normal Germans

Last night, I flew to Germany to visit my sister in Hamburg. I was looking forward to a relaxed weekend in the best country of all and a Friday night in front of the big screen. As I had planned it, Germany was to play its quarter final that night. I didn't predict the Mannschaft would lose to Croatia and not win its group, but that's what happened. So they already played on Thursday, at the exact time I was sitting in a plane.

When I turned my cell phone back on after arriving Lübeck, my sister had sent me a text informing me of Germany's win over Portugal, but that's something I couldn't have missed even without her tellig me. At midnight in Hamburg, an hour and a half after the game, people were still celebrating in the streets. Many were burqa'd up in immense sheets of black, red and gold or had their faces painted in the same colors. Convoys of cars with little flags fluttering on their roofs were circling the main station, honking incessantly. People were singing "Deutschland, Deutschland" with happiness in their faces. We had just beat Portugal, a team that was highly rated despite never having won anything, and it felt like 2006 all over again.

Out of tradition, the German team wins until they're in the final, no matter how poorly they play in the games leading up to the big one. For many years, starting some time after the Wunder of Bern in 1954, Germans took their team for granted – or worse. When I grew up, it was almost good form to disparage it. Every kid supported a different team. In 1992, for example, mine was Denmark.

All this changed with the World Cup two years ago. The pressure of the outside world was felt, the expectation of pride, patriotism, and party. Germans love to do things right, so being perfect hosts was as much a challenge as anything else. At the same time, enough time had passed to not look at the own country exclusively through the lens of a war lost and unspeakable atrocities committed.

The difference to before was almost shocking. I visited Frankfurt for the Argentina game, and I didn't recognize my country, what with people dancing in the streets, hugging each other, celebrating publicly and exulting over their team. I'm happy about this. Maybe Germany is turning into a normal country in some ways.

The next test now facing the Germans is how they can handle playing Turkey – and with this I don't mean the team. There can be no doubt that we'll eat the Turks for lunch and crave much more for dinner next Sunday for the final. No, what really makes this interesting are the many Turks and Turkish-Germans living in Germany. They make up close to 10% of the population, and how the two groups, the black-red-gold and the red-and-white will interact and handle each other might be another eye opener and will speak volumes about the country. I wish I could see this live on some big screen in a park, but I'll be back in London.