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It's ok to be proud of your own achievements, but if you don't have anything achieved to be proud of. Then the only thing that's left is national pride. You should read Schopenhauer, a german philosopher, he said "national pride is the cheapest form of pride".So true! I am just happy to be born and raised in Germany!

I‘m not proud of being born in Germany but I feel lucky that I was.

"It was another flag". That's true. And i would say most germans don't have any problems with our flag. But we don't have much feelings seeing it. It is just our logo. Not more, not less. It is okay to be at a gouvernment building, or to mark a team on tv in an international sports event. When someone is wavin the flag, it is not the flag that makes us suspicios. It is the act of waving it. Then we want to know the reasons behind it. We know the reason behind it, when it comes to a football match. Many germans find it silly too to wave the national flag there, but it does no harm. But waving a national flag for nationalistic reasons does harm. And thats what we don't like. The design of the flag is not the problem here. And patriotism is not far away from nationalism. Thats why many germans don't trust patriotism. But this is not the case for all germans. Just today german twitter was burning, because the CDU (our center right party) announced, that they want a program for more german patriotism. They want more german flags and more singing of the anthem. And there are germans that support such things. But until today i am sure it is a minority. And i personally hope that this will never change.

what's interesting to me as a german is how americans always talk about this as if it's an issue or problem that germans aren't patriotic, a tragic consequence of the past, and not just a different way of living.. i certainly don't feel like i'm missing out on anything just because i'm not patriotic

I really am proud of not being proud.

In the 80s, during the Cold War military planes constantly flew over populated areas often causing supersonic booms, annoying citizens and scaring little children...

I think, pride should be felt for things, that are in ones own responsibility. Being born german (or being born american) or being of a certain skin colour is no reason for pride, because such things are not influenced by yourselves.

This is very interesting even to a German - a good thing to see an outside view. Personally, I subscribe to the "not my achievement, so no pride" stance. Knowing that my cultural and linguistic roots are here, I certainly identify as German. That's who I am. But I think that many Germans are pretty aware that other countries (we're surrounded by neighbouring countries with pretty different cultures) have their own pros and cons. And so, this idea of being exceptional is probably not there. AND we have the clear historic knowledge that feeling exceptional can lead to some catastrophic results.

Here in Germany all education is paid for by the government. Even the children learn our constitution, at least the first article: "Human dignity is inviolable." - This is our "Basic Law" (aka Grundgesetz). And I'm proud of that and I get angry real quick when someone breaks it.

Nalf is pretty on point. He describes us well. But I for one am proud to be german somehow because you foreigners call us friendly and helpfull.

"Creepy indoctrination" is really polite for outright facist ... Which is the vibe it gives me.

Right from the start you hear: You can't be proud of Germany. The color of the flag doesn't matter...

My Dad explain me that for him our national flag means Black: from a dark time Red: with the blood from our Ancestors Gold : to a golden future And this is how i explain my daughter the symbolic from our national flag

There are different things going on. One of them is just a different definition of "proud", which can be more or less limited to own achievements. But that is not the whole story. Even if you do not ask, if people are proud of their country, but if they are fond of it, you would often not get a "yes, very much" as an answer. Mine would be: "Hell no, I am not crazy". And the reason is not, that I do not know hundreds of things which I like a lot about the country I was born in. I do. The reason is, that I also know the not so good, the bad, the pure evil stuff and things that are broken and desparately need repair. That does not make everything bad, but it absolutely forbids, to just be proud or fond of the whole thing and pretend to forget about that. And the "problem" here is not, that I am a grumpy german who cannot overlook anything, that is not based in pure facts. I can enjoy local patriotism - because it is harmless here and now. The state isn´t. It still has tanks and is responsible for actions which affect (and in some cases takes) the live of people here and in other parts of the world. It is incredibly dangerous to glorify such a thing. There is absolutely nothing good about patriotism. See the good stuff, be happy about it, see the bad stuff, be upset about it. Then you can also try to fight for more of the good stuff and get rid of some of the bad. And I never ever need to think, that something must be good, just because it is my country which does it. And I do not even believe, that it is "my" country, when I (and most people I know) own allmost nothing of it. And I do not need to feel artificially close to the few, who do own most of it. Lack of patriotism and pride is not a consequence of the dark past, the stain on history, without which I would gladly call myself a partriot. It is a lesson, that patriotism about a nation, is a weapon. And for most of us, it is a weapon, that only works against ourselfes and against those things, which we hold dear.

