Two years ago I visited Cologne and while I very much enjoyed my stay, one thing did stick out for me as incredibly odd.

Souvenir shops in addition to selling key rings, fridge magnets and standard postcards of the city, would also sell postcards with images of the Cologne cathedral or other parts of the city ruined by bombing in the Second World War.

Can someone please explain this peculiarity? Am I missing some important aspect of German culture here? I've never seen this anywhere else.

I can't imagine sending this to someone abroad, what would I say with it? 'Look at the beautiful destruction the Allied bombers inflicted upon our lovely city'. It struck me as something very right-wing (probably something the NPD would probably do) and just weird to find in a standard tourist shop.

When I asked my German friend about it, he quipped that it was so '... the Germans never forget who the true enemy is!'. But was otherwise just as dumbfound as I was.