This is a very interesting question. I do actually like my cultures history, and identify with it. For context, I’m German-Romanian, which basically means my family has been living in Romania for generations, our ancestors being German settelers. We’ve always identified as German and kept our culture, even though Germans settled in Romania around the 15th century and have been there ever since.

My native language is German, as it is for my parents, but our culture in Romania developed quite differently over time from the German culture in Germany since it blended with the Hungarian minority and Romanian culture over the years. Because of that, even here in Germany, my home country, I don’t feel like I fully belong and struggle to identify with the culture, since there are differences in mindset and values.

I also speak our dialect, which has been dying out more and more in recent years, it is also considered on of the oldest German dialects in existence. It might be a bit unexpected for a German to say they strongly relate to their heritage, but for me it feels a bit different from what is usually associated with “typical” German culture, because it is really distinct. Thank you for the question because it’s something I’m quite passionate about. That’s also why the answer ended up being so long.