Course Requirements: Students are required to come to class prepared and to participate actively in the classroom discussion. As preparation for class, students will read novels and articles and/or view films and TV shows; please note that many of the screenings will be outside of class time. In addition, students will complete weekly writing assignments, including class blogs, responses to blogs, and several shorter essays that will prepare for a final paper. Students will also work in groups to design a course website and to complete a RefWorks bibliography. Please note that this is a residential first-year course. It is designed for non-majors and requires no prior knowledge of vampirism or German.

The first part of the course will focus on films from the historical period of the Third Reich. We will examine how the Nazis represent themselves in documentaries like Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will or Fritz Hippler’s The Eternal Jew, as well as feature films like Hitler Youth Quex. We will then turn to U.S. counter-propaganda in dramas like Tomorrow the World, Hitler’s Children, in comedies like Chaplin’s Great Dictator or Lubitsch’s To Be Or Not To be and in Disney cartoons. The second part of the course will explore postwar representations; likely examples will include Billy Wilder’s A Foreign Affair, Lina Wertmueller’s Seven Beauties, Mel Brooks’s The Producers, Oliver Hirschbiegel’s Downfall, Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, and Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon (which, some argue, deals with Nazis by not dealing with them). Student obligations: a series of short papers and one longer research paper; at least one oral presentation, two exams and a journal responding to class readings. Hopefully the Twin Cities will offer some cultural events relevant to our theme that we can visit as a class.

N.B.: The course is taught in English and films are subtitled; no German language skills required. However, the course has much to offer students with an interest and background in German.

The 68ers and the issues of that era have shaped much of the social policy, political activism and cultural expression of Germany today: Many ongoing efforts for gender equality and gay and lesbian rights have their roots in this era. The Green Party is an outcome of 60s environmentalism and anti-nuclear activism. Various social contracts ranging from workers rights to public health care have been shaped by conscensuses formed several decades ago. Even the coming to grips with the Nazi past (Vergangenheitsbewaeltigung) has, in the wake of the 60s critique of the national silence, become an essential component of school curricula, national memorialization, and journalistic watchfulness. The student movement of the 60s did not resolve every conflict in West Germany, but it provoked the uncomfortable questions and framed many of the debates that make Germany what it is today.

This seminar will examine the issues, ideologies, and cultural representations of this era. In addition to historical and theoretical texts, we will read novels and short fiction such as Timm's Der Freund und der Fremde and Boells Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum, watch films such as Verhoeven's Das schreckliche Maedchen and Edel's Der Baader-Meinhof-Komplex, and examine visual art and other artifacts. Participants will develop a significant research paper on a topic related to this era or to the issues of these movements, and present regularly on the progress of their work. The course will also include library research assistance, a field trip, and guest speakers.