German History, 1914-2000
Fall 2008
This course introduces students to the history of Germany in the twentieth century. It explores the social, political, and cultural history of Germany at this period, from the Great War, through Weimar, the Third Reich, war and extermination, to national division between East and West, and finally reunification and European integration.
Among the themes that will be explored are ideologies and political structures (Nazism, communism and liberal democracy), everyday life in Nazi and East Germany, dictatorships and consent, the Holocaust and coming to terms with its past, and the development of mass culture.
We shall analyze the creation between 1945-1990 of two distinct social, cultural, and political systems in the two Germanies and its implications for the future. Stress will be placed on the variety of historical options that were opened for Germany before the rise of Nazism in 1933. In this course, the main question that will guide us in our understanding of German history is the following: How does one think about the history of Germany's twentieth century so as to embrace the transformation from the dark Germany of war and genocide to a nation characterized by democracy and prosperity at century's end?