Stephan Dannehl 
Different Demographic Developments in Denmark and Germany [EPUB ebook] 

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2004 in the subject Business economics – Miscellaneous, grade: 1, 3, Stralsund University of Applied Sciences, language: English, abstract: The quotation was published in several larger German newspapers. It was clear, brief and brought to light what has long been an open secret. The short quotation dealt with today’s anti-children attitude in Germany’s society and was in the judgement of most people not more than an element that fills in the papers’ blanks. However, for the young generation – especially for the group of prospective parents, but also for current families – the mentioned remark was definitely more than in a good position only. Even far more than this.
As a matter of fact, the quotation directly addressed both population groups – the childless group as well as the group of parents – for the remark represented a bitter realisation for the first group and a late acknowledgement for the latter. Something that had always been anticipated suddenly became much more real. The abstract idea of a society without regard to children was in fact omnipresent but not concrete enough. Every now and then, one read about Germans that are hostile to children, about the disadvantaging of families with many children and about the families’ negative image. Yet, people had already been accustomed to the ‘normal’ pessimism and defeatism of their German fellow men. Therefore, one dismissed society’s medial prophecies of doom as a mere exaggeration of the plain truth. Prophecies that purely serve to increase the papers’ number of copies and improve the audience rating, respectively.
However, the notion that the mentioned quotation does not queue in the general Cassandra-shouting tenor originates from the explanation that usually stands below a quotation indicating the source or the remark’s originator. The conspicuous sentence did not stem from just anybody and it did also not arise from the creative pen of a BILD-editor. The quotation’s originator was no less than the present Federal President of Germany – Horst Köhler. But now one came to the conclusion that the newspaper’s aim was neither to take up the yellow press’ preference for eye-catching elements nor to call attention to a new horror scenario. On the contrary; here on was confronted with something that needed to be taken much more seriously. Something that could not be ignored and laughed off as an irrelevance. Here, Germany’s head of state said something that did not only make waves among prospective parents.