German National Identity: Moving Beyond Guilt

Abstract

The Nazi dictatorship, the trauma of World War II, and the horrors of the Holocaust have defined the development of postwar German national identity. German national identity is more nuanced and multifaceted than is usually assumed. The German natio—with the obvious exception of Austria—was not contained in a single nation-state until Otto von Bismarck engineered the country's unification under Prussian tutelage in 1871. History has been the central theme for the development of German national identity, especially since 1945. Germany's identity has been in transition ever since the country's reunification in October 1990. The phenomenon of Ostalgia reflects one side of the struggle to forge a new German national identity after reunification and is shown in the social dimension and cultural life of the East. Immigration, integration, and Islam present a challenge to the dominant discourse of German national identity that has predominated since the end of World War II.