“It Is Not All That Bad”—Hitler and Identity-building in \u3cem\u3eEr ist wieder da\u3c/em\u3e (Look Who’s Back)

In Germany, multiculturalism and “leading culture” (Leitkultur) are a pair of closely connected but opposite concepts. Multiculturalism has been accused of being the main reason why culture loses its core cohesion. Despite the persistence of calls for a leading culture in Germany in recent years, many scholars argue that the concept is also problematic. A monopolistic leading culture may be hard to realize in an already pluralistic Europe. I argue that the choice between the two reflects the dilemma of the establishment of German cultural identity. Focusing on the German bestseller Er ist wieder da (Look Who’s Back, 2012), this paper analyses the social, political and economic developments that the image of Hitler mediates. In light of this, this paper will explore how literary representations of Hitler might contribute to the construction of German cultural and national identity