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Start by pressing the button below! Coury and Frank Pilipp List of Contributors Index Christine Anton Repositioning German Identity The quest for a viable, distinctive and stable German sense of self is an ongoing process, and the connections to the Nazi past and the legacy of the GDR remain at the center of political, historical and socio-cultural discourses.
New generations of writers and filmmakers call for a reassessment and remapping of the German past and are pushing at the boundaries of cultural taboos and political correctness, delving into the complex question what constitutes the German nation today. Visiting Germany during the summer of , one came upon a country whose usual gloom and doom was supplanted by a party atmosphere not seen since the fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany was hosting the soccer world championship and had invited the entire world to drop in and experience a people that was proudly waving its flag and chanting the national anthem.
For four weeks the German nation became a model of perfect harmony, united within itself and united with the rest of the world. Germany is struggling with how it is perceived by the world around it, whether or not it has garnered global respect, and, moreover, how its own self-perception measures up to an objective and factual evaluation of its state-of-affairs. If so, does compulsory integration into a leading culture with core beliefs and values not eventually lead to ghettoization and a degree of indigence and racial discrimination?
The danger here, of course, is that social and ethnic segregation can lead to violent demonstrations and riots as has been the case in several European states in recent years e. The onslaught of debates about German identity started with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of the Cold War, and the unification of the two Germanys.
