One of the most intelligent reactions to this masterpiece. thank you from Germany!

One of the few people who have reacted to this song who actually understand what's going on, know history well enough, and can read the symbols.

„Wer hoch steigt der wird tief fallen, Deutschland, Deutschland über allen“ Jedes Mal Gänsehaut wenn ich die Zeile höre

the first reactor that understands the meaning, knows history and is smart enough to combine everything. i have to sub

The last shot when Till says "Deutschland, meine Liebe, Kann ich dir nicht geben" as a crying Holocaust victim is so powerful, and explains in itself why he says that...

This was a very well educated reaction. 👍 This is one of the best videos from Rammstein and at the same time one of the most difficult content to fully understand. You are right, the song is about Germany (Deutschland) and the band's feelings about their home country which has a rather violent history (not only in WW2). It is a kaleidoscope of scenes from 2000 years of German history (some more symbolic, others painfully accurate) and additionally some scenes that might happen in the future when archaeologists are searching for artefacts of German history. The woman is Germania, played by the German actress Ruby Commey. Germania is not a literal person, but was a personification of Germany for centuries. All other main roles are played by the six members of Rammstein. The scene when the monks seem to eat Germania references to the Thirty Year's War (1618-1648), which started as a religious war. As a result of that war - masses of people starved or died by plagues. And the church took what little they had left to live on. If you are interested in even more details about some of the historical events referenced in Rammstein's video, you may take a look at this content-wise analysis: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qcldmNiHsZ7cgac.html Even for me as a German guy there were some details that I was not aware of, especially the political consequences of the hyper-inflation. Also the lyrics are explained a bit and the assumed reason for Rammstein to come out with this video. And there is an explanation why the video caused some harsh reactions BEFORE it was fully published.

Thank you Sir, this was by far the best-educated reaction I have ever seen since the release of the album. Greetings from Germany!

für eine erste Reaction war das verdammt viel Wissen und sehr viele logisch nachvollzogene Schlüsse, mehr als ich in einem anderen Video das irgendwo gesehen hätte ! Congrats 🙂

I’m so grateful to watch your Reaction because no one has ever broken it down and connected it with the red line…🙆🏻‍♀️🙌🏽👍🏽. Thank you for sharing your analysis throughout the MV of Germany’s 🇩🇪 History. It’s so intense and explosive but the ending was inspirational to me. Yes 🙌🏽 the pure bred puppies that almost became extinct but they are now cherished. Great analysis. 🙋🏻‍♀️🎼🇩🇪❤️‍🔥🙌🏽

I really like the scene with the church people and the SA hugging next to the fire. It's not just referring to the church supporting the Nazis in Germany but also (which a lot of people miss) to the witch hunts earlier.

I'm from Germany (living in Ireland), and I have watched a lot of reaction videos to this song. I'm seriously impressed that you got all the meaning. Most reactions I saw are from the US, and they have no idea what the song is about.

This videoclip is a masterpiece.. definitely...

I love that there are countless theories around Germania's depiction/role in the video, but a main one is "they picked a black lady to piss off conservatives", because yes, that is totally something Rammstein would do^^

Regarding the eyepatch of Germania in the SS uniform, I think there's more to it, than just turning a blind eye to the horrors. At first we see Germania looking away from the hanging (indicating people didn't want to see what the Nazis did to their Jewish neighbors), and the eyepatch over her right eye (indicating being blind on the right eye/auf dem rechten Auge blind sein), then we see Germania looking (at something/the hanging/the horrors, although not shown) with the eyepatch over her left eye, which I think is a reference to Oberst/Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, who tried to assassinate Hitler on July 20th, 1944.

5:16 finally finally you are the first one that recognize the hindenburg, No one else has recognized the Hindenburg so far, I've really seen almost all the reaction videos and nobody says anything at this point and I always think to myself that can't be true, how can you not recognize it, especially as an Americans

I would say this is one of the most patriotic songs ever, actually, it's almsot like a true love for the country, not some kind of blind admiration thinking the country it's the best at everything, it recognizes how hard it is to enjoy your history, considering what has happened, and has been done in the name of the same country you love

If you like the outro-music, it's from Rammstein's instrumental album "Klavier" (German for piano). And yes, it's "Sonne".

Best reaction I've seen to this video. Another proof that I was right subscribing to this channel.

