Why is Germany? What is its place in a newly reorganised Europe? Can there be a "new Germany"? And if so, what would it be? After the crimes of the Nazis, the Cold War and the subsequent division of Germany, and the unification of Germany and of Europe, these questions are difficult and vital.
This volume of new work is not a collection by like-minded 'usual suspects'. Instead, the editors have brought together radically different viewpoints and concerns. Richard van Weizsäcker, former President of the Federal Republic of Germany, reflects on Goethe's legacy and the process of European union, while the filmaker Monika Treut addresses the fate of German cinema and the peril of 'international oblivion'. Writing on Berlin's new Jewish Museum and other memorials, the state of multiculturalism in Germany, or the future of German culture in a unified Europe, these voices lay before us the questions that face not only Germany but anyone concerned with Germany's history and the future of Europe.