- Summary
- "A moving and unsettling exploration of a young man's formative years in a country still struggling with its past As a Jew in postwar Germany, Yascha Mounk felt like a foreigner in his own country. When he mentioned that he is Jewish, some made anti-Semitic jokes or talked about the superiority of the Aryan race. Others, sincerely hoping to atone for the country's past, fawned over him with a forced friendliness he found just as alienating. Vivid and fascinating, Stranger in My Own Country traces the contours of Jewish life in a country still struggling with the legacy of the Third Reich and portrays those who, inevitably, continue to live in its shadow. Marshaling an extraordinary range of material into a lively narrative, Mounk surveys his countrymen's responses to "the Jewish question." Examining history, the story of his family, and his own childhood, he shows that anti-Semitism and far-right extremism have long coexisted with self-conscious philo-Semitism. But of late a new kind of resentment against Jews has come out in the open. Unnoticed by much of the outside world, the desire for a "finish line" that would spell a definitive end to the country's obsession with the past is feeding an emphasis on German victimhood. Mounk shows how, from the government's pursuit of a less "apologetic" foreign policy to the way the country's idea of the "Volk" makes life difficult for its immigrant communities, a troubled nationalism is shaping Germany's future"-- Provided by publisher.
"A young man's story of growing up Jewish in Germany, navigating the fraught cycle of mistrust, guilt, and resentment that troubles a country still struggling with the legacy of the Third Reich"-- Provided by publisher.
- Format
- Book
- Author/Creator
- Mounk, Yascha, 1982- author.
- Published
- New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014
©2014
- Locale
- Germany
- Edition
- First edition
- Contents
-
Machine generated contents note: pt. I THE PAST LINGERS
1.A Boy Named Jew
2.The Remnant
3.Silence, Reverberating
pt. II THE TYRANNY OF GOOD INTENTIONS
4.Sweet Surrender
5.The Silent Few
6.Failed Friendships
pt. III DING DONG, THE JEWS ARE GONE
7.The Closed Season Ends
8.Poisoning the Well
pt. IV THE PAST AND GERMANY'S FUTURE
9.The New German Question
10.The Rebellion Against Pluralism.
- Notes
-
Includes bibliographical references.
Machine generated contents note: pt. I THE PAST LINGERS -- 1.A Boy Named Jew -- 2.The Remnant -- 3.Silence, Reverberating -- pt. II THE TYRANNY OF GOOD INTENTIONS -- 4.Sweet Surrender -- 5.The Silent Few -- 6.Failed Friendships -- pt. III DING DONG, THE JEWS ARE GONE -- 7.The Closed Season Ends -- 8.Poisoning the Well -- pt. IV THE PAST AND GERMANY'S FUTURE -- 9.The New German Question -- 10.The Rebellion Against Pluralism.
