BERLIN -- It was clear from the taxi ride into town from Hamburg airport that something was different: Most buildings had a German flag hanging from a balcony. More remarkable still were the cars with small German flags protruding from windows. By the time I got to Berlin, it seemed that every third car had a flag flapping in the wind while growing numbers of fans sported German flag decals stenciled on their cheeks and some were waving the national flag as they walked the streets.
Such enthusiasm may be commonplace in most countries as their team competes in the World Cup soccer finals, but in Germany, flag-waving is a rarity. Not because of Germany's performance -- the team has historically been a contender for the finals and has won the cup three times -- but because patriotism in postwar Germany is a suspect commodity. As in Japan, many Germans fear that flag-waving is the first step toward -- or symbolic of -- the nationalist impulse that once engulfed their nation and lead the world to war.
One older German who was showing me around the Brandenburg Gate was ill at ease watching the crowds flowing down Berlin streets, doing what seemed to me to be what soccer fans do on gorgeous summer days. They were sporting German colors -- on their heads, on their shirts and on their faces -- and madly waving flags of all sizes. "Are they celebrating the German team's success or is this a sign of something deeper?" He confessed he wasn't too worried about most young people, but his brow furrowed as he told me about the older people the day before who were vigorously waving the German flag, clearly unconcerned about the symbolism they invoked. "They should know better," he explained. After dragging deeply on his ever-present cigarette, he said the answer to his question would be clear in four months, after the emotions of the tournament had subsided.