It is about the pain and proud to be a German.

Seriously, this is one of the most intelligent and comprehensive reaction I have seen on any channel! You covered so many details.

Danke, ein React-Video mit ❤, Verstand und Wissen.

Another great reaction by one of my fav reactors. :)

Exceptional reaction my friend! Loved that you didn’t skip the credits and appreciated the classical version of Sonne. We know the boys are unmatched in their music, music videos and live shows. You’ve earned a sub and look forward to shit loads more from the best band on the planet! 🤘🤘

I'm Hungarian but this song and music video touches me almost always to tears. It's so beautiful and ambivalent. A masterpiece.😊

Ich finds ultra gut das unser (meiner Meinung nach) Brudervolk sich so gute Gedanken drum macht. Als deutscher, verdammt geniale Reaction. Wenn du mal in Rheinhessen bist, sag bescheid für nen Kaffee xD i saw a link on a comment to a video about Three arrow (awesome explanation) this here is just educational for people lazy enough for one click :D The video opens in AD 16, on the ‘barbarian’ side of the lines, the border of the Roman Empire. Roman soldiers creep through the woods in the aftermath of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. The Romans were ambushed by an alliance of Germanic Tribes, led by a chieftain called Arminius (the original Hermann the German). Three legionary standards were captured, a loss symbolic and moral, as well as physical, and decades were spent trying to recover them. Rome never again attempted to take the lands east of the River Rhine, known as Germania. ‘Germania’ refers not just to a place, somewhere partly defined by where it isn’t (Rome) as well as where it is, but also to a national figurehead, traditionally representing the German people. Germania is a strong woman, usually armour-clad and battle-ready. Various symbols appear with her, among them a breastplate with an eagle, a black, red, and gold flag, and a crown. Look out for these in the video - they come up again and again - and the colours of the contemporary flag are there in every scene. We get our first glimpse of Germania here (played by Ruby Commey), who stands holding Till Lindemann’s severed head. Next, astronauts appear carrying a metal and glass box shaped like a coffin. In the background we see a U-boat - a German submarine, used in World Wars I and II. Then we move to a scene set at a boxing match which takes us to Weimar Germany (1918-1933), a period known for its political instability but also greater cultural liberalism. Here, Germania appears in the cabaret costume of a flapper girl, and the boxers fight with knuckle-dusters as a crowd cheers them on. We see the former East Germany, complete with busts of Marx and Lenin, the national emblem of East Germany, and a lookalike of the long-serving, insular, and repressive GDR leader Erich Honecker. There’s another astronaut, or rather a cosmonaut: Sigmund Jähn, the first German in space, who flew with the USSR’s space program (and who’s also a character in the 2003 film, Good Bye Lenin!). Medieval monks feast grotesquely on the supine Germania, tearing sauerkraut and sausage from Ruby Commey’s body, prison inmates are beaten by guards dressed in police and military uniforms from different historical periods. The most obviously shocking scene references the Holocaust and the Nazi period. Four members of the band, in the striped uniforms of camp inmates, wait at the gallows, about to be hanged. They wear the cloth emblems used to identify their ‘crimes’: a pink triangle for homosexual prisoners, a yellow star for Jewish prisoners, a red and yellow star for Jewish political prisoners. This sequence, teased in an earlier promo video, has already caused controversy. Have Rammstein the right to do this? Do they trivialise the suffering of Holocaust victims? How can they justify using Holocaust imagery to promote their new video? These are important questions that are part of a much bigger debate about the ethics of using the Holocaust in art and media. Other scenes include the band walking away from a flaming airship, referring to the 1937 Hindenburg Disaster, in which 36 people died. Rats scuttle across the floor when the monks first appear, suggesting the Pied Piper of Hamelin, a legend with origins in the 13th century. Germania walks towards the camera in a leather jacket, gold jewellery and a string of bullets across her chest, resembling the chariot drawn by four horses (the ‘Quadriga’) on top of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. The band members’ heads are shown as white marble busts, taking us to the 19th century Walhalla memorial in Bavaria, built as German Hall of Fame, its sculpted heads of German worthies on display to this day. In the prison, hundreds of banknotes fall from above, suggesting the devastating hyperinflation Germany suffered in the 1920s. Nazis burn books, intercut with religious fanatics burning witches. We recognise members of the Red Army Faction (also known as the Baader-Meinhof group), a militant organisation active in the 1970s in West Germany. And in a blink-or-you-miss-it exchange, we are reminded of the much-criticised relationship between the churches and the state during the Third Reich. Each scene captures in a moment the icons of an era, and the video cuts between them more and more frenetically as it goes on. Events bleed into each other, linked by the presence of the band members and the red laser beam that appears throughout the video, a ‘roter Faden’ (red thread or central theme), connecting each event. Germany engages with its history in a very particular way. Try to imagine the video about Britain, with Britannia played by Ruby Commey. What would the equivalent events be? Quite a few of the tableaux might be similar - Romans, Crusaders, monks, 18th-century soldiers, collarless shirts and bareknuckle boxing - but would it have the same impact? There’s no affection, and perhaps not much hope: its pessimistic tone seems to be quite an off-brand message for post-1989 Germany, which wants to acknowledge its past critically, while also looking to its future as a state at the heart of Europe. And actually, while we get a lot of medieval and twentieth-century history, the video’s tour through the past seems to stop in the late 1980s, before the fall of the Berlin Wall and Reunification of East and West Germany. Instead, we jump into the future, where the space-suited band take Germania into the unknown, travelling in that coffin-shaped glass box. There’s an echo of the video for Sonne, where Snow White is trapped in a glass coffin. In fact, a piano version of Sonne plays over the end credits of Deutschland. This is a useful link for understanding something of what Rammstein is doing here. In Sonne, where the band’s characters free themselves of Snow White (naturally, they’ve been her sex-slaves), only to realise that they have made a mistake and long for her return, the overwhelming feeling of Deutschland seems to be that when it comes to Germania (or Germany): you can’t love her, and you can’t live without her. Copied from GERMANIA (youtube acc) All belongs to him because its can explain all moments in the Video

