Easier Fatherland: Germany and the Twenty-First CenturyGermany is the most important and powerful country in Europe. And yet it remains strangely little understood - by itself, as much as by the rest of the world. It is in a state of remarkable flux, confronting the demons of the past, whilst also seeking to make the West and the East into one country - a much greater challenge than it seemed. The coming enlargement of the European Union, which will bring much of formerly communist Eastern Europe into the EU, will make Germany more pivotal than ever. So what makes this country tick? For decades after the Second World War, the country remained strongly polluted by the Nazi legacy; there was little attempt to confront the past. For today's younger generation, by contrast, Nazism was a weird aberration that they themselves have difficulty in understanding. The book will explore those changes, and how German society itself is still in the midst of enormous change. The story takes us through three periods: Before the Poison (pre-1933), The Poison (1933-45) and - the heart of the book - the period of Coming to Terms, and the changes that this period has brought to the shape of the country. The coming to terms with the past overlaps, from 1990 onwards, with the East-West story, where mutual misunderstanding has been rife. |
Contents
1 Another Country | 1 |
2 Twelve Years | 11 |
3 Dishonest Democracy | 23 |
4 Fathers and Children | 37 |
5 Radicals Without Bombs | 47 |
6 Falling Walls | 59 |
7 Berlin Republic | 79 |
8 WestEastern Divan | 91 |
11 Do Mention the War | 133 |
12 Neighbours | 149 |
13 Squared Circles | 163 |
14 Going Slow | 175 |
15 Crumbling Taboos | 189 |
16 In Search of Normality | 203 |
17 And Now | 217 |
| 221 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Allies Ampelmännchen anti-Semitism argued asked Auschwitz became bombing Bonn brutal Bundesrepublik Bundestag camps Christian Democrats civilians Communist confront contrast Crabwalk death decades declared democracy described despite Dresden eager earlier EASIER FATHERLAND East Berlin East German eastern economic elections Europe European expellees far-right Federal Republic film Fischer Florian Illies forced foreign minister Gerhard Schröder German crimes German society German soldiers German suffering Germany's Goldhagen's Greens Helmut Kohl Historikerstreit Hitler Holocaust insisted Jewish Jews Joschka Joschka Fischer killed Kohl's later leader lived meanwhile memory millions Milosevic modern Germany Mölln murder never official Ostalgie party past Poland Polish political protests radical reality reform regime remained responsibility Schröder Sebald seemed seen Serb Social Democrats Solingen Soviet Stasi story taboos talk theme Third Reich tion told town turn twenty-first century unification unthinkable violence vote Wall wanted Wessi West western words