You read about German towns being evacuated because of bomb scares — and not terrorist bombs either. These are bombs left over from World War I and World War II. Every time they build something new, they have to comb the area for bombs first.

In the United States you might find bullets from the Civil War around Fredericksburg in Northern Virginia. But they are of interest only to collectors, not to anyone else. Nor do they cause towns and cities to be evacuated.

This constant reminder of the effects of war has a psychological effect on the population in Germany. That’s one of the reasons they are pacifists.