Prior to the war, the color line established the “barbarous” and the “civilized” as human categories that corresponded to the Europe-as-center, white supremacist, colonizing worldview. After the war, the label “barbaric” that Germany and other imperialists used to describe the dark-skinned colonized world became a label to describe Germany as well. In the eyes of Germany’s imperialist neighbors, it became a nation of uncivilized, uncultured barbarians, now figuratively residing on the periphery of a community of civilized European nations. Since Germany was no longer considered among the
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