Translated from MSZ 10-1984 In scholarly discussions the "foreigner question," which dominates everyone today, such ugly tones as "Foreigners out!" are rarely heard when a tougher approach to dealing with the now unwanted human material is advocated. The educated commentators on the foreigner "problem" have mastered the art of transforming the state's dictates about what foreigners are allowed or required to do into a form of treatment that suits their own purposes. The use of racist vocabulary about a master race and the inferior genetic heritage of other peoples is simply out of place when considering the question that enlightened democrats are asking themselves after decades of employing foreign workers: whether "integration" is even possible, and if so, how it should be achieved. There is no trace of outdated racism in the demand to integrate these "other people," with all their "difference," into the national body of...
Translated from MSZ 5-1982 FOR MERIT! Democratic rulers—like all rulers—have always enjoyed adorning themselves with the works, or even personal acquaintance, of various artistic and intellectual luminaries. Not that they personally found the works particularly appealing. Their aim is to imbue the exercise of state power with a veneer of culture and humanity. Thus, a good German can elevate the dreariness of everyday democratic life with the certainty of belonging to a cultural nation. Depending on its current concerns, democracy selects the intellectual figures that best suit its agenda. While during the heyday of reformist ideals, the likes of Grass and Böll were showered with honors and cocktail parties in Bonn, this year one of the republic's most prestigious literary prizes—the Goethe Prize of the City of Frankfurt am Main—went to Ernst Jünger, a World War I and II front-line officer and writer. Contrary to rumors, this is not a misuse of the birthplace of the first German de...