Russia image

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The term image of Russia describes the perception and feelings that non-Russians have towards Russia and the Russians. In science (see Russian Studies ) this technical term has become more widespread, especially in Germany. The changeful relationships between the two peoples led to very divergent images that fluctuate between admiring Russophilia and hateful Russophobia .

Framework conditions and special features

Historical framework conditions for the development of images of the other

Different framework conditions ( Caesaropapism / Roman law , Orthodox belief / Latin belief , nation state / multi-ethnic state , open borders / strong physical-geographical structure, etc.) led to different historical development paths in East and West. In both cultures this brought about different cultural views and different mentalities and ways of thinking, which in turn led to frequent misunderstandings, wrong assumptions, false conclusions and conflict situations.

In the western world , societies developed with a high degree of individualism. Such societies perceive their social outside world predominantly in relation to themselves and then negotiate this with their own self-image . The western states see themselves as the most progressive and therefore at the forefront of human development. All other societies are automatically given inferior status and accordingly are considered to be underdeveloped, backward, immature, premodern, etc. Your recognition as an equal partner is excluded. In addition, the western world sees itself as a legitimate authority in judging right or wrong. As a result, relationships with non-democratic states are asymmetrical, following the pattern of parent-child, teacher-student or therapist-patient. This created a block of perception that has shaped the images of Russia in the West since 1550. (see Russian backwardness )

Since the Russians, according to the orthodox reading, led a "orthodox" life in accordance with the divine order, the foreign could only be classified as right or wrong. However, the security of one's own identity has been lost in the confrontation with Western culture since the Petrine reforms . In recent times the "wrong" predominates; "We do not want to go to this gay Europe" are statements that are also fueled by Russian propaganda . "What Putin sees as decadence, the strength of Europe, the economic strength and creativity is unthinkable without this liberalism and gentleness." The maintenance of one's own identity now requires the projective defense of the other. Today's Russian policy is concerned with turning away from the western development path and with proclaiming and following the traditional Russian special path. As a result of the lack of individualization and the development of a sense of autonomy in Russia, there was also no assessment of the individual with regard to his personal activity and performance.

Special feature of the German image of Russia

A striking aspect is that the Germans' image of Russia is a reflection of itself, that is, sees what it is itself. This specific feature is also due to the fact that both peoples are said to have a kind of soulmate (in relation to the Russian and German special path ). So the Germans are generally assumed by Russians to have a special understanding of the Russian soul , which is why Germany is the direct and primary contact for Russia, as it were, a cultural translator for Western issues. The Germans' image of Russia moved like no other foreign image in an extreme field of tension between fear and fascination.

History of the German image of Russia

Until the 18th century

Historically, the Age of Enlightenment also marked a turning point in the consideration of the other. Until around 1800, the concept of a north-south division dominated Europe. Accordingly, there was a Nordic power center with Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Brandenburg / Prussia and Russia and a southern one with the other European states. With the end of the Northern Wars in 1721, Russia ultimately took over the Swedish great power status as a Nordic rather than an Eastern European great power.

In the 19th century

The tense development of Germany's image of Russia began in the 19th century when, after a hundred years of continuous political relations, contacts between Germans and Russians deepened. Depending on the political orientation (pro-French - anti-French, liberal - conservative), positive and negative images were spread. From 1813 onwards, during the Wars of Liberation, the resulting Prussian-Russian alliance had a positive effect . Russian Cossacks and the Russian Tsar were celebrated in Prussia, Hamburg and other French-occupied German areas as liberators from French rule. Before that, German contingents and Russians had been hostile to each other during Napoleon's Russian campaign in 1812. After the few surviving Bavarians, Hessians, Badeners, Württembergians and others returned to their homeland, these soldiers who had moved into Russia as enemies mainly reported the cold, vastness, cruelty of the residents and a primitive way of life of the population. This image (including the legend of the Russian winter as the conqueror of the Grande Army) shaped the image of Russia among the common people even after the change of alliances. In contrast, the aristocratic elite of both cultures joined forces from 1812 onwards through numerous marriages between the Russian imperial family and German princely families. The Russian folk culture also inspired the film formed. As the keeper of the natural order, Russia enjoyed a very positive image in conservative-aristocratic circles. As a countercurrent, Russia was seen by liberals from the middle of the 19th century onwards as a “refuge of despotism”, which they feared to intervene during the revolutionary period of 1848/1849. In general, Russian culture found its way into Germany in the 19th century. Russian literature, Russian music and Russian ballet conveyed the image of a high culture of their own for the first time.

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At the end of the Imperial Era and the First World War

After the Bismarck era, hostility towards Russia grew. In the early 20th century, a predominantly negative image of Russia established itself in the German upper class. The striving for world power under Kaiser Wilhelm II also contributed to this, which destroyed the old alliance of conservative monarchs in Germany and Russia. Domestically, the strengthened social democracy could be involved in the aggressive course by propagating a new enemy image that saw Russia as the enemy of liberalism and as an oppressor of social progress. In 1907 August Bebel confirmed his position:

"[W] hen it comes to a war with Russia, which I see as the enemy of all culture and of all oppressed ... ... then I, old boy, would still be ready to pick up the gun and go to war against Russia. ... [M] ir was bitterly serious with the words. "

Fraternization scenes like this between Russian and German soldiers should be prevented by a clear enemy pattern.

