@flauschtrud Such an interesting topic! As a European myself I've thought a lot about possibly doing another decades challenge in Europe after I'm (eventually) done with this (I'd have an idea about the Munch family as a starting point) and I've gone into more thought than what is probably healthy on what the differences in rules would have to be. I might or might not have an entire list of adapted rules that are far too complicated for my own good if I ever decided to play a European version.
As you mentioned, I try not to gloss over the hard stuff. As a history teacher being faithful to the time is important to me, and as you know I tend not to shy away from hard topics and sadness, even if the game makes it hard sometimes (like a painting and a good meal making up for the fact that the love of your life just died a few hours ago). That said, there are issues that are incredibly hard to deal with in game, issues like racism being one of them. I've actually thought a lot about the future decades and how to deal with segregation as the game for obvious reasons don't have mechanics for that, and it's difficult to portray in any real sense that gives the weight to the issue that it deserves. I have no answers yet, but in general, my philosophy has been to not skip over any hard issues but let them impact my writing even if they can't make it into the screenshots. I can sympathise with @Kellogg_J_Kellogg in that I write what I write without trigger warnings and hope people won't be too offended. I don't like glossing over the hard stuff in life, but I cannot say that I don't think about what people might be hurt by. How would someone react if my Frank for instance slapped Emily? Not unthinkable considering how much he drinks and how much they fight, but would that be taking things too far? (For me the answer is no, and if the shove interaction did show up when they fought, I would probably not hesitate to use it, but I haven't gone looking for it either.)
As for WW2, I wouldn't mind portraying most of the hardships of war. Losing your house, people being bombed out of their homes, people being killed, I had all that for WW1, so that wouldn't be something I shy away from, even in more resent time. When it comes to the more atrocious parts of war, in Europe, Korea or Vietnam, I would definitely mention them, for even if it might feel disrespectful to sort of "use" them for entertainment, it would feel even more disrespectful not to mention them.
I don't know if that answered any of your questions at all. :)
