I believe that people are finally waking up to the truth. People are getting tired of the constant indoctrination by the propaganda machine. Read Norman Finkelstein's "The Holocaust Industry" Personally, Nothing will make me happier than finally having a free Germany. It has been more than 60 years of demonization already, 3 generations. When will it stop?

Hugh, NY, USA, NY

I can appreciate German police cadets being bored with holocaust indoctrination. However, I do believe its necessary.

I was bored in many of my undergraduate courses too...but they were required.

That said, I am left wondering what exactly is the difference between the Nazi quest for "Lebensraum" and Zionism.

Can someone explain the difference?

Theodore, Dallas, TX, USA

I was annoyed by the "Holocaust education" as well but that has changed after 9-11. That's because the constant bludgering has produced a funny side effect: Germans are now poised to stand up to the new Hitler. So, who is the new Hitler? As you might have guessed, it's George W. Bush.

Hence, the Holocaust huckstering protects Germans from being sucked into the Iraq war, because one half now believes in "Never again killing Semites", i.e. Iraqis. The other half has figured out that staying out of the war is a good way of getting back to the AIPAC crowd which is behind the Holocaust money machine to begin with. This lead to a solid 85 percent war opponents, safe a dumb few or the ones who are on the U.S. payroll

Susanne Modeski, Pine Ridge, USA

I love it. The cadets are sick of hearing about the Holocaust, I'm sick of hearing about the Holocaust, WE ARE ALL SICK OF HEARING ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST! The Cadets should be applauded for their courage and honesty. They are tired of having Israeli/Jewish/Zionist propaganda shoved down their throats. God bless them.

David Steiner, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

I find it astounding that, in this ongoing dialogue about the Holocaust, there is very little mention of the role the Jewish settlers in Eretz Israel, from David Ben-Gurion right on down, played and how they turned their back on those who died in Europe, knowing that this would strengthen their bid to establish the modern Israeli state after the war.

Tony, Limerick, Ireland

I am personally sick of the anti-gentile racism practiced by the ADL and AIPAC in the US.

To imprison historians researching the holocaust is a disgrace.

There are now three "hate bills" in Congress and if any one of them are passed, America will go the way of Germany, Canada, etc. Only "state sanctioned facts" of the holocaust will be accepted and to disagree will result in imprisonment and re-education. And we all know who controls the government in the U.S.

SendAIPACPacking, Dallas, USA

Condeming the child of a murderer to be just as evil as the murderer that it spawned from is only going to make the child look deeper and deeper into why it is condemned and how to get back at those condeming it.

You can talk about the holocaust as much as you like, but as soon as they've heard that word for the one millionth time, they will start to ignore you and begin to question such mindless memorization of a single topic.

Being half German myself, there is no doubt in my mind that Germans are getting tired of being labeled members of the NASDP. What about the German heroes in history? Huh? Or are we always portrayed as villains?

Kristopher Drake, Los Angeles, United States

Heaven is a place where:
The lovers are Italian
The cooks are French
The mechanics are German
The police are English
The government is run by the Swiss
-----------
Hell is a place where:
The lovers are Swiss
The cooks are English
The mechanics are French
The police are __________

Dan, Astro, Turf

Perhaps Jewish children should be taught about the Naqba, the Zionist holocaust against the Palestinians which, come to think of it, continues to this very day. Collective guilt cuts all ways. If todays' Germans must accept responsibility for what happened in 1933-45, then ALL of today's Jews must bear responsibility for what is happening in occupied Palestine RIGHT NOW.

Alan Cohen, New York, NY

I lived in Germany for over 20 years and I was tired and sick to hear the same simphony of the holocaust, of the abuse to jewish people but nobody, not even the Germans could even say what they had in their heart about how they were abused and their families were killed buy a monster called Hitler manufactured by the Americans and the British.

Good about the Germans, it is about time to stop the explotaition of the German people with guilt , guilt about what??? The Jewish people of the world have been collecting trillions of dollars from all over the world and specially from the Germans.The Germans suffered during the world war II and millions of them died and were murdered. TIME FOR YOU GERMANY TO SPEAK UP!!!!!

