Ett enat folk? Nationella diskurser i Tyskland före och efter återföreningen

Abstract

A United People? This article discusses the differences between ethnology in East and West Germany, and how these differences were handled after the reunion of Germany in 1990. Subject of the analysis is the national discourses, which were applied and formulated by eastern and western ethnologists and how these were renegotiated after the union. It examines how the “German people” was defined, and how the different definitions have influenced the direction of the subject and the understanding of the history. In East Germany, the definition of the people was based on a Marxist-Leninist understanding of the people as consisted of the working class. The subject of East German ethnological research was therefore the German working class before and after the building of the GDR. The people were not to be understood in contrast to other peoples, but to the capitalist system, and particularly to West Germany. In West Germany, the people were understood as all ethnic Germans, which included also the German speaking population of East Europe and the people living in GDR. The purpose of West German ethnology was to preserve the German heritage, but also to examine the contemporary German Culture. That this definition of the people accorded to the Nazi definition, was used by the GDR to discredit the western ethnologists, who for a long time ignored the problem. After the reunion, the ethnic-based ethnology became predominating, while the political understanding of the people died with the GDR. Simultaneously, the German ethnology enlarged its perspective to include all Europe, and the inter-ethnic relations between its peoples. Still, the ethnic understanding of the people and its culture are implied.