Your Job In Germany
Something interesting to share here. A couple of weeks ago I ventured up to Pankow (NE Berlin) and finished a paper with a Wessi. During one of our breaks he showed me this film (see link below). The film is from Frank Capra, apparently some-what famous for his propaganda films after WWII.
It was definitely strange to watch this film while sitting next to a German -- I think that we both felt embarrassed, but for completely different reasons. Vince, was embarrassed for the way his country was portrayed and the actions of his forefathers; I was embarrassed about the portrayal of American moral superiority, but also for feeling that there is still some semblance of truth the film.
Your Job in Germany Film
Before I go on, I should say that the following story is not meant to perpetuate a stereotype (although I realize that by saying this, I am perpetuating it). All of my friends here do not fit the mold I am about to describe and the portion of the population that it does fit is rather small, uneducated, and untraveled.
In my daily experience, there's still an occasional implicit message of "you're not one of us" that is rampant in German culture. Rarely is it a snub against me—those are truly rare because I can melt in pretty easily—but mostly its the snubs I see others take.
A great example happened 2 weeks ago when I went out with a friend for a night. Ufuk and I hit bar for bit, talking some business and happening around the world. Later when went to a club by the Hauptbahnhof (the club sucks by the way -- terrible DJ and no atmosphere). At the club we were talking to a group of nurses and interns from the local hospital. Although I am not too sure how the topic came up, one chic said something about how she can't stand Turks, especially those that haven't learned the language "correctly" or found a way to integrate.
Some important facts....Ufuk is 100% of Turkish descent, but is German (by American standards). His parents were here as part of the guest worker program in the Wirtschaftswunder era, much of which was fueled by migrant workers that helped to rebuild the country. Now a VP of marketing at a multi-million dollar Swiss based firm (and Germans do not throw out VPs the way America does), Ufuk has seen the other-side of coin. He tried to explain how it felt growing up in a culture that is openly biased to whites, Christians, and differentiates even those elite by the dialect of the spoken language. Furthermore, because Germany had always intended the guest worker program to be temporary, they never funded any sort of assistance/integration programs for their guests. Their job was to work 12 hours a day without question and then go "home" to Turky when they were done. The funny things is that people (labor) are not disposable or repackagable raw materials—so many Turks have stayed. After all, those that had come to Deutschland weren't the elite in Turky, but the marginalized outsiders on the edge of society. So staying in Germany and getting better pay even while being openly discriminated against was worth the trade.
Anyway, I could go on and on, but the point is that this experience that I had with Ufuk is one of many that depicts why I had an uneasy feeling when watching the film with Vince.
Something interesting to share here. A couple of weeks ago I ventured up to Pankow (NE Berlin) and finished a paper with a Wessi. During one of our breaks he showed me this film (see link below). The film is from Frank Capra, apparently some-what famous for his propaganda films after WWII.
It was definitely strange to watch this film while sitting next to a German -- I think that we both felt embarrassed, but for completely different reasons. Vince, was embarrassed for the way his country was portrayed and the actions of his forefathers; I was embarrassed about the portrayal of American moral superiority, but also for feeling that there is still some semblance of truth the film.
Your Job in Germany Film
Before I go on, I should say that the following story is not meant to perpetuate a stereotype (although I realize that by saying this, I am perpetuating it). All of my friends here do not fit the mold I am about to describe and the portion of the population that it does fit is rather small, uneducated, and untraveled.
In my daily experience, there's still an occasional implicit message of "you're not one of us" that is rampant in German culture. Rarely is it a snub against me—those are truly rare because I can melt in pretty easily—but mostly its the snubs I see others take.
A great example happened 2 weeks ago when I went out with a friend for a night. Ufuk and I hit bar for bit, talking some business and happening around the world. Later when went to a club by the Hauptbahnhof (the club sucks by the way -- terrible DJ and no atmosphere). At the club we were talking to a group of nurses and interns from the local hospital. Although I am not too sure how the topic came up, one chic said something about how she can't stand Turks, especially those that haven't learned the language "correctly" or found a way to integrate.
Some important facts....Ufuk is 100% of Turkish descent, but is German (by American standards). His parents were here as part of the guest worker program in the Wirtschaftswunder era, much of which was fueled by migrant workers that helped to rebuild the country. Now a VP of marketing at a multi-million dollar Swiss based firm (and Germans do not throw out VPs the way America does), Ufuk has seen the other-side of coin. He tried to explain how it felt growing up in a culture that is openly biased to whites, Christians, and differentiates even those elite by the dialect of the spoken language. Furthermore, because Germany had always intended the guest worker program to be temporary, they never funded any sort of assistance/integration programs for their guests. Their job was to work 12 hours a day without question and then go "home" to Turky when they were done. The funny things is that people (labor) are not disposable or repackagable raw materials—so many Turks have stayed. After all, those that had come to Deutschland weren't the elite in Turky, but the marginalized outsiders on the edge of society. So staying in Germany and getting better pay even while being openly discriminated against was worth the trade.
Anyway, I could go on and on, but the point is that this experience that I had with Ufuk is one of many that depicts why I had an uneasy feeling when watching the film with Vince.
posted by Dave Suss at 9:28 PM
1 Comments:
Murat Kurnaz explores the snarl of Turkish/German identity in his book "Five Years of My Life: An Innocent Man in Guantánamo." Like your VP friend, Murat is born in Turkey but raised in German and within German institutions. From Murat's book I learned about Germany's strange citizenship laws. If I remember correctly, most Turks cannot become "full" German citizens and therefore are always outside the state's protection. Turks in Germany are always foreigners, it seems. Weird!
Post a Comment
<< Home