Text of a speech by Günter Grass lamenting the decline and loss of political culture in the unified Germany of the early 1990s. The essay is a good representation of the political atmosphere of that period, as I experienced it while working in Germany. The rise of bands of skin-heads in Leipzig and other German cities, particularly in the East, who formed a threat to anyone especially non-caucasian foreigners, and the decline in tolerance towards immigrants.

The most memorable quote, the last sentence: "Die Zigeuner sind überall in Europa zu Hause, sie sind, was wir zu sein vorgeben: geborene Europäer!" ( )