As a German born in 87, it didn't feel _that_ recent any more. But it was definitely close, both my granddads served in the war and were scarred for life by that, mentally and physically. Family history a mess of war-torn biographies. I found some rusted, old big munition in the forest as a kid. Old bunkers and flak towers can still be seen in the cities, and many of the local kids in my hometown and age cohort adventured into the old mining shaft used as an air raid shelter and saw the gas masks that were still there. And then there was the GDR (or DDR, Deutsche Demokratische Republik, in German) and all the reunification that happened when I was already alive (although I was a child at the time).
Thinking about my childhood visit to Ost-Berlin still makes me shiver with thoughts about all the suffering. Many of the buildings still had bullet holes and it felt like you could touch history.
I am from 82 (Dutch) and I still remember vividly visiting the border/iron curtain in 89 (just before the wall came down). My mom would jokingly put her arm through the fence and say 'my arm is in communist East Germany' (technically DMZ I guess) and my parents would tell that they would shoot people trying to cross from the other side.
We often go to Germany, but this summer we went to Rügen. To get there we have to travel directly east, those trips just make you realize how close we were to the border and thus to an authoritarian regime.
Many of the buildings still had bullet holes and it felt like you could touch history.
When you know where to look, you can still find the scars everywhere. Our church tower still has bullet holes from WWII.
Some of the scars are so big, it's easy to miss the forest for the trees. A few years ago, I realized that the big cities of the Ruhrgebiet area were beautiful towns once, with amazing historic buildings. The hellscape of 60s and 70s buildings that dominates Cities like Bochum or Duisburg is a result of these cities being bombed into oblivion.
It's all so very sad.
