The Reawakening of German National Pride: As a Result of the World Cup in 2006

Abstract

One cannot visit Germany or study German Studies without becoming intimately aware of Germans' struggle to find a new, healthy national identity following the horrors of the Second World War. Since the war ended in 1945, there have been several key events that have defined the continuous development of such a national identity, namely the World Cup in 1954 and the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Although these were events in which national pride was expressed and which impacted German national identity, the World Cup in 2006 was the first time that a unified German nation could openly express national pride and patriotism without fear of criticism from the international community. This revelation, in what has now become known as The Summer Fairytale, spurred an ongoing debate within Germany concerning the future of their national pride and identity and has had a direct influence on both Germany's domestic and greater European policies. By collecting interviews, observations and statistical data from contemporary news articles, I was able to reach the conclusion that The World Cup in 2006 was not a silver bullet, but it did have a considerable impact on the German people's perspectives on themselves and their country, especially among the younger generations.