Kultur 11 - Tim

"Mauer im Kopf" is a very interesting article, and something I had never really heard much about.  The idea that it takes a long time for different regions to reconcile and find common values after strife, division or conflict is not surprising, and had many examples in history.  There are still large cultural divisions in the US between North and South, after a civil war that happened 150 years ago.  Despite the longevity of resentment, differing values and expectations, this article is 10 years old, and I wonder what opinions my own peers would have.  Everyone through their 20's now in Deutschland would have little or no memory of the fall.

The "Ostalgie" is definitely something I saw in Berlin this Sommer.  Evident is the Ampelmann mouse pad sitting right next to me here at my desk.  Other evidence I saw were things like the Trabi Tours and numerous little shops selling cold-war memorabilia.

I think that the North/South divide and its parallels in the US are very interesting.  This Spiegel article focuses on Bayern as the example for the south, and indeed that is where the classic German Stereotype in America comes from.  Though Baden-Württemburg may be different, it is also in the south.  My father would mention the concern his mother had for him when he had his first internship in Deutschland.  She was worried his Schwäbusche accent would discredit him in the eyes of company professionals.