1 - National Identity and the Conditions of Tolerance

Summary

National identity is a concept frequently raised by a people or by a government, as when we ask, Who are Americans? or What does it mean to be German? Yet, as we also know, the sense of identity that a people or a government arrive at can be a slippery concept and not infrequently a changing one. If national identity is not easy to define precisely, it is, nonetheless, often used, sometimes for necessary and important purposes, like mobilizing a people for war, and sometimes for keeping others out. Since this collection of essays treats the question of the Outsider in the history of Germany and the United States, I should like to offer some suggestions as to how the achievement of national identity in these two countries might throw some light on the issue of xenophobia.

Only by examining the sources and uses of the identity of people over time - that is, through history - can one understand and appreciate the circumstances out of which tolerance emerges or is sustained. Or, to put the matter a little more comparatively: One may learn about the conditions and uses of tolerance by recalling the past presence of intolerance.

Despite the divergent histories of Germany and the United States - about which more will be said later - today they share a concern. Thanks to an upsurge in immigration over the last four or five years, leaders and followers in both countries have been asking an old question, “Who is a German?” or “Who is an American?” On the face of it, the peoples of these two countries do not seem to have a common concern about who they are.