What does it mean to be German
What does it mean to be German? an essay by Max Zöfeld
This is a hard question, which may sound a bid jingoistic in the wrong ears. A blonde person with blue eyes, well organised and every time punctual is that kind of person, which comes to the mind of many people in other countries when they here the word “German”, but the question is why? Maybe they are influenced by the Aryan standards which became known in the time of the national socialists.
However my own opinion distinguishes from this point of view, especially because I think the Germans do not dare to say, that they are proud to be German, because they feel guilty for the history of Germany and do not want do be classified as a national socialist, but they should dare to say that, because the time changed and Germany became one of the worlds most important and known countries and not known for fascistic ideologies or cruelties, but rather for their economy or their politic, not to forget they many different cultural aspects.
Let me begin with a general definition of what it means to be German. I think nearly everybody would agree to the fact, that a person who owns the German nationality and lives inside the boundaries of Germany is a German in general, but obviously this is just a rough description of a German citizen. In my opinion every person has to define his or her own definition of what does it mean for him or her to be German, but I will start to create my own one.
Many various significant German personalities reached a high prestige in certain sections of Germany’s culture. To name some of these, I can name Albrecht Duerer as one of the greatest painters of Germans history, or the great literati Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller. Even if you should not adorn yourself with borrowed plumes you can be at least proud for these persons who were Germans.
Politics and culture influenced the identity of the Germans and their sense of human being, but that does not mean that every
This is a hard question, which may sound a bid jingoistic in the wrong ears. A blonde person with blue eyes, well organised and every time punctual is that kind of person, which comes to the mind of many people in other countries when they here the word “German”, but the question is why? Maybe they are influenced by the Aryan standards which became known in the time of the national socialists.
However my own opinion distinguishes from this point of view, especially because I think the Germans do not dare to say, that they are proud to be German, because they feel guilty for the history of Germany and do not want do be classified as a national socialist, but they should dare to say that, because the time changed and Germany became one of the worlds most important and known countries and not known for fascistic ideologies or cruelties, but rather for their economy or their politic, not to forget they many different cultural aspects.
Let me begin with a general definition of what it means to be German. I think nearly everybody would agree to the fact, that a person who owns the German nationality and lives inside the boundaries of Germany is a German in general, but obviously this is just a rough description of a German citizen. In my opinion every person has to define his or her own definition of what does it mean for him or her to be German, but I will start to create my own one.
Many various significant German personalities reached a high prestige in certain sections of Germany’s culture. To name some of these, I can name Albrecht Duerer as one of the greatest painters of Germans history, or the great literati Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller. Even if you should not adorn yourself with borrowed plumes you can be at least proud for these persons who were Germans.
Politics and culture influenced the identity of the Germans and their sense of human being, but that does not mean that every