Congratulations, after watching about 20 reaction videos of Deutschland, this one finally nailes it. Very well done.

This is by far one of my favorite music videos, so poignant. Awesome reaction!

Greetings from someone who's born also in the area of the Teutoburger Wald (Bielefeld). The Hermanns Denkmal, Externsteine and the Freilichtmuseum Detmold are always a good place to visit.

The beginning is called „Varusschlacht“ in the past in Germany there were a lot of „volks“ (

Best Band today Most creative

This is so important & I know you'll do it justice. I think it needs to be shown in school for like the 15 yo+ folks I'm going to show it to my 82 year old dad cos he's all about history

Best reaction and interpretation I saw for this song!

If anyone is interested... the lyrics of this this song is basically about germans being proud about their History but also being haunted from the failures that has been made by the country.. so a Love/hate realationship with your heritage... i hope i interpreted it correctly

Zum ersten Mal dass ich interessante Gedankengänge zu einem Video von RAMMSTEIN lese! Liebe Grüße aus dem Nachbarland Deutschland und schöne Weihnachten! 🙂

This is under the TOP 3 reactions I've ever watched! And I watched a lot of them. Very educated, very well done, Sir!

Wow! You are actually the first one that recognized the different Stars on the Band member's Jackets! 😮 Nice!😊

Throwback to my German Teacher for having us analyse this video😂 Very fun excercise in recognising symbolism etc.

Best reaction to this song I've seen, you have great knowledge about history and caught so many details in the song.

Thank your for helping me understand this powerful song, i enjoyed it immensely!

The scene is indeed the scene of the proelium salte teutoburgiensis, however it is a couple of years later when Germanicus the younger revisited the battlefield 14-16 to avenge the fallen Romans, clear up the battlesite and lay any Roman remains to rest. The battlesite is actually not at the Porta Westfalica, where the bombastic Herrmann-statue stands (actually around Detmold), but a 100 km to the northwest at Kalkriese. The contemporary observers relate scenes of strewn bones, sacrificed humans and bodies hanging from the trees...

Finally someone who knows what's going on. 🖤❤💛 greetings from germany

Respekt! Das war mal eine super Analyse. Viele Grüße

Great reaction as always. I think you pointed out a lot in the video that i havent noticed earlier. So thanks and skål 😉😀

Thx for great reaction and info

11:42 this is the outro music for every Rammstein concert

I am a huge fan of ramstien they got Me in to loving heavy metal what a great song And a great reaction. Thank you😍😍😍

Excellent reaction and explanations , americans can learn a lot instead of just dumbly saying 'I dont know whats happening' , well done !!

