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The unexpected victory of the German football team over the favorite Hungary on 4 July 1954 has gone down in history as the "Miracle of Berne," and the football match has been built up as a mythical place of remembrance in the history of German sport. The article deals with the construction of the legend and concludes that the event and its consequences were perceived as an emotional sensation by contemporaries, but that this perception was rather short-lived. For many years, the "Miracle of Bern" was an unimportant chapter in collective memory. The career of the legend basically began in the context of a new social contract made at the time of the fiftieth anniversary of the final, and its exploitation by the media and politics with the aid of a successful movie. The legend was part of a political staging.

The unexpected victory of the German football team over the favorite Hungary on 4 July 1954 has gone down in history as the "Miracle of Berne", and the football match has been built up as a mythical place of remembrance in the history of German sport. The article deals with the construction of the legend and concludes that the event and its consequences were perceived as an emotional sensation by contemporaries, but that this perception was rather short-lived. For many years, the "Miracle of Bern" was an unimportant chapter in collective memory. The career of the legend basically began in the context of a new social contract made at the time of the fiftieth anniversary of the final, and its exploitation by the media and politics with the aid of a successful movie. The legend was part of a political staging.

Das Wunder von Bern , also der gemeinhin als überraschend oder gar sensationell bewertete Erfolg der bundesrepublikanischen Fußballnationalmannschaft bei der Weltmeisterschaft 1954 in der Schweiz, hat sich als fester Terminus in der deutschen Geschichtsschreibung etabliert. Über das rein sportliche Ereignis hinaus hat sich um die Geschehnisse beim Endspiel am 4. Juli 1954 zwischen Deutschland und dem großen, weil in den vier Jahren zuvor ungeschlagenen Favoriten Ungarn zumindest im innerdeutschen Kontext ein Kult entwickelt, der sehr wohl als eine Art Gründungsmythos der Bundesrepublik zu verorten ist. Die vorliegende Arbeit versucht nun, diesen vielfach untersuchten innerdeutschen Kontext zu erweitern und das Wunder von Bern mithilfe von zeitgenössischen Tages- und Wochenzeitungen aus England, Frankreich, Österreich und der Schweiz auch aus internationaler Perspektive zu untersuchen. Schließlich lässt die dem Turnier zugrunde liegende Ausgangssituation zum Zeitpunkt dieser zweiten Weltmeisterschaft nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg zumindest eine gewisse Skepsis von Seiten der vier genannten europäischen Staaten gegenüber dem Kriegsaggressor Deutschland erwarten. Nur neun Jahre zuvor war der von Deutschland provozierte Krieg zu Ende gegangen und schon triumphierte der neue Staat, beziehungsweise exakterweise die Auswahlmannschaft des Deutschen Fußballbundes (Nationalelf), beim globalen Wettstreit in der auch damals schon Weltsportart Nummer eins. In Deutschland selbst ist dies überwiegend als eine Art übermenschlicher, nicht erwartbarer Akt, repräsentiert! von elf bescheidenen, unbekannten, vor allem der Kameradschaft verpflichteten Spielern und ihrem Trainer Sepp Herberger gewertet worden. Beim analysierenden Blick auf die untersuchte Presse wird jedoch deutlich, dass weiten Teilen der innerdeutschen Rezeption des Ereignisses Wunder von Bern geradezu mythisch überhöhte Aspekte innewohnen. Im Ausland wurde das Ereignis nur wenig über den sportlichen Blickwinkel hinaus beachtet. Vielmehr nehmen die untersuchten Medien Deutschlands Triumph im Fußball zum Anlass, auf die zum Teil bereits weit fortgeschrittene politische, wirtschaftliche und gesellschaftliche Entwicklung des neuen deutschen Staates hinzuweisen, diese aber ausdrücklich vom Sportlichen abzukoppeln. Der Mythos der chancenlosen Elf, die wie ein Phönix aus der Asche das Weltturnier gewann, lässt sich nach der mithilfe einer Inhaltsanalyse durchgeführten Untersuchung von insgesamt 18 Zeitungen aus vier europäischen Staaten zudem kaum noch aufrechterhalten. Vielmehr galt die bundesrepublikanische Nationalmannschaft bereits vor Turnierbeginn als einer der Geheimfavoriten auf den Titel. Die S! pieler um Kapitän Fritz Walter waren zudem international keineswegs unbekannt, was diverse Artikel im Vorfeld, die sich ausschließlich mit der deutschen Mannschaft beschäftigten, beweisen. Trainer Herberger schließlich galt als einer der scharfsinnigsten Strategen und gewissenhaftesten Taktiker der Welt, der außerdem über die Fähigkeit verfügte, seine Mannschaft punktgenau in Topform zu bringen. So trägt diese Untersuchung dazu bei, den überhöhten Mythos des Wunders von Bern