The regional rivalry thing is so true. I'm from the black forest, from a town with 7k inhabitants. We are SWORN MORTAL ENEMIES with a place two towns over, which has maybe 4k or 5k inhabitants and it also goes way back. It goes back to the times of the Zähringer ruling in the black forest in perhaps the 12th or 13th century. My hometown was originally the residency of the Zähringer, because it was the economic center of the region, because it was the biggest town, it had a silver mine and it was an important market place. But the people in my town were known for being rebellious and constantly demanding more rights of self determination. So, the Zähringer moved their capital towards that other town, including most government institutions, like the court of the region. Until this day, the regional court is still located in that other town for that reason and we hate them for that. But they hate us, because as a town we are more succesfull than them, richer. And we achieved to have the police office, responsible for the region be moved into our town, which previously was located in their town. Also, they are forced to participate in the Fastnacht parade of our town once every year, because the deceased leader of their Fastacht organisation willed it in his last wish and they hate us for that even more.

The regional rivalries are just kind of sports in Germany.

When I was young I went to Spain with my parents. We lived there partly because my father supported a German factory there. On weekends we drove all over Spain and view everything. We were more interested in the backland than in the tourist-crammed coastal towns. Our car was a German car, with a German number plate and the then obligatory country sticker. A capital D for Deutschland on a white background. One day we discovered a wonderful lake in a picturesque setting. Little houses were built into the lake at the end of long jetties, it was great. Unfortunately, this was a coincidence, because we had mercilessly lost our way and didn't know where we were. There was no internet to go back then. We saw a family pull up in a Spanish car, stop in front of one of the jetties and then they started carrying their groceries into their house. My parents both spoke Spanish and my father said: "I'll just ask them where we are!" got out and approached them. Suddenly they became hectic, grabbed their children and their purchases and started running. My father used to call out "Hello, can I ask you something please?" and run after them. They dropped their things and sprinted into the house and slammed the door. My father and none of us could explain it, so he knocked on the door and said: "Sorry to disturb you, but we're lost and we just want to know where we are and how to get from here!". Then the door opened a crack and the man peeked out and asked quietly: "You're lost?" My father said: "Yes, we don't know what to do and need help!" The door opened a little further and he said: "Oh, we thought because you are Germans..." and my father: "Yes, we are, but why are you running away?" and he says very quietly: "Because we are Jews!" … As the war ended, my parents were small children, they didn't notice anything anymore. The memory is held up as a warning in Germany, but being affected yourself just because you're German is a completely different experience. We were extremely ashamed and the shock is still in my bones today. But that's exactly why we can't show that we're proud of our country. I am, but mostly because of what we've made of ourselves, out of our past.

Most Germans - me included - tend to feel uncomfortable with the concept of nationalism and national pride due to the cruelties which happened in the name of their nation during Nazism. The national colors - black, red and gold - luckily weren't compromised by Hitler in these bad and extraordinary twelve years of history and so they are still valid to represent the German nation as a modern democracy with human rights and an advanced civilization. That's why I think our national flag is completely ok, even if I don't want to show it or see it all the time like an US-American.

Nalf is completly right. Our patriotism (except for the national soccer or handball team) is deeply rooted in our home region and/or home state. And especialy in those regions with long history (which goes way back before anybody was talking about Germany) there is merchandize, not only in Bavaria. Some states were only build after ww2, there you would most likely find less state related patriotism, like in Lower Saxony. But Lower Saxony was build out of different fromer dukedoms, kingdoms and so on and therefore you will find patriotism regarding to those former sovereign regions. F.e. the state Bavaria contains not only the region of one of the old German tribes of the Bajuwaren, but also the region of Franconia, with is the root of the even older Germanic tribe of the Francs. The France foundet the first big Empire in Middle Europe after the fall of the West-Roman Empire und Charles the Great and the country France has it's name from them (and funny enough not from the Gauls of which heritage the French are so proud ;-) ). But the Francs startet in the north of nowadays Bavaria, but they lost their power in the German speaking countries and came under Bavarian rule. But never say to a Franc, that he or she is a Bavarian ;-) Similar the state in the west to Bavaria: Baden-Württemberg was only created in 1953. Before that there had been three states. The region was inhabited by two Germanc tribes: Allamannen and Sueben. To put it simple: The Alamannen settled in Switzerland and mixed with the celtic Helvetian and in the north of today Switzerland building the later German state of Baden. The bigger part of Baden-Württemberg was built by the Swabian (Sueben) (later the kingdom of Württemberg) (and even a part in the west of Bavaria belonged to the Sueben/Swabia therefore modern day Bavaria contains (parts of) the original settlements of three Germanic tribes). Fun Fact: A lot of European states have their name for the country Germany regarding to their first encounter with a Germanic tribe: Italy: Tedesco, France: Allemange and so on...

In high school (many years ago) a German exchange student showed up to class one morning and when everyone stood to say the pledge, I glanced at her, curious about what one does in her situation, and she was looking around in complete wide-eyed shock. I just thought "yeah, same, it's dumb as hell." but when I grew up, I realized what her shock was really about.

Patriotism is not to hang on front of your house a flag from your country, its in your heart.

