I was born in the U.S. in 1940, and WW II was a daily topic in our household. Of course, Germans were the bad guys, and wanted to harm us. On the other hand, Mom was always cleaning, the stated reason was so we would have no germs to make us sick.
It wasn't until I reached the 1st or 2nd grade, after the war, that I finally realized that germs were not Germans, and vice versa.
A childhood belief about nationalities
others believed things like this
- I used to think that germans had germs on them and that's why they were called that— Jessica
- I believed that all Germans were Nazis because of one of my classmates.— Joseph
- Since Germans speak German, I thought Jewish people spoke Jewish.— Lori
- That germs came from Germany.— Alicia
- when i was little thought that ants changed traffic lights from green to red and vice versa.Anon
- When i was younger i thought germs and bacteria were the same size as me— Tasha