This module introduces you to major issues and developments in modern and contemporary German History and Culture. It provides the foundations for all further studies in German history, literature, society and culture in year two, the intercalary year abroad, and the final year. The module is structured in two parts.

PART ONE: Contemporary Germany History in Context (Heiko Feldner, autumn semester):

A quarter-century on, the fall of the Berlin Wall is still one of the most written about events in modern German and European history. This is not surprising as “1989” was arguably as great a revolution in world affairs as the French Revolution in 1789. However, while the sequence of events is well documented, the historical meaning of 1989 and the subsequent unification of Germany remain the subject of intense controversy. Why was there a wall in the middle of Berlin? How did it come to symbolise the division of Germany and indeed of Europe for 28 years? What was life like in the two Germanys of the Cold War? How did the re-unification of the country in 1990 affect its neighbours and Europe as a whole? Has the country ever come to terms with its Nazi past and the Holocaust? What are the problems and prospects facing the Federal Republic of Germany today? In Part One of this module, we will explore these and other questions against the turbulent background of twentieth-century German, European and global history. 

PART TWO: German Culture and Texts (Gerrit-Jan Berendse, spring semester)

The second part of this module is designed to introduce key aspects of modern and contemporary German culture through a selection of poems and pop songs. The selected texts will be discussed and analysed in their relevant historical, social and cultural contexts. During the course of the semester, students will have to write four commentaries. The module will be taught both in German and in English

Part One aims to:

• Provide an introduction to the history of contemporary Germany against the turbulent background of twentieth-century German, European and global history;
• Facilitate an understanding of the significance of diverse historical experiences and identities in Germany, such as nation, class, gender, generation and region;
• Raise awareness about the plurality of historical perspectives on contemporary German history by examining the validity as well as the shortcomings of different approaches and theories.
• Provide key skills and insights required to write knowledgeable and effective academic essays in German history and area studies

Part Two aims to:

• Provide an introduction to the history of German literature from 1945 till 1990;
• Apply techniques for analysing German texts in their historical contexts;
• Raise awareness about the different artistic forms of German texts and the plurality of contemporary historical contexts;
• Provide key skills and techniques required to write insightful and effective academic commentaries of fictional texts.

On completion of the module a student will be able to:

• Demonstrate a knowledge of various aspects of German social, political, economic and cultural history since 1945;
• Comment on major historiographical and literary debates which have dominated the study of German history and culture over the past thirty years;
• Discuss critically the historical causes and complex nature of both the division of Germany and its sudden reunification;
• Use appropriate registers when communicating knowledge and understanding of the course material;
• Analyse a story, its ideas and narrative effects;
• Relate texts to one another and their literary context;
• Deliver commentary on a poem or extract, its themes and linguistic effects;
• Show familiarity with different phases and trends in the history of German culture;
• Apply basic concepts of textual analysis; and
• Present arguments logically, drawing on secondary reading.

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, some lectures will be complemented by relevant film screenings. You will have the opportunity to receive continuous feedback throughout the semester.  Please make use of our weekly office hours – they are reserved for you!

PART ONE:

The first part of this module is taught by means of weekly lectures accompanied by fortnightly seminars and regular feedback. Students are expected to write one essay of approx. 1,500 words (excluding bibliography) and to contribute actively to seminar discussions. There will be a revision component in the final lecture and guidance on how to draft a quality essay will be given throughout the semester. While both lectures and seminars will be held in English, the active use of German will become a prominent feature of our seminar discussions as the semester progresses.

PART TWO:

The second part is taught by means of one weekly lecture/seminar, a commentary workshop, and by regular feedback. Every second week students will have to start writing their commentaries as a conclusion of the topic covered in the past two weeks as formative assessments. Students will sit a two-hour written exam during the Spring exam period. There will be a revision component in the final lecture and guidance on how to prepare for the exam will be given throughout the semester. Past exam papers are available for consultation on the university website. To further increase language competence in general, and familiarity with relevant terminology in particular, the part two of the module will be taught both in German and in English.

On completion of this module a typical student will be able to:

Personal transferable skills:

• Communicate ideas effectively and fluently, both orally and in writing as appropriate.
• 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.
• Close reading.
• Critical thought.
• Basic research skills.
• Organisational skills.
• Study skills.
• Writing skills.

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 his or her own learning and make use of constructive feedback.
• Manage his or her own learning self-critically.

The generic skills will be manifest in the following activities: literature searches on the internet (library), compilation of bibliographies for essays, and presentation of written work.

