In this module, we will explore how the understanding of ‘history’ in German culture has changed over the past two hundred years. In doing so, we will be looking at:

• some of the most intriguing figures in German intellectual life, such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, Hannah Arendt and Markus Gabriel;
• major historical debates like the Holocaust debate and the contemporary controversy about the meaning of ‘1989’;
• and the representation of history in influential film productions, such as Jud Süß (1940), Good-Bye Lenin! (2003) and Gundermann (2018).

What exactly is ‘history’ and what are its driving forces? Why did Freud speak of an ‘unconscious’ (das Unbewusste) and where can we find it? Is there a link between history writing and national identity? Why did Nietzsche call for a ‘superman’ (Übermensch)? Was he the first Nazi and are we his ‘last men’? How have climate change and the digital revolution affected the thinking about the past, present and future? Do we live in the ‘Anthropocene’ and, if so, what does this mean for us, individually and collectively?

In exploring these and other questions, this module will shed light on how the enduring fascination with history came to play a central role in German intellectual life, popular culture and politics.

• Show a detailed and nuanced understanding of central aspects of German intellectual history in the 19^th and 20^th century.
• Critically evaluate the development of German historical thought and assess its implications for contemporary German affairs.
• Demonstrate a critical awareness of the plurality of perspectives on the history of German historical thought, including the advantages and shortcomings of different approaches.
• Engage competently and critically in argument and discussion with regard to major historiographical debates which have dominated German intellectual history over the past thirty years.
• Use appropriate registers when communicating knowledge and understanding of the course material.

The module is taught by means of lectures and seminars as appropriate and by feedback. Students are expected to prepare one seminar presentation and to contribute actively to discussions. Please bear in mind that learning is an active process, requiring not only the acquisition of knowledge but also the exchange of ideas, opinions and arguments with others. It is therefore essential that you do all the reading for the seminars: the essential preparatory reading will be provided on Learning Central. To facilitate your preparations, lectures will be complemented by relevant film screenings.

You will receive continuous feedback throughout the semester. There will be a revision session in the final week of the semester. Guidance on how to write a quality essay will be given throughout the semester. Please make use of my weekly office hours – they are reserved for you.

1. Personal transferable skills

• Communicate ideas effectively and fluently, both orally and in writing.
• Use communications and information technologies for the retrieval and presentation of information.
• Work independently, demonstrating initiative, self-organisation and time-management.
• Collaborate with others and contribute to the achievement of common goals.

2. Generic intellectual skills

• Gather, organize and deploy evidence, data and information from a variety of sources.
• Develop a reasoned argument, synthesize relevant information and exercise critical judgement.
• Reflect on their own learning and make use of constructive feedback.
• Manage their own learning self-critically.

The generic skills will be manifest in variety of activities including literature searches on the internet as well as in the library, compilation of bibliographies for essays, and the presentation of written work.

Presentation (formative): Oral seminar presentation

Essay Outline (formative): Extended coursework essay outline with literature review (approx. 1,000 words)

Coursework Essay (summative) 2,500-word Essay - 100%

THE OPPORTUNITY FOR REASSESSMENT IN THIS MODULE:

Students failing this module will be able to resit an essay during the resit period, to achieve a maximum of 40%.

Topics of Lectures and Seminars:

• Introduction: the German idea of history
• What does it mean to think “historically”? The rise of modern historical thought in Germany
• The national tradition of historical thought (I): 1800-1871
• Leopold von Ranke: Ich will nur zeigen, wie es eigentlich gewesen…
• Karl Marx: a materialist conception of history
• The national tradition of historical thought (II): 1871-1945
• What is identity? Historical consciousness and the formation of national identity
• Sigmund Freud: Sex, the Unconscious, and the sordid underbelly of human civilisation
• Warum ich so gute Bücher schreibe? Friedrich Nietzsche and the Will to Power
• What is Historismus? Max Weber in context
• Rassenkampf instead of Klassenkampf? The Nazi idea of history
• Walter Benjamin's Engel der Geschichte and the Frankfurt School
• The national tradition of historical thought (III): 1945-1989
• Vergangenheit, die nie vergeht? Confronting or denying the Holocaust
• But where did Nazism come from? The Sonderweg-theory and its critics
• The national tradition of historical thought (IV): 1989 to the present
• ‘Good bye Lenin’? East Germany and the doppelte Vergangenheitsbewältigung
• 'Hitler's Willing Executioners': the Goldhagen-debate 1996-7 and its historical implications
• The meaning of ‘1989’: contemporary trends
• The German idea of history (revision)

The following four books cover very well the core aspects of the module. Specific further literature for the seminars and coursework essays, with guiding questions and detailed instructions, will be provided on Learning Central.

1) Stefan Berger, Heiko Feldner, Kevin Passmore, eds. (2018), Writing History: Theory and Practice, 3^rd edition, London: Bloomsbury, pp. 370. [D13.W7] 14 hard copies available in the library. Offers accessible overviews of key topics dealt with in this module. Ideal background reading for the lectures, seminars and coursework essays.

2) Stefan Berger (2013), The Search for Normality: National Identity and Historical Consciousness in Germany since 1800, 2^nd edition, Oxford: Berghahn, pp. 307. [DD117.B3] 11 hard copies available in the library. The best single-volume overview of our topic. This is a must-read for this module.

3) Andrew Bowie (2010), German Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 137. [Available as e-book with unlimited multiple user access from the library.] Provides a lucid introduction to some of the more complex issues explored in this module and accompanies very well Berger’s The Search for Normality.

4) Georg G. Iggers (1983), The German Conception of History: The National Tradition of Historical Thought from Herder to the Present, 2^nd revised edition, Hanover/NH: Wesleyan University Press, pp. 388. [DD86.I4]. Extremely illuminating classical account of the topic.

Topic specific readings and viewings for the seminars and coursework essays, with guiding questions and detailed instructions, will be provided on Learning Central.