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What is “Germany”? Who is the “German nation”? Looking back at the history of the German-speaking area, it is obvious that “Germany” and the “German nation” have not been fixed but rather elastic and variable.
 
Modern European history has witnessed revolutions, world wars, fascism and national socialism, the Cold War, neoliberalism, and globalization. In the course of modern history, the German-speaking area has experienced popular uprisings, minority oppression, forced migrations, conflicts, wars, and genocides. In this process, various boundaries have been created to define “Germany” and “the German nation.”
 
In the 19th and 20th centuries, the realization of nation-states was pursued in many regions. However, a nation-state of German-speaking people, who were widespread in Europe, was never formed. This is why in the German-speaking area, more than in other areas, the “boundaries” have been questioned and debated to create the desired cohesion.
 
This book takes a fresh look at the modern history of the German-speaking area, using the notion of “boundaries” as a key concept. Therefore, it would be useful to adopt an approach based on two complementary questions: The first is how boundaries were created and how they fixed the differentiation and division of society. This question asks about the dynamic aspects of boundaries. The other question relates to the political, economic, social, and cultural settings in which boundaries, once established, function. This is the question of the static aspects of boundaries.
 
The chapters of this book examine the dynamic and static aspects of “boundaries” in the German-speaking area, using concrete examples from modern German history. The authors present situations in which the various characteristics of boundaries, such as “multilayeredness,” “ambiguity,” “exclusivity,” and “inclusivity,” are manifested in their respective historical contexts. This is an attempt to approach the history of the people who lived within the elastic and variable “boundaries” of Germany. It can also be seen as an attempt to trace the history of groups and societies of German-speaking people who did not create a single nation-state but remained diverse and plural.
 
In today’s Europe, the influx of immigrants and refugees in the context of globalization has led to debates about their acceptance, which inevitably focus on social and national boundaries. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine also requires us to question boundaries, as the redrawing of state borders will force the inhabitants of conflict areas to leave their homes, and the host societies of these refugees will be forced to transform themselves. The experience of the German-speaking area will provide clues for reflecting on the abysses of xenophobia, right-wing extremism, and armed conflict in Europe and the world today and for discussing how to overcome these challenges.
 

(Written by KAWAKITA Atsuko, Professor, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences / 2024)