New Perspectives in German Political Studies General Editors: William Paterson OBE is Honorary Professor in German and European Politics at the University of Aston and Chairman of the German British Forum. Charlie Jeffery is Professor of Politics at the University of Edinburgh. Germany remains a pivotal country in Europe. It is Europe s biggest economy, continues to play a central role in the European Union, and has a growing significance in international security politics based on its strategic location at the centre of Europe and its evolving role as a provider of security in Europe and beyond. All this is nuanced by the legacies of a turbulent recent history: the two World Wars, the Holocaust, Germany s division after World War II and its unification in 1990. New Perspectives in German Political Studies has been designed as a platform for debate and scholarship on contemporary Germany. It welcomes contributions from political science, international relations, political economy and contemporary history. It follows on from the success of the earlier series on New Perspectives in German Studies, co-edited by William Paterson and the late Professor Michael Butler. Titles include: Alister Miskimmon, William E. Paterson and James Sloam (editors) GERMANY S GATHERING CRISIS The 2005 Federal Election and the Grand Coalition Anne Fuchs PHANTOMS OF WAR IN CONTEMPORARY GERMAN LITERATURE, FILMS AND DISCOURSE The Politics of Memory Caroline Pearce CONTEMPORARY GERMANY AND THE NAZI LEGACY Remembrance, Politics and the Dialectic of Normality Beverly Crawford POWER AND GERMAN FOREIGN POLICY Embedded Hegemony in Europe Dan Hough, Michael Koß and Jonathan Olsen THE LEFT PARTY IN CONTEMPORARY GERMAN POLITICS Roger Woods GERMANY S NEW RIGHT AS CULTURE AND POLITICS Christian Schweiger BRITAIN, GERMANY AND THE FUTURE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION Karl Christian Führer and Corey Ross (editors) MASS MEDIA, CULTURE AND SOCIETY IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY GERMANY
Matthew M.C. Allen THE VARIETIES OF CAPITALISM PARADIGM Explaining Germany s Comparative Advantage? Gunther Hellmann (editor) GERMANY S EU POLICY IN ASYLUM AND DEFENCE De-Europeanization by Default? Chantal Lacroix IMMIGRANTS, LITERATURE AND NATIONAL INTEGRATION Charles Lees PARTY POLITICS IN GERMANY A Comparative Politics Approach Ronald Speirs and John Breuilly (editors) GERMANY S TWO UNIFICATIONS Anticipations, Experiences, Responses James Sloam THE EUROPEAN POLICY OF THE GERMAN SOCIAL DEMOCRATS Interpreting a Changing World Margarete Kohlenbach WALTER BENJAMIN Self-Reference and Religiosity Henning Tewes GERMANY, CIVILIAN POWER AND THE NEW EUROPE Enlarging Nato and the European Union Wolf-Dieter Eberwein and Karl Kaiser (editors) GERMANY S NEW FOREIGN POLICY Decision-Making in an Interdependent World Gerard Braunthal RIGHT-WING EXTREMISM IN CONTEMPORARY GERMANY A Threat to Democracy? Ruth Wittlinger GERMAN NATIONAL IDENTITY IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY A Different Republic After All? New Perspectives in German Political Studies Series Standing Order ISBN 978 0 333 92430 3 hardcover Series Standing Order ISBN 978 0 333 92434 1 paperback (outside North America only) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBNs quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England
German National Identity in the Twenty-First Century A Different Republic After All? Ruth Wittlinger Senior Lecturer in the School of Government and International Affairs, Durham University, UK
Ruth Wittlinger 2010 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2010 978-0-230-57775-6 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2010 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-36741-2 ISBN 978-0-230-29049-5 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9780230290495 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wittlinger, Ruth, 1961 German national identity in the twenty-first century : a different republic after all? / Ruth Wittlinger. p. cm. (New perspectives in German studies) Summary: This book shows that German national identity has undergone considerable changes since unification in 1990. Due to the external pressures of the post-cold war world but also due to domestic developments such as recent dynamics of collective memory, Germany has re-emerged as a confident nation which is less hesitant to assert its national interest Provided by publisher. 1. Group identity Germany. 2. Group identity Political aspects Germany. 3. Germany Politics and government 1990 I. Title. DD290.29.W62 2010 943.088 dc22 2010027569 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10
In memory of my parents Gertrud Wittlinger (1920 1998) and Albert Wittlinger (1916 2009)
Contents List of Abbreviations Acknowledgements viii ix Introduction: A Different Republic After All? 1 1 German National Identity and the Nazi Past 17 2 The Quest for Inner Unity 47 3 From Prosperity to a Democracy of Want? 71 4 The New Germany in the New Europe: A Leading Power 91 5 Germany s New Foreign Policy Identity 115 Conclusion: German National Identity in the Twenty-First Century 139 Notes 146 Bibliography 167 Index 181 vii
Abbreviations CDU CSU DVU EC ECSC EEC ESDP EU FDP FRG GDR IGC NATO NPD OECD PDS SED SPD Stasi UN WASG ZDF Christlich Demokratische Union (Christian Democratic Union) Christlich-Soziale Union (Christian-Social Union) Deutsche Volksunion (German People s Union) European Community European Coal and Steel Community European Economic Community European Security and Defence Policy European Union Freie Demokratische Partei (Free Democratic Party) Federal Republic of Germany German Democratic Republic Intergovernmental Conference North Atlantic Treaty Organization Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands (National Democratic Party) Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Partei des demokratischen Sozialismus (Party of Democratic Socialism) Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (Socialist Unity Party) Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (Social Democratic Party) Staatssicherheitsdienst (Ministry for State Security) United Nations Wahlalternative Arbeit und Soziale Gerechtigkeit (Electoral Alternative Labour and Social Justice) Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen viii
Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere thanks to the Leverhulme Foundation for granting me a Fellowship which allowed me to attend conferences and, above all, gave me time to write up my research. In particular, I would like to thank the staff there for their straightforward and unbureaucratic way of administering the Fellowship! Many thanks also go to the British Academy for a grant that enabled me to carry out some of the research in Germany. I am also most grateful to Prof. Willie Paterson and the editorial team at Palgrave for their interest in the project and their support. I would also like to thank Prof. Charlie Jeffery and the anonymous reviewer for their helpful comments. I would like to thank all my friends, family and colleagues in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States who knew when to ask, but maybe even more importantly, who also knew when not to ask how it was going. Their support was crucial in seeing this through. Special thanks go to Steffi Boothroyd, Eric Langenbacher, Klaus Larres, Joyce Mushaben, Bill Niven, Hartwig Pautz, Christian Schweiger and Steve Welch for reading draft chapters and making helpful suggestions. The usual caveat applies. All errors and omissions remain my own responsibility, of course. My deepest thanks go to Kevin, my person without whom. ix