Departments of Political Science and German and Russian

Postwar Germany GER/POL 475, Fall 1998 Thursdays 1-4 in Chambers 123   An Interdisciplinary Seminar for Advanced Students

Our Reader: reserve readings and handouts. See readings in the schedule below. Garton Ash, Timothy. The File: A Personal History. NY: Random House, 1997. Wolf, Christa. What Remains and Other Stories. Denham, Scott, Irene Kacandes, and Jonathan Petropolous, eds. A User's Guide to German Cultural Studies. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997. Reinhard Alter and Peter Monteath, eds. Rewriting the German Past: History and Identity in the New Germany. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press, 1997.          Top

  

What we Expect

 

• Attendance is required at every meeting, including film showings. (Films are available in the language lab if you have a time conflict.)
• Readings. Read all assigned texts before class. We may have reading quizzes if necessary.
• Research and Reports. We will occasionally ask you to prepare information for the group--biographical sketches, literature reviews, party platforms, historical snapshots, statistical information (for those in Political Science 475), brief translations (for those in German 475), and the like. Always make your information available to the group. How to do this.
• Case study methods. You will often have to research and then present the ideas and political, historical, and cultural positions of certain parties, individual politicians, or groups of people. We take these case studies and role-playing scenarios very seriously. Specific assignments come from us a week or so ahead of time.
• Web. You must visit the links or follow search and browsing suggestions listed under Web on the schedule before that week's class meeting. These links are in addition to your regular news consumption.
• Notes conference entries (on assigned readings, last week's class discussion, films, web findings, and responses to specific questions from us) are to be written each week by midnight on Wednesdays; we expect at least one entry from each of you of some 300-400 words; secondary responses may be briefer. Submit a complete printout of all your notes conference entries at the end of the course.
• Four essays, 8 pages each.  Two copies, except for essay 3, which you must submit in enough copies for all of us to have one; late papers penalized.  You must rewrite at least one of the first three essays, though you may rewrite all three if you wish; rewrites due one week from when you receive your graded essay back from us. The last essay, due at the end of exam period, takes the place of a final exam.
• Organize yourselves and take turns supplying a small snack (chocolate is never in bad taste) for coffee break one time during the semester; we'll supply coffee. Bring your own mug.
• No midterm, no exam.

