Understood as the genesis, consolidation and process of change which takes place in the formation of a nation — as the structural developments with their economic, social and political components, with their ethnic aspects, with their cultural/intellectual physiognomy, as well as their reflections in the consciousness of the masses — the national question is undoubtedly one of the most difficult and sensitive historical phenomena. In Germany, it has long been and still is one of the most complicated and highly disputed problems. Bound up in this are, above all, a broad range of different — indeed conflicting — social interests and objectives. Some of the reasons behind this are to be found in the historical context.

Historical developments in the German-speaking part of Europe were highly contradictory and anything but linear. They did not — as in other parts of western and, in certain cases, also in eastern Europe — lead to a general congruence of ethnic, linguistic, governmental and national factors. On the contrary, during the transition from medievalism/feudalism to modern bourgeois society, they resulted in deeprooted governmental and social differences which, in extreme cases such as the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria and Luxembourg, also led to the foundation of independent nations.