Stereotypes of Germans include real or imagined characteristics of the German people used by people who see the German people as a single and homogeneous group. [2] [3]
Stereotypes of Germans include real or imagined characteristics of the German people used by people who see the German people as a single and homogeneous group. [2] [3]
There exist stereotypes of Western Germans and Eastern Germans, Ossis. [4]
According to the stereotype, in Germany, everything happens exactly as per schedule and Germans do not tolerate being late for any occasion and are proud of their punctuality. [5] [6] Part of the contribution to this was the similar image of the German work ethic perceived by American GIs in the postwar period: "Many West Germans are serious about their duties, keeping to their timetables, and do not enjoy many tea or coffee breaks". The German railroad system, which usually runs late, has been exempt from this stereotype. [7] [ better source needed ] The punctuality and discipline of the German people has been ridiculed by The Guardian . [8]
Attachment to order, organisation and planning is a stereotype of German culture. Germany is perceived to have an abundance of rules (for example, copyright trolls often come from Germany) and Germans are generalized as enjoying obeying them. [9] Jerome K. Jerome's novel Three Men on the Bummel makes fun of the perceived German craving for rules and passion in obeying them; the regimented life of German people is discussed in detail in this novel. [10] [ better source needed ]
Some people think that the Germans are all straightforward and undiplomatic. The perceived inability of the Germans to engage in small talk and their unromantic nature are discussed by foreigners. As far as a German is concerned, 'A yes is a yes and a no is a no.' [11] [ better source needed ]
For Germany perpetrating the Holocaust and starting World War II, Germans are often stereotyped as Nazis. [12] This stereotype, while now rare, persists to this day. After the war, the German people were often viewed with contempt because they were blamed by other Europeans for Nazi crimes. Germans visiting abroad, particularly in the 1950s and 1960s, attracted insults from locals, and from foreigners who may have lost their families or friends in the atrocities. [13] Today in Europe and worldwide (particularly in countries that fought against the Axis), Germans may be scorned by elderly people who were alive to experience the atrocities committed by Nazi Germans or by veterans who had fought against the Nazis during World War II. This resulted in a feeling of controversy for many Germans, causing numerous discussions and rows among scholars and politicians in Post-War West Germany (for example, the "Historikerstreit" [historians' argument] in the 1980s) and after Reunification. Here, the discussion was mainly about the role that the unified Germany should play in the world and in Europe. Bernard Schlink's novel The Reader concerns how post-war Germans dealt with the issue.
Germans are perceived to be stiff and humourless. [14] [15] [8] There are many popular culture references to perceived lack of humor in Germany, a notable example being the Funnybot episode of South Park. Edward T. Hall, an American sociologist and intercultural expert, has identified certain dimensions to explain cultural differences. He noted in particular that Germans tend to be task-oriented people, while the French, for example, seem to generally prefer personal relationships. [16]
British tabloids often portray Germans negatively. [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24]
In the course of the Greek government-debt crisis, Germany became a generalized object of critique as cruel and inflexible. [25]
Despite the enormous influence of German Romanticism upon Russian literature and intellectual life, in modern Russia, the stereotype of outward seriousness of the German people is the basis for further stereotyping that they are cold and unromantic people. The kindness of the average German may not be observed by tourists who may only notice a reluctance to deal with complete strangers. [26] [ better source needed ] Russians, on the other hand, also have a positive stereotype of Germans due to being serious and punctual, as well as being good entrepreneurs, thus serving as an inspiration for Russians to develop. [27]
The United States has a mixed view on Germany, in particular World War II movies usually have German villains instead of Japanese or Italians. [28] [29] [30] [31] Since the 1930s to modern day, Hollywood still portrays and makes use of Nazis as villains in films such as Captain America: The First Avenger , The Dirty Dozen , Raiders of the Lost Ark , The Rocketeer , and Inglourious Basterds . [32]
East Berlin was the partially recognised capital city of East Germany (GDR) from 1948 to 1990, although in 1945, it was recognised by the Three Powers as the Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French sectors were known as West Berlin. From 13 August 1961 until 9 November 1989, East Berlin was separated from West Berlin by the Berlin Wall. The Western Allied powers did not recognize East Berlin as the GDR's capital, nor the GDR's authority to govern East Berlin. On 3 October 1990, the day Germany was officially reunified, East and West Berlin formally reunited as the city of Berlin.
Deutsche Welle, commonly shortened to DW, is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service consists of channels in English, German, Spanish, Persian, and Arabic. The work of DW is regulated by the Deutsche Welle Act, stating that content is intended to be independent of government influence. DW is a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
The Yellow Peril is a racist color metaphor that depicts the peoples of East and Southeast Asia as an existential danger to the Western world.
In German culture, Ostalgie is nostalgia for aspects of life in Communist East Germany. It is a portmanteau of the German words Ost (east) and Nostalgie (nostalgia). Its anglicised equivalent, ostalgia, is also sometimes used. Another term for the phenomenon is GDR nostalgia.
