This thesis explores how Germans born in the GDR during the 1970s engage with discourses about the east when discursively constructing their identities in contemporary unified Germany. Existing academic research into east Germanness has largely focused on the idea of a collective identity, and consists of two predominant lines of argument. The first suggests that eastern identities jeopardise German unity, implying that east Germanness cannot exist alongside Germanness. The second problematises the often negative representations of easterners in the popular sphere. Taking this discourse as its basis, however, it risks overlooking the ways that easterners themselves perceive the east. By taking a constructivist approach and adopting a qualitative, interpretive methodology, the thesis gains in-depth insights into the complex ways in which easterners themselves negotiate a sense of east Germanness. The research consists of twenty in-depth interviews which were designed around the theme of consumption, a social and discursive practice common to the GDR and unified Germany, but one which has changed dramatically since unification. The findings revealed that popular perceptions do indeed contribute to the participants’ understandings. However, they presented a more differentiated and complex picture of the east, which enabled them to construct a form of east Germanness which better fits their understandings. Importantly, it appears that these perceptions are not represented in current discourses. Using generation to identify themselves as a unique group, the participants distanced themselves from negative perceptions of the east and identified with positive attributes of both the east and west. This group view themselves as engaged members of a capitalist society, who not only identify as both German and east German, but perceive their socialist upbringings to benefit them in unified Germany. Importantly, the characteristics that they attach to their identities appear to be typical of western society. Using the label of the 1970s generation, they maintain a sense of east Germanness but paint a new picture of it which is contextualised within western norms and values.

History and national consciousness are central to the creation and sustaining of national identity. Although much has been written on German national identity, there has been little examination of how the 60th anniversary of the Allied air campaign or expulsion of ethnic Germans are remembered from the perspective of the Germans as victims. Reflecting the changing status of the National Socialist past as it continues to affect the present, this thesis argues there were significant disparities between official and popular perceptions of national identity and memory. Presenting a focussed examination of current developments in German society and politics from a German perspective, this thesis examines why many in Germany have rejected a national identity based on a constitutional patriotism and collective atonement. Debates conducted by prominent intellectuals, journalists and academics in leading newspapers and magazines have been compared to statements from Ministers and official reports in order to ascertain the extent to which elite conceptions of national identity find resonance within Germany. Providing fresh evidence from periodicals, archive publications, eyewitness testimonies and books, this informative and arguably compelling thesis makes a significant and original contribution on how German history and identity are now being perceived and represented in Germany. Competing perceptions of the past and present warrant urgent recognition because so long as a disparate national identity and culture of remembrance continues there can be no effective reconciliation with either the German elite or with others. A greater understanding and recognition of the themes addressed however could not only encourage greater toleration, but also perhaps dispel the increasing sense of bitterness concerning recent aspects of the country's past.