The thing is this sort of indroctinating Patriotism is awfully close to "We are better than you" and that can change really quick to "we are better, so we deserve more stuff" for example your stuff or your land. And that path of thinking went very wrong in Germany once, so the only pledge i would give is "never again". That train of thought is diametrically opposed to article one of our constitution which says "Human dignity shall be inviolable". Not a germans dignity, but human dignity. I think that's why a lot of germans find the pledge and the patriotism in america so creepy. It's a completly different mindset.

The colours of the German flag date back to the Roman Empire. At the time the colours represented "Out of the blackness of servitude through bloody battles to the golden light of freedom". I wrote this down when I was a German student - it fascinated me

A jet flying over our head is defnetly a cool experience. I lived nearby an german military airfoce training gound and sometimes they did super low fly by's from the nothern sea, most scary thing i 've ever heared (my dog hated it). But concidering how much it costs to do it just for show, i'd rather not pay for that with my taxes...

Patriotism and nationalism share an astounding number of characteristics, often only distinguished by their intensity. Thus, the venn diagram of overlap between patriotism and nationalism is probably around 80-90%. You will probably understand why any form of nationalism is viewed with massive dustrust, or even hostility in modern Germany. The danger Germans have experienced in history of not being able to clearly distinguish between nationalism and patriotism, especially when in the throes of an emotionally charged atmosphere, such as a sporting event, or worse, a political exhibition, makes us take quite a few steps back, to better be able to discern if we have fallen into the trap of demagoguery again. Many Germans simply want to avoid ANY chance of being roped into a propaganda apparatus again. The easiest way to do that is to stay away from the venn diagram of patriotism during everyday life as much as possible. That's why pride in something is defined much more restrictively in Germany than in the USA. The regional 'pride' is often seen as a tongue in cheek, ribbing kind of pride. It's usually not seen as serious anymore. Sure, people from Köln will make fun of Düsseldorf, and vice versa. The two cities are merely 40 km, roughly 25 miles apart at the closest distance (or maybe even closer). The rivalry may have once been serious, but since the reunification of Germany, at the latest, this has left aggressive rivalry territory and has drifted into the joking kind. The same applies to most other local rivalries in Germany. Existing ok, acknowledged, alright; but ready to burst into a fight at the drop of a hat, nope, not anymore.

In the years 1933-1945, the black, white and red flags were waved in all places in Germany in such abundance that people had more than enough of the flag frenzy and the nationalism that went with it. Incidentally, when the Nazis burned books in public places in March 1933 that they thought were "un-German", they also burned the black, red and gold flag that stood for democracy, the republic, i.e. for everything "un-German".

I'm not proud of my country. My country has some advantages, like economic success and free education. After school, I studied engineering. Twenty years later I studied economics, and since I, of course, had to work and studied at a distant learning university, it took me more than ten years to pass all my courses and examinations. Two years before retiring I went to a university for the third time, only one afternoon per week as a visiting student not for a degree course but only for a course in climatology. But my country also has negative sides. In the late eighties, our politicians promised to fight against climate change, but since the lobbyists were against it, the fight was done only verbally and not in reality, and now we have time pressure and inflation due to energy costs because the politicians took the money but didn't do their jobs. Another thing is Hitler. After WWII and Hitler ended, the countries' leaders said they wanted to set up a better country, we got a better constitution, and most of the groups persecuted by Hitler like Jews, Gipsys, and Black people were abolished. But some of Hitler's ideas remained in the heads of many people who didn't realize they kept some of Hitler's ideas. I remember a state visit from an African country here in Germany in the early seventies and the German President started his speech with "Ladies and Gentlemen, dear Negroes". So obviously, in his mind, there were white people, which were "Ladies and Gentlemen", and black People, which were "Negroes". Another thing was Hitler's persecution of four groups. As I mentioned before, the persecution of three of those groups was abolished. The fourth group was LGBTQ, and that was abolished, too. But not after WWII. It took decades until it was canceled for adults in the seventies,, and another two decades until it was finally scrapped on June 11th, 1994 for people under 18, too, almost half a century after WWII. After the last federal election, the leader of the biggest opposition party, Mr. Merz, who might become German chancellor at the next election, was asked about his view on homosexuality. His answer was "As long as this is within the framework of the law and as long as it does not affect children - at this point, however, an absolute limit has been reached for me". Obviously, he doesn't know the difference between homosexuality and pedophilia, and his mindset is stuck in a former century. So Germany has its positive and negative sides, like other countries, too. If I look at the US, I see Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, and a bunch of other weird politicians, gerrymandering, voter suppression, suppression of books, and history by Ron DeSantis and the "war against Micky Mouse". So, I don't think I can be too proud of my country. But if I was a US citizen, I couldn't be too proud of my country either.

