svs

Not true, they make a damn godd champagne and pretty decent crepes.

glyn

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Semper in excretum. Solum profunda variat.

T_igger_cs_30

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FEAR NAUGHT

I don't work here ...I am an analyst!

RustyBattleship

I don't like their crepes. I prefer my wife's Hungarian Polacheentah instead.

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Able to leap tall tales in a single groan.

svs

Say whatever you want about the French. They do know how to cook.

RustyBattleship

Matter of personal preference here. My wife can cook in several languages (as she speaks three already but refuses to swear in German as I do). She is an excellent cook and is NOT stupid enough like some French "Chefs" to lay 24 karat gold leaf as a dessert topping. An absolute waste and the people who pay and eat it are even more stupid.

Hey Honey! Take a break tonight. I'll fire up the Barbie and throw a couple of Porterhouses on it. Or do prefer ribs? You can serve your Chicken Paprikash tomorrow and this weekend you can do your Mexican and Chinese recipes. Italian is fine on Monday.

And when are you going to make Moh-Dah-Tay (Bird's milk) again? Our house eaves are full of Wrens and I have a special pair of tweezers to milk their - oh, never mind - bad joke. (Moh-Dah-Tay is actually a special dessert of egg whites - from chickens - not European Starlings).

Come to think of it, I'm not too fond of most Greek food either after spending a few weeks in Athens.

svs

I've rarely seen gold leaf in french cooking. The most common gold leaf in food that I have seen is the gold leaf thrown in some German liquors such as Jagermeister. None the less you sound like a lucky man to have a wife who can cook and talk to you sweetly in three tongues.

Kansas Bear

What's wrong with swearing in German, RB? I rattle of a few phrases now and then(of what I can remember )....

BBwarrior

I know this doesn't count, but I decided what the heck, i'll post it anyways..

My favorite defunct 'territory' was the province of East Prussia. My mother was born in the city of Insterburg, just before Germany invaded the USSR. IMHO, the people of East Prussia suffered tremendously during the forced expulsions at the end of the war. Obviously, this is a direct consequence of having launched a failed war of aggression. However, I believe the people of East Prussia, along with Silesia and Pommern became the scapegoats of Hitler's defeat and megalomania. The Allies abandoned their own principles (Atlantic Charter, Hague Conventions) in the treatment of the German's inhabiting these areas. A good book to read about this issue is by Alfred-Maurice de Zayas entitled "A Terrible Revenge: The Ethnic Cleansing of the East European Germans.

Here are a few pics of old East Prussia, including maps, pics of Konigsburg Castle, and after it's destruction - the House of Soviets. Comments?

Attached Images

	556px-East_Prussia_1923-1939.png (148.2 KB, 52 views)
	440px-Königsberg_Castle.jpg (58.2 KB, 51 views)
	Malbork_zamek_zblizenie.jpg (67.2 KB, 52 views)
	436px-Dom_sovetov.jpg (104.1 KB, 52 views)
	Germanborders.png (18.1 KB, 52 views)

LetsTalk

Great Pics, however I have little sympathy for Germany's loses of WWII

BBwarrior

My sympathy lies with the fact that the forced removal of a population is wrong and frankly, a crime against humanity - regardless of their national origin. (The US went to war with Serbia over issues of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo).

Even though these are Germans we're talking about, those inhabitants of East Prussia retained their fundamental human rights. IMHO, it is disingenuous to suggest that what occurred to the civilian population of the eastern German territories was somehow 'OK' and justified, while at the same time condemning the expulsion policies of the Nazi's.

I am not in any way condoning the Nazi government or their policies. What I, and the book A Terrible Revenge suggest, is the Eastern German refugee experience should not be buried and hidden away as' forgotten history.'

cesm

It's a part of WWII and it should be remembered, as well as the other drama of this period. But it's hard not to react as LetsTalk.
I went in Dresden and saw some pictures of the bombing. Hard to see, yes. But I haven't felt very sorry. Maybe to many bombs on not-german cities before the flame return...

Notice the east polish border has been changed, too. It was in favour of USSR and I don't know how many Polish had to move (and in which conditions).

(Little personnal story : my grandfather was a POW in a german place which is now in Poland.)

LetsTalk

I understand and respect your views, at least the Germans of Poland, Czechoslovakia, and from other Easter European countries had a place to go to. And Germany was large enough to accept all the refugees.

You bring up the Balkans, there is no comparison in terms of what the Serbs did and what Germany did. I recommend some Balkan History, here is a quote from Wikipedia

"The post-World War II Yugoslavia was in many respects a model of how to build a multinational state. The Federation was constructed against a double background: an inter-war Yugoslavia which had been dominated by the Serbian ruling class; and a war-time slaughter in which the Nazis made use of the earlier Serbian oppression to use Croatian fascism for barbarous acts against the Serbs and also exploited anti-Serb sentiment amongst the Kosovar Albanians - and some elements in the Bosnian Muslim population - to bolster their rule."
Invasion of Yugoslavia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yugoslavia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

These ethic tensions never disappeared, they all committed atrocities,the Serbs were simply the strongest party involved. And in many ways they were the only ones really punished, everybody else barely got a slap on the arm. IMO opinion they were all guilty. The Muslim Bosnians for the most part were the biggest victims and the ones that for the most part had the most to lose with the civil war (smallest entity).

Going back to Germany, in many ways the expulsion of Germans was also done to prevent possible future wars.

On a personal note. My father's father lost both legs, fighting the Germans in Greece, he died shortly afterwards, days before my father was born. My grand mother also adopted a Jewish girl and renamed her Maria to hide her from the Germans and Italians, she hid inside a small shed they had for 3 whole years. They already had 7 kids of their own. The occupation of Greece was not the most pleasant, many during the occupation died from starvation, and as reprisal killings for the Greek resistance. The Germans had a policy of killing 20-40 civilians for every German killed by the resistance. My mothers parents were luckier, they left Slovakia (Czechoslovakia) and their home, to escape the Nazis & the Communists and came to the states.

Personally I have much respect for todays Germany, a great and peaceful nation today.