Germany and its identity problems

Today, 03.10.2026, Germany celebrates its Reunification Day with a national event in Bremen. Yesterday, violent protests in Bremen were handled by riot police. For most Germans, it is a welcome, relaxing and enjoyable day, not a day of national pride with national flags, gatherings and speeches. In Italy, the UK, France, Denmark, etc., the National Day is celebrated in grand style, with nationals being proud of their country, their nation and what it has achieved. Not so in Germany. Mostly they are proud of their local city and community, not of their German citizenship.

Outsiders wonder about this side of Germany, which seems strange to them and to their sense of national pride. Germany is known by many as the country of the Thinkers and Poets. Very true! An advantage as much as a disadvantage when it comes to aspects of national identity. A country is not a nation but a state with people, power and territory. A nation is the feeling of home, the identity of belonging to others of the same language, music, traditions, history and common mindset. Italy and Spain have overcome Mussolini and Franco's dictatorship with ease, while Hitler Germany is still a heavy burden on the German mind.

After the collapse of the Roman Empire around 800 A.D., Europe was ruled by the Holy Roman Empire of German Descent from the coast of France to Denmark and into part of Eastern Europe. German Emperors elected the Pope in Italy before the Catholic Church became a strong independent institution. French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte in 1806 destroyed the Holy Roman Empire of German descent, and after his defeat at Waterloo in Belgium, the Deutscher Bund was formed, a federation of various bigger and smaller German kingdoms. 1871, in Versailles/France the Deutsches Kaiserreich/German Empire was declared, which ended in 1918 with the defeat of Germany in World War I. At the end of 1919, with effect in 1920, the Weimarer Republic saw the light of day before it ended on 30. January 1933 with the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler. From 1949 until 3.10.1990, Germany was divided into West and East Germany.

To be a real Hamburger, someone is either born in Hamburg/Germany with a bloodline of two generations before, otherwise seen as establishing a Hamburg identity in a grandchild yet to be born: a Hamburger in waiting. National identity takes time and cannot be established by force but by tradition. Germany, in its history as of now, never had this chance, unlike other European nations mentioned above or Japan, the USA, Mexico, Russia, India, China, among many other nations.

After graduating from Hamburg University in 1985, I left for the UK unable to say I was a German. A certain event on a certain day on my bike ride along the River Thames to Oxford made me confess that I am a German. The reason for me to return to Hamburg. Still, to this day, my home, my feeling of belonging, is Cambridge in the UK. Africa is my job given by the Almighty, my love and hate affair. Nothing more nothings less, a mandate for me to be fulfilled. When the time comes, and I can finally retire from my mandate, I hope HE will grant me my rest in Cambridge.

Ask any German about a personal story he/she has with Germany, and you will witness wonders compared to your own identity wherever you live or come from.