Xenophobia in united Germany

About this book

As the first book to analyze the dramatic surge of xenophobic violence in post-unification Germany, Xenophobia in United Germany draws on a variety of sources to examine not only xenophobic expression in Germany but also its relation to the broader phenomenon of racism and xenophobia in Western industrial societies. In this groundbreaking book, Meredith Watts makes use of data gained from interviews conducted with East German anti-violence youth workers as well as his long association with East and West German youth researchers. What emerges from Watts's study is a complex portrait of modern Germany that includes a comprehensive analysis of formerly suppressed East German studies of anti-foreigner hostility and neo-nazism; the first comparative studies of East and West German youth after four decades of separation; and national surveys conducted in the early years of unification that show patterns of anti-foreigner and anti-Semitic sentiment among East and West Germans. Xenophobia in United Germany provides a thorough examination of this phenomenon in Germany during the era of "unification stress," while also pointing out its parallels to xenophobia and hate crime throughout all industrial societies.