I read an article by Tanya Gold about Germans that after the Second World War converted to judaism, sometimes to orthodox judaism, and moved to Israel. The article is intriguing and interesting throughout. I will quote one part that impressed, me. This bit is by no means representative of the content or the tone of the article and, admittedly, the context of this quote is broader, so go and read the whole thing.
About one convert,
"Today, he believes Germany is doomed. "People there don't get married, and if they do they have one child," he says. "But the Turks and the other foreigners have many children. So it is a question of time that Germany will no longer be German." "
I am not German. But I like Germany and I am attached to the country in certain way. I ask, does it matter is Germany ceases to be German? Even more, can it cease to be German at all? Even if Turkish people overcrowd the ethnic Germans ... it will still be Germany, perhaps with a few cultural variations to the Germany we know today. As an Argentinian, I do not care if Argentina ceases to be Argentinian. It will be something else.
Like language, nationality is an invention. Unlike language, nationality is an abstraction that is only built from the imagination of the nationals. We lose nothing by losing a nationality. I am not worried about culture, because culture remains, even if it is mutated like a post-nuclear cockroach.
As the perpetual foreigner that I am (and like to be), I see that my nationality is something I invent every day. My nationality is my vision of the world.
The article is good, with descriptions of converts who are "annoyed" at how clean Germany is and those that criticize Israel becauase of their treatment of Arabs and Palestinians. They find some of these attitutes a little bit familiar.
About one convert,
"Today, he believes Germany is doomed. "People there don't get married, and if they do they have one child," he says. "But the Turks and the other foreigners have many children. So it is a question of time that Germany will no longer be German." "
I am not German. But I like Germany and I am attached to the country in certain way. I ask, does it matter is Germany ceases to be German? Even more, can it cease to be German at all? Even if Turkish people overcrowd the ethnic Germans ... it will still be Germany, perhaps with a few cultural variations to the Germany we know today. As an Argentinian, I do not care if Argentina ceases to be Argentinian. It will be something else.
Like language, nationality is an invention. Unlike language, nationality is an abstraction that is only built from the imagination of the nationals. We lose nothing by losing a nationality. I am not worried about culture, because culture remains, even if it is mutated like a post-nuclear cockroach.
As the perpetual foreigner that I am (and like to be), I see that my nationality is something I invent every day. My nationality is my vision of the world.
The article is good, with descriptions of converts who are "annoyed" at how clean Germany is and those that criticize Israel becauase of their treatment of Arabs and Palestinians. They find some of these attitutes a little bit familiar.
No comments:
Post a Comment