A Brief Introduction to the Historical Development of the Concept of Germanness

Abstract

This study discusses on a theoretical level the historical development from the 19th century to the present of the concept of Germanness, centering on the transformation of the concept of Germanness based on Plessner’s conceptualization of Die verspätete Nation [The Delayed Nation] and Meinecke’s conceptualization of Kulturnation [cultural nation] and Staatsnation [state nation]. The study argues Germany to have based its cultural identity on the linguistic and folkloric construction of literary figures such as the Brothers Grimm long before its political unification. Moving forward from the top-down modernization established by Bismarck’s blood and iron policy, which followed a militaristic Sonderweg [special path], the study asserts the concept of Germanness to have remained at the core of this authoritarian institutionalization. One of the main themes of the study comprises the epistemological tension between the organic, cultural, and exclusionary Deutschtum [Germanism] and the civic, inclusive, and constitutional Deutschheit [pure German essence]. Examined along the axes of the Weimar era, the First and Second World Wars, the Cold War division, and the 1990 reunification, this historical trajectory reveals the hegemonic continuity of identity construction despite structural ruptures. The study concludes with the original output that this historical process serves as a vital starting point for understanding fundamental issues in contemporary Germany, including immigration, multiculturalism, and domestic and foreign policy. The study concludes by revealing tracing historical roots to be an unavoidable methodological necessity for understanding the contemporary German world on a sociological basis and discussing the process on a rational basis.