Made in Germany - change?

scintilla

Mon, Dec 25 2023, 11:53 pm

Recent events have made me wonder...

If you previously did not buy things made in Germany, would you change that now in light of them coming out so strongly in support of Israel? This isn't a political discussion, rather that I've found it so interesting recently how Germany has been such an ally to Israel and how the world has shifted so much in terms of who our friends and enemies are.

Personally I was raised not to buy German products and I generally don't but now I'm not sure what I will do going forward.

And yes cannot discount the points of how it's their government not necessarily the citizens, how they've not been perfect either, how not everyone cares to buy from them etc...

Late night musings!

Success10

Tue, Dec 26 2023, 1:50 am

I think the point of not buying German (I might be wrong) was to not in any way give money to someone who might have been complicit in the killing of Jews. As long as ex-Nazis are still alive, I would assume it's still a no no to buy German.

grace413

Tue, Dec 26 2023, 5:14 am

always try to avoid buying things made in Germany. The joke is that it's more difficult to avoid in Israel than the US.

Nothing they do now changes what they did in the past.

Elfrida

Tue, Dec 26 2023, 5:34 am

Success10 wrote:

My grandfather told my father not to buy a German car. So he didn't.

I consider it ironic that living in Israel I ride on German made buses almost every day.

Angel

Tue, Dec 26 2023, 7:19 am

We were careful not to buy only certain companies since they were nazi affiliated during the war. My holocaust surviving grandfather was horrified when he heard my husband talk about leasing a ford.

eduardo

Tue, Dec 26 2023, 7:28 am

I buy German products, I drive a German car

I don’t believe that because someone’s parents or grandparents or great-grandparents did something horrible, every generation after needs to pay the price for it

singleagain

Tue, Dec 26 2023, 8:35 am

Do you know that Germany actually very strongly teaches world war II in a? This should never happen again way.

Laiya

Tue, Dec 26 2023, 8:40 am

singleagain wrote:

Do you know that Germany actually very strongly teaches world war II in a? This should never happen again way.

Yup. Germany is one of Israel's closest allies and trade partners.

They recently made it a crime to say From the river to the sea...

scintilla

Sun, Dec 31 2023, 2:30 pm

Oops I forgot to come back to this thread. Bumping it now for others to see, curious to hear more thoughts.

So I hear what everyone's saying, I think it's more of an emotional thing than a logical one for most people. The way I felt a revulsion just having a stopover in Germany on the way home from EY once. Not so much an intellectual consideration of who will benefit from my dollars more of an ideology.

So it begs the question if now we should davka be supporting those that support Israel, does that change things towards Germany?

Ridethewaves

Sun, Dec 31 2023, 3:17 pm

I mean, I still hold a lot of revulsion towards xianity and it's been a long time since an inquisition, pogrom, crusade etc. I'm nice to everyone I meet but tbh I'm afraid of most non jews no matter how many nice ones there are.

Bnei Berak 10

Sun, Dec 31 2023, 3:31 pm

Laiya wrote:

Yup. Germany is one of Israel's closest allies and trade partners.

They recently made it a crime to say From the river to the sea...

Good
The Germans are pretty strict about things that can be seen as having a connection to the nazis. There are certain letter combinations on license plates on cars which are by law forbidden.

MiracleMama

Sun, Dec 31 2023, 4:14 pm

Elfrida wrote:

My grandfather told my father not to buy a German car. So he didn't.

I consider it ironic that living in Israel I ride on German made buses almost every day.

First time I was in Israel (this is going back maybe 40 years?) I was stunned to see all the taxis were Mercedes Benz. I was told it was part of the reparations from the war. No idea if this is anything to do with current day busses.

leah233

Sun, Dec 31 2023, 4:27 pm

Thirty years ago I and most people I knew did not use German products. Today I don't see the issue.

No one who had any personal participation in the holocaust is young enough to be involved in any German businesses. People don't deserve to be punished for what their ancestors did. That is like certain American groups demanding reparations for slavery

scintilla

Sun, Dec 31 2023, 4:51 pm

Ridethewaves wrote:

I mean, me too on some level but if I didn't buy products made by a נוצרי I'd be limiting my options a little too much...

scintilla

Sun, Dec 31 2023, 4:52 pm

Fast Forward wrote:

As a child of Holocaust survivors, I will never buy German made products.

I totally get that. Do you think that would ever change? Do you think it should?

Fast Forward

Sun, Dec 31 2023, 5:40 pm

[quote="scintilla"]I totally get that. Do you think that would ever change? Do you think it should?[/quote

It will never change for me. My grown up children know how I feel. I'm sure my younger grandchildren do not. They are too removed from it and unfortunately never knew my parents A"H. Should it change? That is a good question. I am honestly not sure. Logically, I should say that it should change. Unfortunately, I am not too logical on this topic. Never had any grandparents, lost lots of aunts, uncles and cousins. It is very hard for me to be impartial.

scintilla

Sun, Dec 31 2023, 6:04 pm

[quote="Fast Forward"]

scintilla wrote:

I totally get that. Do you think that would ever change? Do you think it should?[/quote

It will never change for me. My grown up children know how I feel. I'm sure my younger grandchildren do not. They are too removed from it and unfortunately never knew my parents A"H. Should it change? That is a good question. I am honestly not sure. Logically, I should say that it should change. Unfortunately, I am not too logical on this topic. Never had any grandparents, lost lots of aunts, uncles and cousins. It is very hard for me to be impartial.

No need to be logical, I think it makes a lot of sense...