Other than the US, Germany is surrounded by many neighbor states, many of them suffered in WW2 under nazi-german warfare. Obviously Germany wasn´t loved by his neighbors after WW2, but it took decades to win their trust and sympathy. One key to archieve this was to avoid any expression of more or less unreflected national pride. It´s a matter of attitude. And nowadays... Germans are just not used to show pride or whatever about our national identity, and if one does, it causes irritation. So in my opinion it widely is a matter of expression, of communication rather than a somehow disturbed relationship of many individuals to their country. And: We have a bunch of idiots over here, proclaiming their "german pride" in a context of declassing others, being derogative or simply racist when it comes to people of other origin. One just doesn´t want to be suspect to share any of such ideas because of talking "german pride" or waving a flag.

I think it will take like one or two generations more in some countries (way more in certain others) to not attach Germany so directly to the nazis and it’s more then understandable this is not even 80 years ago so you can‘t expect bad memories to not influence the perception of a place

Frohen #stolzmonat an alle. 🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪

Not even in the former GDR "we celebrate the flag" every morning.

American expression of national pride looks very strange in Germany.

I am from the city of Hannover (Hanover). Our rivalry with the close by city of Braunschweig (Brunswick) also dates back to the middle ages and damn the clashes between the fans when there are football matches between the teams of the cities...oof.

I think he summed it up very well -- and my compatriots' 😉 comments are along the same lines.

Beer, cars and football are the only thing worth left here in this country. Forget about the test.

Very well explained by Nick!!!

Dude, you don't just become a "sniper" by chosing to be one at the enlistnment form. That's basic training plus all the years of specialized training you'd have to go through, to even be qualified. In this context you can't just chose your job.

I like the things he said about the alies been seen as "liberators". The US has done a big deal to settle that feeling. Even Nazi-Germany was theire enemy, the USA saved Berlin from beeing starved to death by the Russians. The "Berliner Luftbrücke" was an incredible human gesture towards the civil population of an enemy, they had been fighting against just moments ago. Berlin will always keep this memory ❤

Proud to be from brombach. Now a Part of lörrach, but i am still from brombach. Regional patriotism.

It is not about the flag as such, but its display in a manner which could imply national chauvinism - like they did with the North German flag in the Prussian German Empire and later with the Nazi flag. Germans have become distrusting to certain symbols and especially to worshipping them in any manner. The current flag was always meant as symbol of German unity, freedom and democracy (and that is exactly why the Nazis forbade it and the Prussian Emperors hated it). Therefore it is a "good" symbol, but it is tainted by the way flags were used before to take advantage of national pride. We have learned to mistrust that sort of propagated pride as well as the ideology of nationalism itself (which was by the way invented back in the 18th century to facilitate domination and control of the many by the few - it is not a natural emotion but an indoctrinated one). 10:50 That is right. Germans feel often a kind of pride for their home town or maybe a certain region of the state they live in - but only some Bavarians would feel proud of an unit as large as their state (because they were indoctrinated since generations to feel so - but most Franconians in Bavaria were able to resist to that and are proud Franconians instead). And while you'll sometimes missing the German flag at town halls, they will always display the towns flag, sometimes accompanied by the state and/or EU flag. 12:05 ... and if you ask a person from the Franconian region in Bavaria, if they are Bavarian, they will say: No, Franconian - see kzfaq.info/get/bejne/isporNucrZu8qnk.html

I think the "It's not *that* flag" argument makes a lot of sense superficially, however, it doesn't really get to the core of why Germans reject on-the-nose expressions of patriotism. The issue Germans have arrises from nationalism, the feeling your nation is inherently superior to all others. Germans broadly reject this idea, especially due to their legacy. Overt patriotism is viewed more as an extension of nationalism, or rather nationalism lite, a slippery slope from pride to supremacy. Because of this, jingoism, flagwaving and other patriotic displays are looked down upon. The mentality could go somewhat along the lines of "If you are proud of your race or the random country you were born in you must not have a lot to be proud of." This isn't to say Germans aren't patriotic in their own little ways, but usually this is more subtle. And personally, I think Germans could at times reflect on their country with a bit more pride. After all, every person in a society contributes to its collective success. So basically, in summary, the issue Germans have isn't with their flag objectively, because there's something wrong with it, or because they somehow didn't realize it wasn't a swastika anymore, they reject the patriotic display flags generally. What happened in the 30s and 40s is etched into collective memory. I think the understanding of "It's not that flag" is kind of in line with "It couldn't happen here", like evil of the swastika flag is limited to the motif as much as Nazism is limited to Germany. The truth is that the horrors of Nazi-Germany are not unique and can repeat themselves *anywhere*, including Germany, under the right conditions.

I'm proud to be German, and I'm a Patriot! For every person in this World from every country it is absolutly ok. But in Germany they say, you are a nazi. But I'm not! I love my country!!!! And I love our Hymne, and the flagg. Doesn't matter what others think!

