BRITISH IDENTITY AND THE GERMAN OTHER A Dissertation ...

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uncertainties previously quarantined by memories of allied victory and the exigencies of Soviet containment. The tenacity of Nazi and World War II imagery in Britain figured prominently during the farcical Anglo-German “holiday” or mock-territorial “beach towel” wars of the 1990s, which evoked derision of German tourists who rose “barbarically early” to secure pool-side Lebensraum at hotels and resorts in Morocco or Tenerife. 25 A controversial commercial for Carling Black Label beer depicted a late-rising young British tourist throwing his towel to skim across a pool, in a manner reminiscent of the world War II bouncing bomb, only to land on a lounger where it unfurls to reveal the Union Jack to a group of befuddled German tourists. 26 While such comical insinuations should be taken lightly, the fact that they coincided with serious German-bashing in the nationalist press of Britain suggests their appeal to a more deep- seated and politically motivated animosity. Unjustified accusations of German cowardice and malingering during the 1991 Desert Storm operation in Iraq failed to take account of Germany’s significant logistical and financial support as well as NATO restrictions imposed on Bundeswehr activity. From the same quarter came contradictory warnings about the menacing military potential of an erstwhile “cowardly” reunited Germany. A. J. Nicholls recounted that during the 25 Nicholls, Fifty Years of Anglo-German Relations, 18. Harald Husemann, “We will fight them on the beaches,” chap. 4 in Rainer Emig, (ed.), Stereotypes in Contemporary Anglo- German Relations (New York: St. Martin’s, 2000), 59-60, 69-71, defined the Anglo-German beach towel controversy and concomitant stereotyping as a consequence of culture shock and the tendency to rally around national symbols as a way of promoting group identity in opposition to foreign groups during holidays in unfamiliar territories. Husemann relied on a theory advanced by social-psychologist Herbert Tajfel whereby conformism and the substitution of social in-group identity for personal identity can become a vicarious means of establishing a positive self-image through negation of the other. 26 David Head, “Jürgen Klinsmann, EURO 96 and their impact on British perceptions of Germany and the Germans,” chap. 6 in Emig, Stereotypes in Contemporary Anglo-German Relations, 106. 254
1990s Germany “had become a whipping boy for the nationalist British media,” receiving blame for everything from the devaluation of the pound sterling in 1992 to the European ban on British beef amidst the “mad cow” disease scare. He cited a Daily Express cartoon dated 10 May 1996 depicting Helmut Kohl wearing an EU armband in a war room with other helmeted and Pikelhaubed Germans, plotting invasion and the extermination of peacefully grazing British cattle. And despite the landslide victory of the Labour party in the 1997 elections, which ostensibly implied public rejection of a highly Germanophobic and Europhobic Conservative campaign, opinion polls of the 1990s have demonstrated some longer-term adverse effects of anti-German political propaganda. This persistent British Germanophobia, even if in a popularized tongue-in-cheek form, has prompted, for example, a reference to the new German Reichstag as “the hub of a new European superstate-in-waiting,” and a frank admission appearing in the 11 July 1999 edition of the Sunday Times Colour Magazine article entitled “Hunforgiven:” “We all hate the Germans—come on, it’s all right, admit it, we’re all agreed, we hate them.” 27 While war imagery taken too seriously has backfired in the political arena, it has also fallen flat in the world of sports as shown by the unsuccessful attempts of the Daily Mirror and other tabloids to resuscitate German stereotypes and relate war-time scenarios to Anglo-German rivalry during the Euro 96 soccer championship. 28 Ironically, soccer rivalry has actually improved the image of Germans in British eyes in at least two ways: first, through respect for players, in particular the good-humored and easy-going star player Jürgen Klinsmann, who played out a one-year stint with a British professional team; and second, through British fans’ 27 Nicholls, Fifty Years of Anglo-German Relations, 17-19. 28 Joe Brooker, “Stereotypes and National Identity in Euro 96,” chap. 5 in Emig, Stereotypes in Contemporary Anglo-German Relations, 87-89. 255
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BRITISH IDENTITY AND THE GERMAN OTH
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TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS..
