Reflection Week 2

Before I came to Berlin I had this idea that people in Berlin would be progressive and diverse and more or less have a similar mind frame as people from Seattle. What I have learned while I have been in Berlin is that this is far from the truth. I don’t think I would be able to give any conclusive definition or image of what German identity is even if I stayed here for several years. There is such a mix of people from all over the world, and even people from similar backgrounds have different identities. This was particularly evident to me in the youth museum when we got to see all of the different rooms from Germans with origins from another country. Each person who had a room in the museum came from different ethnic origins, but have spent a significant amount of time in Germany and now have identities that are influenced by both their country of origin and by German culture. Even some of the people who did not want to associate with their country of origin still have ties and connections to that country that can’t be removed from their identity. Although the audience was not the focal point of the museum, we heard the stories of parents who wouldn’t let their children come to the theater because they didn’t want their child to be exposed to the ideas that are discussed in the program and I think that is telling of the other community of Germans. Although there are Germans who are ready to accept the changing population in Germany, there are still many Germans who view anyone who looks like they come from another country as a foreigner. I think the problem with this is that there are children being raised to have the same beliefs as their parents, and there aren’t a lot of programs around like the youth museum to lead discussions about diversity, stereotypes, and identities. With time I think more Germans will be accepting of the increasing diversity and complex identity of Germany, but it may still take many years for that. I think it is interesting to try to compare the identity of the United States to that of Germany, but its difficult to compare countries that have such differing foundations. The United States was created out of migration and has since embraced its melting pot identity. Germany was not originally a country of immigration, but since the wall came down the community of Germans with ethnic origins and the Germany born Germans have been mixing like oil and water.

Yesterday Rouja and I saw a play called Common ground by the Maxim Gorki Theater and the play addressed immigrant identities in Germany. The play began by going through a rapid timeline of events that were important to each character, and throughout the timeline each character was somehow influenced by war. Other parts of the timeline included events in sports, music, and other pieces of personal background from the characters. All of the characters traveled together to another country to see a war memorial and along the way they realize that even though their histories say that they should not be friends, they are because they all happened to meet in Germany and they are all children of war. Throughout the play they struggle with the identities from their culture of origin and the new identities that they have made in Germany. One of the characters came from a history of being on the side of a war that brutally raped and killed many people from one of the other characters historical backgrounds. He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to feel guilty, or sorry, or if he was supposed to feel those things at all since he never committed any crimes himself. All the actors had very emotional and powerful monologues where they struggled with the conflicts from their past. Though the past of most Germans or Germans with immigrant background may not be as violent or horrific as the pasts of the characters in this play, the internal conflicts of trying to unify the cultures and ideology of their past with that of the present is relatable to all people.

We have done so much over the last two weeks and with the long days I hadn’t really taken the time to reflect after each day on what each of the activities meant to me. Now that I am sitting down and thinking about it I am astonished by all the things we have seen and learned about. I hope to find time in the next couple days to think about each of the activities we have done on this trip, but I don’t have the time (or the capacity to consume any more caffeine at this café) to reflect on them all in this week’s post. I can’t wait to see what else Berlin has in store for me!