Cristina, Pueblo Viejo,

For god's sake - how much holocaust rubbish can the German people put up with?
It spure propaganda, and if the truth be told, still debatable - but as governments legislate that it cannot be debated, one thinks it is not all as it seems.

Well done on the younger generation saying enough is enough.

Kris, London,

Prejudice in the form of race, religion, gender, cast , region or language is always such a destructive force but those who propagate it are often impervious to the suffering they cause.
It is instructive of human behaviour when you see the level of Palestenian suffering and dehumanisation caused by Isreal and the near unanimous jewish support for it. When will Jews and their friends be able to empathise with the horrendous suffering and injustice that they continue to visit on Palestenians.
When is the suffering of a people worthy of concern and who decides.

steadfast, London,

Holocaust-ism fits all the criteria of a religion. It should be treated as such.

michael hersch, Cinti, Ohio

It will propably take one more generation till the Germans
face the facts. They will keep paying the Israelis for many years to come.
But I think they are waking up, slowly.

Kostas, Thessaloniki, Greece

Finally the Germans are waking up! Good on them! They have been used enough.

Nitupsar, Manila, PIs

No one can deny how brutal and terrible the holocaust was but in saying this it is not fair to keep on beating the German people of today. They are not responsible for the past actions.

As a young man I grew up hating Germans even though this war happened happened 60 years ago and had nothing to do with todays Germans. Why did I hate them so much? Because of all the movies showing how evil they were.

I had family in Greece who were killed during the Greek invasion by the Germans, But I hold absolutely no resentment now towards the Germans of today as they are just people like you and I.

I think its disgusting they should have the holocaust shoved into their face in every waking moment of their lives.

Give them a break!

Steve, Sydney, Australia

Is this really a surprise?

How is the 60 year old jewish holocaust still so relevant when israel is responsible for the Palestinian holocaust and there are present day holocausts taking place in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Thomas, New York,

My grandfather was in the KKK in Texas for many years and died way before I was ever born. It's quite possible that he participated in the lynching of blacks. But do I need someone reminding me of that fact over and over and over again? I didn't do any of it. I don't belong to the KKK or have any sympathy for that group, or any other KKK affiliated group. But, if I was constantly reminded of that in movies, in ceremonies, in mandatory 'education' and 're-education' classes about it, it would only make me resent the message and the persons delivering it. I can't feel guilty about what someone else has done. And, I can only feel pity for someone's misfortunes for so long. Many have had enough of the Holocaust. Please, no more Holocaust movies, no more pity party ceremonies, no more re-education classes. Enough! Get on with your lives and quit trying to squeeze another dime from the decendants of your torturers. Otherwise, the resentment will build and it will happen AGAIN!!!!

Edgar, Fort Worth, Texas

Max from Somerset: you are only partially right. In Ukraine attempts have been made to declare the famine- genocide of 1932-33 an act of genocide. Heads of state and parliaments of other countries have done so. Much is also being made to introduce the famine into the curriculum at many school levels. In Russia Stalin is making something of a comeback. Nostalgia for his rule is increasing as it begins to assert a more authoritarian attitude. Many in Russia have expressed outrage over Ukraine's decision to commemorate the famine more frequently and to put more effort into educating its citizens. The Russian government has expressed great concern over this. Latvia already has a museum of Soviet occupation. Very inpressive. Be wary of a resurgent Russia.

Myron, Boston, MA

i agree with the students nobody i know in the world wants to hear it anymore stop going on about the holocoust enough emotional blackmail.

and by the way its not just the germans they are trying to use the holocoust to blackmail its pretty much the whole world yes the very peaple who faught in WW2 to save the jews from the nazis.

quit exagerating what happened quit whining about it just leave it in the past.

