ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to evaluate psychological and/or intellectual aspects regarding German history and Germany's place in Europe, and describes exposition of nation and culture and later domestic polity and foreign policy analyses. At the centre of Helmut Kohl's political enterprise is the positive coexistence of a peaceful, confident and accepted German identity as the affiliate to a desired European identity. German reunification was a clear expression of German nationalism. Nationalism was seen as the opposite of devoted patriotism, which does not necessarily relate to the nation, and permits competing loyalties to exist. German 'liberal nationalism' was symbolised in the Deutsche Mark and fuelled the east German rush westwards. Gunter Grass's plea for a Kulturnation without state unity is not so far from the conservative objective of merging German culture, society and economy under a European roof. In the same western European context political ramifications flowed from the German negation of national identity and interests.
