Knut the bear cub, a symbol of the fall in the German birth rate

In an interview conducted by Sophie Carquan, the French psychologist Maryse Vaillant analyses the German passion for Knut, the white bear cub of the Berlin zoo who has gained world-wide fame. "The fact that 'knutmania' started in Germany, even if it has now spread across the planet, does not surprise me ! There is a ferociously low birth rate in this country. After having suffered the yoke of the three Ks, 'Kinder, Küche, Kirche' (children, kitchen, church), and been good prolific mothers, German women have freed themselves of their shackles. But this emancipation is not free of guilt, a feeling that can be expressed by campaigning in favour of this bear cub abandoned by its mother, as if it symbolised the endangered German child. Knut embodies the survivor. ... If Knut fuels so much emotion, anxieties and fear, it is also because we belong to the first generation of humans to raise our progeny without being able to guarantee it the 'happy future' that yesterday's parents promised their children."

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