Germany Calling

It seemed like a good time to learn more about European culture in the aftershock of Brexit (and that messy illiterate abbreviated concatenation tells you all you need to know about the level of reasoned argument). The UK may have waved goodbye to the German Christmas market but not to the things we share. Sausages and beer, oak forests, grown up fairy tales, technical efficiency, emotional reserve and, by and large, modesty. Some of us, after all, are Angles and Saxons and they also gave us a bunch of Royals. Yes ...whisper it...we are "immigrants". We sit in the European sandwich between the northern Viking raiders and the Roman Empire - so you can add Scandinavian and Mediterranean into the mix before you even get to Empire and the rest of the global community. Let's face it we all came out of Africa in the first place so what's all the fuss about?
Neil MacGregor's book Germany - Memories of a Nation is a fascinating read because he has the ability to tell the story of a culture through selective objects. Simon Schama has done something similar before and I heartily recommend his writing about the role of the Forest in the German psyche. MacGregor now works in Berlin (under the freedom of work movement we currently enjoy) and shares Schama's advantage of being an involved outsider. He can pick up the collective embarrassment of conquest by France, the abomination of Hitler and the hurt of a society Walled up against itself with a neutral approach. Interestingly Germany has also tried to take this analytical and dispassionate approach to its past and to learn lessons from it's history and culture. This is why Merkel opened her borders to refugees; without panic but without illusions as to the challenges that would bring.