Germany’s
identity crisis
As
refugees keep coming, Germans ask ‘Who are we?’
By MATTHEW
KARNITSCHNIG 10/12/15, 5:30 AM CET Updated 10/12/15, 4:40 PM CET
BERLIN — For
weeks, Germany’s debate over the refugee crisis focused on the
logistics of housing and feeding the thousands arriving at the border
every day.
With more than 1
million refugees expected this year alone, the foremost question was
whether Germans, as Chancellor Angela Merkel keeps insisting, can
really “manage it.”
As the depth of the
challenge has become apparent, the discussion has shifted way from
the short-term hurdles to a subject that makes Germans wince:
identity.
In a country that
long defined citizenship by blood and ethnicity, few questions are
more sensitive than “who is a German?”
“I would rather
live in a society that is dying than in one that, out of economic and
demographic speculation, is being mixed together with foreign peoples
and made young again,” Botho Strauß, a prominent German writer and
playwright, wrote in Der Spiegel last week under the headline “The
Last German.” “We have been robbed the sovereignty of being in
opposition.”
The reaction was
swift. The literary supplements of Germany’s leading newspapers,
the country’s forum for intellectual debate, flayed Strauß.
Germany’s left has long associated any affinity for “Germanness”
with the ideology of the Nazis. The left-leaning Die Zeit called
Strauß’ essay “a document of madness,” concluding that the
respected author had “destroyed himself.”
“People
are afraid to ask who’s ‘a German'” — Josef Janning of the
European Council on Foreign Relations.
The force of the
reaction reflected the sensitivity of Strauß’ subject. What
worries many on the left is that Strauß’ critique will resonate as
Germans become increasing fearful about absorbing such a large,
predominately Muslim population.
Just a few weeks
ago, a solid majority of Germans expressed optimism about the
country’s deal with the refugee crisis. Polls now show Germans are
increasingly skeptical. A slight majority say they are “scared.”
About one third say they are concerned the large number of foreigners
will threaten Germany’s “societal and cultural values,”
according to a poll released Friday by public broadcaster ZDF.
Germany’s identity
debate has percolated for years as the country has struggled to come
terms with the parallel challenges posed by immigration and an aging
society. The discussion has largely taken place outside Germany’s
political mainstream, however.
Centrist parties,
including Merkel’s Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats,
avoid the subject due to its explosive potential, focusing instead on
the country’s obligation to help those in need.
“In Germany it’s
become a debate about identity without the label of ‘German,’”
said Josef Janning, co-director of the European Council on Foreign
Relations in Berlin. “People are afraid to ask who’s ‘a
German.’”
Basic law
The question has
found expression in groups like Pegida, a grass roots anti-Islam
movement or the Alternative for Germany, a populist party. Both have
been accused of flirting with far-right stereotypes. That’s often
the kiss of death in Germany’s political landscape but since the
refugee crisis began, both appear resurgent.
Germany’s low
unemployment and economic prosperity in recent years helped quell the
identity debate. But it never died. In 2010, for example, Bundesbank
Board Member Thilo Sarrazin caused an uproar with a book titled
“Germany Abolishes Itself,” in which he warned that the
combination of the country’s low birthrate and the influx of Muslim
migrants threatened its demise.
Under attack from
the media and the country’s political elite, Sarrazin, a senior
Social Democrat with a long career in prominent civil service
positions, was forced to resign.
His book, however,
became one of the best selling non-fiction works in postwar history,
reflecting the degree to which the identity issue resonates.
The question now is
whether the crisis will push the issue from the political fringes to
the center. That could further polarize the debate over refugees and
drive a wedge through Merkel’s center-right party, already split
over how to deal with the refugees.
There are signs
that’s beginning to happen.
On Friday, the
Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party of Merkel’s
Christian Democrats, threatened to take matters into its own hands if
the federal government didn’t begin turning refugees away at the
border. Bavaria, the entry point for most of the refugees, is
Germany’s conservative heartland and politicians there warn that
the public’s mood is shifting from one of charity to fear.
“When I go to
another country, I’m obliged to play by its rules” — Gregor
Gysi, Left party.
The CSU, which has
run Bavaria nearly without interruption since the war, said it would
spend millions to encourage refugees to embrace German ideals and
values. Using the term Leitkultur, a controversial concept that
rejects multiculturalism, the party said it is essential for “all
asylum seekers to accept our Judeo-Christian system of values on the
basis of our constitution.”
The Bavarians aren’t
alone in invoking the constitution, known in German as the
Grundgesetz, or basic law.
Across the political
spectrum, politicians see it as the key to transforming Germany’s
notion of identity away from heredity and blood to one based on civic
ideals. Last week the tabloid Bild printed a special edition in
Arabic on the constitution which it distributed in refugee shelters.
“When I go to
another country, I’m obligated to play by its rules and here that
is the Grundgesetz,” Gregor Gysi, a senior Left party leader, told
German radio last week. “There are men I would like to remind that
gender equality is also in there and they have to accept and respect
that when they come here.”
His reference to
Muslim men reflects the worry many Germans have that the newcomers
will try to bring their customs and traditions with them instead of
adapting.
Strauß, in his
essay, suggested such a cultural confrontation might be necessary for
Germans to rediscover their identity.
“Often it’s only
intolerant foreign domination that pushes a society into
self-reflection,” he wrote. “Only then is identity truly
essential.”
This story was
corrected to reflect that CSU’s rule in Bavaria was briefly
interrupted since 1945.
Authors:
Matthew Karnitschnig
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