>lingua Franca in Eastern Europe, which would rather speak German than English
No we wouldn't. As an Eastern European I can assure most of my countrymen know and prefer English far better than they prefer and know German.
You're probably thinking of the countries bordering Germany that still have ethic German populations from the post-WW2 era, or the ones part of the former Austrian empire (Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Hungary, etc.) where learning German was mandatory during those times and the tradition of learning it in school as the main foreign language was kept till recently, but if you go a bit east, or look at youth of today, almost nobody speaks German compared to how many speak English.
If you go as a tourist to Slovenia, Croatia or Bosnia, and talk to old people, you're far more likely to get by in German rather than English, but if you talk to young people, it's almost the complete opposite, which is fascinating.
No we wouldn't. As an Eastern European I can assure most of my countrymen know and prefer English far better than they prefer and know German.
You're probably thinking of the countries bordering Germany that still have ethic German populations from the post-WW2 era, or the ones part of the former Austrian empire (Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Hungary, etc.) where learning German was mandatory during those times and the tradition of learning it in school as the main foreign language was kept till recently, but if you go a bit east, or look at youth of today, almost nobody speaks German compared to how many speak English.
If you go as a tourist to Slovenia, Croatia or Bosnia, and talk to old people, you're far more likely to get by in German rather than English, but if you talk to young people, it's almost the complete opposite, which is fascinating.