Kultur 11 - Jenna Malzahn

For Kultur 11, I proceeded by reading "Breaking Down the Wall in the Head" which depicts the existence of of stereotypes between Eastern and Western Germans and that there persistence in society displays the continued impact that the Berlin Wall still has even after reunification. I was extremely surprised to learn that based on recent poll conducted by the Forsa research institute that a quarter of West Germans wished that the Berlin Wall would be rebuilt. I believe that this is a really drastic approach because even if the reunification was deemed a failure and the two halves were to split, a wall, essentially creating a barrier between the two, is not necessary. It would be like France and Spain constructing a wall along their border over a small disagreement in order to verify and emphasis the fact that they were two different countries. All of this tension stems from the miscommunication that followed the falling of the Wall as Easterners were disillusioned to the extent of wealth in the West and as the Westerners believed that the East was receiving an excessive amount of money. The demeaning stereotypes soon followed in order to categorize and emphasize any differences that existed and the continuation of them throughout the years just illustrates how a solution of reconstructed of the Berlin Wall could be reached because members of the population is being swayed by these persisting preconceived notions. As the article described the extent of differences it also shares a solution other than merely calling it quits. It calls on the youth of the nation to overcome these stereotypes and to knock down the Wall that exists in the head because they are the future and are not as influenced by these notions as older generations who lived through the falling of the Berlin Wall. I think that overall this displays how the youth are necessary in all countries in order to fix and learn from past mistakes since the problem that persists in Germany isn't an exclusive event and occurs in cultures all over the world and throughout history.

I also read the article "Backward Southerners, Frigid Northerners: Germany's Real Divide" which displayed the opposite feelings that were presented in the first article. Instead it seemed that a Wall should have been constructed between the North and South regions of Germany rather than the East and West because the differences and prejudice that exists is even more drastic. The interesting thing that I discovered though was that the differences between the two seemed to parallel those that occur in American society. In both cases the North is considered more industrial while the South is overwhelmingly deemed to be more conservative by comparison. However considering how America is able to function properly I think that the differences in Germany may have been over exaggerated in this article. All countries are composed of a numerous amount of differences so these merely assist in defining the country as it's own.