Besides its maybe century long history that has been pointed out before, the sentence was stamped in on the belt buckle of the Wehrmacht uniform.
Therefore, I too am of the opinion that it was inappropriate of this soldier to write that very sentence on his helmet.
They did the same with the insignia of the Afrika Korps, which was on a tank down in Afghanistan. I can understand that case, but all in all, it is wrong to ban everything of the German army culture and tradition, just only because several things were used from the Wehrmacht as well, an army that was based on Prussian traditions.
And somehow the Wachbatalion still uses K98s and wears cuffs.
You don't understand. The Bundeswehr is perfectly aware of the age of this slogan. They know that such a slogan written on the helmet of one of our soldiers in Afghanistan will cause a stir, too. And yet they made a photo of this guy and upload it on their Flickr account. Why? This is just stupid. I don't know why that guy wrote this particular slogan on his helmet (I'm interested in an explaination, though). But that's not really the point, do you understand? They managed to **** up twice, first by publishing the picture, second by trying to cover it up.
Alright, I get it. But still why will it cause a fuss? As you said, it's Prussian, nothing bad.
Oh, it's Prussian, so it's nothing bad. Brilliant thinking. See the Nazi swastika? It's based on an ancient Indian symbol dating thousands of years back in time, so there's probably nothing wrong with it either. In fact one US unit used the swastika pre-WWII. They abandonded it with the war's outbreak. Why? It's just an ancient symbol, right?
It can cause a fuss because people associate that slogan with jack booted Wehrmacht thugs shooting civilians or locking them into churches and setting it on fire. No one gives a **** how many years it dates back. Prussian you say? I don't remember the Prussians started a war of aggression that involved the whole world and caused millions upon millions of killed and murdered.
You cannot be that dense, for crying out loud.
World War II and all it stands for cannot be compared to any other war past and present. It's unique.
Nobody besides butthurt Germans connect Gott mit uns to WW2 warcrimes.
Well, apparently these butthurt Germans are enough to convince the Bundeswehr it wasn't the most brilliant idea to upload the picture in the first place.
I think it's always a stupid idea to bring religion to the workplace.
Just think how Taliban are called in the press: Gotteskrieger.
Difficult issue I would say.
Well, this place is the only one I've even noticed making a fuss about it...
Pre-emptive Gehorsam in fear of the press?
Excellent point!But I can't say it's professional or helpful to bring in religious symbols in a war that is fought with a lot of religious propaganda.