This volume investigates the question of why for centuries the Germans have unhesitatingly regarded the ancient Germanic tribes as their direct ancestors - and commonly even do so today. Although advances in academic research have shown that we are dealing here with an artificial continuity and an invented tradition, in the 19th and 20th centuries the 'freedom-loving' and 'warlike' Germanic tribes of ancient times served to motivate contemporary behavior. The papers in this volume analyze the complex processes of this equation.