Germany failed to make it into the finals, but all in all it was a successful World Cup for the young, multicultural team, which also won praise from the international community. Still, the recriminations have started from certain quarters. Michael Paulwitz, a commentator for Der Stürmer Junge Freiheit, provides us with a völkisch analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the German team.
For Paulwitz, the success of the German team does NOT represent a triumph of multiculturalism - far from it. The real strength of the team was its Führer - or rather, coach:
Auf die Führung kommt es an. Und die Führungsqualitäten von Joachim Löw sind überragend.
(It comes down to leadership. And Joachim Löw has superior leadership qualities.)
But what about the "immigrant" players? Don't they deserve some of the credit. Nonesense. For Paulwitz most of them are not immigrants at all - but rather vollblutig German.
Miroslav Klose, Lukas Podolski und Piotr Trochowski sind nämlich schon mal keine „Polen“, sondern Deutsche aus Oppeln, Gleiwitz beziehungsweise Dirschau. (...)Lukas Podolski mag man mit seinem Nationalhymnenproblem dem „schwimmenden Volkstum“ zuordnen, das es in Oberschlesien auch vor der polnischen Annexion schon gab. Ein ethnischer Deutscher ist er trotzdem.
(Miroslav Klose, Lukas Podolski and Piotr Trochowski aren't really Poles at all, but rather Germans from Oppeln, Gleiwitz and Dirshaus. Podolski is part or the "fluid ethnicity" that existed in Upper Silesia even before the Polish annexation. But he is still an ethnic German.)
Paulwitz can even accept some of the other other "Migranten" players, since they have a German parent and are therefore at least halbblutig and therefore Mischlinge. Even the black player - Cacau from Brazil - elicits some sympathy, since he is a devout Christian, which compensates somewhat for his ethnic weakness.
Paulwitz has nothing but condemnation for the "Turk" - Mesut Özil - not only because he is a Muslim, but because he has become rich and famous with his German passport and yet still retains much of his ethnic heritage. Interesting to read the comments as well, for many of the readers blamed the loss to Spain on Özil - conveniently ignoring the fact that it was Özi's brilliant play that got them into the semi-final round. They also bemoan the absence of the vollblutig German Thomas Müller (Dieser ist tief in seiner bayerischen Heimat und Kultur verwurzelt / He is deeply rooted in his Bavarian homeland and cutlure), and they point to the ethnic cohesion of the Spanish team as the key to their victory over the "Multikulti" German team.
But I will give Paulwitz some credit for his more imaginative and nuanced racism which compares favorably to the crude racism of his sister publication in the the US - Alternative Right. Check out the piece on the World Cup: White Man's Game.
Comments