During the First World War , Germany and Russia faced each other as bitter enemies. The struggle against Russia was stylized for the first time as a struggle between European culture and Asian barbarism in order to prevent any fraternization of those who actually suffered . The media propagated stereotypical ideas about Russia in the German public, in which the Russians were described as simple, uncivilized and cruel. The following is one of these typical reports that incited hatred and fear into the population:

“Russia's semi-Asian hordes flooded flourishing German realms. They have lived worse than wild animals. ... old people, women and children were tortured to death with Asiatic brutality. That was the culture that these murder gangs of the peace tsar carried to the west; mutilated corpses and smoldering ruins and heaps of rubble marked their path. "

Weimar Republic and National Socialism

The October Revolution of 1917 also caused a turning point in the German image of Russia. During the Weimar period, Russia served as a role model for supporters of the German KPD, and political criticism of conditions there could only be heard on the German left in opposition, socialist and social democratic circles. The beginning of cooperation between the nations of Germany and Russia, which were "ostracized" in world politics at the time (see also the Treaty of Rapallo ), especially in the military field, made a strengthening of the enemy images not opportune on the part of Germany's political right, so that the negative image of Russia continues to be latent remained present, but received no additional offensive food until the rise of the National Socialists.

Images of fear and enemies with regard to Russia only gained greater weight again in the time of National Socialism up to an extreme, racist form in World War II . Traditional anti-Russian clichés from the imperial era of Asian subhuman backwardness were linked with anti-Semitic and anti-communist aspects ("Jewish World Bolshevism") and accordingly affected the general German population's image of Russia. They also served as ideological justification for atrocities during the German occupation of Russia. After the tide of war, Russian acts of revenge against the previous aggressors contributed to general anti-Russian resentment among the German population.

In divided Germany

In divided Germany, the anti-Russian image of the enemy remained anchored in large parts of the western public even after 1945, while in the east it gave way to a superficial forced friendship with the leading nation of the emerging Eastern bloc . This - in fact a vassal relationship - was also not deeply rooted in the consciousness of the population and was only really broken in the context of limited exchange campaigns (see Society for German-Soviet Friendship ).

In the West, “Russia” was often equated with the USSR in stereotypes. The division between east and west created a new dividing line in Europe in Western thinking. The west was accordingly civilized and the east Asian, barbaric.

Relationship to post-Soviet Russia

It was only from the beginning of perestroika under Mikhail Gorbachev until the 1990s that Germany's image of Russia began to develop positively, which, however, was further clouded by traditional, primarily negative stereotypes. The general image of Russia also darkened again around the beginning of the Russian Putin era and the economic resurgence of Russia and its stagnation in democratization. The strong economic development of Russia since the millennium is largely ignored, which means that the support of large parts of the Russian population for the leadership there remains incomprehensible for the average western viewer.

Well-known Russian behavior patterns in crises, "creating facts, blocking crisis diplomacy, spreading disinformation", were repeated in the Transnistrian conflict, in the advance to Pristina , in the conflict with Georgia for South Ossetia or in the annexation of Crimea . Because of the asymmetry of execution, Russia is repeatedly criticized for human rights treaties or other international agreements; Russia is often condemned by the European Court of Human Rights . The desire to improve the rule of law also shaped political discussions in the West during the years of cooperation with Russia.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "We don't want to go to this gay Europe" , Die Welt, March 2, 2014
  2. ↑ Conchita Wurst "is the end of Europe" , Die Welt, May 21, 2014
  3. ↑ We Decadents , Die Zeit, May 18, 2014
  4. ↑ Our Russians, our Germans: Pictures from the Other 1800 to 2000, p. 35
  5. ↑ http://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/interview-putin-ist-eine-reizfigur/4403242.html accessed on April 14, 2012
  6. ^ Protocol on the negotiations of the party congress of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. Held in Essen from September 15 to 21, 1907. Vorwärts bookstore, Berlin 1907, p. 255 . Bebel was referring to his “shotgun speech” of March 7, 1904 in the Reichstag, see Stenographic Reports on the Negotiations of the Reichstag. XI. Legislative period. I. Session, first session section, 1903/1904. Vol. 2: From the 30th meeting on February 11, 1904 to the 56th meeting on March 12, 1904. Norddeutsche Buchdruckerei und Verlags-Anstalt, Berlin 1904, p. 1588 . See also Our Russians, our Germans: Pictures of the Other 1800 to 2000 , p. 29 .
  7. ↑ Our Russians, our Germans: Pictures from the Other 1800 to 2000, p. 30
  8. ↑ Aleksej Miller: The Invention of the Concepts of Central and Eastern Europe, p. 143; in: Karl Kaser, Dagmar Gramshammer, Robert Pichler (editor), Wieser Encyclopedia of the European East, Volume 11
  9. ↑ Regina Heller: Russian Foreign Policy: Old and New Patterns of Action in the Conflict with Ukraine , www.laender-analysen.de, March 11, 2014
  10. ↑ Georgia - Russia 5: 0 ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. World week number 34/2014 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.weltwoche.ch
  11. ^ No Swiss legal aid in the Yukos affair , Blick, 23 August 2007
  12. ^ Promoting the rule of law in Russia Alliance 90 - The Greens, November 21, 2010