ian, porth, rhondda cynon taf, wales, uk

we all think that ever since the end of WWII, we hear nothing but holocost, as if no other nations suffers nor other groups been killed in the war, and it is so buased to hear only holocost. everyday in our lives, every motion picture, every newspaper, magazine, I think its a deliberate propaganda to circumvent other facts. i do not deny holocost, but its time to equally mention and honor the others. Poles,Russians,Gypsys,and many many other nations who suffered more than jews, of a great numbers, Stalingrad alone is 20million, not including the rest of Russia, and millions of Germans as well, during and after the war, Allied air forces heavy bombardments destroyed most of the cities and towns. whats fair is fair, war is war. just now in this moment see how many innocent people are massacred in Iraq, Palestine, isnt this worth mentioning?. human being is human being, jews and goyims alike. stop pushing the holocost propaganda. It will react sooner or later. people are no stupid.

abdul, Beirut, Lebanon

THe problem may lie in you can only push collective guilt for so long, perhaps this generation, 62 years on, are angered by association. Britain was responsible for the first concentration camps, I very much doubt that many British schoolchildren are aware of this. I am unsure of Henri's point, prior to the Holocaust, The Persians attempted to eradicate whole swathes of Peoples, as did other Nationalities through the ages. Hitler not only attacked the Jews, He attacked Homosexuals, the disabled and communists. 6 million dead is horrific.... Stalin barbarically murdered 20 million of his own people.
Are Russian schoolchildren taught that?.

Max, Somerset, UK

I agree with Ad and Rohan. In all societies there are far left and far right aspects which will attempt to gain attention. As an Expat also living in Hamburg I can state that most of the Germans my age understand that the Nazi actions were unacceptable; but they believe that today they are citizens of the world. Although not wanting to forget the past they ask us all to look at the future, and not harp on about the actions of their grandparents or great grandparents. Seems interesting to me that after the World Cup everyone said what a great place Germany was. In my opinion there are more racists and neo-Nazi in the Southern States of the USA then there are in whole of Germany.

Philip , hamburg,

It is no surprise that after two generations of overwhelming state-imposed flagellation that Germans and others in the West are begining to ask for it to stop. A healthy society cannot exist when its people are continually told that by being born of a certain culture that they must forever carry the burden of the actions taken by their forefathers for which they had no control over.

Dave, Washington, DC

This is tomorrow’s police force of Germany, my alarm clock starts ringing.
These police cadets should be dismissed immediately, not even be allowed to become street cleaner’s!
It also shows how damn dead the European agenda has become, which Merkel will
proclaim to restore this weekend!!!

ewald widiner, shanghai, china

There can be few souls left in this world who are unfamiliar with the latent beastliness in the German breast. It should be no suprise to any of us that this vicious and fanatical race still harbours old enmities.

John Brinkton-Blyton, Glastonbury, UK

Hi,
I can only agree with: 'That germans in general are being sick of being held responsible for something what has been done in Germany's name decades before'.
Mr. Henry: Living in Australia; your ancestors killed and surpressed and still surpress the Native Australians, right? How much is this topic given space in your schools or medias. Is it on TV every day? Is it in the news every day? Sorry, but you don't count here.
Don't forget, that during the WWII periode, there were many non-Germans in so called 'Nazi' or National organisation all over the world. Every heard of the foreign SS Divisions?
So why are the Germans always being blamed?
Nevermind.
I'm German and I live in the UK. Luckily here, I'm not made to feal guilty about what my GreatGrandFather might or might not have been doing.
And for the Jews, as much as I respect them, they should clean up there own States politics before starting to shout and point fingers.

Andreas, Royston, Herdfordshire / UK

Neo-Nazism may be on the rise, but we need better analysis other than all German people today are still stained by the original sin of their predecessors. You shouldn't carry the blame for something you're not responsible for. We should be asking how the cancer started that eventually led to the Holocaust, and how we can prevent it. In Zimbabwe today, for instance, if you're a member of the security forces, and you don't carry out an order to target a member of the opposition, you and your property will become a target. Drawing the lessons from that, if you start out with a terrible idea that a group of people are inferior, ally that to an organisation which demands "unconditional" loyalty, this can eventually regress to a holocaust....The best buffer between us and this happening again is to identify how we can progress as human beings.

