Last year I went for a walking tour of Munich with a Pakistani friend, and amongst the 20+ people who came for the tour was a condescending British lady who, after every 5 minutes, managed to find an opportunity to exclaim loudly about what a dark history Germany has had and about how “it’s unimaginable that people were so insensitive to humanity!”. She emphasized repeatedly how much she was looking forward to see the concentration camps and the holocaust museums. After about 1.5 hours of tolerating her, the guide (as well as the entire group) was naturally a little fed up with her constant patronizing attitude. So he mentioned politely how “that’s why we teach our history to children quite early on in school, so that they never forget and as a country we never repeat it!”

“Yes, unlike some other countries!” – I instinctively added to his statement and my Pakistani friend and I burst into laughter, as did the entire group! The guide smiled as well (he was too polite to laugh openly), pointed at us and suggested: “Maybe you would like to have a discussion with India and Pakistan about some British History in South Asia in the break?”

The woman flustered, visibly embarrassed, and sealed her lips thereafter, much to the relief of the entire group!

Moral of the story: People who live in glass houses should not throw stones at others! Introspection is an important part of growth and Germans are doing a great job of it!

Pragya