Regional Pride - never forget that Germany is a rather new country. 100 years younger than the US, so the regional identity is deep rooted in culture.

I love germany its my homecountry. I am a Patriot but Not a nationalist, that the difference

From 1933 it was obligatory to use the greeting “Heil Hitler” with the movement of arm in schools in some states in Germany. Mark: at the beginning and end of every lesson. 1934 it was reduced to every change of teacher. That’s for me the main reason why I get very uncomfortable when greetings and pledges are enforced and even more if it is enforced on children. Enforced pledges and symbolic gestures are most likely done automatically and don’t express real commitment. Real commitment is when people do something for common goals or common environment above what they have to do, like cleaning garbage behind others in public areas/parks or engage in helping others to improve the live of us altogether. It is all about where we want to live. I want to live in a nice and safe environment so I have to engage myself in something to help that come true. It is not about what you show (or say) but what you do. The emphasizing of symbols mostly covers up some flaws.

The city rivalry thing is so true, though, even with villages 😆 It is often fun today but rooted in deeper (fo rexample political) issues in the past. There is a popular German "mock theory" that the city of Bielefeld doesn´t really exist. Someone started it at some point, and people in my town, as in other towns in my area, just love to play with this.

Flags basic purpose only comes to play with other flags around, like in a championship or on a summit , war or things like that. In everyday usage in Germany flags may mark a government building , but otherwise wouldn’t serve a purpose. Btw. the national anthem is being played at tournaments.

The irony is that wearing the US flag on T-shirts and whatnot is actually considered "disrespecting the flag". 😅

Actually you'll see many german flags in Germany e.g. at the soccer world championships. That's shown as a sign of support. You might also note the part in Nalfs video showing the townhall with absent german flag ... but there is an Ukrainian flag. This is to show support. I personally wouldn't raise a german flag, but the Ukrainian flag is hanging from my balcony.

Agree, I am glad to be born in this country and the benefits that it offers and hope we can make it even more inclusive and better for the people who choose to live. I never understood patriotism or pride in a nation, first I only contribute a minor piece to the country’s accomplishments and second it is not that Germany (or any other country) is only great. We messed up some stuff big time after 1945. The local pride thing is a thing tho. And I think that is total ridiculous too. As if one village, and I live in a small village, is better then the one 2mls down the road. But I have to confess mocking the neighboring village town and having a peaceful rivalry is really a thing.

WW2 ended 1950. the first I saw people comfortable flying the german flag was while germany hosted the world cup in 2006. ever since it's okay to drag them out during soccer events but not so much in the regular life

Because the flag thing was mentioned: I just saw a scaffolding structure today from a german building company. The scaffolding was black-red-yellow from top to bottom. I kinda wanted to take a piece of it with me xD There is a house in my town that has the old Prussia flag in it. The owner and house is kinda strange, and his dog is really aggressive, so much I drive my bike onto the opposite sidewalk just to pass his house and avoid ear damage because of the barking. The house is starting to overgrow with vines... (By the way, I leave the sidewalk and drive on the road again after passing) That is a nice idea for me: Combining the german flag with the thought of cars. I'd love to own a sniper myself one day, but I don't want to be a militarian sniper.

yelinng USA USA is not patriotism, its more a sign of being shortminded. My first question to a proud american is , is he proud how the colonists treated the native americans, is he proud (especially the guys from the southern states) how the treated their slaves, and so on and so on. Are these topics to be proud of. You should always reflect your own history, no country has a stainless history.

the thing about the flag is, that it is not about the flag itself. it is about the pride, that is being displayed by it. germans don't want to show "i am proud about germany", because they fear it might be taken the wrong way. in case of the football championship, this doesn't apply, because everyone knows how to understand it - it can't be taken the wrong way.

Iam so happy a German Peopel, the Patriot of USA is not mine....

for me as a german 'avoiding' the german flag isn't about the third reich at all (german neo-nazis usually hate our flag), but has two other main dimensions, that tbh are somewhat contradictory: a) the flag is the official symbol of the republic. as such it is an awesome political symbol for me, since i absolutely love our republic. _but_ waving it around sheepishly wouldn't really show the 'almost holy respect' i feel for our republic, so i just don't do it. (in a similar manner i don't wave around the coat of arms of the city i'm from, although i love my city.) i _might_ do that on some very special occasion in the future, but doing it on a daily basis would feel too cheap and/or 'inflationary'. b) as nalf already pointed out we germans traditionally are still quite 'tribal' and a symbol including _all_ germans (even bavarians and saxons) goes against this 'tribalism'. historically the idea that were all _one_ nation is absolutely 'ungerman', because for the most part of our history the most likely enemy of a german was another german - not a frenchy, british, russian, american and so on (even during my own childhood germany was still split into two countries with the east being 'the enemy'). that's kind of like expecting a proud scotsman to wave around the union jack. does that mean the proud scotsman is unpatriotic? hell no! but his patriotism very likely doesn't include anything related to the english monarchy. so, why should i refer to something that includes 'north-west-austrians' or 'south-west-polish'? so, black-red-gold for me has two 'problems': one the one hand it's 'too abstract' as a symbol for personal identity and on the other hand is 'too inclusive'.