Thank you! A realy intelligent reaction! Your are very smart

Thank you for this great reaction! Greetings from a fellow Teuteburg Forest bred. :D

15:32 the battle of Teutoburger Wald It was 16 AD, long before the medieval times and the Romans were crushed and you can see them hanging them from the trees at the beginning of the video.

chapeau ! Das war eine der besten und fundiertesten reaktionen die ich zu diesem Lied gefunden habe !

The dogs they are holding are Leonberger Puppys... this dog type nearly got extingt in WW2, cause they were used for warpurpose.. But they are still around today and flourish

Hey man, might wanna react to "A Warrior's Way" by Evilon😄🤘Folk/Viking Metal right up your alley!💪

Excellent reaction, loved that you picked up so many references and has such knowledge!

This reaction is on point !!!!!!!!

Best interpretation of the song I've seen so far!!! Great Job,...Signed by a german !

Just for the correct label of the stars: thumbs up Something German media weren’t able to decipher.

I read a wonderful sentence about it in another video. Teacher: You can't explain German history in 15 minutes... Rammstein: We'll do it in 9 minutes!

After watching this video for what felt like the 100th time, I think I found a new meaning for the puppies at the end. I had somehow never understood this part. In the credits shortly afterwards, you see the puppies as full-grown bloodhounds in front of a special police unit. Whether this is to be interpreted as a new generation of aggression and obedience or as a kind of hope, negative or positive, is certainly debatable.

I think you might be the first and only reactor who pretty much got all the references correct. I am especially happy that you knew the RAF.

Very good analysis. I Remember when the first video teasers came out for this song. ( some fools want to push the Band into the Neaonazi scene, but they are far away from that ) but the German Main Stream Press had a new Scandal to sell. After the full Video released, a very prominent jewish german Journalist called this a "Masterpiece" And ur right the outro is from "Sonne"

Probably the best comprehension of the song and a great reaction. \,,/

Yeah, yeah here you go with my subsciption. Thanx good Sir! I have to be honest when this one was released I was really irritated by Germania being a black woman. But oh my, after watching the video now kinda over and over again I simply have to say Ruby (Germania) did an awesome outstanding unbelievably great job. She nailed the character she was supposed to act simply perfect. All her posture and gesture is 1000% on point. I am really amazed by her acting and of course (now) have to agree/admit Rammstein called the perfect fit for this. Also great reaction mate, well deserved sub!

Great reaction!!!

One video showing Germany's history. And yes,it is about Teutoborg Forest. She is representing Germanica. Thiose puppies,in my opinion,are Germany giving birth to the Dogs of War. The outro song is "Sonne". It's awesome that you get it all. When it was filmed it was the most expensive video ever made for it's time,costing 6 million US dollars. Paid for by Universal music studios.

In english we might say teutoburg forest. I dint actually think thats what the scene is depicting but thats a very famous roman battle where they got ambushed

Wow, that video was beyond uncomfortable in a few places. Your analysis and interpretation and knowledge of the history was monumentally helpful. Thank you!

Hailsa my friend, a very warm skol for you as well. I must complement you on your reactions. I definitely appreciate your point of view and knowledge of the German language. Its a language that fascinated since my early years. Seriously, thank you.

15:09 It's not an "attack", but more of a summary/retrospective. "Meine Liebe kann ich dir nicht geben" means "My love I cannot give you" (yes that's bad grammar), referring to exactly what you said with Germany having THE WORLD'S lowest national pride. Germans typically feel like they cannot/should not be proud of their country/of being German. The video basically says "there was good, there was bad, but due to all the bad I can't love you"

The black skinned girl is the actress „Ruby Commey“ in the credits she is „Germania“ Germania is a goddes she presents Germany in this video i think. She did it wonderful.

Nailed it! Great reaction!

I loved this channel!!!

i was wrong, THIS is this the best reaction to this song ! 🤘

A very thoughtfull reaction ❤

3:42 absolutely correctly and perfect pronounciation

The font at the end (also at the beginning with the song title "Deutschland") is called "Potsdam". Developed in 1934.

Great reaction. I love it when people have at least some knowledge of the background.

