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East Germany Origins, Language, and Culture
The Germans are the descendants of the Germanic peoples who
settled in the north-central plains of Europe sometime around the
end of the sixth century B.C.
(see Early History
, ch. 1). The
Romans, who first encountered the Germanic tribes in their
conquest of Gaul, called the people of the area the Germani,
after certain tribes in Belgium and the Rhineland. Although the
Germanic people comprised many tribal groups, the name
German has come to describe the people who remained in
central Europe.
The Germanic people were originally organized into numerous
small tribes that gradually united into larger groups in order to
increase their political and military power as they spread across
and conquered much of Europe. Many of these peoples were the
forefathers of present-day European populations. The Franks and
Burgundians were the ancestors of the French; the Lombards
conquered northern Italy; and the Angles, Saxons, and Danes moved
into England and Denmark. Other members of the Saxon tribe, in
addition to Bavarians and Thuringians, settled in the northern
plains and began to extend eastward along the Elbe and Oder
rivers. These early tribal designations survived, and their names
designate the territories inhabited by the German people. In a
very rough sense, these ancient tribal groupings, correspond to
modern-day regional groupings, whose distinctive identities are
manifested in differing customs, dress, food, and dialects. The
Germans, particularly the pre-World War II generation, are
extremely proud of their regions of birth and their unique
dialects. Regional distinctions have been blurred in East Germany
since the end of the war as a result of an influx of those
expelled from Eastern Europe, universal and standardized
education, urbanization, and greater mobility in general.
Generally, regional differences are less pronounced than those
between East Germany and West Germany. East Germans are commonly
characterized as typifying the Prussian traits of orderliness,
cleanliness, and obstinacy (an adherence to rigid Prussian
principles), whereas West Germans are more often seen as selfassertive , lively, and fun loving. Of course these are
caricatures of reality, but significantly the government has used
what regional differences do exist in an effort to create
psychological and social boundaries between the two German
states.
Regional loyalties, however, have not obscured the
overarching feeling among Germans that they share a common
nationality and are bound together ethnically, linguistically,
and culturally. National consciousness is especially strong among
the Germans, and in the past their strong national spirit has
been exploited by ruthless leaders to muster support for
expansionist policies.
Language is perhaps the most significant expression of a
common German nationality. The German language is spoken by
millions of people of Europe, including peoples living in the two
German states, Austria, Switzerland, and various regions of East
European countries. In addition the language has a significance
beyond its everyday use. German-speaking people have made
important contributions to science, literature, and philosophy.
Modern German, which belongs to the family of Indo-European
languages, evolved from proto-Germanic or Common Germanic, the
collection of languages spoken by the tribes that inhabited the
area. Although there are many regional dialects, the language is
usually divided into three major subvarieties: low German, spoken
in the north; middle German, spoken across the central lowlands;
and high German, spoken in the uplands of the south.
A standard form of written and spoken German developed very
slowly. A move toward standardizing the written language began in
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The invention of printing
made impractical the continued use of innumerable local dialects
that varied in spelling, style, and grammar. The translation of
the Bible into German by Martin Luther usually is considered the
milestone in the development of a standardized written language.
Luther's translation, based on the Saxon dialect, was accepted by
the educated classes as a model. The new written German was
championed by literary societies and improved upon by grammarians
and stylists in the seventeenth century and eventually adopted,
in a refined form, by some of the great German writers of the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, such as Gotthold Lessing,
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and Johann von Schiller.
The spoken language, however, continued to reflect the
proliferation of local dialects until the end of the nineteenth
century. These dialects were the individual's way of expressing
identity and independence and therefore were carefully preserved.
As commerce, travel, and communication in general increased among
the various towns and regions of Germany, the numerous dialects
became increasingly restrictive, and a standard spoken language
began to evolve. The schools and the media were especially
instrumental in pressing for a standard form of German. The
standard spoken language is today based on the pronunciation of
educated northern Germans. Most Germans write and speak the
standard form of German with little difficulty, although dialects
continue to be used among family and friends and on informal
occasions. (Differences in dialect are based on divergences in
pronunciation, use of expressions, intonation, syntax, and the
meaning given to specific words.)
Like all living languages, German is constantly influenced
and modified through interaction with regional dialects and
foreign languages. The influence of French, English, and various
Slavic languages is apparent in the adoption of loanwords and
idiomatic expressions. The Germans have initiated purification
programs at various periods in modern history aimed at
eliminating all traces of foreign influence from the language.
In addition to a common ethnic heritage and language, the
German people share certain social values. The German world view
and value system are products of Teutonic pagan cosmology, JudeoChristian tradition, and modern eighteenth- and nineteenthcentury philosophies. The pre-Christian conception of the world
pitted the bravery and stoicism of man against the harsh and
oppressive forces at work in the world. A thread of tragedy ran
through life, but it was blended with romanticism and mystical
idealism. Lutheran Christianity, the religious tradition that
most profoundly influenced German thinking, emphasized individual
morality and conceived of man as essentially frail and full of
guilt. Man could cleanse himself only through penance and
devotion to the Almighty. The rationalist systems of Immanuel
Kant and Georg Hegel represented the culmination of Enlightenment
philosophies. Materialism and atheism lay at the basis of Karl
Marx's philosophy and economic view. Friedrich Nietzsche was a
forerunner of twentieth-century existentialist thought.
These different and, in many cases, contradictory religious
and philosophical currents have produced a German who is
stereotypically characterized as inward looking, vulnerable,
sorrowful, and full of self-doubt. He combines the sober
qualities of industry, intelligence, honesty, obstinacy and
cleanliness with a certain sentimentality and gaiety. He is
extremely disciplined and exhibits a penchant for order and
authority. He admires courage and physical and moral strength.
There is a certain validity in this character description insofar
as it is based on a common set of experiences and traditions. As
with all stereotypical descriptions, however, it constitutes a
distortion of reality when applied to the individual.
Data as of July 1987
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