The sensitivities of German officials with respect to the alleged British obsession with the Nazi era have surprisingly often seen the public limelight in recent years, the most recent example being the British tabloids’ reaction to the election of Joseph Kardinal Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI.
Today Der Spiegel’s English service is picking up the subject again, this time with a twist: The German Academic Exchange Service’s (DAAD) London Office has sponsored an essay contest for British students “partially to battle … stereotypes and partially because the London office hasn’t been receiving enough applications for the year-long scholarship they award to British students for study in Germany.”
To examine the true Anglo-German reality a little closer than The SUN usually does, Der Spiegel has published the winning essays (Sarah Weller, ” Falling in Love With Fritz“, Oliver Hopwood, “Finding Berlin in a hip hair salon“, Faith Dennis, “Hunting for Sausage and Sauerkraut in Berlin“) as well as a story about Germans going Euro-trashy in London – an experience that is somewhat different from my own experiences in the British capital.
So, having written anti-stereotype essays long before there were prices, or even scholarships, available for it, I invite you to have (another) look at my experiencees of why Kraut bashing is indeed *so* pass? these days.
Tobias, I wonder if you imagine it?s much easier being French or Italian or Greek in Britain ? We on this island of ours and our neighbours just across the water have generated so many stereotypes of each other, expressed, for instance, in our sweetly symmetrical ascription of ethnonyms to prophylactics and absconding. The list may be longer in England, but probably not by much. Germans get off lightly by comparison. It is, after all, France that we have been at war with for much of our history.
The French see themselves as superior to us on fairly reasonable grounds ? the beauty of their cities, their reputation as lovers, the influence of their culture on intellectual and artistic life. To return the compliment, we fall back on a rather inflated view of our military accomplishments and an entirely accurate one of our scientific contribution. The real point however is that our brief period of military and economic ascension is over and we haven?t got used to it. Yours never really got going ?until now – and the French have had longer to get used to the idea, having been overtaken by Britain two or more centuries ago.
The reason an English version of ‘La Grande Illusion’ is difficult to imagine is that our old class system was more flexible and refused to die. The English are very good pioneers but rarely finish the job, so while we were the first in recent history to execute a king, we didn?t finish the job by eliminating as much of the aristocracy as we could lay our hands on. Deference lasts longer under a monarchical system too (and when it finally breaks down, the collapse is more catastrophic). So our social world is still more stratified than yours, not in terms of income but in terms of the role of education in determining privilege, and in terms of the role of privilege in determining education.
Not as paradoxical as it sounds. You lot assume that education should give access to power and that everybody should feel capable of achieving an education. We assume that power determines education and that it doesn?t matter much except as a badge of caste. Education is thus either a form of class treason or a form of social climbing here, whereas in France ? I don?t know about Germany ? not only is it a prerequisite but it confers actual privileges such as the State?s obligation to employ an Aggr?g?. (Gifted French hippies had fun with that one, as you can imagine).
These two factors ? a contempt for an educated understanding both at the top and at the bottom of our social order, plus a desire to dwell on WW2 as our last great triumph over our continental neighbours, explain why Brits have so much difficulty internalizing European solidarity. While we have no formal democratic deficit, and enjoy great social mobility, our attitudes to foreigners are partly a reflection of remaining feudal cleavages in how status works within our own society. Our military class never lost its King and the bully boy swabbies of Trafalgar still maintain their 18th Century swagger. No wonder we keep mentioning the war. : )