Quote:
Originally Posted by Lagun
I would have said that more than Piefke, which sounds a bit old fashion, some Southern Germans call Northern Germans FISHKOPF.
I do believe that Southern Germans, and specially Bavarians, Badeners and Franken feel differerent to Northern Germans, and much closer to Austrians, but nevertheless I have never met a German, and I have known lots, who would stand that his Vaterland is not Germany.
In any case, I would suggets a different division of Germany in between those territories with wine (that produce wine) and those without it.
The wine territories seem to be territories with a Roman/Latin Influence vs. those with a more Northern Influence.
Territories like Baden, Rheinland - Mossel, Saarland, Alsace, Württenberg, Bayern (Franken-Franconia), Austria, most of Switzerland, Liechtenstein would be the Wine-German-Roman influenced territories vs. the others.
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From an approach of trying to equalize nation with state through means of culture/ethnicity, so as to constitute meaningful nation-states (which implies irredentism), rather than divisions of state with any other foundation (i.e. political, among other things), it does make sense to re-consider the current division of Deutschland. While one must be careful not to be too creative in defining ideal national divisions, it is also necessary to have such considerations, unless the current national/state divisions are optimal or ideal.
I would say a cultural/ethnic division exists well below the upper mountainous areas of Germany (containing Baden, Württemberg, Bayern, Rheinland, Saarland, Alsace/Lorraine etc), which includes Austria, and this cultural make-up probably fades in with Switzerland, not implying that they are necessarily a part of this currently sub-national set of Germany, and into nearby areas, e.g. France, Belgium, Luxembourg.
What is now Germany consists of separate, significantly culturally and ethnically divergent and distinctive areas/regions. To refer to their respective nations as simply
German/Deutsch, is not meaningful. Germany today stretches into several cultural zones of Europe, if I may say so. Northern Germany is, if anything, northern European, whereas southern Germany is not. And this is not just geographical, but also relevant to the differences in the distinctive identities and nations of the peoples within Germany, going beyond the rather imperial extent of the country, for one must remember that Empires are dominated by politics and not nation. The cultural remnants of empires and their impact on nation/culture/ethnicity beyond territorial questions, must be assessed non-politically.
One must therefore conclude that it would be more meaningful if this southern region of Germany was one with Austria and/or any parts of surrounding countries that may be subject to irredentism (Alsace-Lorraine?), and northern Germany (that has a distinctive cultural and ethnic make-up) was separated.
These are simply considerations and my initial conclusion on the matter. Whether it is justified to create such a division, is more than anything a question of consistency. It is certainly more justified than for Austria to have a division of its own. But that remains as a question to be determined in the future.