It’s one of those little things that irks me so much. I remember reading something about how the reparations germany had to pay were not at all excessive (especially when compared to other wars at the time).
Someone brought it up, so naturally, I’d like to counter it.
Fun fact: The Americans looted the French more than they did the Germans. Accounts of American soldiers (most famously, the 101st Airbourne’s diaries) make this pretty clear.
The French viewed the Americans with “suspicion” and sometimes “contempt”. Whenever Americans would request food or lodging in French villages, the French would usually provide them with the bare minimum or “hide food and jewelry away”. Of course nobody stood to think that the Germans had been looting and terrorizing the French for 4 years, and that the French farmers especially really had nothing more to give. The Americans used this perception as an excuse to take food (and often valuables) by force, or barging into French houses at night and setting camp in the living room without asking anybody’s permission. They would also view the French as “dirty, conniving, always hiding something, always expecting handouts or payment for food and lodging, greedy, thieving, lazy” etc.
On the other hand they respected the Germans for “being like the people at home”, for being “organized”, for being “clean”, for jumping in to repair damages to bombed houses and streets, for welcoming them like tourists and freely giving them food and beds. But again nobody stood to think that the Germans had not been crushed and despirited after years of occupation and hardships, that they were acting subservient out of fear for reprisals, that they were in denial about losing the war, that they were often sucking up so they wouldn’t be executed as Nazis.
Also, I can only imagine what “dirty” and “clean” really refers to.