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LIST OF TABLES 1. Periodical Source
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ABSTRACT British identity evolved t
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1 Britons: Forging the Nation 1707-
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English literature in 1867 and his
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in his analysis of the “Anglo-Ger
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the cherished Liberal tenets of rep
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imperialism, but also with perceive
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characterized by a uniformity of ar
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stereotypes of Germany and German c
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nations. 39 The repeated failure of
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Anglophiles in an Anglophobic count
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expression in stereotypes which cou
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ecame implied weaknesses: the “ph
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A. NEWSPAPERS (London): TITLE (DATE
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(TABLE 1 continued) C. POPULAR AND
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society, albeit a very influential
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TABLE 2 GERMAN STEREOTYPE CONTEXT C
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FIGURE 4. These rough tabulations s
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personalities. Evaluating the histo
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2. HISTORY AND PSYCHOLOGY OF NATION
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communications, mass education and
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and enduring than the Persian, Egyp
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home—loyalty, uprightness, honour
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national character in reaction to c
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humanism, he did not fully consider
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partisan differences within nations
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stereotypes in sixteenth and sevent
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Welsh) imperium, one that quickly b
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domestic and international politics
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marriage of state and culture in We
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inseparability of personal and soci
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nationhood. 66 Of course, instinct
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Eagleman has dubbed the brain a “
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difference or affinity such as reli
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Social psychologists since the 1960
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the assignment of negative qualitie
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were also found to involve objectiv
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British views of Germany. Stereotyp
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through either deprecatory or ideal
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3. BRITISHNESS, ENGLISHNESS AND GER
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cultural heroes in the manner of Go
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But rather than dwell like Nairn on
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of a more inclusive civic redefinit
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domestic politics and foreign polic
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to power during the 1830s under the
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literature as well as the inclusion
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his arguments with evidence from st
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Maximillian Robespierre’s radical
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attitudes toward Jews in select maj
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with or in opposition to authoritie
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Nazi takeover represented a pervers
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adaptability, both as a danger and
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social shunning of German families
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national histories, for example, Ke
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Notwithstanding the early appeal of
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changed that. Russia became the che
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Despite excessive fatigue he resolv
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The compression of historical time
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scaremongering. 6 But the obsession
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parts of South Africa and occupied
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once celebrated and endowed with a
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writer to reason that hilly, coasta
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Imperialist identification with Rom
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The classical metaphor provided a v
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ead and low wages galvanized workin
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6-7, 9. spoken at times: but if tre
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British superiority over Germans an
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allowed condemnation of German nati
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component of imperialism to which c
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expressed it, was to Darwin, Spence
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“natural rivals” rather than fr
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If the general impression existed t
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same writer who called Germany the
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5. STEREOTYPES OF OLD GERMANY The G
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earliest outpourings of German “n
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old orders, and manage themselves w
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oddly self-compromised, Germans. Th
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independence of spirit and original
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sixteenth-century German and Englis
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The fine line separating appreciati
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A more innocuous, if no less deplor
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The Pious/Godless German Supercedin
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Newes from Germany” full of porte
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. . . since time immemorial the Pan
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etween 1706 and 1716, but a more si
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described a German graveyard where
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The mirage of Anglo-German religiou
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German works by British critics, co
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of the self-inflicted death of a wo
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literature.” 86 Nevertheless, a t
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writings. 92 But the attraction exe
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potato an Irish vegetable.” 100 A
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emedy the situation and “their ba
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two national figures personified di
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well as outward “cheerfulness”
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South versus an aggrandizing Prussi
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(1820) reported that the “ancient
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years indulging in scandalous behav
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neo-feudal militarism, all of which
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officer. 23 In the New Review of Ju
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metaphysics.” 29 Both Madame de S
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746-48. Within the paradigm of Germ
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foreign bustle and movement.” The
Page 211 and 212: that fateful year, namely “the un
Page 213 and 214: “shadowy Imperial power” prior
Page 215 and 216: author believed required a long int
Page 217 and 218: with discretion and for his pro-Bri
Page 219 and 220: his dismissal. In 1901, Henry W. Wo
Page 221 and 222: measure of political power and pers
Page 223 and 224: adversity. He insisted that the “
Page 225 and 226: In contrast to the undisputed, if u
Page 227 and 228: Conservative agrarians, or Junkers,
Page 229 and 230: Review reported on the visit of som
Page 231 and 232: Anglo-German Colonial Rivalry The a
Page 233 and 234: of those claims, and the evidence o
Page 235 and 236: encouragement of such a vile and in
Page 237 and 238: ecame a sinister attempt to “stab
Page 239 and 240: ultimately reverse a favorable trad
Page 241 and 242: of contention in the history of Ang
Page 243 and 244: countries of policies designed to e
Page 245 and 246: a free hand toward Europe and failu
Page 247 and 248: efficiently prosecute a ground war
Page 249 and 250: In the ramp up to World War I, such
Page 251 and 252: 8. CONCLUSION The 2011 European Uni
Page 253 and 254: two Germanies and the four World Wa
Page 255 and 256: Sonderweg, despite its limited nati
Page 257 and 258: Despite such assurances, however, r
Page 259 and 260: east” may have made for interesti
Page 261: diametrically opposed to the “loy
Page 265 and 266: Britain defined what it meant to be
Page 267 and 268: BIBLIOGRAPHY Primary Sources Books
Page 269 and 270: The Groans of Germany: or, the Enqu
Page 271 and 272: Sarolea, Charles. The Anglo-German
Page 273 and 274: “The German Character.” Two Par
Page 275 and 276: “Prince Bismarck and the Prussian
Page 277 and 278: “The International Struggle for S
Page 279 and 280: “Why Germany Hates Great Britain.
Page 281 and 282: Altick, Richard D. The English Comm
Page 283 and 284: Camrose, Viscount. British Newspape
Page 285 and 286: Feinberg, Todd E. From Axons to Ide
Page 287 and 288: Halevy, Elie. A History of the Engl
Page 289 and 290: Jones, Larry Eugene and James Retal
Page 291 and 292: Liu, James H. and Janos Laszlo. “
Page 293 and 294: Michelet, Fabienne. Creation, Migra
Page 295 and 296: Porter, Bernard. Critics of Empire:
Page 297 and 298: Steiner, Zara. The Foreign Office a
Page 299 and 300: Young, Robert. The Idea of English
Page 301 and 302: Koch, H. W. “The Anglo-German All
Page 303 and 304: VITA Born in Wilmington, Delaware,
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