In modern German, Lebensraum is still a perfectly normal word when used as "the place where animals live". But we are very cautious about our history and the history of words.
Sometimes bordering on (self-) censorship. So that caution is not necessarily a good thing.
Habitat might have been the word I was looking for.
I agree that one should be careful when using emotionally charged words, but I also think that playful usage might be a way out of the self-censorship that surrounds a great many dreadful historical events. Not just in Germany.
Sometimes bordering on (self-) censorship. So that caution is not necessarily a good thing.