Ask Austria.

Hypothetically speaking, if I won the Siege of Vienna, would you have run off to seek refuge somewhere else or would you have willingly become my piano playing slave? >D

Also, I was drinking coffee way before you Europeans. Bl I'm surprised you even managed to figure out how to make it rather than throw it away like you do most things you don't understand.

So, I have one.. no, two questions for you, Austria!

First, so.. you and Germany are always arguing about whose musician is what and to Hell if I'll ever understand that but, after all, what is the deal over Beethoven anyway? Isn't he German?

And second, I noticed your surname was Edelstein, which is Jewish so you're Jewish then? Or rather, who was the important Edelstein guy? Alright, that's all!

Thanks for the questions, Herr da Silva. I shall answer them separately.

If we are to argue whether Beethoven is ethnically German or Austrian, it does not matter because, after all, Austrian is ethnically German. Thus I could potential lay claim on all "Ludwig's" composers, like Bach, and so could he.

If we are to argue with nationality by birth, that would not make sense also because the modern "Germany" did not exist during classical era, and if some identity must be attributed, it would go to the electorate of Cologne, which did eventually become part of the unified Germany that we see today; but bear in mind that Vienna was also the capital of Holy Roman Empire, the ultimate authority which Cologne was part of, hence all German composers could potentially be "mine" too. Moreover, mobility was made convenient during HRE, and all members gladly accept immigrants from other members. An Austrian was not necessarily an attribute defined by birthplace.

What I attempted to argue was that Beethoven left Bonn after 22 years of age to seek mentorship and friendship in Vienna, and never left the city until death. His music style has been considered as part of First Viennese School (Die Wiener Klassik) since 1834, seven years after Beethoven's death. It is confirmed several times and it should no longer be doubted that Beethoven did flourish in Vienna and contribute his most to the Viennese style. Rejecting this notion is parallel to rejecting Handel's Britishness simply because he was German-born.

I hope you find my first answer satisfactory. I shall move on to the second question.

No, I am not Jewish. My Jewish surname is credited to a wise rabbi who lived in the Jewish community in Vienna during the 13th century. This unnamed rabbi educated me When the Babenbergs stopped being manipulative and granted me certain freedom away from the castle, I met this unnamed rabbi, who educated me until the church acting irrational, expelling them without granting me a bishop. Before the rabbi departed, he praised my eyes and named me after "gemstone", hence "Edelstein".

No, Eliza. Of course Hitler favoured me - what kind of person would want to annex a country which he once considered as a lost cause?

Have you ever seen a certain kind of love, so fervent and manipulative that the lover wants to alter his partner into what he thinks as flawless? Hitler loved me so much that he never lost hope in trying to erase every trace of impure Jewishness inside me. He wanted me to be completely purified.

I should have dyed my hair blond, wore blue coloured contact lens, drank whey protein, and exercised with dumbbells everyday. I would definitely look as attractive as the rest of my German brothers. Don't you agree?

---

-jokes aside.

Ludwig has always been the symbolism of all Germans, and since I am of German blood, Hitler felt that I was a lost child and should have returned to the glory of the Aryans. That was his sense of favourtism towards me, as in he understood that the Austrian people after World War I - and myself - had a strong desire to feel belonged to some group or the other, preferably with our own kin. He simply fulfilled the Germans' wish. My people were fine with it. It was just me feeling uneasy of losing my very own nationhood of almost an millennium.

National Socialism and Fascism were extreme forms of ideology. So were nationalism in the nineteenth century, enlightenment in the eighteenth century, Protestantism in the sixteenth and seventeenth century. All these ideologies had two side of supporters - one side supported them and considered them revolutionary and needed; the other side viewed them as radical, controversial, unacceptable.

It is the victor who gets the authority to record history with their very own value judgment. In this case, National Socialism and Fascism were defeated and were branded as evil thoughts for the rest of human history. Given that premise, we automatically assume that people in the past either were very evil for supporting such ideologies, or people were just helpless as they were forced to comply with the evil trend. Those assumptions are utterly wrong.

The reason why I brought up such argument is because we must be reminded that history has its grey area, and that I have once believed that National Socialism and its focus on German unity could be a very promising way for the German people to step out of the economic catastrophe that the Allies imposed on (or accidentally affected) us.

I was not aware of the existence of Adolf Hitler until I got to read Mein Kampf before the economy collapsed again. It was slightly more radical and anti-Semitic than what people believed in during that time period, which I did not quite understand what had he possibly encounter in Vienna. Anti-antisemitism is not new - we have burnt people alive several centuries ago, but that's another story. After Versailles and Great Depression, Germany truly needed an enthusiastic man to bring the country back to prosperity, and I had hoped that this would be the very end of German collapse.

Not until around 1933 did I start to see him going astray and feel anxious about this man. I thought that the power of a Fuhrer corrupted him to be more antisemitic. Later with the order to relocate Jews into concentration camps, I finally saw him as a dangerous man that maybe Ludwig would be better off without him, but that was too late... Ludwig had already turned into an emotionless working machine. Once again, my people had dragged Ludwig into total war. This is a personal guilt that I can never resolve.

Nonetheless, his monstrous deeds in Holocaust were unforgivable; what he deliberately put me through in the camps was absolutely abominable. However, if we disregard Holocaust and antisemitism (only for this examination), I thought during that time, and still think in this moment that he was a remarkable military and political leader who genuinely cared about the welfare of lower German classes. He just happened to love his Fatherland so intensely that he went mad and lost his way. In this regard, I feel that Heinrich Himmler could possibly be a more "evil" person than Hitler was.

He loved and hated me, and this is not a paradox. After all, the homogeneous Germany provided his nurture ground, but my mentality provided the basis of his very nature. For centuries, I have been unable to resolve my personal conflict for German-centric sympathy versus cosmopolitanism, and antisemitism versus philosemitism (I am certain that you can spell my surname). I still cannot resolve it.

Only if he had stayed in Vienna, then he might not have a chance to start another world war since I was so formidable that I didn't have any U-boats.

How I wished Hitler would have not gone to Munich and became acquainted with National Socialist ideologies. How I also wished the world would notice that Hitler was an Austrian, not German. At least the world wouldn't see me as a "victim", and I wouldn't have to counterfeit my Nazi misery...

Let's stop here before I lose the ability to rationalise my feelings.