MY GOALS FOR THIS COURSE
Studies have shown that, on average, 4 months after a college course students retain 5-10% of the factual material they learned. Thus I try to emphasize themes and skills in my courses. Drawing on the history of Germany since World War II, we will examine how "high politics" and "grass-roots" personal behaviors have interacted to shape individual lives, and to create, continue, or modify political culture. The emphasis will be less on "great (wo-)men who made history" than on 1) actions of "little people" who have (or have not) influenced the course of events, and 2) how high politics shapes the lives of individuals. In addition to following these themes, we will practice how to find and analyze evidence to draw conclusions about the causes and effects of historical events.
REQUIREMENTS
COMPONENTS OF GRADE: questions: 5x2=10%; journal: 4x5=20%; term paper: 30%; final exam: 40%.
REQUIRED COURSE BOOKS (also on 2 hour reserve at the library)
Reader available Sept. 28 at Graphikart on Pardall Rd. in Isla Vista, opposite the Foot Patrol, 90pp., ca. $8.
Textbook: Mary Fulbrook, The Divided Nation: A History of Germany, 1918-1990 (Oxford Univ. Press, 1992), $29.25/$21.95/$16.45. Textbook focusing on the post-1945 period. DD240.F85 1992
Heinrich Böll, Billiards at Half-past Nine (1959), $12.95/9.70. This novel examines how three generations of a German family confronted the Nazi period and its aftermath. PT2603.O394 B513 1994
Peter Schneider, The Wall Jumper (1982), $12.00. This novel sympathetically evokes the situation in divided Berlin. It describes people who did not accept the choice between East or West. PT2680.N37 M313
Date | #/Day | Lecture Topic | Assignment . |
29 Sept. | 1t. | Introduction: A Personal Odyssey through German History | none |
1 Oct. | 2r. | Symbols and Silences of National Memory: The Neue Wache | Böll: Billiards, start |
6 Oct. | 3t. | Did Germany follow a "special path" through history? | Fulbrook, 1-14, Rdr #1; Fulbr. 92-125 |
8 Oct. | 4r. | Nazism, World War II, and their Legacies | Fulbrook, 129-167 |
13 Oct. | 5t. | Coming to Terms with the Past Journals due | Böll: Billiards, finish |
15 Oct. | 6r. | Establishing a "Democratic" State in the West | Fulbr. 168-88; Rdr #2, 3 |
20 Oct. | 7t. | Establishing a "Socialist" State in the East | Fulbrook, 188-196 |
20+21 | t+w | 7pm: Film "The Promise" (1995; 1 hr, 55 mins., room TBA) | evening film |
22 Oct. | 8r. | The Berlin Wall: Symbol and Reality | Rdr #4-8; Wall Jumper |
27 Oct. | 9t. | The 60s: Old & New Politics Journals due | Fulbrook 197-207, 278-90; Reader #9, Wall Jumper |
29 Oct. | 10r. | The 1970s: Old and New Approaches | Fulbr. 207-20; |
3 Nov. | 11t. | Life in the Stasi State | Fulbr. 265-78; Rdr. #10 |
3+4 | t+w | 7pm: Film "The Nasty Girl," (1989; 1 hr, 34 mins., room TBA) | evening film |
5 Nov. | 12r. | The 1980s: Legacies of the Past | Fulbr. 303-8; Rdr #11-12 |
10 Nov. | 13t. | Breaching the Berlin Wall Journals due | Fulbr. 318-32; Rdr. #13 |
12 Nov. | 14r. | "Wrapping up" East Germany | Fulbrook 332-345 |
17 Nov. | 15t. | Historical Legacies and Political Culture Term paper due | Fulbrook, 221-243 |
19 Nov. | 16r. | Comparing Ends and Beginnings: 1945-1989, 1871-1990 | Fulbrook, 332-345 |
24 Nov. | 17t. | McDonald's und Das Volk Journals due | Fulbr.291-317; Rdr.14,15 |
26 Nov. | r | No class, Thanksgiving recess | relax! |
1 Dec. | 18t. | A New Germany and Lessons from History | Fulbr. 349-369; Rdr. #16 |
3 Dec. | 19r. | Final remarks and discussion | study questions |
8 Dec. | Tue. | 4-6pm: Final Examination | bring a blue book |