I understand the Germans frustration/irritation with the British education system's obsession with Hitler, to the almost absolute exclusion of all else.

I feel that same way about European /American obsession with Mussolini, AND the incredible cartoonish distortion, disinformation, and often total opposite of the truth.

Even most of you have been subjected to such propaganda that you have no idea of about the undisputed "Golden" years of Mussolini 1922-1935.

The years most questioned, involving issues of Ethiopia in 1935, The Racial Purity Laws of 1938, and BM's Alliance with Hitler, are still being researched to develop a "balanced view". I can sense your skepticism, but..... wait.

But, getting back to the German sponsored Trip of British teachers to Germany.
Keep in mind that what the Germans suffer, the Italians can not be too far behind. :(

Yet, would Italian officials complain about the British obsession with the negative portrayals of Mussolini and the Mafia. :(

As a matter of fact, what about Italian officials complaining to US officials about both the Italian and Italian American DISTORTED Images?????

GERMANS OFFER 5 STAR VISIT TO LURE BRITISH TEACHERS AWAY FROM NAZI IMAGE OF HISTORY

The London Guardian
Luke Harding in Berlin
Tuesday October 26, 2004

...Yesterday, Mr. Liddell, a comprehensive schoolteacher in Burgess Hill, west Sussex, was one of 20 English history teachers taking part in an unprecedented exercise in re-education, paid for by the German government.

Fed up with Britain's continuing obsession with Hitler, the Germany embassy in London ...(decided) to invite a group of English history teachers to Germany, put them up in a five-star hotel, host them at the Berlin state opera, the Reichstag, Germany's imposing parliament building,...the Berlin state opera...a tour of the Brandenburg Gate; and a meeting top officials at Germany's foreign ministry... and hope that their positive experience of modern Germany rubs off on what they teach.

The unusual invitation followed an attack last week by Germany's foreign minister Joschka Fischer, who accused the British media of perpetuating a "goose-stepping" image of Germany that was three generations out of date. Germany's ambassador to Britain, Thomas Mattusek, had complained that English history teaching focuses excessively on the Nazi period. The history curriculum was "unbalanced". It said little about the successes of post-war Germany, ignored German reunification, and glossed over other crucial chunks of German history.

Speaking after a three-course Italian lunch, Mr. Liddell yesterday said he did teach his students about Hitler and the Third Reich. But keeping the attention of 14-year-old GCSE pupils was no mean feat. "Kids find the Nazi period interesting. A lot of things happen. There is plenty of violence. You have to bear in mind that at 14 kids can drop history altogether."

[RAA: What a typical lazy teacher attitude. It's suprising they don't use that same excuse to use Video games and Comic books to teach :(  ]

He added: "Post-war German history is more sophisticated and convoluted and is therefore harder to teach."

[RAA: Ah, we wouldn't want you to exert yourself!!! Nor would we suggest that you try to figure out ways to inspire your students, rather than be an absolute bore.]

What about Germany's great post-war chancellor Willy Brandt, who ushered in a historic period of detente between east and west Germany? Could he teach that? "It's a bit dry isn't it," Mr. Liddell said.

[RAA:This is a man that has been reading too many sensationalist English Tabloids]

Other teachers invited on the six-day trip, which includes visits to Berlin, Dresden and Bonn, admitted that Germany's image in the UK could be better. "British children can be bigoted and uninterested. The general impression is that Germans are all Nazis who steal sun loungers," Stephen Daughton, who teaches history at a Newcastle comprehensive and spent teenage holidays in Germany, said. "This is obviously a cartoon-style view. The problem is that if you ask them seriously they have no view of Germany at all."

[RAA: And as teacher, you are content with that?]

Other teachers blamed England's prescriptive curriculum, which left huge chunks of history out. "Europe disappears entirely after the Norman invasion and only reappears in the 20th century," Gerald Clarke, a teacher at Torquay Boys Grammar School, said. "I think the problem with the Nazis is that they are sexy. Evil is fascinating."

[RAA: Nazi's are Sexy??]

German officials defended their decision ... (saying) that we have to do something about this misperception,".

"The problem is that on British TV you get endless movies that show goose-stepping SS soldiers. The level of ignorance is stunning. We've even met postgraduates at Oxford who didn't know about [communist] east Germany." The trip cost the German government €52,000 (£36,000) and it might be repeated if the money was well spent, the official said. Last year the education secretary Charles Clarke said he sympathised with German complaints about English history teaching but refused to downgrade the role of Hitler.

"Do I think there is a systematic distortion through the national curriculum of German history designed to misrepresent modern Germany? No, I don't," he said, during a visit to Bonn. Last night one British official said there was an ongoing debate about teaching history in Britain and that no firm conclusions had been reached. "This isn't just confined to Germany. Should children learn about the potato famine in Ireland, the American constitution or about feminism in Victorian England? There is a wide debate in the UK."

[RAA: About what? Whether you should teach something more than just about the grand old days of the English Empire?]

EducationGuardian.co.uk | Schools special reports | Germans lay on 5-star visit
http://education.guardian.co.uk/schoolsworldwide/
story/0,14062,1336070,00.html