|
|
|
10:54am
Sitting in our sunny bedroom, Neuköln, Berlin
History in the Making
This email is not about the world cup. I am lucky enough to be
here during an event that as one Berliner said, `Will likely be
written about in the history books some years from now.`. That
event is the birth of modern day Germany (this country was
established after WWII) starting to be proud of
something, anything German.
After WWII Germany was of course devastated physically and
psychologically. This psychological depression seeped deeply into
the German psyche for generations to come. Although not ONE of the
Germans I´ve ever met played any part in the world wars, they all
carry traces of shame, disgrace and embarrassment from the role
their ancestors played in those tragic events. I can´t really put
into words how deep this subtle scare goes, nor can you see it in
daily life. It´s one of those wounds you stumble across when you
get to really observe a culture. Germans don´t EVER wave flags,
t-shirts or hang any sign of any kind that would support their
country (except for governmental offices). I don´t mean like they
don´t often, I mean like they DO NOT period. Can you imagine no
flags on anything in the U.S. or Italy?
This lack of national pride did not simply play out with flags, but
in general lack of support for their teams in any international
competition. My friend Sebastian told me that he watched past
World Cups, he just always rooted for whatever team was playing
AGAINST Germany. It was SUPER ´UN-cool´ for Germans to root for
Germany. (If you´ve ever heard a German say the word ´cool´ you
might laugh that they have the word ´uncool´, for if there was a
way to sound ´uncool´ saying the word ´cool´, Germans can do it.)
Now, with the World Cup taking Germany for quite a ride, the
country has literally exploded with support for their own country.
Another way to view it is that Germans are hopping on the banwagon
for the coolest party, and that´s what they are actually supporting.
Many say it is not actually support for Germany, but rather support
for their soccer (football) team or general enthusiasm that it is
here in Germany. Whatever the cause, it is unprecedented. There
are so many flags around you would think it was so normal for one
to hang a flag from his/her own country. Just like the flag
fashion of un-coolness never even existed.
I already told you about how Germans are really rooting for the
German team (who by the way is doing quite well and passed into the
quarter finals). This too relatively new. Some of my students
still don´t really care if Germany wins the cup or not though,
the old mentality is not yet dead.
When you think of Germany, what do YOU think of? (I welcome responses.)
Most Germans tell me that when they meet people outside of Germany
that most people hear the name Germany, and immediatly think of Hitler.
(I learned in uni. that only about 30% of Germans were behind Hitler at
the time of his election, and I´m sure the number wasen´t exactly rising
lots as he continued, so you can see that its not really fair to blame
all Germans for him. Gosh, if that were the case, where would Americans be?)
The world is, at least some Germans hope, finally starting to see
Germans as something more than Hitler and lederhosen (which by the
way are worn about as much as hula skirts are in Hawaii).
Who knows, maybe its just the Germans
letting go a little and seeing themselves in a new light. Either
way, it seems like evolutional healing to me.
This new moment in history is interesting because the ´older´
generations still can´t really let go and participate, but at least
they don´t condem it as much as they would have before. It is most
certainly the youngest generations who can actually wave a flag.
(Sebastian, age 39 says that he´s definitly too old to participate
in such a new mentality; the way he was raised to be embarassed
of his country is much too strong to be repatterned.)
It´s simply still so un-heard of for anyone under 30 to think in
such a national-pride-sort of way that they just can´t go there.
One of my students (30+) told me yesterday that her friend´s little
girl wanted clothing in German colors. This was really hard for
the mom. Sebastian, like most other Berliners/Germans I´ve
consulted on the matter (hey, got to do my in-depth research for
all of you listeners out there tunning into my updates!), says that
this new pride and enthusiasm is interesting to watch for the first
time, but that they would NEVER be able to buy or wear something
which in any way resembled their flag!
Interestingly enough, many of the heaviest German supporters seem
to be the Turkish community. Again, totally opposite of matches
and sentiment as recent as 2-4 years ago. As Turkey was knocked
out before the World Cup started, they have come out in 110%
support (they are of course a more passionate race). It is so
strange that all of a sudden the Turks are perceived as being
behind Germany in a place where there is such a noticeable
distinction between the Turks and the Germans. Turks are
historically for Turkey, not the country they live in.
Television has picked up on the latter and gone to the little
Turkish eating places and asked them why. They responded so
naturally, ´Well duh, we live in Germany, of course we support
them!`. It almost makes me get goose bumps to see such healing and
growing come from a mere sport.
So, it´t time for me to head off to work for the day. Joel and I
are just so tired between all our work and the World Cup. We also
had to do a border run to Poland on Sunday for tax reasons. We
took the VW bus that we bought a few weeks ago from Blake (Kauai),
but have just been too busy to use (nor have we switched into the
mentality of being car owners). Unfortunately we ended up with a
flat tire in the hot afternoon sun and it ended up taking 3 hours
to fix (the mechanic showed up without a jack). However,
considering that we are not finished changing all the registration
etc. and forgot to sign up for ADAC (their version of AAA), it was
pretty impressive that the car´s insurance still paid 100% for the
tire change!
Have a great day. Happy summer solstice!
Timory
|
|
|
|
|
