> “Germany has denied its colonial past for 120 years,” Lars Kraume said, in advance of the film’s domestic release on Thursday. “Most people are unaware Germany even had a colonial past, let alone anything about the brutality of it – it is not even taught in schools.”

It's most likely an important film (haven't seen it yet), but I must take issue with this statement. When I went to school in Germany 25 years ago, we covered the topic of German colonization quite extensively. Admittedly, I just checked the current curriculum for history classes in Lower Saxony (https://cuvo.nibis.de/index.php?p=download&upload=22) and this topic is not mentioned specifically - so it seems to have changed. Imperialism in all its facets is one topic mentioned in the curriculum, where the specific examples would probably depend on the teacher.

I do not know for Germany but in France there is a similar pattern.

There are older people who were most likely “hippies” in the 1970s, their father having been forcibly conscripted in Algeria in the 1950s, who are now seriously campaigning to reintroduce classic far-right paraphernalia.

They want to fly the flag at every opportunity and constantly talk about "the republic" to the point that it makes absolutely no sense (as does the current French president, by the way). They also want to reintroduce pride in France's (colonial) past [0], and they don't care that the French anthem still speaks of "impure blood".

As someone of their age who wasn't a hippie, I'm baffled.

[0] https://www.lefigaro.fr/histoire/lorant-deutsch-virginie-gir...

Robert Paxton, from The Anatomy of Fascism - ‘fascism is the application of colonial violence to the imperial core’

Only seen the trailer -- film seems to do little to actually highlight that past from the perspective of the colonized, there's even a German 'hero' who thinks that 'this is all so wrong what we're doing here'... yawn.

The ethnomasochism of Germans is alive and well, I see. Add it to the taxpayer's reparations bill.