Essay (1,500 words) - 50% - Autumn semester

Exam - 2 hours - 50% - Spring exam period

In the event of failure of the module, students will be permitted to resit the failed component or components during the summer resit period, for a maximum of 40%

PART ONE:

Lectures

• Introduction: 20th century German history in context
• Flashback: Volksgemeinschaft (peoples community), Rassenpolitik (race policy), Völkermord (genocide)
• The twisted road to division: 1945-1949
• Two states one nation? 1949-1989 (I)
• Reading Week
• History of everyday life: 1949-1989 (II)
• The fall of the Wall and the rush to unity
• The meaning of 1989
• From unification to recession: Germany since 1990
• Forever in the shadow of Hitler?
• Revision lecture

Seminars

• Unified but not united? Approaching contemporary German history
• The GDR: “worker's and farmer's state” or “second German dictatorship”?
• “1968”: the second foundation of the Federal Republic?
• German history since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989
• Facing the Nazi Past

PART TWO:

• Introduction
• 1945-1950 - Günter Eich, ‘Inventur’
• New beginning and Group 47 | commentary workshop
• 1965-1970 - Erich Fried, ‘Einbürgerung’
• Reading Week
• Politics and literature in the Sixties | commentary workshop
• 1970-1980 - Ton Steine Scherben, ‚Macht kaputt was euch kaputt macht‘
• Cultural memory of left-wing terrorism | commentary workshop
• 1980-1990 – Adolf Endler, ‚Die Stunde des Korrektors‘
• Literature in East Germany | commentary workshop
• Revision

PART ONE:

Recommended text books:

• Neil MacGregor, Germany: Memories of a Nation (London: Penguin, 2016). [E-book with multiple user access.]
• Mary Fulbrook, A History of Germany 1918-2014: The Divided Nation, 4th edition (Oxford and Malden/MA: Wiley-Blackwell 2014). [DD232.F8]
• Mark Allinson, Germany and Austria 1814-2000: Modern History for Modern Languages (London: Arnold, 2009). [DD203.A5]

Topic-specific seminar readings with guiding questions will be provided on Learning Central.

PART TWO:

Recommended text books:

• Helen Watanabe-O’Kelly (ed.),The Cambridge History of German Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000). [PT91.C20]
• Michael Minden, Modern German Literature (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2011). [PT111.M4]

PART ONE:

Recommended further reading:

• Helmut Walser Smith (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Modern German History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015).
• Ben Gook, Divided Subjects, Invisible Borders: Reunified Germany After 1989 (London and New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015).
• Konrad H. Jarausch, Out of Ashes: A New History of Europe in the Twentieth Century (Princeton: Princeton University Press 2015).
• Vladimiro Giacché, Anschluss: Die Deutsche Vereinigung und die Zukunft Europas (Hamburg: Laika Verlag, 2014).
• Konrad H. Jarausch (ed.), United Germany: Debating Processes and Prospects (New York: Berghan, 2013).
• William Hagen, German History in Modern Times: Four Lives of the Nation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012). [DD175.H2]
• Martin Kitchen, A History of Modern Germany (Oxford and Malden/MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012). [E-book with multiple user access.]
• Anne Fuchs, Kathleen James-Chakraborty, and Linda Shortt (eds.), Debating German Cultural Identity since 1989 (Rochester/NY:Camden House, 2011 [DD290.26.D3]
• Katharina Gerstenberger and Jana Evans Braziel (eds.), After the Berlin Wall: Germany and Beyond (New York: Palgrave 2011). [E-book]
• Simon Green, Dan Hough and Alister Miskimmon, The Politics of the New Germany (London and New York: Routledge, 2008). [JN3971.A58.P6]
• Mary Fulbrook, The People's State: East German Society from Hitler to Honecker (Yale University Press, 2008).
• Mike Dennis and Eva Kolinsky (eds.), United and Divided: Germany Since 1990 (Oxford and New York: Berghahn, 2006). [DD290.25.U6]
• Bill Niven, Germans as Victims: Remembering the Past in Contemporary Germany (New York: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2006). [DD256.48.G3]
• Pol O’Dochartaigh, Germany since 1945 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004). [DD259.O3]
• Bill Niven, Facing the Nazi Past: United Germany and the Legacy of the Third Reich (London and New York: Routledge, 2002). [DD256.48.N4]
• Jürgen Thomaneck and Bill Niven, Dividing and Uniting Germany (London and New York: Routledge, 2002). [DD290.25.T4]
• Patrick Major and Jonathan Osmond (eds.), The Workers' and Peasants' State (Manchester: Manchester University Press 2002). [DD282.W6]
• Mary Fulbrook, German National Identity after the Holocaust (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1999). [DD117.F8]
• Jeffrey Herf, Divided Memory: The Nazi Past in the Two Germanys (Cambridge/Mass. and London: Harvard University Press, 1997). [D 810.J4.H3]

Recommended films:

• German Sisters (1981)
• Good-Bye Lenin (2003)
• The Lives of Others (2006)
• The Reader (2008)
• Barbara (2013)
• Lore (2013)
• Deutschland 1983 (2015)

PART TWO:

Recommendations for further reading and topic-specific seminar readings will be provided on Learning Central.