German diasporic experiences provides thirty-nine chapters on different aspects of German minorities in a wide range of countries worldwide. Essays in linguistics, literature, history, migration, and minority studies are bound together by the concept of diaspora and its critical examination. The book is organized into three parts that focus on identity, migration, and loss. In examining how a German identity is constructed and expressed, many essays focus on language choices and practices. Articles deal with diverse aspects of language contact, language change, language community, language use, and language loss. Though language is often highlighted as pivotal boundary marker, other essays underline that people might very well identify themselves as German even if they do not speak German. Many chapters show that a German diasporic identity is hybrid and very differently interpreted and evaluated by Germans and their social environment. Next to language, the significance of religious communities for preserving both the German language and a German identity is shown.
The section on migration explores the diverse trajectories of German emigrants at different times and in different contexts. Again, many articles link up with the notion of identity while examining how people construct their experiences in life story telling, how they renegotiate their identities in new contexts, and how they ultimately make sense of their lives. Furthermore, hybridity is stressed by pointing to the heterogeneity of German migrants. This is one reason why German diasporas are often described in terms of their volatility, and some essays stress that even before World War I, German diasporas faded away as many Germans opted for sole identification with the host country. Last, World War II and the Holocaust are described as major breaks in German diasporic experiences. The third section, on loss, begins by examining people's displacement in the course of World War II. Population transfer, resettlements, and expulsion are described in their effects on how people reinterpret their past, how they try to construct a “usable past,” and how they come to terms with the past. Some essays suggest that a reshaping of cultural identities has accelerated the process of acculturation, as many Germans have opted for more localized identities instead of an ethnic German one.
The chapters in the book deal with very diverse cases, ranging from German-speaking Swiss in Australia to the social history of Jewish entrepreneurs from Frankfurt, but they all have in common that they take a perspective from below. Most of the essays rely on interview material and/or archival resources. In order to link the individual stories and experiences to the states and their politics of immigration and diaspora, some of the essays explicitly refer to a meso-level, to the role of the work of German clubs and other organizations. Others investigate the field of individual narratives and changing public discourses, and some other essays add an examination of migrants' representation in the media. The book gives multifaceted insights into German diasporic experiences by linking to major theoretical concepts of diaspora, transnationalism, and identity.
