Get History Mr. Vance

 Vice President went to Dachau upon arriving in Munich for the security conference and then proceeded to question Europe's Democracy and Spoke of the "enemy within..." How could he have seriously visited a Concentration Camp and not comprehend why it was left standing? My father, who was a school boy in Nazi Germany, came home with a red cheek because his teacher had slapped him across the face. He didn't greet her with the expected Heil Hitler salute. 

My saintly mother, before she died, warned that we could relive the 1930's very easily and she saw the signs of Hitlerism in this country and abroad. It had been illegal in Germany long after the war to possess Nazi paraphernalia including books and posters. The fear was that future generations needed to know what happened Under Hitler

Thankfully, my parents left Germany and immigrated to America.Vance's meeting with AfD, however, was an indirect endorsement of their right-wing beliefs. Germans should be concerned about migration. Angela Merkel had much blame in causing this situation. But free speech should not be mouthing neo-Nazi ideas. At one point Germany had many Turkish guest workers. Their children were born in Germany. They were skilled workers and even university educated professionals. I once met a Turkish shop ower in the Great Bazaar of Istanbul who spoke perfect German and had lived many years in Hamburg - the city my own family came from.

Germany of late has had numerous terror attacks on the civilian population. The perpetrators are usually migrants identifying with Islamist groups or radical ideologies. Germany has courts just as we do. But Germans may remember President Trump referring to Germany as a "fly over country." If it eventually turns out that J R Vance influence the German election, much as we accused Russia of meddling in our elections, then Vance should be severely reprimanded or asked to resign. His speeches are political blackmail to the German people.

And let us not forget the deep friendship that Germany has had with the United States for decades. Germans in Illinois helped Abraham Lincoln get elected in 1860. And they fought in the Civil War. There are more Germans that came to America as immigrants that any other grouping, including the Irish and Italians. Germany influence goes back to the 1700's when they fought with George Washington and many Hessians and other ethnic Germans did not return to Europe but made their homes in the American colonies. This was even true of German soldiers taken prisoner at Saratoga.

So Mr. Vance has a lot of history to reread, if he ever read it in the first place. I was a college history professor. I should know.