I resonate with what he said is a common answer from germans: why would I be proud? What did I do to be born here. I was accidentally born into Germany, why would I be proud of that? I'm GLAD about it because I live in a stable country that has achieved good things after the horrible things it has done in the past, but there no reason to be proud to BE german. Proud of germany, maybe, but not of being german

As for the " but its another flag" argument i think it makes sense stating that most of the racists over here wave the new flag around every time they got, so i guess that also makes "regular" non racist people think " nah, i dont need to wave the flag without context" as they dont want to be associated with people who are " way too patriotical" if you get my drift :D I think to most regular germans, an exxagerated pride in the flag just seems cringe and weird

12:06 well, being a german I'd like to add one thing. When it comes to Bavaria, that state basically the german version of Texas. Just without guns and horses.^^

To bee proud to bee born on a place is stupid for me. To be proud of doing is OK.

In Germany there is constitutional patriotism.

İn most European countries, (except Switzerland, probably) you will rarely see national flags. İn my country, France, you will see them only on some special holidays. Flags represent the nationalism, that brought us so many wars. I see the pledge of allegiance as horrifying. Where is "the land of the free"? I pledge allegiance literally means " I abandon my freedom".

The regional pride is where you will find typical „American“ pride. Especially Bavaria, you’ll find the states flag flying everywhere over there. Someone from cologne will insist that the city is better then Düsseldorf

the flag IN THE U.S IS DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR. !!!!!!

Patriotism -> Nationalism -> Fascism! No thx , us Germans had this not too long ago!

patriotism has been on a low burner in Germany for decades probably simply because the distinction to nationalism can easily be blurred with malicious intent. nationalism is very bad while patriotism could be healthy if everyone manages to draw the line which separates it from its ugly sister 'nationalism'. sadly, quite many people tend to fall into the trap so it might be best to keep patriotism on a low burner just to be safe

There's a difference between patriotism and nationalism. I'm patriotic towards my country and its constitution. But I don't think Germany is the best country in the world and I don't think we shouldn't criticize our country. There's always room for improvement.

It doesn't matter that the flag is a different one, it is not the flag what was bad, it was the act of praising it over and over and everywhere what was part of the indoctrination and led to what happened. So we are pretty suspicious with that topic.

It doesn't matter if the Nazis used a modified Germany flag or not. The thing is, a national flag is considered a symbol of _nationalism_ (not patriotism) and the Nazis were big on nationalism... the infamous "Deutschland über Alles" phrase ("Germany above all."). So yes, for the longest time hoisting a flag was a no-go. Even the Chancellor making a speech on TV (say, for Christmas or Easter or New Year) would _not_ have a flag anywhere in the picture. The _only_ time you see Germans waving the black-red-gold or painting it on their faces is during a Football (Soccer) World Cup people in Germany... and even that only became acceptable in the late 2000s or so. And if you see the German flag on an official government building you always see it paired up with the European Union flag (blue with golden stars). But if I saw someone who had put up a big German flag on their house or their front lawn or flying it on the car when there's no Football World Cup, I would assume that person is a Neo-Nazi.

American patriotism is a shame! Many a war was fought without much critisizm over the last 70 years by the US for bad imperialistic reasons. Being critical toward your empire is something that americans should learn rather quickely.

And behind your head where those red white stripes which belongs to a flag? :P

Maybe the text of our national anthem could also explain the different: Unity, Justice and Freedom for the German Fatherland. Let's all strive towards this Purpose Brotherly, with Heart and Hand. Unity, Justice and Freedom are the Promise of Happiness. Flourish in this Blessing's Glory, Flourish, German Fatherland. * Until 1945 all three verses of the “Deutschlandlied” were sung until 1945. After the war, it was agreed between the government and the population that only the third verse would be sung as the sole national anthem. And if somebody wanna ask me (german native), i am proud to be a german european. I am proud to could life in a (non-perfect) liberal and social democrazy. I am proud about to be part of Germans who could life in the longest time of peace in Europe.... (until 2022 this f*cking russian dictator means he could attack the Ukraine.) It was such a long way for us, to could life that way. So many wars in the past, so much pain overall in europe for houndreds of hundreds years. (Remember your own history, when and why so many people imigrat to the USA!) And when i remember all that, i also could be proud about that Verse is our national anthem. Yes, i am a little proud to be a bavarian ;-)

For me, it feels like people that are waving their flags too much have nothing other to be proud of... We do it for a reason, for supporting our team maybe. And I think everyone in the world is proud of his local area, because it is about the people there. Which Government in the world makes their people really proud ?

