When it comes to nationalism, one of the things the West Germans managed to learn from the East Germans was flag-waving. It was part of every parade in the GDR, whereas West Germans only waved their flags in stadiums, during international sports competitions, and did so with some degree of reticence. The 2006 soccer World Cup, on the other hand, became a festival wrapped in the colors of the German flag, black, red and gold. The Germans celebrated as Germans, but they also celebrated Togo and Brazil. The act of waving the flag was not hollow the way it was in the past, but happy. We have become a nation almost devoid of nationalism.
There are pockets, of course. And deeply sick ones at that, such as the NSU terrorist group, which murdered immigrants. This excessive xenophobia emerged from the former East Germany as did the renaissance of the far-right National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD). But western Germany can't exactly claim to be overly welcoming to immigrants, either. In fact, mentalities in the east and the west were fundamentally similar on this issue.
When it comes to nationalism, one of the things the West Germans managed to learn from the East Germans was flag-waving. It was part of every parade in the GDR, whereas West Germans only waved their flags in stadiums, during international sports competitions, and did so with some degree of reticence. The 2006 soccer World Cup, on the other hand, became a festival wrapped in the colors of the German flag, black, red and gold. The Germans celebrated as Germans, but they also celebrated Togo and Brazil. The act of waving the flag was not hollow the way it was in the past, but happy. We have become a nation almost devoid of nationalism.
There are pockets, of course. And deeply sick ones at that, such as the NSU terrorist group, which murdered immigrants. This excessive xenophobia emerged from the former East Germany as did the renaissance of the far-right National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD). But western Germany can't exactly claim to be overly welcoming to immigrants, either. In fact, mentalities in the east and the west were fundamentally similar on this issue.
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