Klopp Says Germany Must ‘Reclaim the Flag’ – And Not Leave Patriotism to the ‘Wrong People’

Jürgen Klopp wants Germans to become comfortable with their flag again.

Germany’s new national football coach used the announcement of his first squad on Thursday to argue that national pride should not be surrendered to political extremes, saying he wants to “reclaim the flag” and does not want to leave patriotism to the “wrong people”.

His argument was straightforward: seeing somebody wave the German flag should not automatically invite assumptions about their politics.

Klopp instead advocated what he called “positive patriotism” – pride in Germany combined with openness, diversity and compassion.

The intervention comes less than two weeks after the AfD won the state election in Saxony-Anhalt. Klopp referred to the recent election and the alarm it had caused without naming the party directly.

That context makes his argument more interesting than a conventional appeal for national unity.

Klopp is effectively challenging the idea that the appropriate response to nationalist politics is to become more suspicious of patriotism itself.

If national flags, national pride and public expressions of belonging increasingly become associated with one part of the political spectrum, abandoning those symbols does not make them disappear. It leaves fewer people competing over what they mean.

Klopp’s alternative is to compete for them.

The German flag, in his formulation, can represent an open and diverse Germany just as readily as it can be carried by somebody with radically different politics. The answer is not to retreat from the symbol but to broaden the constituency willing to use it.

That argument carries particular weight coming from Germany’s national football coach. His first competitive match in charge will be away to the Netherlands on September 24.

The squad announcement itself was unusually large: 44 players divided across two groups for Germany’s opening four Nations League fixtures.

Yet Klopp’s most consequential message had little to do with who made the team.

He wants the national side to represent a Germany confident enough to display its own colours without allowing somebody else to decide what those colours mean.

Sources

• Reuters – Klopp says Germany must reclaim national pride from the ‘wrong people’
• DFB – Klopp press conference remarks, including ‘positive patriotism’
• DFB – Klopp names first squad as Germany head coach