The thing is, many sports the US-Americans like are dominated by US-Americans almost to the point that they hardly are done anywhere else. Soccer is completely different. It came over from the Uk and it has conquered many, many states in the world but not the US. So, sports like Baseball or basketball hardly have any other real fan-base in other countries. But soccer? Soccer is in Mexico, in Brasil, in Argentina, in the UK, in Spain, in Portugal and it is taken seriously in all of these countries and seen as part of their culture while basketball or baseball ususally is seen like American football as something coming from the US and "foreign". So the world cup in soccer is a big thing in many other countries.I do not know wether basketball or American football really is a big thing in other countries apart from the US....

No one needs patriotism, it has no use. I like Germany, I'm very happy to be born here but that's it. There is room for improvement in Germany and no Country ever will be a utopia so let's stay humble only because you were born in a wealthier country, does not make you superior to anyone else. The past and the present show that patriotism can be used very effectively for evil and is a kind of indoctrination in my opinion. The Flags at Football tournaments are used to show what team you are routing for and do have not as much to do with National pride. So if there is no tournament, no competition going on there is no use for Flags everywhere.

I can not even say why it is but it feels weird to see a lot of flags of the country everywhere. Not only German flags, any flag that is hanging often is weird to me. 😂 I lived in Austria many years and they don't have their flag everywhere like Germany, though a bit more often but Switzerland shocked me and especially turkey with their flags all around. I mean I understand that turkey is proud of their flag, I am sorry, türkiye is proud of their symbol of nationality but it took me some time to get used to it. I don't know why this is. We were not brought up to feel ashamed or bad in connection with our nationality, honestly besides the bad things that German committed we also invented a lot of good things. And I am proud of the good things. I think it's just cultural, nothing emotional, at least for me. I am not used to see a lot of national flags everyday.

German by birth and Bavarian by God's grace!

In my eyes as a German, a lot of it comes down to our history that is somehow different from the history of other european nations. Try to get in our shoes: Imagine, the United States would have existed for over a thousand years now and during most of that time, each state would have been quite different. States would have fought bloody wars about borders, superiority or even religion at some point in history. Now imagine, these States wouldn't have been unified by a group of at least somehow democratic people who wanted a government of the people by the people for the people, but instead by a bunch of aristocrats who wanted a government of the people by aristocracy and for aristocracy. After these blokes would have started and lost WW1, there would have been a short time period, where some kind of democracy was tried out - but it all failed and ended in tyranny and dictatorship. After a total war and a total defeat, your country is somehow unified and somehow still divided. So, imagine being born in Georgia around 1910 under one flag, that changed around 1920 and again around 1930 and again around 1945 - and for some people in the U.S. a last time around 1990. How much would you feel for the flag in that case? Also, how important would the flag be, if your Georgia flag is centuries older? Imagine foremost identifying as 'Georgian' ans only second as 'American'. Yes, you and South Carolina would have a lot in common, like language, culture, climate, food, history, but YOU would know, that Atlanta is the bestestest city in the United States and would somehow hate South Carolina for whatever war they fought against you in the past 1000 years. You would believe, that if it wasn't for that one conflict in 1384, where South Carolina occupied and annexed several counties, Georgia would have been much, much greater, economicaly stronger and more influental today and would have more control over the federal government. This is why Germans today usually are at least as connected with local or regional pride in a city, a region or a Bundesland as they have some communal spirit with other Germans. I for example am an expat - I left my homeland to settle in another part of Germany. People here are slightly different than back home and I often get asked where I'm from, when they here my dialect. Usually, everything is fine and we talk about times, when they have visited my home state or about friends they know over there. And the question remains - how do we still feel connection together as Germans? Well, because we share one language that is neither slavic nor northern european nor romanesque. But we hadn`t had a George Washington uniting us or a King Louis of France or King Henry of England, who somehow united us. Our unification took place only in 1871.

No, it wasn’t THAT flag but it is about the mindset which made it possible. That mindset is connected to warshiping a flag or a country and stating the own supremacy. We don’t want that

2:20 you know that Germans are far more comfortable with nudity compared to US folks... So.. go ahead! 😁 Some German flags too.... Just for the comfort: 🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪 😂😂

4:46 I think it's not about the looks of the flag, but about the process that led to the surge of the third reich. For me as a German its just weird to be attached to something like a flag. Patriotism just feels a little too close to nationalism for me.