Pat, Dublin, Ireland

''Germans are still being made to pay for the sins of their fathers''
I've never heard anything so ridiculous. We are missing the point, the problem isn't that people are fedup with hearing about the holocaust, because really, who cares what these kids think, they are being taught history. The point is that there seems to be a growing trend of neo-naziism in Germany, something that some people choose to ignore

Nim , Warwickshire, UK

I don't think the police cadets are neo-Nazi, but they could become Nazi if you force them to listen always the same history about Germany. Remember that it was the punitive Treaty of Versailles one of the causes of the birth of Nazism. Herny Kissinger said Versailes' Treaty was a very big mistake. May be the German cadets are only tired to be considered Nazi only because they are Germans. Are Brits obsessed by Germany?

lisa, florence, italy

That children and the youth are impatient, ungrateful and don't really understand or appreciate their own past is nothing new. I just hope they find alternative ways of amusing themselves.

Cam, Oslo, Norway

"Education to ensure that an ethnic group will not be erased from the face of the planet"

Henri - what about the other holocausts which have occured since and for which there are no on going education programs.

NANKING - BALKANS - RAWANDA - DAFUR - PALESTINE.

There are none. And never will be.

Why must the Germans continue to pay for something two generations ago? Germany has paid its debt, and the black arm band view of its history and nationalism must end.

But I fear some will never let it forget.

Alex, Southampton, UK

Rohan is right, young Germans are fed up with having the Holocaust shoved down their throats. I too have a half German son and I wouldn't dream of lecturing him about national guilt. After all for any kid today in his teens it would be possible that it was his great grandfather who fought in the war. The German guilt about Nazis is equalled by the British obession with Hitler. At his boarding school in England my son was dubbed 'Nazi' and continually taunted by English boys. He had to ask me what on earth Nazi meant. And as for Friedman, well wasn't this the same man involved in a sex and drugs scandal a short while ago? And has Friedman complained that these men, who should have known better, called him a despicable Jew? Did Friedman ever complain about them? Yes, Rohan has my support, linking the Neo-Nazi scene to this incident is superficial journalese.

John Walter, Bonn, Germany

At this point in their history, Germans are not being "beaten with the stick of the holocaust" (an ironic image) -- it is just a matter of continuing education. And this education is alive and available in most of the Western democracies. The German people have worked hard to overcome their history, probably harder than we in the U.S. have worked to overcome the stain of slavery and racism. But when this strain of Anti-Semitism is in the ranks of people who are entrusted with protecting everybody, it should raise alarm bells. I understand Mr. Davies' point -- sometimes repeating a lesson over and over makes the learner tired and irritable. But as Cambodia, Darfur, and the Balkans show, the lesson really has not been learned and the 'education' must go on.

G Cinnamon, San Clemente, California, USA

As an ex-pat living in Germany, I can only concur with what Rohan of Brisbane said.
Holocaust education is on every school curriculum in Germany. There are frequent TV programmes covering the topic of Nazi Germany and a lot of publicly-funded activity for other educational, etc purposes.
If I were a young German, I too would probably be absolutely sick of being made to feel responsible for something which happened at least 2 generations ago. This can only play into the hands of a distinct minority of local racists.
How would young Britons feel to be reminded every day that they are tainted by the murky history of Empire? Tony Blair is only the latest PM to avoid giving an apology for Britain's historical role in the slave trade whereas even young Germans are still being made to pay for the sins of their fathers. At what point does it stop?

Ad, Hamburg, Germany

We only have neo nazi problems in parts of eastern germany in economicly weak regions where every intelligent person already left and basicaly young dumb unemployed people live. (the funny thing is that in fact nearly no foreigners live in these areas)
The german attitude towards the holocaust should change a little from the feeling of eternal guilt to a more reasonable one. for example i find it quite paradox that denying the holocaust is illegal in a country that claims to guarantee the freedom of speech.
You can't forbid silliness and the processes against holocaust deniers give those idiots the medias attention which is exactly what they want.

Florian Bartels, Cologne, Germany

It is a sad fact that among us Germans every rise of patriotic pride inevitably seems to get mixed with elements of neonazi thinking. Apparently, a certain esteem for the might of the Third Reich is undeniably still present among a sizeable element in our population. It seems this has even increased after reunification and the decision to shift the capital back from modest Bonn to Berlin, the grand capital of the Prussians and the Nazis. This move inevitably brought along a new (and, at the same time, much older) sense of national identity that may have been responsible for tearing down some of the inhibitions that had existed before.

