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out of which has come the "Jammer-Ossi" stereotype, whining Easterner'. Easterners react with the "Besser-Wessi" stereotype, Snobbish and Arrogant Westerner'. However, research from the Allensbach institute shows that their perceptions of each other are exaggerated and distorted. However such divisive attitudes have not carried through to younger generations and the phenomenon may be dying out. Germany remains divided by obsolete borders which makes defining a unifying German identity an elusive task.

The aftermath of Nazism and the Holocaust have a lasting effect on Germans who experienced the turbulent period and on younger Germans who have learnt about the atrocities. After the fall of the Third Reich The Allies focused significant effort into denazification. They soon learnt that many Germans where ignorant of the Nazi atrocities and thus focused on the re-education of German citizens. Citizens where packed into theatres to watch film of the death-camps, they where forced to tour them, to view the victims bodies, even to dig their graves. The Gruesome details of the Nazi's Final Solution' where revealed publicly during trials such as those in Nuremberg.

Memories of the war's aftermath still haunt those who lived through it, and their stories have been passed down and taught in school. This has had a deep effect on German identity to the extent that the vast majority of Germans view any form of nationalism as bad. Karlfried Knapp: "everything national is suspect". This has had a strong effect in differentiating German culture as Knapp notes, "Any salute to the flag as for example is the case in many US schools would be regarded by most Germans of today as an attempt at nationalistic indoctrination."

This phenomenon is even seen in government and civics; the German flag is rarely seen in official rooms. The 2006 Soccer World Cup brought mass exhibition of the flag which didn't go unnoticed, or uncriticised (DW 2006). The World Cup showed that things where changing in Germany, that pride and patriotism where becoming more acceptable. However Germany's Nazi history still affects citizens on even more fundamental levels.

The after effects of the Nazi era influence German identity on individual levels, it runs far deeper than concern about flag waving. German patriotism mostly takes the form of constitutional patriotism. Germans take pride in the Grundgesetz (Basic Law) established in post-war Germany which protects individuals and democracy. German patriotism

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