I myself experienced something – when I left Florence, it felt like I had been punched in the stomach, and felt acute desolation. I hadn’t thought I liked it THAT much until I left. It was very strange.

I fully believe the Paris syndrome with the Japanese, I work with Japanese visitors to NYC, and they do have some shock. NYC gets demonized as much as Paris gets glamorized, so that might help as well.

BUT – our topic is not war but visiting a foreign land and there becoming crazy, and the experience, that several places are the reason for very sopecial mental diseases, those “Syndromes”.
- the wars are only special forms oft The Tourist-Syndromes, only more complicated by the daily worst things that happen in wars. I remember a lot of tales from former soldiers who didn’t remember the fights but the lands, and some of them didn’t believe in propaganda
- they told of a poor but nice rural Russian population they met, one left the troops in 1945 and tried to go alone back – coming alone, a single man, people did help despite the fact Stalin forbid it – there was’t really a hatred between the people of this or that nation – as long as no fighting, police action or uprising changed the souls.
- Even in our sad situation in starving Koenigsberg we knew to make differences, we even made up little friendships to Russian couples, not fearing those men,
- I think, there is a greater sample of “over-we” (not “over-I” as Freud postulates) this makes the problems, it is like a so-called “bad spirit” overwhelming the single character in some situations, not always – not totally without a free-will-power to say “stop”, but in foreign lands even the tourist may activate his “different spirits” or they activate themselves, if they had been always with special signals (p.e.Vodka).
- And this is the “Tourist-Syndrom”, it is a real illness, changing behaviour and feeling.
I visited Paris 3 times, some days, but nearly without money, me too, I lost my group once, but I knew a bit of French language, my pronounciation is very good, but my vocabulary is small. We were told, that they wouldn’t speak German or English, then I managed to “speak” with hands, and a few words in French, not mentioning my Gerrman nationality because I knew they saw it, theit hearts were still hurt from the war – the minbne, too. But they loved me singing German songs – and I loved their Chansons (Francoise Hardy-style). They were not friendly or polite, but in hurry, I understand this. – ok, I went home an learnt.
The 3rd time I visited Paris, now coming from Hamburg, with less money than before, and a friend, she was a huge young lady of 17years, I a little female student of 25years. When they looked at us, they grinned a bit “typical British looking tourists” – Some told me, my sound is similar to Toulouse or so, not the northern French. But then, they start to spaek quicly a lot at once – and I don’t understand the most of that, staying polite and “swim”.
I always learn about a land I wish to visit, we were in Switzerland, Austria, Belgia, Northern Italia, Venedig, too, 3 times in Estonia, and 2x in Spain, and I was alone visituing Polonia. It’s always the same – speak at first a little in their own language, this sentence should be perfectly in sound: “Please – I’m not able to speak Your language, please help me – would You prefer English or German? I’m a German.” (No hablo Espagnol / Io no parlo Italiano / Je ne parle pas beaucoup de Francais / etc)
- this is helpful in each land, as I saw.
Once I visited with my Ma Jerusalem. My modern Hebrew sounds a bit like Abraham, may be, and, other than in Paris, the “spirit” in the air is to feel instantly when landing in Tel Aviv. I lost all fear for my life. ok, I’m a Bible-freak and knew each km of this land I had the chance to show it to my mother. Sometimes we went together, sometimes each another way. They always have some German Jewish or Jiddish-speaking people in the near to speak German. Its nearly like in Tallinn, if there is no German speaker they’ll find an English speaker or each other language You could use to communicate. But the “frame” of my talking is always in their language. That opens the welcoming me.
One of the problems with tourists in Holy Land Israel or in Jerusalem in special is really the tourist becoming changed in his behaviour and feeling. We came from Frankfurt /Germany by plane, and there we feared the massive German securtity – here al watchman – there a tank outside the window – wow! – and in the midst the people to check in: for Israel, for Iran, Irak, Turkya side by side we got our check and divided to our machines, entered the plane, sat down, had to leave it again (a bomb warning?) and to take another plane. .
- uj. DARE NOT!!! was the virtual message to us all together – *g* typical German economical sense for orders.
