There's a survey done every year where they ask people from different countries what they think of different countries around the world. In Germany's case, something like 80% of Americans said they like Germany, but only like 20% of Germans said they like America. So we like them, but they can't stand us.
A lot of it is historic. Even though they know they were on the wrong side of the war, a lot of the older folks remembered being carpet bombed by the Americans and they passed that memory on to their kids and grandkids. And even though we were on the right side of that war, and the vast majority of our soldiers were good people, at the end of the day.... it's war.... and a lot of brutal things happen when you take an 18 year old kid from Iowa who's been freezing, shot at, and hasn't been laid in a year, and you send him in to an undefended rural town full of women and children, if you catch my drift.
Also, about half of that country was East Germany before the wall came down, and they were basically a Soviet puppet state. We're all taught over here that the Russians are evil and that everybody who lived under them were miserable, but the world is complicated. Actually a lot of Germans liked the Russians, are very pro-communist, and they side with Russia over the United States. This is especially true in Berlin and eastern Germany.
Add to that, they don't like our politics. Because they lived through WW1 and WW2 in the most personal way, they don't like wars. We happen to start a lot of wars. Because they were the country that brought the world Adolf Hitler, and he was always talking about "rah rah Germany first," they have a deep fear of patriotism and nationalism. We're very patriotic over here and wave our flag everywhere. They remember the military buildup before WW2 and so they don't like military spending. We spend a fortune on our military. Etc etc. Basically, they think we're crazy and unhinged.
