Spektrum Iran

Abstract Ursula Baatz’s article investigated the possibility of intercultural relations between different countries using examples from the distant past and our contemporary times. According to the writer, Goethe is among the examples seeking an audience to speak to the East irrespective of cultural dogmatism, and that is why he wrote the West-Eastern Divan in the time of popular national patriotic poems. This valuable collection clearly aims to bring together the Western and Eastern culture.
The bilateral relation between the East and the West have led to the flourishing of human culture in many periods. But since the 19th century, especially after colonial policy and the expansion of the spirit of industrialization, there has been an unpleasant confrontation over these relations. At this point, the „other” is considered as a subordinate who does not have the talent to accept enlightenment. In such a situation, the rule of ideological thought destroys the cultural relations between nations, and unfortunately, the scope of such destructive thoughts has reached the 20th century, which continues and is renewed in various forms.