Date	Readings and Screenings	Web	Assignments
Week 1  27 Aug	Introductions  A look at the Basic Law  What is a Federal Republic?  What is a parliamentary system?  A little history: Stunde null [Zero Hour]  "Resurrected from the ruins" or "Unity and right and freedom"? Or both?  Read  The Basic Law (in English here) .  The National Anthem(s) (in English here).	News and more news news.  The  Willkommen bei Wahlkampf98! page (in German): a whole page on the election.  Basic data on Germany.  The German government's homepage.        More law links: All the German law you'll ever need is here in German  (includes the GG, the  treaty between the BRD and the GDR, 2 + 4 treaty, parliamentary rules and laws, the EU treaty, etc.) and here or also here in English.	Notes conference intro  readings
Week 2  3 Sept	Unit 1: The Election   Parties and Context  Introduction to the election.  parties, platforms, candidates a few views of the current state of things Read  Press clippings and news printouts on parties, the election, surveys. (First chunk in the Reader)  Geoffrey K. Roberts, "The German Party System Today" in Party Politics in the New Germany (London: Pinter, 1997), 174-88.(Reader) Helga Welsh, Andreas Pickel, and Dorothy Rosenberg, "East and West German Identities: United and Divided?" in Konrad Jarausch, ed. After Unity: Reconfiguring German Identities (Providence: Berghahn, 1997), 103-36.(Reader) Lewis Edinger and Brigitte Nacos, "From the Bonn to the Berlin Republic: Can a Stable Democracy Continue? Political Science Quarterly 113.2 (1998): 179-91. (Reader) David Conradt, "Political Culture in Unified Germany: Will the Bonn Republic Survive and Thrive in Berlin?" German Studies Review 21.1 (Feb 1998): 83-104. (Reader) Günter Grass, "The Lonesome Capitalist" in German Dis/Continuities, special issue, The South Atlantic Quarterly 96.4 (Fall 1997): 703-713. (Reader)  Michael Geyer, "Germany, or, The Twentieth Century as History" in German Dis/Continuities, special issue, The South Atlantic Quarterly 96.4 (Fall 1997): 663-702. (Reader). Omer Bartov, "How to Read History" (User's Guide)	Basic information on the  vote (Politik-Daten Deutschland AKTUELL) in German.  Election 98: Der Spiegel site on the elections (in German).       German Political Cartoons   more cartoons  (we take cartoons very seriously around here, so you need to be up on these at all times)	Notes conference entry by midnight on Wed!
Week 3  10 Sept	Election preparations!   Read  party platforms off the Web candidate bios key issues Alter & Monteath, Rewriting the German Past, Chapter 4 (Claus Leggewie, "The 'Generation of 1989': A New Political Generation?") more background Christoph Bertram, "Germany Moves On: Laying Angst to Rest" Foreign Affairs (July/August 1998): 187-94. Patricia A. Davis, "National Interests Revisited: The German Case" German Politics and Society 16.1 (Spring 1998): 82-111. (Reader) Peter Schneider, "Deep-Freeze" and "Reasons" (Reader)  Methods Laurance McFalls, "How to Read Statistics" (User's Guide)	Learn about your party's sites.  Keep up with your favorite news sites.     How 'bout a smoke.	Notes conference entry by midnight on Wed!
Week 4  17 Sept	Election debates!   Read  ( more background)  Deidre Berger, "Learning to Stop Hating the Germans" (User's Guide) Jane Kramer, "Letter From Berlin" (1991) (Reader) Andy Markovits and Simon Reich, The German Predicament: Memory and Power in the New Europe (Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1997), Introduction, Chapters 1, 2, Conclusion (Reader) Alice Cooper, "When Just Causes Conflict With Accepted Means: The German Peace Movement and Military Intervention in Bosniz" German Politics and Society 15.3 (Fall 1997): 99-118. (Reader) Irwin Collier, "The Twin Curse of the Goddess Europa and the Economic Reconstruction of Eastern Germany" German Studies Review 20.3 (1997): 399-428 (Reader)  Gerd Gemünden, "How to View a Film" (User's Guide) See  Wim Wenders, Wings of Desire (1987)	Follow the news on your candidates daily!	Notes conference entry by midnight on Wed!                See Schindler's List if you haven't ever: 900 Room, 9:30, Wed or Fri.
Week 5  24 Sept	Election predictions!   Read  Joyce Marie Mushaben, From Post-War to Post-Wall Generations: Changing Attitudes Toward the National Question and NATO in the FRG (Boulder: Westview P, 1998), chapters 2, 3, 7, 8  (Reader)	Gather predictions and opinions.	Notes conference entry by midnight on Wed!
Sunday  27 Sept	Election  Afternoon and Evening sessions for election coverage (specific times and place TBA)	we'll monitor the results live	attendance required
Week 6  1 Oct	Election Results   analysis	Gather data on results and polls.	No notes this week.  Essay 1 due in class.
Week 7  8 Oct	Unit 2: Legacies   Stunde Null [Hour Zero]  Read  Friedrich Torberg, The Internal and External Emigrant.(In the Reader or here.) Christian Rogowski, "How to Read a Play" (User's Guide) Robert A. Selig, "1945 to 1948: America's Long Road to the Federal Republic of German (West)" German Life (June/July 1998): 26-30. David Peevers, "The Berlin Airlift 50 Years Later" German Life (June/July 1998): 32-37. Konrad Jarausch, "1945 and the Continuities of German History: Reflections on Memory, Historiography, and Politics" in Geoffrey J. Giles, ed. Stunde Null: The End and the Beginning Fifty Years Ago (Washington, D.C.: The German Historical Institute, 1997). (Reader) Maria D. Mitchell, "Stunde Null in German Politics? Confessional Culture, Realpolitik, and the Organization of Christian Democracy" in Geoffrey J. Giles, ed. Stunde Null: The End and the Beginning Fifty Years Ago (Washington, D.C.: The German Historical Institute, 1997). (Reader) Maria Höhn, "Stunde Null der Frauen? Renegotiating Women's Place in Postwar West Germany" in Geoffrey J. Giles, ed. Stunde Null: The End and the Beginning Fifty Years Ago (Washington, D.C.: The German Historical Institute, 1997). (Reader) Rebecca Boehling, "Stunde Null at the Ground Level: 1945 as a Social and Political Ausgangspunkt in Three Cities in the U.S. Zone of Occupation"  in Geoffrey J. Giles, ed. Stunde Null: The End and the Beginning Fifty Years Ago (Washington, D.C.: The German Historical Institute, 1997). (Reader) See  Berlin under the Allies	Clip of an interview with a Trümmerfrau, Berlin 1947  (30 sec.).  Some pix:  put in oberlin here	Notes conference entry by midnight on Wed!