I'm German I like my country, but I just don't feel this pride.

can only speak for myself - for me the german flag is causing the same negative feelings against nationalism and the sense of superiority it symbolizes in every country. But as it is the nationalism and superiority of my own country with the german flag I feel ashamed and embarassed for all that might really feel that seeing it. That's why I don't like seeing it away from sports.... there the identification with a sports-team is given and ok for me as it is within a "fair" competition.

it's not the flag, but it is its waving and sticking it in the face of other people all the time. and even more so some forced pledge and punishments if you don't participate in the daily ritual (see Haley's video where she tells about her being punished in school when one day she didn't want to join the others in pledging) of following someone and reciting it over and over again, even when you (eg as a young child) simply can't understand what it means, but only learn (are indoctrinated) that everybody who doesn't join the pledge is un-american and hates his country. i only know such amounts of flags and forced pledges from tv, showing either old footage from nazi germany, or americans, or (communist) dictatorships (are you really proud to appear in this list?), and maybe some asian kingdoms etc.

No flags is European thing.

7:40 Really? In my humble opinion you like the IMAGE of that. Sniper= goverment sponsored killer, also very personal when it comes to the actual kill, you see pretty good what the bullet does to your target. Air Force = Dogfights like topgun are rare, super rare. Either you will shot a missile or drop a bomb ... that´s it. I mean it is better than sniper, you do not see the death and destruction you delivered... Don´t get me wrong defending you country is a duty and an honor... reminde me, when was the last war on american ground again? America wages TV war, no american is afraid of an military invasion. Mexico vs. Texas barely counts. Civil war isn´t an invasion. America ALWAYS wages war in other countrys and the civillian casulties were never american. That is also the reason you overreacted after 9/11. First civillian casulties after decades. That is also the reason for your approach to millitary, your wars happen on TV. Most of you ; not all; think war is clean. I know, long rant but you do not seem to be the type that is okay with: Travel to fascinating, exotic locations. Experience a new cultur from a very special point of view. Meet interesting people and maybe learn their language. And kill them.

The american form of "Patriotism" or rather the concept of american exceptionalism allways struck me as odd and offputting, it seems rather cheap to be proud of lucking into being born into a rich country, and the idea that everybody outside the US thinks highly of the USA is a giant t joke to the rest of the world as most of us concider the US kind of a third world country when it comes to healthcare, safety and incarceration. As most others stated allready im not "proud " to ber german, but i am glad i am. What i am proud of are my personal achivements

It is very surprising that the Ukrainian flag is now flying at the place where the German national flag should normally be flying. You might think you were in Ukraine. 🤔🤔

bavaria isn't a part of germany in my opinion and i met people of bavaria they say that too

we germans have a understanding for the difference between nationalism and patriotism, we are patriotic, because i love my Land, i am glad to live here, but i am not proud, because i have nothing done for that, i am a little proud of the organization and achievements of germany, because i am a part of this, but not in this extreme style. You can only proud of your own achievements, not of things you not participate or are simple luck. That thing you americans call patriotism is simple nationalism for us, we are the best, the free, the big player bla bla. We are done with this bullshit, because this caused 100 and 1000 devasting wars in the history of mankind. Shopenhauer, a real big philosoper said, national pride is the lowes proud you can have, if nothing other left....think about this

First, only a American reactor does not cut out others ads .... Never ever a German KZfaqr would show the ads of a video he's reacting to. Ok, back to the patriotism. Patriotism is one part of the reasons, why leaders are able to send their citizens as soliders to war. What do you think would have happened to many wars if the soiliders didn't care for their country in way of patriotism? What would Napoleon have achived if the French would thought: Are you crazy, why should I fight here for you. Better I leave and settle down where it's peaceful but to go out and maybe die, just because you idiot want to reign other ppls countries? Apply this to maybe not all, but many wars, leaders and countries. Patriotism is a feeling making you loose control and putting the feeling higher then common sense. Btw. the same goes for religion. And many Germans now know that. So they seek out other reasons to still be able to be patriotic and proud, because the feeling itself, feels really good. If you are a member of a soccer or any other sports team, you are proud of your team, even if you were sick and unable to play, you would be proud if your team wins. It feels good to be part of something you love. So that's why Germans find other ways to have their national pride or they search pride in things that have nothing to do with a nation. That's why many are proud of the area they come from, but not of Germany. I think this is something other nations should learn from Germany. If there is not that kind of patriotism, the leader cannot that easy abuse you as soliders. What do you think? If the Russians would have the German kind of not being to patrioc, Putin would never had a chance to send his troops into the Ukraine. Many wars would just never have been. I like this thoughts a lot and I don't like the uprising German rigth winged ppl that try to deny history and bring back this old German pride that ends up in feeling better, higher, elected by whatever reason to stand above others and then, at some point to suppress and eventually kill them. Just my 2 cent on patriotism Like it or not

nevertheless the flag is a new one the act of arousing emotions in yourself for a political construct is absurd no matter the flag - national pride is unnecessary, easily turned into evil, close to fascist mind-sets ask yourself: who are very nationalistic proud people? Russians, Serbians & 'Muricans

It is not true about the flags. You can see american flags in Germany everywhere! ;)