The Discourse Of Heimat, Meaning Homeland Or Roots, Has Been A Medium Of Debate On German Identity Between Region And Nation For At Least A Century. Four Phases Parallel Germany's Discontinuous History: Heimat Literature As A Response To Modernization And To Regional Tensions Before The First World War; The Inter-war Period When Heimat Divided Into Racist Ideology, Left-wing Opposition, And Inner Resistance To The Third Reich; A Post-war Dialectic Between Escapist 1950s Heimat Films And Right-wing Claims To The Lost Lands In The East To Which Anti-heimat Theatre And Films In The 1960s And 1970s Were A Response, With The Urban Heimat In Gdr Films Adding A Socialist Twist; Regionalism And Green Politics In The 1980s And German Identity Beyond Cold War Divisions. A Key Point Of Reference In Current Debates On German History, Heimat Looks Likely To Continue In Postmodern And Multicultural Mode.