Week 8  15 Oct	The Wall,  DDR, and Einheit    Read  Alter & Monteath, Rewriting the German Past, Chapters 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Timothy Ryback, "Why the Wall Still Stands," Atlantic Monthly (August 1986): 20-26. (Reader) Peter Schneider, "East-West Passages." (Reader) Joyce Marie Mushaben, "Auferstanden aus Ruinen: Social Capital and Democratic Identity in the New Länder" German Politics & Society (date): 79-101. (Reader) Dirk Verheyen, "What's in a name? Street Name Politics and Urban Identity in Berlin" German Politics & Society (date): 44-72. (Reader) Laurence McFalls, "Living With Which Past? National Identity in Post-Wall, Postwar Germany" (User's Guide) Daphne Berdahl, "Dis-Membering the Past: The Politics of Memory in the German Borderland" (User's Guide) See  Fünf Wochen im Herbst	Music: "Die 13."  DDR Ostalgie  German t-shirts for sale	Notes conference entry by midnight on Wed!
Week 9  22 Oct	Christa Wolf  Read  Christa Wolf, What Remains, in What Remains and Other Stories. Gail Finney, "'True Lies' in the Ex-GDR: The Intersection of History and Fiction in the Career of Christa Wolf" in William C. Donahue and Scott Denham, eds. History and Literature: Essays in Honor of Karl S. Guthke (Tübingen: Stauffenburg, forthcoming 1998). Christa Wolf, "Subjective Authenticity: A Conversation with Hans Kaufmann" (Reader) Hans Kaufmann, "On Christa Wolf's Principle of Poetics" (Reader) Wolf Biermann, "Nur wer sich andert, bleibt sich treu" Die Zeit (24 August 1990).need translation!	Find a good page on Wolf.	Notes conference entry by midnight on Wed!
Week10  29 Oct	The Legacies of the Holocaust  1. The Historikerstreit    Read    Michael Stürmer, "History in a Land without History" Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (25 April 1986). Ernst Nolte, "The Past That Will Not Past: A Speech That Could Be Written But Not Delivered" Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (6 June 1986). Jürgen Habermas, "A Kind of Settlement of Damages: The Apologetic Tendencies in German History Writing" Die Zeit (11 July 1986). Helmut Fleischer, "The Morality of History: On the Dispute about the Past That WIll Not Pass" Nürnberger Zeitung (20 Sept 1986). Jürgen Kocka, "Hitler Should Not Be Repressed by Stalin and Pol Pot: On the Attempts of German Historians to Relativize the Enormity of the Nazi Crimes" Frankfurter Rundschau (23 Sept 1986). Ernst Piper, "Afterword to the Historikerstreit" See  The Nasty Girl, Michael Verhoven	Look at a couple Holocaust sites.	Notes conference entry by midnight on Wed!
Week 11  5 Nov	The Legacies of the Holocaust  2. Memorials and Memory  Holocaust memorials, Goldhagen, and the Verbrechen-der-Wehrmacht-Exhibition  Read  James Young, "Germany's Memorial Question: Memory, Counter-Memory, and the End of the Monument" (Reader [Morris]) Tim Ryback, "Report from Dachau" (Reader) Czaplicka on Hradlicka (User's Guide) Omer Bartov, "'Seit die Juden weg sind...': Germany, History, and Representations of Absence" (User's Guide) Christian Rogowski, "Born Later: On Being a German Germanist in America" (User's Guide) Wallis Miller (User's Guide) Susanne Zantop (User's Guide) See  Volker Schlöndorff, The Tin Drum	Look at the Berlin Holocaust Monument debate.	Notes conference entry by midnight on Wed!                See Wings of Desire again for fun: 900 Room, 9:30, Wed or Fri.
Week 12  12 Nov	Writing week. No class.	stay off the web -- are you addicted yet?	No notes this week.
Sat  14 Nov	All-day FilmFest    (Sat 8am-Sun 2am) Edgar Reitz,Heimat		(Dinner and caffein provided; bring your own sack lunch and snacks.)
Week13  19 Nov	Unit 3: Identity    Read  Alter & Monteath, Rewriting the German Past, Chapters 1 & 2 Kacandes (User's Guide)  Bammer (User's Guide) Rogowski (User's Guide) Belgum  (User's Guide) Moruzzi (User's Guide) Spaulding (User's Guide) Konrad Jarausch, "Reshaping German Identities: Reflections on the Post-Unification Debate" (Reader) Jaurausch, Hinrich Seeba, and David Conradt, "The Presence of the Past: Culture, Opinion, and Identity in Germany" (Reader)   See  Rainer Werner Fassbinder, The Marriage of Maria Braun.	How's your candidate doing?	No notes this week.  Essay 2 due in class.
Week 14  26 Nov	Thanksgiving break. No class.	no computers over the holiday	read
Week 15  3 Dec	Identity  "Foreign Co-Citizens," "Guestworkers," and Political Asylum Seekers  An outside view of state power  Read  Timothy Garton Ash, The File: A Personal History Alter & Monteath, Rewriting the German Past, Chapter 3 Peter Schneider, "In Germany, Saigon Wins: The Vietnamese in Berlin" and "Sentimental Journey" (Reader) Douglas Klusmeyer, "Aliens, Immigrants, and Citizens: The Politics of Inclusion in the Federal Republic of Germany" (Reader) Magda Mueller, "Germania Displaced? Reflections on the Discourse of Female Asylum Seekers and Ethnic Germans" (Reader) Leslie Adelson, "The Price of Feminism: Of Women and Turks" (Reader) Luise Pusch, "The New Duden: Out of Date Already" (Reader)   See    Volker Schlöndorff & Margarethe von Trotta, The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum.		No notes this week  Essay 3 due in class.
Week 16  10 Dec	reading day, exams begin  See  Doris Dörrie, Nobody loves me		Final notes conference entry by midnight on Wed!
Week 17  17 Dec	exams end		Final Essay due 12:15.

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Resources for the course

 
  We hope that we will all spend profitable time on the web this semester. We want you to frequent sites which offer quality news and current events about Germany and Europe and we hope you'll send us any new links you find that would be of interest to the class. As is always the case with the web, everything is in flux, but for our purposes there is almost no way to get more news more quickly and for no cost. Enjoy.