Was ist deutsch?

"Kreuzberg is not Germany, Gillamoos is Germany," shouted Friedrich Merz in the beer tent, sparking debate. Today, Germany is perhaps struggling more than ever with the question of what is actually German. We take the 75th anniversary of the founding of the two German states as an opportunity to delve into history. We explain how this question has been answered again and again over the course of time, how supposedly "German" was actually imported, why the current debate about various aspects of the culture of remembrance is essentially a conflict about how we understand the German present and history, and we provide ideas on how "German" can become sustainable in the future and how people who have immigrated can also feel included.