ABSTRACT
Before World War II, Charles de Gaulle once depicted Germany as “a sublime but glaucous sea where the fisherman’s net hauls up monsters and treasures.” 1 The purpose of this chapter is to begin our examination of the German Question by addressing a basic question. What has made Germany “Germany”? In the final analysis, many have argued that this is a question about German culture, and perhaps more specifically about the German Weltanschauung, or worldview (if such a thing exists), and German identity.
