No. 114/2022

In the more than 25 years since our first visit, as a recently married postdoc in Stuttgart, I feel that Germany has evolved positively to become an even more captivating, open, welcoming, diverse and culturally rich country that is also democratically and scientifically very strong. I feel it is noteworthy that Germany has changed so much (I guess, of course, in part it is also my own view and perception that has changed in the last 25 years). I remember from my first stay in 1993/94 that the Second World War and the Holocaust could be perceived as something that was difficult for Germans to confront. Now I felt that the dark parts of your past had been more maturely incorporated. In one exhibition at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin, beautiful carved ivory art is presented together with German colonialism and elephant slaughter in Africa. At the end of the exhibition, visitors are asked: Should this art be exposed? Which is best to avoid horrors happening again? The same perspective emerges in the impressive Jewish Museum where present-day German Jews have a voice, and Wagner and his music are discussed with different perspectives. I feel that shame and guilt are important, but open questioning of complex issues leads to change. It is moving and it is repairing. Also in the 1990s, I felt that Germany was a more homogeneous society, maybe somewhat fearful of Photos: private 1994 EAST VS WEST In the 1990s, an imaginary line divided the country in two. AN EVEN MORE CAPTIVATING, OPEN, WELCOMING, DIVERSE AND CULTURALLY RICH COUNTRY” “ 31 HUMBOLDT KOSMOS 114/2022