rational neu zu bewerten. Anhand eines Fußballspiels so mutet es an wurde über Jahrzehnte die Auferstehung des neuen deutschen Staates symbolisiert, die Mannschaft galt praktisch als Pars pro Toto der Bundesrepublik, die sich aus Trümmern also dem sprichwörtlichen Nichts wieder Wohlstand und internationale Anerkennung erkämpfte. Dieses Bild verliert nach Ansicht der Außenperspektive jedoch eindeutig an Tragkraft. ; The miracle of Berne ( Wunder von Bern ), which means the highly surprising victory of the Western German football team at the world cup 1954 in Switzerland, has become a fixed term in German historiography. Beyond the event in sports the circumstances around the world cup final at the fourth of july 1954 between the German team and the huge favorite Hungary, who had been unbeaten in four years, have created a myth around the formation of the German Federal Republic. This thesis claims to widen up the German view, which has already been part of much research, by integrating the international perspective by analysing contemporary daily and weekly newspapers from England, France, Austria and Switzerland during the tournament. Because of the situation at the outset of the tournament in 1954 the second world cup after World War II some scepticism towards Germany can be expected from the side of these four countries. Only nine years after the war, that Germany had begun, this new Germany already triumphed at the global competition in the most popular sport of the world. In Germany this victory has mostly been interpreted as superhuman, represented by eleven modest and unknown players who succeeded mainly by their highly developed comradeship, their will and their manager Sepp Herberger. But analysing international press shows that this German perception of the miracle of Berne goes a lot too far in the mythological sense. In England, France, Austria and Switzerland the perception of the event mostly does not go beyond aspects of sports. The international press rather uses the German victory in football to show how far the German political system, economy and society had already developed without combining this perspective with sports. The myth of the team that had no chance to succed in any way during the tournament and became world champion out of nothing furthermore cannot be maintained after analysing 18 newspapers from four european countries. Instead even before the beginning of the world cup the German team was regarded as one of the dark horses for the world cup title. Additionally the players around Fritz Walter were far away from unknown in the international perspective, which can be read in many articles that mainly deal with the G! erman team before the first kick-off of the tournament. Manager Herberger furthermore was regarded as one of the most clever strategists and tactical experts in world football, who was also able to get his teams in the best physical shape possible. This thesis therefore tries to add a more rational approach to the highly mythological view of the miracle of Berne in Germany. Through one footballmatch, it appears, the rise of the new German state to wealth and worldwide respect has been symbolised over decades by the team of 1954. The international perspective shows that this is only partially right.

Studies into the Wealth of Nations have been the aim of economics since Adam Smith. However, the spectacular rise of some economies, beginning with industrializing England in the 18th century, has been of particular interest. England's rise has been as miraculous in the eyes of the observers as the rise of Germany and Japan from the ashes of World War II or the rise of South Korea from one of the poorest countries in the world to the league of OECD members in the second half of the twentieth century and later the rise of China. Nevertheless, to write about theories of economic miracles seems to be daring, since the architects of these miracles, like fervently Ludwig Erhard, flatly denied anything miraculous in the development of their respective economies. Modestly, they spoke of the natural result of liberalization or, in another case, getting the basics right. If this is the case, are there any ways to stellar economic performance to be emulated? Are there, more modestly, any lessons from the economic miracles of the past for the future development of other economies?

A review essay on a book by Martin Wolf, Why Globalization Works (New Haven: Yale U Press, 2004).

Deng Xiaoping's reforms have changed the face of China: the economy has made epic strides, cities fly the banners of western capitalism, a new middle class aspires to full membership of the consumer society. In the process, political reform got left behind, repression of dissidents is as harsh as ever and a growing gap between rich and poor, town and country, threaten the stability of the Middle Kingdom