FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE

The final exam will take place from 12-2pm on Wednesday, March 22, in our regular classroom.
Be sure to bring a blue book. The exam is worth 30% of your final grade (90 pts as noted below).

I. Identify and define the significance (20 mins., 3 @ 5 points each)

On the final exam you will be given six of the following terms, from which you will select three. Your identification should include an approximate date, which should situate the event correctly in relation to other important events. Take special care to EXPLAIN WHY THE TERM IS SIGNIFICANT in the context of German history.

§218 of the Civil Code 1968er cohort APO Auschwitz Trial denazification renazification Grand Coalition New Guardhouse

Ostpolitik Walter Ulbricht June 1953 uprising Nuremberg Trials Emergency Laws 7 October 1989 anniversary Byrnes Stuttgart speech German "special path"

Spiegel Affair Rosa Luxemburg Bitburg cemetery, May 1985 Willy Brandt ius sanguinis Rudy Dutschke Leipzig Monday demonstrations

II. Source Interpretation. (20 mins., 25 points)

You will be given a short quotation from a primary source in one of the selections in the reader, which you should identify (put in context), and then interpret, revealing what it tells us about German history since 1945. Good answers will use comparisons to relate the quotation to issues raised in the course. An example might be Eisenhower's first point on reader p. 27. You would write about what the "eruption's" causes and goals were, and what role the Americans did play.
Study tip: go through the reader and make sure you understand the gist of each selection.

III. Essay question: You will have to answer one of the following questions. (1 hour, 50 pts)
Study tip: make an outline for each!

1. In this course I argued that legacies of Nazism played an important role in shaping German political culture from 1945 to the present day. For each decade from the 1950s to the 1990s, use specific examples to show how Nazi legacies affected political decisions or developments.

2. We discussed various factors that came together to cause the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Drawing on both analytical descriptions of historical events and personal stories (such as those in "The Promise," and Frank Eigenfeld), argue which two factors were the most significant in toppling the Honecker government. Note that in order to do this you should also make a case why two or three other factors were less significant (refute counterarguments).

3. From 1945 to the present events in Berlin have played an important role in shaping the course of German history. For five events taken from different decades, show how each relates to the middle-term sweep of postwar German history, revealing crucial features not only of the present moment, but what came before and what followed afterwards as well.