Summary — Issue 01 / 2004 Adam Krzeminski: Between Renationalization and Europeanization A Polish View of Germany
		The attacks on 11 September 2001 and their consequences not only shattered the previous coordinates of international politics but also gave new impetus to the debate on a special German path. In fact, the difficult search for a new German identity after reunification has gradually shifted, leading to emancipation from self-imposed historical constraints and taboos. Thus, Walser’s protest against the “moral cudgel” of Auschwitz evidently struck a chord, particularly with the younger generation. Jokes and widely disseminated negative views about Poland indicate that the inhibition threshold as regards the victims of German history has receded somewhat and historical aversions are again gaining ground in public discourse. Germany’s reappearance on the world stage is at the same time characterized by a gradual emancipation from the restrictions of the post-war period. With the withdrawal of Russian troops from German soil the dissolution of the old deference towards Moscow became manifest. Emancipation with regard to the USA materialized 10 years later in connection with the Iraq war and brought deep-lying anti-American resentment to the surface. Revision of the special relationship with Israel and the Jews, scarred by the Holocaust, is not yet complete, but desired by many. However, German attempts to portray themselves as victims for the purpose of self-reconciliation seem to constitute a successful third revision of Germany’s post-war state of mind. This gives rise to fears among the “other victims”. Particularly in Poland there are widespread concerns that the emphasis on German suffering could perpetuate claims against Poland, such as those made by expellees’ organizations. It is true that the German search for identity also contains progressive aspects, such as compensation of the victims of forced labor, the new citizenship law, or support for EU enlargement. But still the renationalization of history and shift in German identity is in Polish eyes taking place at the expense of the desired Europeanization and empathy for the victims of Germany’s past. The relationship with Poland requires a rethinking of the kind which has already taken place with regard to France. Calls for a Paris–Berlin–Moscow axis, on the other hand, are as detrimental to German–Polish partnership and the European search for identity as attempts to obtain old privileges in an exclusive “Core Europe”.
		<< Back to Summaries
	© Friedrich Ebert Stiftung   net edition: malte.michel | 06/2004   Top