300-400 level courses are on special topics and are more advanced. They often presuppose some basic knowledge in the field and should be more difficult courses than courses at the 1-199 levels. The department is trying to insure that some 400 level courses, although substantially more difficult, are also small in size; they thus may be suitable for graduate students.
HIST 362 Coping with the Past: German Debates about National Socialism
Gassert
Taught as schedule allows (consult the Course Directory)
R | SEM
How did Germans cope with the legacy of the Nazi regime? This course, taught in German, will examine major texts and debates. It will focus on how the Nazi past influenced West German efforts to create a new society after the crimes and the catastrophic demise of Hitler's Germany. We will examine literary contributions by Böll, Grass, Hochhuth, Klüger, Weiss and others. We will look at the debates of the philosophers (Adorno, Arendt, Habermas, Jaspers). We will pay close attention to public controversies such as those relating to generational conflict in the 1960s and 1970s (including the "post-fascist" roots of terrorism), the famous Historikerstreit of the 1980s, and the Denkmalstreit of the 1990s. Finally, we will look at visual representations in film from the 1950s through the 1990s. The seminar aims to provide a lively introduction into the various ways how different generations of Germans faced (and sometimes avoided to face) the terrible truth about their country's past.
Course Syllabus (PDF)
