Introduction and Goals

Germany was the United States' worst enemy in two world wars prior to 1945, but only a few years later it was well on the way to becoming our most reliable ally in Europe. This course will pay special attention to the role Germany's Nazi past played in the development of its political culture after 1945.

I realize that a short time after a course most students will remember only a few points about material from that course. Thus I try to emphasize themes and skills that will hopefully have more lasting value. Throughout this course, we will practice analyzing and interpreting evidence to draw our own conclusions about the causes and effects of historical developments.

Requirements

1. I expect you to attend all classes and both evening film screenings. Why take a course if you don't make the effort to learn what it teaches? Lectures include slides, videos, discussion and information not available elsewhere in the course. I will call roll in order to learn your names.
2. There will not be a midterm examination. Instead, you will be asked to write a short paragraph on a simple question about the assigned readings or films, roughly once every two weeks. These five questions will be announced one lecture in advance. They are worth 10% of the final grade.
3. You must keep a journal with 1-2 entries per week, for a total of 8 entries. Each entry, about 2/3 page, single-spaced (450 words), will be based on your thoughts about news articles that you relate to the course, or about my lectures, the course readings or films.

(For further details, see the blue "Journal and Term Paper Assignment" handout.)
They are due at the beginning of class because I am distracted by people entering the room late.
(See also the late policy under grading, below).
Note: This course fulfills the General Education writing requirement. If you do not submit this journal and the term paper, you will not receive credit for this course (i.e., you will fail).
4. A 1-2 page advance proposal and a term paper (1500 words, 5-6 pages). This paper will require some research. The proposal is due Thursday, February 17; the paper Tuesday, Feb. 29, both at the beginning of class. Together they count for 40% of your final grade.
5. A two-hour final examination will have 3 IDs chosen from 9, one source interpretation, and one essay question from a choice of two. A study guide will be distributed before the last class.

Required Course Books (also on reserve at the library)

• Reader with 26 articles and documents, available Jan. 12 at GraphikArt in IV, 100pp., ca. $10.
• Bernhard Schlink, The Reader [person who reads aloud] (1995), $11/$8. In the 1960s, a law students finds out his former lover was a Holocaust perpetrator. PT2680.L54 V6713 1997
• Textbook: Mary Fulbrook, The Divided Nation: A History of Germany, 1918-1990 (Oxford Univ. Press, 1992), $25 new/ 18 used. Textbook focusing on the post-1945 period. DD240.F85 1992
• Heinrich Böll, Billiards at Half-past Nine (1959), $13/$10. This novel examines how the Nazi period affected three generations of a German family. PT2603.O394 B513 1994