From: godfrey@vxdesy.desy.de
Subject: Re: Mir reicht es jetzt !
Organization: (DESY, Hamburg, Germany)
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 02:38:54 GMT

In article <1k4338INN11t@srvr1.engin.umich.edu>, muller@eddy.engin.umich.edu (Jens Dominik Muller) writes:
> 
> In article <1993Jan25.234349.12984@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>, pss4c@curry.edschool.Virginia.EDU (Peter Savage Schweitzer) writes:
> ....
>> What I feel is important to remember is that a network like
>> this should be used as a great resource by Germans and people
>> interested in German to exchange information, ask questions,
>> practice reading and writing in a foreign language, find out
>> more about German culture, etc.  We here in America have only
>> limited opportunities to find out more about current issues in
>> Germany and to try to assist Germans who have questions about
>> or are having troubles living in the US. I would hate to
>> subscribe to this group right now for the first time hoping to
>> find out what was available on the network and be forced to try
>> to sift through the absurd postings that are now sadly dominant.
> ....
>> Peter Schweitzer
> 
> I do think the discussion we're having currently (J4G, Anatomie,..)
> matches your criterea. Xenophobia, Neo-Nazism and the 3. Reich
> were at the top of the agenda whenever I recently had discussions
> with friends at home. Even the recession Germany is diving into
> is most frequently seen in this light, as is, of course the
> whole reunification. You definitely learn about German culture
> at the moment. 
> 
> I say this without irony, Germans always (excuse, fellow netters,
> for this generalization) tended to do things profoundly right, 
> perfect. An attitude that many neighboring people tend to see
> as arrogance. In the same way, the current topics cannot be 
> handled as a nice coffee talk until all the arguments are really
> ground down to bits and pieces. Moreover, I have the impression
> that all those who dislike the current dominating topic do not
> see how fundamentally important the issue is as a new German
> self image is emerging. The West always carried a amorphous guilt,
> like the catholic inherited sin, and, as one could not identify
> fully with the past, received its self esteem out of its economical
> success. The East never assumed any guilt, claiming that had been
> eradicated with communism. The limitations that the unsolved 
> German question across the iron curtain imposed were swept with
> the unification and a very, very painful process of a Nation
> finding itself has started.
> 
> And, as in the past, every group having special interests in
> these questions is joining the discussion, claiming they have
> their say. I'd assume that this thread will continue for quite
> a while, but don't despair, you assist the rare event of the
> birth of a nation. Jens.
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> |         Jens-Dominik Mueller, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor      |
> |                        muller@engin.umich.edu                        |
> |                                                                      |
> |                      "E pericoloso sporghersi."                      |
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------


I interpret this as a rare but richly deserved tribute to my perspicacity
in initiating these exchanges and this long-running and heavily used thread.

It is no surprise that a large number of German users are uncomfortable with it,
but it has, in my view, been an accurate mirror of a whole range of opinions
that have currency throughout Germany.

Laurence

Xref: sparky soc.culture.german:10418 soc.culture.jewish:26333