HISTORY 364-01

MODERN GERMANY: BISMARCK TO THE PRESENT

Prof. Weisensel

307 Old Main Office Hours: 2:10-3:30 MWF,

and by appointment

tel. x6570

SYLLABUS

This course will present a survey of the history and the interpretations of modern Germany from the time of the unification of the German states in 1871 to the reunification in October, 1990. The course starts with the German unification in the 19th century, but we will emphasize political and social history of the 20th century. The course has a motor, or “problematic,” which sets its direction: We will seek an answer to the question, Did the events of German history, Bismarck’s “blood and iron” politics, Kaiser Wilhelm II’s confrontational foreign policy before WWI, Hitler, the rise of the Nazis, World War II, and the Holocaust all occur because the Germans are uniquely aggressive and racist? Or, conversely, is Germany essentially like other European countries, differing only in the “unfortunate accidents” (e.g., defeat in WWI, or, the extraordinary depth of the the Great Depression in Germany) she lived through? Hitler, the Nazis and the Holocaust then occur for accidental reasons? Do events since 1945 support one or the other interpretation?

Each student will write three interpretive essays (5-7 pp. each), which I will assign about once every month, and two exams, a mid-term and a final. The data for the three essays will come from the course's reading assignments, lectures and discussions. No additional research need be done for them.

The final grade will be computed as follows: 3 interpretive essays= 50%; mid-term and final exams (together)= 40%; class participation= 10%. Class attendance is mandatory. If you miss more than two or three classes without a reasonable excuse I will be forced to lower your final grade.

Readings (Available at Ruminator Books, or, on reserve at the Macalester Library):

Volker Berghahn, Imperial Germany. 1871-1914. Economy, Society, Culture and Politics.

Roger Chickering, Germany and the Great War, 1914-1918.

Renate Bridenthal, Atina Grossmann and Marion Kaplan, eds., When Biology Became Destiny. Women in Weimar and Nazi Germany.

Ian Kershaw, The Hitler Myth.

Mary Fulbrook/P. Williams, Anatomy of a Dictatorship. Inside the GDR 1949-1989.

Raul Hilberg, Perpetrators, Victims, Bystanders.

Christopher Browning, Ordinary Men.

Konrad Jarausch, The Rush to German Unity.

Articles or chapters from other books in the History 64-01 “Course Folder” (indicated as CF in the syllabus. You will be given computer access to this folder on the College’s website when you enroll for the course).

Week 1. Sept. 4-6.

Introduction. Unification and Its Limits. What forces/considerations were omitted when the legal structure of the German empire was built?

Readings:

Sept. 4. Introduction. No readings.

Sept. 6. a. Berghahn, Imperial Germany, Ch. 13;

b. Friedrich Meinecke, “A Synthesis of Power and Culture,” in Hamerow, ed., Otto von Bismarck (1966) (CF)

Week 2. Sept. 9-13.

Politics and Society in the German Empire. Role of Bismarck in creating the Imperial System.

Readings:

Sept. 9 a. Berghahn, Imperial Germany, Ch. 14;

b. Schnabel, “Old Means and Old Purposes,” in Hamerow, ed., Otto von Bismarck (1966) (CF).

Sept. 11 a. Gooch, “Bismarck’s Legacy,” in Foreign Affairs XXX (1952) (CF).

Sept. 13. Berghahn, Imperial Germany, Ch. 6.

Week 3. Sept. 16-20.

The Political-Social System of the German Empire under Wilhelm II (continued). Minorities in the Empire. Alternative centers of non-military, non-authoritarian power. Culture and Empire.

Readings:

Sept. 16. a. McClelland, “Republics within the Empire,” in Dukes and Remak, eds., Another Germany (1988) (CF);

b. Berghahn, Imperial Germany, Ch. 7.

Sept. 18. a. Langewiesche, “German Liberalism in the Second Empire,” in Jarausch and Jones, eds., In Search of a Liberal Germany (1990) (CF).

Sept. 20. a. Berghahn, “Majorities and Minorities,” in Berghahn, Imperial Germany, Chs. 8-9;

b. Pulzer, “Jews and the State, 1893-1914,” in Pulzer, The Jews and the State (1992) (CF).

Week 4. Sept. 23-27

Culture of the Empire. German militarism and the outbreak of WWI. The role of Wilhelm II, and the role of "the System" in the outbreak of WWI: The Innenpolitik (domestic political origin) explanation vs. the Aussenpolitik (foreign policy origin) explanation.

Readings:

Sept. 23. a. Berghahn, Imperial Germany, Chs. 10-12.

Sept. 25. a. Showalter, “Army State and Society in Germany, 1871-1914,” in Dukes and Remak, eds., Another Germany (1988) (CF);

b. Berghahn, Imperial Germany, Ch. 17.

Sept. 27. a. Blackbourn, “Peasants and Populists in Germany, 1871-1914,” in Blackbourn, Populists and Patricians (1987) (CF);

b. Berghahn, Imperial Germany, Ch. 18.

Week 5. Sept. 30-Oct. 4.

The “Great War,” 1914-1918. The German Revolution of 1918-19 and the birth of the Weimar Republic. How did the German past have a role in the formation of the political culture of the Weimar Republic?

Readings:

Sept. 30. a. Chickering, Imperial Germany and the Great War, 1914-1918, Chs. 1-2.

