re: #260 wrenchwench

I can sort of imagine. My sister married a German whose father used to beat him often, until he was an adult.

Violence was an integral part of a lot of upbringing in Germany for a long time. I don’t think you can understand WWII without and even more importantly, WWI without it. I recommend Michael Haneke’s brilliant 2009 movie The White Ribbonto get a feel for Germany’s social conservative roots.

He had some mysterious military past.

They all are, if you hadn’t been a General or something. I remember asking my grandmother about my late grandfather’s military records. She was very mistrustful at first and suspected I wanted to slander him.