My understanding is that about half of the population of the former West Germany is at least moderately fluent in English, and that the presence of NATO troops throughout the country went a long way toward making Germans more comfortable with foreigners. Also, seaport towns like Hamburg have always been pretty cosmopolitan, haven't they?
It is ironic that the GDR had such a poor record in advancing beyond its Nazi history, given its professions of progressivism. My understanding is that they never confronted Nazism in the same way that West Germany did, but shrugged it off as a bourgeois phenomenon, and hence irrelevant to the new regime. Of course, as in many of the Eastern bloc countries, many people resented the Communist regime, especially as it was perceived as a Soviet puppet, and therefore ignored its propaganda anyway.
I think that your observations about the media are very acute. You are quite right that finding exotic looks useful for self- marketing means that the hold of stereotypes is weakening. Normalization occurs through the entertainment and fashion industries quite frequently. For example, the sort of comedy that was developed in the Yiddish theater and at resorts in the Catskills suddenly flooded vaudeville, movies, and radio, and many (not all) of the major comedy stars were Jewish. Even Bob Hope, who was not, mostly relied on Jewish gag writers. Similarly, the impact of rhythm and blues on the social changes of the late '50s and '60s is hard to calculate, but someone like Berry Gordy, who founded Motown Records, was extremely important in making "soul music" seem as American as apple pie<VBG>. And, of course, even before that, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and others went a long way to drawing together integrated audiences.... |
