I was about 6 years old at the time the Berlin wall fell and Germany became reunited. We used to get those Weekly Reader newsletters in school, and the story about Germany being unified was accompanied by a story about a kid who found out that his hometown wasn't on a map and had it changed. For some reason, I thought these two things were the same story, and for at least three years I thought that Germany had been divided into East and West because someone had made a mistake on a map.
A childhood belief about places

others believed things like this
- That germs came from Germany.— Alicia
- I used to believe Germany was in Asia somewhere near Russia.— It's in Europe!
- My friend was in Germany, and she thougth that "ausfart" was a city.— Tone
- I used do believe beer was only produced in Germany and then exported to all other contries.— Stefan, Munich
- I used to think it was illegal to speak German in Germany because of World War Two.— Anonymous
- I used to believe that England was shaped like a Sewing Machine Box, Germany was a Smiling Sun. Anon