Anti-German sentiment is opposition to and/or fear of, hatred of, dislike of, persecution of, prejudice against, and discrimination against Germany, its inhabitants, its culture, and/or its language. Its opposite is Germanophilia.
Anti-Russian sentiment or Russophobia, is dislike or fear or hatred of Russia, Russian people, Russian culture, or Russian policy. The Collins English Dictionary defines it as intense and often irrational hatred of Russia. The opposite of Russophobia is Russophilia.
Polonophobia, also referred to as anti-Polonism or anti-Polish sentiment are terms for negative attitudes, prejudices, and actions against Poles as an ethnic group, Poland as their country, and their culture. These include ethnic prejudice against Poles and persons of Polish descent, other forms of discrimination, and mistreatment of Poles and the Polish diaspora.
Ossi and Wessi are the informal names that people in Germany call former citizens of East Germany and West Germany before re-unification (1945–1990). These names represent the lingering differences between the two pre-reunification cultures, and Germany's popular culture includes many Ossi-Wessi-jokes and clichés. While some people in Germany may consider these names insulting, others regard them as part of the German culture.
Fascist has been used as a pejorative epithet against a wide range of people, political movements, governments, and institutions since the emergence of fascism in Europe in the 1920s. Political commentators on both the Left and the Right accused their opponents of being fascists, starting in the years before World War II. In 1928, the Communist International labeled their social democratic opponents as social fascists, while the social democrats themselves as well as some parties on the political right accused the Communists of having become fascist under Joseph Stalin's leadership. In light of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, The New York Times declared on 18 September 1939 that "Hitlerism is brown communism, Stalinism is red fascism." Later, in 1944, the anti-fascist and socialist writer George Orwell commented on Tribune that fascism had been rendered almost meaningless by its common use as an insult against various people, and argued that in England the word fascist had become a synonym for bully.
Three Men on the Bummel is a humorous novel by Jerome K. Jerome. It was published in 1900, eleven years after his most famous work, Three Men in a Boat .
Wartime collaboration is cooperation with the enemy against one's country of citizenship in wartime. As historian Gerhard Hirschfeld says, it "is as old as war and the occupation of foreign territory".
Stereotypes of American people can today be found in virtually all cultures. They often manifest in America's own television and in the media's portrayal of the United States as seen in other countries, but can also be spread by literature, art, and public opinion. Not all of the stereotypes are equally popular, nor are they all restricted to Americans; and although most can be considered negative, a few assign neutral, positive or admiring qualities to the stereotypical U.S. citizen. Many of the ethnic stereotypes collide with otherwise unrelated political anti-Americanism.
The new states of Germany are the five re-established states of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) that unified with the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) with its 10 "old states" upon German reunification on 3 October 1990.
As Allied troops entered and occupied German territory during the later stages of World War II, mass rapes of women took place both in connection with combat operations and during the subsequent occupation of Germany by soldiers from all advancing Allied armies, although a majority of scholars agree that the records show that a majority of the rapes were committed by Soviet occupation troops. The wartime rapes were followed by decades of silence.
The Azov Assault Brigade is a formation of the National Guard of Ukraine formerly based in Mariupol, in the coastal region of the Sea of Azov, from which it derives its name. It was founded in May 2014 as the Azov Battalion, a self-funded volunteer militia under the command of Andriy Biletsky, to fight Russian-backed forces in the Donbas War. It was formally incorporated into the National Guard on 11 November 2014, and redesignated Special Operations Detachment "Azov", also known as the Azov Regiment. In February 2023, the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that Azov was to be expanded as a brigade of the new Offensive Guard.
Stereotypes of British people are found in several cultures. Some stereotypes relate to many specific ethnic groups of Britain while others are directed at British nationals in general.
Stereotypes of French people include real or imagined characteristics of the French people used by people who see the French people as a single and homogeneous group. French stereotypes are common beliefs among those expressing anti-French sentiment.
Anti-Chechen sentiment, Chechenophobia, anti-Chechenism, or Nokhchophobia, refers to fear, dislike, hostility, hatred, discrimination, and racism towards ethnic Chechens, the Chechen language, or the Chechen culture in general. Anti-Chechen sentiment has been historically strong in Russia, and to some degree has spread to other countries in the former Soviet Union, such as Azerbaijan, to Europe, the Middle East, and to the United States. For decades, the main causes of hatred against Chechens have been largely due to the created narrative which depicts a violent mentality of Chechens, the association of Chechens with Islamic extremism, and Russian imperialist propaganda targeted at Chechens.
The Holocaust in Austria was the systematic persecution, plunder and extermination of Jews by German and Austrian Nazis from 1938 to 1945. Part of the wider-Holocaust, pervasive persecution of Jews was immediate after the German annexation of Austria, known as the Anschluss. An estimated 70,000 Jews were murdered and 125,000 forced to flee Austria as refugees.
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