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[Three messages relating to the flag discussion appear below. - Ed.]
From: Frédéric Clavert <frederic.clavert@free.fr>
Subject: Re: Boettcher on the World Cup in Wolfenbüttel
Date: Friday, July 7, 2006
Dear List Members,
I must apologize, because I am going to speak more about France than
Germany. Like Dani Krantz, I don't appreciate when lots of people
wave flags in streets, whether after a WM match or for any other
occasions. As Georges Brassens sang: "Le pluriel ne vaut rien à
l'homme et sitôt qu'on est plus de quatre on est une bande de
cons." ("Plural is not worth anything for men and as soon as we are
more than four, we are a group of cretins." Sorry for this
translation which sounds very bad).
But after lots of years of good National Front electoral results in
France, we now know that there is some danger in letting national
symbols in the hands of the far right, because they use those
symbols' strong power of popular mobilization. Waving flags because
the national team won a match can be a way, including in Germany, to
let non-nationalist citizens take those national symbols from the
hand of nationalists and to neutralize partly their nationalist impact.
Furthermore, it seems that scholars and researchers that study the
Third Reich often think that nowadays Germany still presents risks of
a resurgence of far right extremism. But focusing on Germany, though
its far-right parties had "just" local or temporarily electoral
successes, is risky: there are more unstable countries than the
Federal Republic in Europe, like Poland and France. In France, the
National Front, 10 months before the next presidential election, is
obtaining better results in polls (14%) than ten months before the
2002 elections (10% and finally got 16%). Please, don't be mistaken:
I perfectly know that NPD's and skin heads' activities in Sachsen,
for example, is a big political problem.
Last but not least, some non-nationalist German friends of mine
followed with great enthusiasm the German team's victories during the
World Cup, even those who are not football's fanatics. And they are
proud to support a team with players of non-German origins. That's
quite new in Germany. And that's great.
Best regards,
Frédéric Clavert
Université Robert Schuman - Strasbourg III
From: Mara Wade <mwade@uiuc.edu>
Subject: Re: Boettcher on the World Cup in Wolfenbüttel
Date: Friday, July 7, 2006
Having observed most of the WM from my seat in the Herzog
Augst Bibliothek and at the Hannover train station, I was
much closer to the action with a trip to Cologne the evening
Germany played Italy in Dortmund. First, the train to
Cologne was packed with fans--well behaved, if enthusiastic.
The night of the Italian vistory was very interesting--
Italians with German and Italian flags on their cars or in
their hands celebrated. A waiter in a restaurant I was in
stated it nicely: "Either way, I win."
What impressed me most was the hospitality, the friendliness
of all Germans and their guests toward one another, and the
graciousness of the loosers who still have games to host.
Seeing hundreds of Italian tourists, many wearing their
national tricots, in the Colgne cathedral on Wednesday
morning confirmed that these games speak a different language
than just that of nationalism. The Germans are to be
congratulated for doing a fine job.
Mara R. Wade
Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
From: John Rutledge <jbr@email.unc.edu>
Subject: Südstaaten-Flaggen in Deutschland (corroborating Goldberger)
Date: Friday, July 7, 2006
A friend in Germany writes:
Südstaaten-Flaggen? Ja, habe ich schon gesehen. Aber daß das etwas
mit Rassismus zu tun haben soll, ist mir nicht bekannt. - Ich möchte
zwar nicht ausschließen, daß das in bestimmten Kreisen ein Zeichen
dafür sein soll, halte es aber eher für unwahrscheinlich. Wenn dem so
wäre, dann wäre das bestimmt schon einmal ein großes Thema in den
Medien gewesen.
Ich denke eher, daß das vor allem bei LKW-Fahrern eher ein Zeichen
von VSA-Sympathie gemischt mit Nostalgie sein soll. Einige schmücken
ihre Laster mit VSA-Symbolen - soll wohl aussehen wie ein VS-Truck
und mit den weiten der VS-Highways assoziiert werden. Es schwingt
vielleicht auch ein bischen Sympathie für den Unterlegenen
(Südstaaten) dabei mit und es soll wohl ein wenig nach Insiderwissen
aussehen. Einfach die normale VSA-Flagge an den Laster zu pappen -
machen zwar auch viele - ist aber doch recht plump. Ich denke, daß
die Südstaatenflagge hier in Deutschland - sofern die LKW-Fahrer denn
überhaupt genau wissen, was das für eine Flagge ist - außer, daß die
etwas mit den VSA zu tun hat - nicht so sehr mit Rassismus assoziiert
ist, wie vielleicht bei Euch. Der VS-Bürgerkrieg ist hier natürlich
lange nicht so ein großes Thema wie in den VSA selbst.
John Rutledge
Bibliographer, West European Resources
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
 Humanities & Social Sciences Online 
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