Is this form of racism allowed in National Newspapers.

One of the things that really annoys me about this country is its bizarre double standards.

On the one hand it is incorrect to call a Chalkboard a Blackboard but in a National Newspaper it is acceptable to caricature the German Chancellor as Adolf Hitler and intimate the nations politics are Nazi.

World War Two ended for Germany in May 1945 and with the collapse of the Third Reich so Nazism ceased to exist as a Political doctrine. The period of the Third Reich is considered as not only a dark stain on the history of Germany but also of the World.
Germany itself has come a long way since those dark days and the German people are very conscious of their history. They however are looking to the future and becoming an industrial power house and strong economy. For them the EU is very important, it brings everyone together in Europe in Peace and in trade with each other. I completely agree with Chancellor Merkel's assessment of the situation.

If the Euro collapses, the EU will fall and their will be wars and the like in Europe again.

This was not a threat thrown out by a sabre rattling Nazi Fuhrer threatening a Fourth Reich that would plunge Europe into a Teutonic style darkness as some of the Press would have you believe. It was instead the concerns of a politician who knows that certain parts of Europe are still not stable and without the EU to act as arbiter we could end up with yet another Balkans conflict.

The British Press seems obsessed with wheeling out the Nazi imagery when discussing the German state or politics. In Euro 96 the press ran images of the German National Football team wearing Stahlhelms and quotes from Churchill to show that Britain could over come the hated "Hun".

Coincidentally as a fan of the DFB, I was over the moon when Southgate missed the penalty, especially in the light of the press reports.

In Germany, Nazi is a banned word, theory and practice but in Britain it is used so frequently you would think that Hitler was still in power. It is thrown around a lot especially by those wanting to portray harsh dictatorial politics or policing - in fact Nazism is a byword for evil and is often used by writers as a quick easy bad guy rather than being creative and thinking of your own villains.

Germany then. Not now.

Even when discussing history it is used unnecessarily. Terms like "Nazi Soldiers" or "Nazi Aircraft" are used a lot. This is an incredibly inaccurate term as they are not all Nazis. es the Nazi party was in power but not every serving Soldier, Sailor or Airman was a member of the party or indeed agreed with their policies - The SS were probably the exception and even then by the latter years of the war with mass conscription and heavy losses in the Waffen SS it would be inaccurate to say they all Nazis.

Indeed one German Pilot said. "We fought for Fatherland not Fuhrer"
The same inaccuracy would be to refer to British troops in Iraq as "Blairite" or US Soldiers as "Republicans". To make it even more stark were all the RAF personnel involved in Libya "Coalitionists"?

The time for racial stereotypes is long gone. We no longer refer to the Spanish as work shy lounging Diego's or the French as Onion eating surrender monkeys - BECAUSE IT IS OFFENSIVE!!!

So why is it still acceptable to refer to the Germans, not just in family gatherings or in pubs - where such racial stereotyping can be rife in the latter, but in National Newspapers read by all! How is this acceptable?

Modern Germany and Modern Germans are not what they were in 1933-45, there is not this drive to reestablish the Kaiser Reich lost at Versailles, or to dominate Europe with diplomacy and economy - well, no more so than any other nation, they aren't a militaristic, anti-Semitic, dictatorship and it is time that writers for the Daily Mail et-al learnt this and stop spreading this offensive rubbish and perpetuating this nasty stereotype.