

[observer]

I found the response of Tuvia Tenenbom to this article.
It is really shocking! It just confirms the thesis of German antisemitism:

http://jewishtheater.org/Jewish%20Th...egel-11-12.htm

[observer]

This is what I found:
http://jewishtheater.org/Jewish%20Th...egel-11-12.htm

Maybe Tenenbom is right...

[powermeerkat]

You won't admit it!" he said. "Because it's too painful for you! And because it's in your bones, too. German anti-Semitism!"

That remains to be proven - concludes the author.

And how would he want to be proven? I Wonder.

[pauerkraut]

is-what we call in Germany- "ein Rechthaber". A person who is always right and never wrong and thus "righteous...Only his way matters...
Thus our dear buddy here is sharing some very German character features. Welcome to and with the "Krauts...."

[leshertlein@gmail.com]

I find it unacceptable that the books author paints all of Germany with a racist brush based on the meeings ofvarious fringe groups who only represent their own world view which may not be attributed to Germany as a whole. I have also visited Germany a number of timesand my experience has been completely different. If anything, I think modern Germany is still far too burdened by the sins of its past and quite frankly needs to stop reacting to those that want to continue to guilt or shame it because of the actions of the Third Reich. This books author clearly had an agenda and no matter what his observations in Germany, his "findings" would be used to support and strengthen his self-fulfilling prophesy.

[no-mad]

I read the original "I Sleep in Hitler's Room". The writing is over long stretches awfully bad and the book indeed does need serious editing. It is not at all surprising that Tenenbom didn't find an English language publisher. Not that there aren't many valid observations about the Germans and some occassionally juicy writing. But you have to wade through a lot of "childish extremism" and Tenenbom's very own repetitive hysterical obsessions. In fact, he strangely mirrors the narcissism and supremacist selfrighteousness of his subjects.

[BTraven]

Originally Posted by observer

I found the response of Tuvia Tenenbom to this article.
It is really shocking! It just confirms the thesis of German antisemitism:

http://jewishtheater.org/Jewish%20Th...egel-11-12.htm

Did he write both memories from minute? It would be interesting to learn when he did it. I can understand that you feel uneasily being observed by a woman who wants you to dispose the cigarette pack in way rubbish regulations demand. I think Tenenbom approached Germans very cleverly. His tactic was simple – from the start he gave his dialoque partners the impression that he would share their opinion, like Sacha Baron Cohen.