SEPT. 30. FIRST TAKE-HOME ESSAY EXAM DUE IN CLASS.

Oct. 2. Chickering, Chs. 3-4.

Oct. 4. a. Chickering, Chs. 5-6, epilogue. Bridenthal, Grossmann and Kaplan, eds., When Biology Became Destiny, Introduction.

Week 6. Oct. 7-11.

The Weimar Republic and the absence of republicans. Failures and achievements: Intellectuals; and Women in Weimar Germany.

Readings:

Oct. 7. a. When Biology Became Destiny. Bridenthal, Grossmann and Kaplan, eds. Essay by Bridenthal and Koonz, “Beyond Kinder, Küche and Kirche”.

Oct. 9. a. When Biology Became Destiny:

1. Meyer-Renschhausen, "The Bremen Morality Scandal";

2. Grossmann, "Abortion and Economic Crisis: The 1931 Campaign Against Paragraph 218";

Oct. 11: a. Phelan, “Weimar Culture: The Birth of Modernism,” in Burns, ed., German Cultural Studies, 53-96 (CF)

Week 7. Oct. 14-18.

Democratic Culture and Its Enemies. Origins of Nazism. Volkish Thought. Interpretations of the Nazis.

Readings:

Oct. 14. a. When Biology Became Destiny, Kaplan, "Sisterhood under Siege;"

b. Kershaw, The Hitler Myth, Introduction, Ch. 1.

Oct. 16. Mid-Term Exam.

Oct. 18. Kershaw, The Hitler Myth, Ch. 2

Week 8. Oct. 21-23.

The Nazis and German tradition. The structure of the Nazi state. Nazis and women. Nazis as revolutionaries. Nazis as capitalists. Nazis as socialists.

Readings:

Oct. 21. Hilberg, Perpetrators, Victims, Bystanders, Chs. 1-4.

Oct. 23. Hilberg, Chs. 5-8.

Oct. 24-27. Fall Break

Week 9. Oct. 28-Nov. 1

Nazis and German Society, the Churches and German Culture.

Readings:

Oct. 28. Kershaw, Ch. 3.

Oct. 30. When Biology Became Destiny,

1. Bock, "Racism and Sexism in Nazi Germany";

2. Koonz, "Competition for Women's Lebensraum, 1928-34."

Nov. 1. von Saldern, "Victims or Perpetrators? Controversies about the Role of Women in the Nazi State," in Crew, ed., Nazism and German Society, pp. 141-165 (CF).

Week 10. Nov. 4-8.

Nazis and Society (continued). The Approach of War.

Readings:

Nov. 4. a. Kershaw, Popular Opinion and Political Dissent in the Third Reich, (a summary by PW) (CF);

b. Kershaw, The Hitler Myth, Ch. 4.

Nov. 6. van der Will, “Culture and the Organization of National Socialist Ideology, 1933 to 1945,” in Burns, ed., German Cultural Studies, 101-143 (CF);

Nov. 8. Kershaw, The Hitler Myth, Ch. 5.

Nov. 8. Second Take-Home Essay Due in Class.

Week 11. Nov. 11-15.

Hitler and the Origins of WWII (continued). German Society and WWII.

Readings:

Nov. 11. Kershaw, The Hitler Myth, Ch. 6.

Nov. 13. Kershaw, Ch. 7.

Nov. 15. Kershaw, Ch. 8.

Week 12. Nov. 18-22.

Germans and the Holocaust.

Readings:

Nov. 18. Hilberg, Chs. 9-13;

Nov. 20. a. Browning, Ordinary Men, Chs. 1-5;

b. Hilberg, Chs. 14-17.

Nov. 22. a. Browning, Ordinary Men, Chs. 6-10;

b. Hilberg, Ch. 18-20.

Week 13. Nov. 25-27.

Germans, the War and the Holocaust (continued).

Readings:

Nov. 25. a.Browning, Ordinary Men, Chs. 11-15;

b. Hilberg, Chs. 21-24.

Nov. 27. Browning, Ordinary Men, Chs. 16-18.

Nov. 28-Dec. 1. Thanksgiving Break.

Week 14. Dec. 2-6.

The Occupation Regime, East and West. The Cold War in Shaping the FRG and the GDR.

Readings:

Dec. 2. a. Fulbrook, Anatomy of a Dictatorship, Chs. 1-2.

Dec. 4. a. Fulbrook, Anatomy of a Dictatorship, Chs. 3-4;

b. Jarausch, Rush to German Unity, Introduction, Ch. 1.

Dec. 6. a. Fulbrook, Anatomy of a Dictatorship, Ch. 5-6;

b. Jarausch, The Rush to German Unity, Ch. 2.

Week 15. Dec. 9-13.

Comparison of the GDR and the FRG. In What Ways Do East and West Germans Converge and Diverge? Does the German Past Play a Lingering Role in Present Political Culture?

Readings:

Dec. 9. a. Jarausch, Rush to German Unity, Chs. 3-6.

Dec. 11. a. Jarausch, Rush to German Unity, Chs. 7-9.

Dec. 13. a. Jarausch, Rush to German Unity, conclusion. Course conclusion.

Dec. 13. Third Take-Home Essay Due in Class.

Final Exam during Finals Week. Exact time TBA.