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‘FromLovetoHate’:AStoryofGermaniaandSam
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theideaoftheLatinAmericanhistorianEdmundoO’Gorman(1999),
therehasneverbeenadiscoveryofthenewlandcalledAmerica,but
insteadaninventionandemergenceofanAmericandream.European
immigrantswhocametoAmericaanticipatedaspecificimageofthe
4NewWorld’:asavirginparadiselostwithunspoiledwildnatureand
God’sgoodcreatures.Bearingthisworldviewinmind,theywereoften
confrontedwithreality.Thisselectionprocessofroleassignmentisnot
arbitrary;similaritiescouldalsobeexpectedinrolereversal.Europe
hasalsoperceivedherselfasthecenteroftheworld,alwaysstruggling
towieldpower.Inthisregard,wecouldalsospeakofaninventionof
aEuropeandreamthatisstillvalid.
Secondly,thiscomparisonisalsotheresultofpositiveornegative
attitudetothenewlandduringtheprocessofimmigration.Formost
ofthe(new)Americans,theirownnationalculturewasaninstrument
forobservationandinterpretation.Asubstantialdifferencebetween
MacduffasAmericaandMacbethasEuropeisalsoduetotheorigins
ofnation-statebuildingprocess.Hence,theGerman-Americanrelations
relyonafundamentaldistinctionbetween4Kulturnation’(4culture
nation’)likeGermanyand4Staatsnation’(4statenation’)likeAmerica
(Namowicz2001:13-15).Thetermculturenationiscommonlyused
foranationasacommunityofpeoplewhoareboundtogetherthro-
ughacommonlanguageandculture,asharedtraditionandreligion,
buttheirgroupidentityisnotdependentonexistingorlackingstate
borders.Incontrast,astatenationisusuallydesignatedbyasocietal
conception,inwhichpeopleliveasanationtogether,irrespectiveof
theirethnicityormotherlanguageandasaresultofanindependentand
freewill.Inthe19thCentury,anti-democratic4Anti-Americanism’in
EuropewasatypicalreactiontoU.S.-Americans’attemptstocreate,
basedonabstractiveidealsofEnlightenment,thecommunityoffree
andequalcitizens(cf.Commager1978).
Fromahistoricalperspective,wecouldargueatfirstwiththe
WesternnarrativeoftheconquestofAmerica:The4NewWorld’was
discoveredon12thOctober,1492,whenRodrigodeTriana–oneofthe
crewmembersoftheflagship4SantaMaria’–sawtheislandofWatling
intheBahamas(Wójcik2002).ThreeSpanishships,underthecom-
mandoftheItaliancartographerandtravelerChristopherColumbus,
