Ostdeutsche Fremdheitskonstruktionen

Is there anything to the cliché of the xenophobic and violence-prone East German? More than many will like: Three modernization and informalisation defects more common to the society of the former GDR than to the Czech Republic or Poland make these defense mechanisms against foreigners more understandable: • a certain „intergenerational resistance to modernisation”, • a GDR-specific „egalitarian outlook” and • a continuation of subtly racist attitudes within families. The addressing of constructs of foreignness could become subject of international political educational projects with the eastern neighbours.