現代ドイツ文化演習1（ライニ・シュヴェーデ）

German pop music seems to be a brilliant mirror of German society and its changes from the Golden Fifties up to the present. The focus in the summer semester is on the different approaches that East and West Germany`s so called Schlager – the German equivalent for the English hit songs – have to reflect post war developments in those societies. Each week one topic is presented in two or three songs. Thanks to YouTube students are not only able to listen to the original music but to get an impression about what was “in” in looks and style of the period.

Pure romance and love songs seem not to hold centre stage in (West) Germany´s pop music culture. From the beginning, society and its not so romantic facets are topics of Schlager and reflect the Zeitgeist. Starting with the presentation of the political realities, like for example living in an occupied country, parted in four zones, American, British, French and Russian; followed by the boom of West German economy, the influx of the euphemistically so called guest workers in the early sixties, their influence on the internationalization of German culture on the one hand (languages, food), and the coldness of German society towards these workers on the other. Mostly from (West) European countries of the South, like Italy, Spain, Greece (and one decade later from Turkey). Another well used topic in West German Schlager music culture is the travel frenzy of the newly affluent to Southern Europe, mostly Italy. Italian, French, English became part of the West German language: Denglish, a mixture of German and English with French and Italian sprinkled in for colour is very popular since those decades not only in the music scene but in everyday life as well.
A common denominator seems to be presented in pop music in the West, reflecting the general Wanderlust known to German culture throughout history: the longing for a different kind of life, lifestyle in exotic settings. In the West, Schlager mirrors not only political and social topics, but also society’s opening to the Western way of life, multiculturalism, or, as it’s called in German: Multikulti, predominant since the early fifties until today. “Test the West” is the motto in songs, culture, society in general.
This trend was tabooed in the East for more than 40 years of its existence. To touch on economic or political shortcomings of the socialistic society was strictly forbidden; offenders had to bear grave consequences like expatriation or even incarceration. Consequently forbidden is the praise for any foreign country and its cultural assets (but socialistic ones). Schlager music centred on love and beauty of the East German “Heimat”, loosely translatable to homeland, ideally in combination. Western pop in general, American especially, was VERBOTEN, which had more often than not the effect that courageous citizens turned their radios to Western (German) frequencies – and provided lots of room for black market entrepreneurs selling Western pop for horrendous prices to East German fans. In short: East German Schlager music reflects the “uni-cultural”, closed in view on its society, on the world in general, which was favoured by the political leadership. The nonexistence of multiculturalism as a philosophy and as a factor in daily life is the reason that German as a language has remained pure, uninfluenced by a foreign language invasion, unlike in the West. Until today traditional German is the main communication language and consequently the main Schlager language in the East. The New German Wave, rolling in from the East to the West has made German a hit language in the reunified New Germany and qualifies for many Westerners as a new kind of cultural invasion.