Periodization of national identity formation in Germany in the second part of the 20 - 21 century, Russian historiography

Grosheva studies the evolution of the German nation concept and transformation of the German national identity from an historical perspective. In Russian research, the study of the formation of the German nation often includes the processes that influenced its development and the concept of identity, but its further evolution is typically beyond its scope. A major exception to this is a paper by Kauganova E. (2013), who combines essentialist and constructivist approaches to present post-war German identity as periodically divided based on changing attitudes to Nazism. In contrast, Grosheva's paper presents a process of transition in German national identity from an ethnocultural to a civic nation, the former between 1945-1990, and the latter from 1990 onwards. In the former period, which ended with German reunification, changes were influenced by the problems of denazification, "collective guilt" for the crimes of National Socialism and the division of the German nation by political boundaries. In the latter period, national identity in united Germany is marked by a crisis caused by the questions of the consolidation of an ethnic German nation (East and West Germans as well as displaced ethnic Germans elsewhere), the integration of immigrants into German society and the formation of a common civic identity. In both periods, however, issues of historical memory and balancing all levels of German identity (regional, national, European) were present. Overall, Grosheva argues that the formation of post-war German national identity has been marked by historical dependence and has an incomplete and controversial nature.

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