I decided a few days before the start of the 2006 World Cup to go to Germany.

Pedaling thirty kilometers a day on my way to Berlin, I was struck by the appearance, which grew more and more prominent every day, of the nation’s flag : on houses, on cars, inside and outside of buildings.

Once there, I was quickly seized by the demonstrations' growing enthusiasm, all social classes mixed together. I brought along an audio recorder, and in order to get a better understanding, I decided to interview the people that I photographed.

Many tell me that after decades of shame, of guilt tied to the country’s Nazi past, this is the right time to show that one is once again proud to be German.

The nation team, composed of very young players and coached by Klinsmann, is good, likable, and the event’s organizers are applauded.

A young man, a historian, assures me that all this is not at all a prelude to nationalism, and that one should see it rather as a sign of a return to normalcy. It is more accurately the result of media pressure and football euphoria.

«It’s good for the younger generation to have a positive image of their country, and this will also help us resolve economic problems», a mother who is a translator told me.

It should be noted that at the same time, at the welcoming ceremony, President Horst Köhler launched a new slogan, «Deutschland Land der Ideen» (Germany, Land of Ideas).

I wanted, in this series of images, to document very closely the way in which our German hosts had prepared for and experienced the competition, and to look more broadly at everything that was being «played out» outside of the stadium (the renewal of patriotism, the question of culpability for the past, the effect of globalization : topics thoroughly covered and commented on by the press ...) and which remain at the heart of debates across the Rhine.

(This report was exhibited at the Goethe Institut of Toulouse in June 2007.)

I decided a few days before the start of the 2006 World Cup to go to Germany.

Pedaling thirty kilometers a day on my way to Berlin, I was struck by the appearance, which grew more and more prominent every day, of the nation’s flag : on houses, on cars, inside and outside of buildings.

Once there, I was quickly seized by the demonstrations' growing enthusiasm, all social classes mixed together. I brought along an audio recorder, and in order to get a better understanding, I decided to interview the people that I photographed.

Many tell me that after decades of shame, of guilt tied to the country’s Nazi past, this is the right time to show that one is once again proud to be German.

The nation team, composed of very young players and coached by Klinsmann, is good, likable, and the event’s organizers are applauded.

A young man, a historian, assures me that all this is not at all a prelude to nationalism, and that one should see it rather as a sign of a return to normalcy. It is more accurately the result of media pressure and football euphoria.

«It’s good for the younger generation to have a positive image of their country, and this will also help us resolve economic problems», a mother who is a translator told me.