Thank you Wolfgang for this post, I echo all the positive comments the other have already made.

It strikes me that countries/societies, just like individuals, mature when they learn to say "sorry", in other words when they learn to recognise their own past faults and admit them publicly. In that sense, Germany is a much more mature country than Japan, Austria, Italy, France, Britain, and closer to my origins, Greece and Turkey, to name but a few. By the same standard, the US still has a long way to go too.

It takes time, and it's not an easy thing to do; but all the more valuable for that.

Thank you again.