The Berkeley Guides:
Berkeley Guide to Europe:
Germany
Examining the German psyche is something of a cottage industry. Perhaps more than any other nation, the Germans have been ruthlessly (re)examined, (re)considered, (psycho)analyzed, and deconstructed. This is understandable--all century long the Germans have been a royal pain in the ass, and some people want to know just what gives. Historians have debated "The German Question" with the intellectual equivalent of a body-cavity search, writing books and treatises on German national character and every minute detail of German history. The Germans themselves have also done their best to reevaluate their recent history. And, like a fine wine or a speed-freak coming down from his high, the Germans have mellowed. Politicians no longer launch into fiery oratory calling for a Großdeutschland or demanding more Lebensraum. (In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to find a German politician saying anything interesting at all). If they're still bent on destroying the planet, at least they're doing it by exporting neon-clad tourists and bad pop music. Rock me, Amadeus!
Modern Germans, especially the younger generations, have been skeptical of traditions and beliefs they consider tainted by recent history. As occurred after World War I, popular culture seeks to define Germanness by looking forward (sometimes past "Germanness" altogether, toward an ideal of pan-European or pan-global cooperation). People still know their history--the rise of the Holy Roman Empire, its domination of Europe, the Thirty Years' War that killed half the German population, the decline of the empire and birth of nationalism (which led Germany into the arms of Hitler and the Holocaust)--and yet almost all modern discourse starts in 1945, at the very earliest in 1933, the year Hitler assumed power. Germans refer to the end of the war as Stunde Null (Zero Hour): Allied bombs did more than obliterate Germany's cities, they blasted away all ties to the past, as well.
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