Die Debatte um die französische und deutsche Identität in der Presseberichterstattung in Frankreich und Deutschland (1997-2012) : eine Wiederkehr des nationalen Mythos?“

Abstract

The main research areas are the debate on national identity and the national myth. The focus lies on the question how these terms were reflected in the print media in Germany and France from 1997 to 2012.It is to be considered that the Federal Republic of Germany of the 21 century relates less to myths than France where the different political camps continually reactivate personalities from the national history with the aim of giving its citizens a certain confidence in the future and to reinforce national identity. Since then the resulting debates have divided the political landscape of France.By analysing different discourse events the goal was to question if the debates on national identity go along with a return of the “national myth” which is understood in its meaning as a “roman national” that tells the story of the building and development of a nation. In this sense it is an identity-forming narration. The focus was set on the following events: the French presidential election campaign in 2007, the parliamentary election campaign for the Bundestag in 2005, the opening of an exhibition in the Deutsche Historische Museum in Berlin in 2006, the announcement of the foundation of a “Maison de l’Histoire de France” in 2009 and the Franco-German discourse event the 40th anniversary of the signing of Elysee-Treaty on 22 January 2003.It was proven that national myths were reconfirmed in the context of national discourse events, like the French presidential election campaign in 2007. During this campaign public and private actors tried to reactivate the “roman national” with the help of the media. While in Germany there were attempts to reanimate the founding myth of the FRG during the parliamentary election campaign for the Bundestag of 2005.