MICHAEL NAUMANN
89
tangible, neonationalism in the Federal Republic. I shall call this
nationalism
neo
to differentiate it from the official doctrine of
German racial , cultural, political, and military superiority, which
collapsed in 1945 . Imbecile expressions of traditional, right-wing
nationalism seem to be of minute importance within the wide spec–
trum of West Germany's political culture-as embarrassing as they
sometimes are (i .e., in their widely reported anti-Semitic, xenopho–
bic manifestations).
German neonationalism is of greater interest once it is under–
stood as an emotional, symbolic expression of a profound crisis of
political representation . West Germany is drifting. The visitor will
quickly perceive a certain affluent aimlessness, a loss of normative
coherence, a suicidal, restless melancholy in the arts, specifically in
literature: the nation , never known for its
Heiterkeit
(serenity), is in
the midst of another spell of gloom . German voters are shifting their
allegiances faster than ever before; political parties, single-issue
groups,
Burgerinitiativen
appear and disappear at ever shorter inter–
vals, and old political ties seem to crack (as the coalition government
in Bonn demonstrates at least once a week) . Political scientists pour
out tracts analyzing a "capitalist crisis of legitimacy" (thus helping
it on). And the NATO alliance, though supported by the great
majority of the people, has turned into the villain of the
T#ltans–
chauung
on the left. Rarely before has that famous German question,
ffir sind wir?,
Who are we?, been asked more fervently. Germany
has embarked on one of its famous, if not notorious, voyages into the
interior. And there it
finds-die Nation.
*
Here are some of the treasures discovered during that intro–
spective adventure. In a letter to
Der Spiegel,
Professor Gollwitzer,
famous Berlin theologian, falls back into a post-Versailles accent:
"No German can accept the unconditional subjection of our
people's interest under foreign interests." The author Gerd Fuchs
writes in
konkret,
a magazine once secretly subsidized by East
Germany : "These people have raped our honor; a whole nation has
been seduced.... " Gollwitzer and Fuchs speak about German–
American relations-as does another author, Piwitt, who complains
about "this cultivation of Americanism, this Yankee-talk." These
°It should be noted here that the
New l-Ork Times
correspondent in Bonn, John
Vinocur (now in Paris), was one of the first journalists in Germany to point out this
trend-a fact that did not endear him to German officialdom.
