The Berkeley Guides:
Berkeley Guide to Europe:
Germany:
Background Information for
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.
German culture has responded by producing creative, and often self-inspecting, films, music, or literature. German films, like many German things, are an acquired taste. Depending on who you ask, Fassbinder is either a genius of neorealist postmodern pseudosurrealism or boring as hell. Still, many German directors have found acceptance and success abroad. Wim Wenders's Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire) was admired by audiences around the world, and Paris, Texas showed that German sensibilities and American actors could be successfully mixed. German authors such as Günther Grass (Die Blechtrommel/The Tin Drum) are constantly challenging Germany to define itself and not forget the past.
Germany is a modern place, and you'd be doing yourself a disservice if all you come for is cutesy castles and yodeling yokels. Here, you'll find tradition in a modern context. Hang out in a bar or café, mingle with the locals, and you'll be surprised by what you find. Above all, Germany is contradiction: It is Trachten and techno, poetry and punk, kitsch and glitz. It is Goethe, Schiller, and Mozart, but also Hitler, Eichmann, and Himmler. It is a place with a long history of high culture . . . and low barbarism. While you explore one, don't forget the other.
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