One of the things that I discussed with the guys mentioned in this post was the reasons behind such a strong relationship between Mexico and Germany. The largest Deutsche Schule outside of Germany operates in Mexico City, and there are many Germans in Mexico and Mexicans in Germany, due to the strong FDI by companies like Volkswagen and student exchange ties. according to an article I read in the Reforma newspaper a couple of years back, there were more Mexicans registered in the embassy in Germany than in Spain!). Why is it so?
- Alexander von Humboldt, German scholar, visited Mexico at the beginning of the 19th century during his research trip through Latin America. That gave the country some visibility in the illustrated circles of the time.
- The Hanseatic and Prussian states were some of the first European countries that recognised Mexican independence.
- During the 19th century, Germany was the only great power that didn't try to conquer Mexico after its independence. Spain tried, France did for a while, the UK harassed the country a couple of times (and helped it a couple too), and of course we know about the results of the Mexican-American war.
- Furthermore, during the Great War, Germany even tried to convince Mexico to enter on their side, with the ruse of offering support in the reconquest of lost territories. However, Mexico was in the middle of the Mexican Revolution, and to make matters worse, when the proposal, known as the Zimmermann note, reached U.S. hands, they declared war on Germany.
For more information, you might want to check this note here.
It's true. There is a parallelism between the history of those countries. I would like to add another facts to your list:
-The only battle (Mexico) or war (Germany) both countries have ever won was against France. Mexico won the Battle of 5th May at Puebla and Germany won the
Sorry! my previous comment was incomplete (it was the first one in Vox). Hope it works now.
It's true. There is a
parallelism between the history of those countries. I would like to add
another facts to your list:
-The
only battle (Mexico) or war (Germany) both countries have ever won was
against France. Mexico won the Battle of 5th May at Puebla and Germany
won the Franco-Prusian war.
-Anarchist B. Traven escaped from
Germany to Mexico after the first WW. There he wrote "lcanasta de
cuentos mexicanos" and "the white rose". During the 2nd WW Sophie and
Hans Scholl fought against nazism and named their resistance group
after Traven's work "the white rose".
-In the heart of Mexico City, a copy of Beethoven's mortuary mask is located infront of Palacio de Bellas Artes.
I
think this list could be extended almostad infinitum. Nevertheless it is
importatnt to mention that the only country who has complained after
the german invasion on Austria during the 2nd WW was Mexico. Therefore
exists a plaza Mexioc in Viena.
Muchos saludos desde Alemania de un chilango (y también chiva),
Leonardo