Who's afraid of Germany? A European hall of mirrors since 1870 (working title)

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This book combines two stories in a novel way: the often told story of German strength in Europe; and the history of different mutual perceptions and stereotypes in Europe. It starts from the observation of the "German perception trap", a pattern of mutual perceptions since the 19th century: what Germans consider to be their undeniable right, others regard as German ambition for hegemony; which indeed materialised beyond all expectations in the National Socialist war of extermination, reinforcing those perceptions and creating the fear of those fears in post-War Germany.Using Germany as its example, the goal of this book is to explain the discrepancies between self- and external perceptions within Europe. It aims to identify origins, persistence and change as well as the political relevance of stereotypes; and to analyse the interaction of structure, conduct and perceptions.In doing so, the book contributes to research in transnational stereotypes, combines the conceptual approaches of international politics and emotionology and describes Germany's history within Europe from a new perspective. It aims to reveal to European readers why they often fail to understand Germany, and it hopes to explain to German readers why this is the case. In this way, the book goes above and beyond its analytical aspirations to pursue an informative object for a wider audience.