>>>btw... i do speak German.
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>Yes, but Brugge isn't in the German-speaking Canton that was annexed from Prussian Germany after WWI. ;-)
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>Seems to me that speaking German isn't the spectre in Europe as it seems in the US. In fact, if not for the anti-Semitism and other bigotry, perhaps German rule wouldn't have been so bad- especially since they ended up dominating Europe anyway.
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>FWIW: it is inescapable that the arrival of the US in Europe removed any doubt over who would win. But people learn and grow, and these days there's a footbridge across the Rhine and no border checks. In hindsight, maybe the whole war was a total failure of leadership, a triumph of ego over society (with the egoists mostly ensuring their own survival while sending the young and fit off to die.) I've cycled with kids in the Black Forest and gone into crumbling bunkers where French troops watched and waited for the Hun to pour across the Rhine again. It's a completely foreign concept to kids of today- which should give all of us hope - as long as kids everywhere are accorded the same opportunities to think that way rather than feeling embittered and oppressed so the whole tragic cycle starts again.

Excellent post. BTW, I loved all of my time in Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Switzerland, France...