So glad to see that you also sas the many pointers but after many views I think you had a better than most. The song as far I understsnd is about yes you can both love but hate your country at the same time. Nice to see that you noticed the different patches at the hanging.. I had to google it . I think it will be hard for you to make a top pick between Deutchland Zeit an Adieu from their latest songs, but I dare you😂

Hallo. Great reaction! Always looking for good music, smart folk, and fellow Vikings. Subscribed. Watched many reactions to this song. You are the first who mentioned the color of the flag. Black actress, gold armor and red lighting.. it seems so obvious now, i want to kick myself. opmerkzaam.

Brilliant stuff. "Mein Herz in Flammen" sums it up.

Deine Erläuterung ist großes Kino!!!

Kleine Geschichtsstunde : The group was the RAF Red Army Faction. "Baader Meinhof" And Arminius was prince of the Cherusci. He was the son of the prince and was taken to Rome by the Romans as a child. There he was trained and came to the Germanic campaign as leader of the auxiliary troops. When Romans 9 AD When he wanted to invade Germania, he switched sides and destroyed 3 Roman legions with his Germani tribe. He lured them into the forest and the Romans were unable to take their battle position. That's how they beat the Romans. Regarding Germany, it should be said that the "German Empire" was only formed in 1871 after the battle with France was won. Before that there were tens of small states, duchies, counties, free cities, etc. This only formed in 1870 after the war. Through Bismarck and Emperor Wilhelm 1

Absolutely amazing 💜💜💜💜

There are a few Rammstein songs I've ot heard must be the recent albums that, I need to get Quarter German myself would love to learn German, loved the Song & The Video, I even loved that they used Du Hast anoher of there songs in the vid along with Sonne my fav Rammstein song well one of many. Also liked the begining at Teutonburg where Arminius decimated the Romans.

To be honest, it is too much for me to break everything down in detail, but among other things Deutschland reaction videos, there are sometimes very long comments that really explain every historical scene, and I think there is also a video here on KZfaq that is in English, which explains every bit of history from Rammstein Deutschland video

"Varus, Varus ...!"

Teutoburger Wald? Hey, Not far away from my home! 😉👍 A very good analysis. I suspect that many, if not most, of those who grew up in Germany do not recognize or understand many symbols. For example, I myself didn't attribute any meaning to the eye patch.

@VikingReacts I can assure you, you're not even close to comprehend how specific the historical references really are. For example: The brass knuckle fight refers to 14. February 1929 in Munich. On that day, Josephine Baker was prohibited from performing as an exotic dancer. That's the reason the black woman wears this dress during a beer hall brawl. The 3 brass knuckles represent the 3 political coalitions of that time: Antifaschistische Aktion, Eiserne Front and NSDAP.

Rammstein gives us the complete history of Germany ( Deutschland ) in this performance.....as with most people in most countries, Rammstein has s "love/hate" relationship with their native land, seeing both the good and the bad......I think, as others have commented, the Black female who appears as many figures is a representation of "Germania", the national historical symbol of Deutschland ........

These concrete blocks with burning fire in 11:30 looks like the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin...

The channel 3Arrows has a wonderful and wholesome explanation to this video and imagery.

best interpreation if ever seen, grats.

Bro i was watching a american reacting to it and we all know they have no clue, they dont even now how much states their own country has. Watching this and seeing how you got every scene right is very cool. Hats off Sir.

Brilliant !

There is a saying: Detmold has the statue (of Arminius or Herman as he was later called in Germany) and Kalkriese has the battlefield :-) Because overwhelming archilogical evidence made it clear, that the batlle was not in the Teuteburger Forrest, but in the swampy lowlands in soth west Lower Saxony. But the beginning of the video is not referencing the battle of Arminius, because that was 9 AD and the video shows the year 16 AD. That was the end of the revenge campaign of Germanicus to punish the German tribes. He was successful against a new coalition of German tribes, but he was called to Rome anyway, because he began to become to famous. There had been no other try to conquer Germania Magna.

greetings from soutwest germany

The dog breed is "Leonberger". Which was almost extincted as a "pure breed" during ww2 and close afterwards. Another deep reference in th video. Glad youpicked up the song and its meaning. Rare these days.

