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Nostalgia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2023

Ute Frevert
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Bildungsforschung, Berlin
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Summary

Is there anyone who hasn’t heard the phrase: ‘Everything was better in the old days’? The more stressful the present feels, the greater the longing for the past becomes. The wave of Ostalgie (a play on the German words for ‘east’, Ost, and nostalgia) felt by some East Germans has since been joined by a ‘Westalgia’. Furniture and fashion venerate the retro and vintage look of previous decades, and a not insignificant number of citizens view the time before the fall of the Wall through rose-coloured glasses. In the Weimar Republic, when democracy was still in its infancy, many people longed for the return of the abdicated kaiser and his empire. The longing for a strong leader to rule the country was widespread. In 1925, it found its expression in the election of World War General Paul von Hindenburg as president, and in 1933 it was manifested in the form of Private Adolf Hitler. This chapter shows how appropriations of the past often go hand in hand with critiques of the present.

Keywords

Type
Chapter
Information
The Power of Emotions
A History of Germany from 1900 to the Present
, pp. 280 - 290
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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  • Nostalgia
  • Ute Frevert, Max-Planck-Institut für Bildungsforschung, Berlin
  • Book: The Power of Emotions
  • Online publication: 14 July 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009376792.017
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  • Nostalgia
  • Ute Frevert, Max-Planck-Institut für Bildungsforschung, Berlin
  • Book: The Power of Emotions
  • Online publication: 14 July 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009376792.017
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Nostalgia
  • Ute Frevert, Max-Planck-Institut für Bildungsforschung, Berlin
  • Book: The Power of Emotions
  • Online publication: 14 July 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009376792.017
Available formats
×