- In Israel, I know the security is omnipresent and much closer, the land needs it since about 4’000 years. But therefore it is a part of natural life, not of orders. I could imagine that other people with an idea about Jesus, Moses, Elija or Petrus do not really know, what they think about them, but meet a clue to open closed gates, ideas from children’s education-times – not necessarily the own, but children meet children an dispute a lot of things and nobody of them knew this really. I remember such disputes in my childhood – the most of the others were not pious.
Some of those tourists, pilgrims, visitors, then loose their self-identification inside themselves – You may meet one, dancing alone in the desert of Qumran, well, it is a free land, but with hidden dangers – another feels himself St.Paul and begins to preach to some Arabs – near Bethlehem, searching the sheeps – they must have sheeps, because David was a sheperd, and Jesus born in a stable – ok, they have some sheeps, they would have them even if they wouldn’t need a real sheep there.
Our visit was in the early 1980th and we could visit all parts of the land
- our Hungarian Guide told us, that about 200 people each year must been brought to the doctors for “being” St.John the Bapt., or Jeremija the prophet, or Abraham, or Jesus himself – but it is not only an harmless idea, because they sometimes become very angry if a person doesn’t believe them, cry around, get feaver, run in the desert and starve if nobody brings them to the doctors.
All the inhabitants, Israelis (only 6 of 10 are Jewish) from 37 language-groups, and Palestines (not all are Muslimin, but the most Arab speaking), in the Holy Land know this phenomena of the Jerusalem-Syndrome.
Florence and Rome – my mother was there, alone, have mor “Spirit” of the place than modern Venecia, I assume. Maybe in Venedig, some people begin to feel themselves a Gondoliere and try to sing, but the modern times make it very expensive to drive with the water-taxi, and may be, the Venecian Carneval brings special day’s-”spirits”. On the other hand – this cannot be a mass-phenomen.
As for Florence, Mantua, Milano, Syracouse – some special professions are highly affectable, painting, sculpture, historia, opera
oh yeah, I heard the story of a man – in DDR-time – who lomged for Mantua, the “city of Don Giovanni”, but it was impossible, nobody allowed him to visit Italia – then he prepared his “illegal leaving of the workers paradise” 20 years long – not telling his wife a single word – then managed to escape by sea, to Denmark and really – had his look on Mantua. All perfect. He only wished to have his foot on this same place of Mantua he saw in the opera film, and then to return to DDR and his wife. Then came the Mantua-Syndrome and overwhelmed him, he went to Sicilia, stayed there, began to work in a job, and nearly took another wife, then suddenly remembering that he wanted only to have a look on Mantua and then return. He remembered his problem – the “special DDR” gouvernement – he really had forgotten all – his wife could have lost her home and sit in prison, because he sent no sign of life and quickly go back. So he retourned, it happened about 1988. The freedom was near.
Well, this is a long text, but how should anybody understand the difference between a little spleen and a real psychiatric “Syndrom” as a real sad and sometimes dangerous illness when speaking about anything without some information, in telegram-style?
Bye then
WiT

The german soldiers were protecting their women. they knew that it was necesary to kill as many russian as possible to stop women being raped by soldiers in berlin.

if german soldiers did not eliminate everyone it would mean their women and children in berlin and germany would all be rAPED by russian soldier.

Upon encountering the impoverished and terrified Russian population therefore, and in a country with an impenetrable Slavic tongue, German soldiers set about murdering millions of civilised human beings with a glee driven by alienation and terror of Communism. There were no recorded marriages between German soldiers and Soviet woman, unlike in EVERY other occupied country. Further, the presence of women in the Red Army completely disoriented Germans educated in the traditional view that a womans place was at home with her family.

The USA learned none of these lessons and Vietnam was a rolling saga of atrocity, civilian terror and mass rape. The same story is repeating itself in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Only the British, with their long history of conquest and empire building know how to handle the devastating psychological impact of policing foreign lands. To date, the British Army, whilst remaining one of the most mobile and fierce fighting forces in the world, have successfully concluded several operations without a single civilian casualty.

There are lessons to be learned for America – look to your old allies for advice.