6:51 Inflation was right, but at that time there were also legal guidelines regarding prisoners and laws in Germany, but they had not yet been implemented in terms of values, but I'm not entirely into it either, but it definitely still has a component of prisons and prison sentences and punishments.

1. The victory in the Tentobur Forest is certainly one of the most important stories in German history. You will ask why? Because this legend over time became a symbol of the unity of the Germanic peoples against the common Roman enemy. This is a plot that German intellectuals turned to again and again during the Thirty Years' War, then the Napoleonic Wars, on the eve of the First World War and, of course, before the Second World War. 2. The main character of the video, a dark-skinned girl, is listed in the end credits as “Germany.” This is a collective image of a modern country with a truly complex, one might even say “black” history. 3. We see the Crystal Coffin, a famous plot of Russian, German, Italian and even Arabic folklore. This coffin is carried earlier past a spaceship stylized as the legendary German submarine U-boot. 4. Germany appears before us again, having gone through the First World War, crippled and strangled by the golden collar of the peace treaty, which literally “chopped off” its legs, leaving the country confined to a good-quality wheelchair. 5. Now we see a fist fighting arena. This kind of fight without boxing gloves was incredibly popular in the early twenties in Germany. The two fighters symbolize the clash between the two central political forces in Germany that emerged from the 1018 revolution, the Communists and the Nazis. 6. The flaming structures in front of which the musicians walk remind us of the tragedy that occurred in 1937, when the Hindeburg airship, the largest airship in the world, built in Nazi Germany, caught fire and crashed to the ground at Lakehurst Air Force Base in Manchester Township. 7. The medieval church openly feasts on the body of Germany, hiding suffering people whose mouths are muzzled by church law under a snow-white tablecloth. 8. Prison is a symbol of defeat, occupation after defeat in World War II. The bills flying from the ceiling symbolize the American Marshall Plan of 1947, the main idea of which was significant cash subsidies aimed at restoring European countries. 9. The V-2 rocket taking off symbolizes the technological progress of the Nazis, literally built on the bones of concentration camp prisoners. 10. The group members, who themselves ended up on the gallows, play not only victims of concentration camps (from left to right: homosexual, Jew, political Jew, communist), but also ordinary residents of Germany, around whose necks the noose of Nazism was tied. Germany's eyes are glowing red at this moment. She is so obsessed with her terrible ideas that she comes close to the Devil. 11. No one escaped one of the most striking images of the video clip - Ulrike Meinhof, a very eccentric person. This talented journalist became a co-organizer of the Red Army Faction, the most brutal terrorist group that staged a series of armed attacks, bombings and robberies in the Federal Republic of Germany and West Berlin. 12. The purifying fire of the Church burns books banned in the Third Reich as easily as it once burned people during the Inquisition. The embrace of a priest and a Nazi symbolizes the concordat concluded between the Vatican and the Third Reich in 1933. According to this agreement, the church retained some freedom, but was obliged to completely withdraw from the political game. 13. Time passes, Germany becomes united again. It would seem that now her life should improve, but even now, shrouded in glamorous gloss, she continues to suffer from internal contradictions. 14. Germany is delivered by a cardinal, but instead of the long-awaited savior, she gives birth to hairy black puppies. Pay attention to the breed of puppies. These are Leonbergers. The breed was practically destroyed in both world wars. After the First World War, only five dogs survived, after the Second - eight, but each time the population was restored. This is a kind of German phoenix. The symbol can be interpreted as the persistent survival of a pure breed, no matter what. 15. The sinless soul of Germany is crucified and dies, tormented by splits, wars and its own migration policy. Germany's body lies in a crystal coffin, which is heading straight into outer space. 16. Finally, after the video, the melody of the song “Sonne” plays. This song is about how people in the darkness wait for the sun, and it rises again, illuminating the world with its rays. In this context, the song “Sonne” is about a new rebirth, which, like the sunrise, will certainly come.

Amazing, thoughtful reaction. I was hoping you'd theorize why the future is represented as puppies since I have no clue. (Neither “dogs of war” or "going to the dogs" seem to fit.) I really loved how the song and video seem to convey that uneasiness between loving your homeland and hating part of its history, while understanding that to envision the future requires a full examination of the past. On a smaller note, i think casting a dark-skinned woman as "Germany" was refreshingly unexpected and quite clever. Glad you reacted to this!