U.S. now bugging German ministers in place of Merkel: report
reuters.com> Germans are especially sensitive about snooping due to their experiences in the Nazi era and in Communist East Germany, when the Stasi secret police built up a massive surveillance network.
I find it curious how this comment seems to appear often in NSA related articles. As if Germans had a degree of sensitivity (with regards to privacy) that's exaggerated. Makes no sense.
It's not that hard to understand if you compare it to the almost religious patriotic fervour that many americans display when it comes to loving their country and its way of life.
Although the US has a well-regulated militia enshrined in its constitution, based on a history of distrusting the government, a distrust of the powers that be has not lasted as far as the current day. Germany has precisely that.
While it's true that any reasonable person has a degree of sensitivity similar to the one you're suggesting should not be exaggerated, I think it's also fair to say that you're more likely to find considerably more people who say "The NSA can read my emails. I've done nothing wrong" in the US than in Germany.