German Nationalism

A Wall Street Journal article last week (not available online) presented a somewhat alarming story It chronicled an immigrant to Germany who began flying the German flag in recognition of his World Cup pride. This article claims that liberal youths took the German flags that he had hung. This liberal movement appears anti-nationalistic and my guess, shows that there is shame or embarrassment about Germany's past. My research is not extensive however, I have opinions and questions on the subject.

I have had an extensive conversation with a German friend about German nationality. Though this is only one account, I find it convincing. She claims that Germany cannot show nationalism because people, the world, still hold them accountable for their history. This is nothing that Germany should be proud of. The Germans have conducted treacherous acts and they should not be proud of that. They need to distance themselves as much as they can from German history.

One of my responses is, 'how can young generations be held accountable for something they had no influence over'? A young German person today cannot be happy to be German because their great-grandparents were in the wrong place at the wrong time? German citizens were asked--told--to defend--improve--their country. The citizens had little liberty on the matter.

Though I am not trying to praise the Germans for their World War actions, but I wonder what committee judged them and who established the standard? Ethics in international affairs is a tricky business but where is the line drawn for what is 'good war' and what is 'bad war'. War is unfortunate and ugly but all sides in every conflict cannot conduct themselves virtuously. The victor writes the history and the history says that Germany is 'bad'. Russia is scarcely seen as a peaceful country yet they are allowed to show their pride. The ethics scale is hypocritical and subjective.

However there are signs of returning German assertiveness. An article comparing and contrasting the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the French President Nicolas Sarkozy detailed the growing rift between the two countries. For the last fifty years Germany has largely accommodated European (French) interests in an attempt to 'play nice' and support peaceful, unified directions (even in conflict with Germany's individual interests). The Greek credit situation has pushed the buttons of German generosity. The point is that Germany has so much to be proud of and it is starting to see that. Merkel is standing up to France in defense of its personal stability, profitable exports, and more higher ranking football team.

I argued with my friend for an entire evening over how much stronger Germany would be outside the EU. She however never agreed with me. Now, I think we were both right. She knew Germany, and many German citizens, could not yet face its past. However, I had an outside perspective of how strong the nation really is and how much it could accomplish. Should Germany be nationalistic, yes. Can Germany be nationalistic, slowly.

~PB