Peter Simon, Cologne, Germany

Rohan misses the point. It is not murder or blame, it is education to ensure that a whole population, and make no mistake it is a whole population bar only a minute handful of people, can not and will never again look to erase an ethnic group from the face of the planet.
Mores the pity that instead, the holocaust has proved to only be a guide for others to mimick the world over.
The education must continue.
We must all strive to remember, so as to learn what NOT to do, to see the signs and not to pretend it does not exist.
Yes my kids dislike the repitition of education, from maths to sport as those with the little minds in the German police school. Does that mean we should stop or continue with renewed vigour?

Henri, Australia,

I think attributing this episode to neo-nazi activity is a little presumtuous. Whilst I agree the problem of neo-nazism and anti-semitism exists and is probably on the rise, the reality is that many younger Germans are probably sick and tired of being beaten with the stick of the holocaust. Would we presume that the children of a convicted murderer are equally likely to murder? I believe this kind of 'education' of the young in Germany only fuels resentment in the young and thereby plays into the hands of the far-right.
My son is half- German and will learn about many things from history, including the holocaust. I would be horrified to discover however, that he could sill be considered culpable, having been born over 60 years after the war ended.

Rohan Davies, Brisbane, Australia

You cannot force young people to feel guilty for what they have no responsability. If you do, you have no idea of history. The result of this policy in Italy is that in the universities no Israeli professor
can give a conference, because of the protests of leftist students. Radical leftist burn Israeli flags and accuse Israeli government to be Nazi. They are not neo-Nazi, they think Holocaust is the worst event in history, they listened Holocaust's testimonies and went to Auschwitz every year with their teachers in secondary schools. They are not Catholics, their parents are leftist, they hate Fascism, Nazism, capitalism, United States, the Brits because of colonialism, the West. They consider the Palestinians the new Jews and support Palestianian and Iraqi resistence because Italian books of history speak well only of Italian resistence against Fascism and Nazism.
If you teach that history is only a fight between evil and good, people have no sense of history.

lisa, florence, italy

Perhaps it is the feeling that the Holocaust guilt must be inherited by young Germans which grates on them, like some kind of alternate Original Sin, bestowed by popular demand? Germany was not and is not the site of total evil, or supreme anti-semitism, regardless of the acts perpetrated there in the middle of the last century. Every developed nation on this planet built itself on the bones and blood of victims and whilst it might not sit well with those of the Jewish faith, they are simply one grouping amongst countless others that have been brutally sacrificed to achieve a goal. I might suggest that some Germans are getting heartily sick of the perpetual anti-Germanism that is ceaselessly throw in their face abroad AND in their own country, which can only contribute to the cause of the neo-nazis...

Bruce Haig, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

this is not news,
anti jewish and neo nazi police were part of the Hessen Police Force in the year as far back as 1985.

But the cadets do have a point,...how much longer do young Germans have to hear about the Jews grief.
The Jews do not hold compulsory awareness programs to foster sympathy for the Arabs and Muslims the Jews murder and torture each day in prison camps , or shoot in cold blood on the streets of Tel Aviv, Lebanon, Gaza.
The prominent Jews are very quick to lecture the Brits to have Bereavement Counseling (Marjorie Proops, Claire Raynor etc,..)
Time they done the same

ab, london,

I think the holocaust tale has been on for to long, this was a natural reaction by young cadets, it would happen any where in the world, even USA or UK. Historically about 20 million Russian, 10 million Germans, 9 million Japanese, about 25 million Chinese died due to atrocities of war. Trying to rub in only the Jews is putting people off. The record also shows that many families supposed to have died in holocaust, after the war had bought up all french riviera in different names after the war.

Khalid Mian, London, UK

One can get tired of listening to the same story, don't you think?
Especially if you're forced to sit through it, and you had nothing
to do with the events that gave birth to it in the first place. I don't see the Yanks being forced to sit through Hiroshima talks, or the Brits for some of the
lovely blood-letting they performed in India.

Eugene, Heidelberg, germany