As the other article I linked to says, certain prejudices are quite common on both sides. Much of it probably has to do with how the re-unification process went - Chancellor Kohl had promised that it could be paid from "petty cash" and that there would be "flowering landscapes" in the East pretty soon, neither of which happened. Essentially, many Easterners and Westerners felt wronged and tend to blame those on the other side.
Defining east German as a different ethnicity? I don't think that's going to happen. But I really wonder how stupid an employer has to be to write something like this on a job application that goes back to the applicant.
The fact that she might have been discriminated for being East German does not mean that being East German is an ethnicity. If people from Düsseldorf are discriminated in Cologne and the other way round (both of which might happen, due to the historical dislike of both cities for each other), that does not mean that they belong to different ethnicities.
I grew up in a small private neighborhood in NY called Ossi Club. While obvious that most of the residents were German, I never had any clue what it meant. Interesting.
very interesting... I am intrigued, how do social scientists define ethnicity?
in the US, we certainly have some cultural differences that can be mapped to various regions, and we have had those differences from the start; how long does a distinct regional subculture have to exist before it is defined as a new ethnicity?
Comments 16
Reply
Reply
But I really wonder how stupid an employer has to be to write something like this on a job application that goes back to the applicant.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
I think there's a few times in "Schindler's List" where someone refers to Oskar Schindler as Ossi.
Reply
But how is it on "ethnic" grounds.
Are east germans ethnically different from west germans?
Well I guess that's what the case will explore...
Reply
in the US, we certainly have some cultural differences that can be mapped to various regions, and we have had those differences from the start; how long does a distinct regional subculture have to exist before it is defined as a new ethnicity?
Reply
Leave a comment