United Kingdom and Gibraltar European Union membership referendum
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SPIEGEL ONLINE : Mrs. Connolly, after the exhausting back and forth of the past few months, many Germans shake their heads when it comes to Brexit. They no longer understand what the British want. Do you know it?
Kate Connolly: The closer the 29th of march comes, the potential exit date from the EU, the more panicky people are. For example, they are eating food. At the same time, I suspect that some Britons enjoy this drama. Because a cohesion has emerged that one has not felt for a long time.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: One suspects actually the opposite between the Brexit camps.
Connolly: Yes, but when May lost the vote on the treaty with the EU, both sides looked forward to it. Carnival mood prevailed in front of the parliament. I found that perverted; it is almost a Dunkirk spirit, as it was during the Second World War.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: You mean the moment when British soldiers were encircled by Nazis on the French coast and British civilians rescued them in boats on the island.
Connolly: Exactly, when Churchill said against all reason, we can do it, we'll get you. That was so irrational. It suits the present.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: In your book, you describe how you shocked the result of the first referendum for months. How do you feel about it today?
Connolly: Very sad. If I introduce myself anywhere, I say, "I'm sorry, I'm from the UK." And I'm a bit ashamed when my daughter drives her Union Jack scooter. During my last visit home, however, I noticed how much the topic is suppressed in everyday conversations. Because it has a great controversy potential, many marriages have been destroyed.
DISPLAY
Kate Connolly:
Exit Brexit
How I became German
From the English by Kirsten Riesselmann
Carl Hanser; 304 pages; 19,00 Euro
Order at Amazon. Order from Thalia.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Even your parents have voted differently, write: your mother for it, your father against it.
Connolly: Meanwhile, my father is also in favor of it, perhaps because of the harmony in the marriage. After 50 years you do not want to diverge because of Brexit. At a family party I once tried to talk about it. But my uncle stopped me. To be silent, that's very British.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: How is this within the "Guardian" editorial office, for which you work? The newspaper has positioned itself against the Brexit on the front pages.
Connolly: There are also different opinions. Of course there are a lot of Brexit opponents, but also a small but tough left side that wants to leave the EU.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Have you discovered new pages at your home in the past few months?
Connolly: Yes, the narrow-mindedness of many Britons. And I realized once again that we are an island. For me that used to mean being more adventurous because you always have to leave. Now, the term "islander" for me but to go to isolate itself.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: You have accepted German citizenship because of Brexit. What do you miss?
Connolly: Veles. Family and friends of course, but also the great theater and the humor. This is very important in everyday life in the UK, it is our valve: For example, if the subway does not drive, we react with black humor and laugh. Even about Brexit, which is just an expression of our identity crisis.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Where does it come from?
Connolly: You can trace it back to the time when we were a big empire and it was slowly crumbling, at the beginning of the last century. You never got that wounded.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: What do you mean?
Connolly: Germany and Britain see their presence through the prism of the past. For the Germans, that means they want to forget their Nazi past. For them, the EU is a place of escape that saves them from themselves. The British, in turn, want to return to the glorious Empire and back to the past. Most recently, this identity crisis was felt very clearly during the Scottish independence referendum, which failed.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Do you think that there will be a second independence referendum?
Connolly: Yes. It will take time, because this time you have to be sure that it works. And: The Northern Irish were also against the Brexit, the Londoners also and in Wales it was scarce.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: The interest in British culture, however, at least in the form of series such as "The Crown" or "Sherlock", seems unbroken in Germany.
Connolly: Strangely, this attractiveness is still intact, the Germans seem just as in love as before. I'm curious to see what story the first James Bond will tell after Brexit. Maybe 007 loses all its European partners. Or he will be in trouble for #MeToo.