A recent article in the New York Times – “German Identity, Long Dormant, Reasserts Itself” – has taken a look at identity and national pride among citizens of Germany, examining it within the changes that have take place both in the recent and distant past. Over the past century, Germany has undergone many changes, both geographically as well as mentally. And for Germans, reassessing what it means to be German has been an ongoing process for decades.
With the 20th anniversary of the reunification of Germany, and the dawn of a generation that has NOT lived through any world wars or the fall of any walls, national identity and pride are things that make sense and are easier to grasp. The questions, however, is how much of a role this perspective plays for the nation as a whole.
German Identity, Long Dormant, Reasserts Itself
by NICHOLAS KULISH (New York Times)
As a youth in the 1950s, the film director Volker Schlöndorff tried to hide his German origins by learning to speak unaccented French. This summer, his daughter painted German flags on her cheeks and joined crowds of thousands on the Kurfürstendamm, a historic avenue, waving their black, red and gold banners to celebrate the country’s World Cup victories.
Elena Schlöndorff confessed that she never watched her father’s Academy Award-winning adaptation of “The Tin Drum,” Günter Grass’s World War II epic, until a new director’s cut was released earlier this year. She had little interest in the Nazi era. “I don’t really feel touched by it,” said Ms. Schlöndorff, 18, with a teenage shrug. “In our generation, we’ve gotten past it.”
