Populism and political narratives regarding the German national identity Cover Image

Populizm i narracje historyczne wobec niemieckiej tożsamości narodowej
Populism and political narratives regarding the German national identity

Author(s): Bartłomiej Różycki
Subject(s): Politics of History/Memory, Politics and Identity
Published by: Instytut Zachodni im. Zygmunta Wojciechowskiego
Keywords: national identity; historical narratives; populism; sites of memory; German Democratic Republic (GDR); Alternative for Germany(AfD)

Summary/Abstract: In the age of the division, the authorities of both German states shaped their own official historical narratives. The German Democratic Republic, despite being a communist state, also formed its own narrative, which shaped the national identity of its citizens using particular sites of memory. Those sites were largely erased after the unification, when the Western historical narrative became the dominant one. It did not necessarily result in thecreation of a universal national identity. The citizens of the former GDR, feeling that their own identity was endangered, appeared to be prone to the populist messages, which referred to the narratives they were familiar with. The article analyzes the shift of narrative of the German Democratic Republic after theunification and the populist actions of the political parties, which gained the support of the Ossis after focusing on to the problem of their identity. This analysis constitutes an attempt to answer the question of the outstanding popularity of the Alternative for Germany(AfD) in the Eastern regions of Germany.

  • Issue Year: 375/2020
  • Issue No: 02
  • Page Range: 143-168
  • Page Count: 26
  • Language: English, Polish