Module description
After its total defeat in World War II, a divided Germany developed differing forms of socio-political organisations in an attempt to find a sustainable response to the challenges posed by modern industrial society. While the East experimented with state socialism, the West implemented a liberal democracy. Yet despite their political division, the two German states remained deeply interconnected through economic linkages, a shared cultural heritage, and similar ambitions to redefine their nationhood and global position. This seminar explores their special relationship against the backdrop of the global Cold War. Topics include political consolidation, East and West European integration, consumption and identity, the role of the Churches, social movements and dissent, immigration, holocaust memory and foreign policy, and reunification. It engages critically with the attempts of both German states to deal with their problematic history, and the way history was used to legitimise the different regimes. In addition, the course discusses the extent to which economic success formed the bedrock of political viability in both German states. Over the course of the semester, students will discuss primary sources and secondary historical accounts that trace Germany’s evolution from a pawn in Soviet-American relations to a major player of European political and economic integration at the end of the Cold War.
By studying Germany’s increasing regional involvement in questions of European peace and socio-economic development, this class provides an alternative perspective to scholarly debates about the stability of the postwar order in Europe. We especially examine perspectives that measure political stability with the help of concepts of socio-cultural modernization and dependencies.
*Please note that module information is indicative and may change from year to year.
Assessment details
Group Project (15%) and one 2,500 Word Essay (85%)
Teaching pattern
One-hour lecture and one-hour seminar, weekly
Suggested reading list
- Kettenacker, Lothar, Germany since 1945 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997)
- Jarausch, Konrad, After Hitler: Recivilizing Germans, 1945-1995 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006)
- Nicholls, Anthony J. The Bonn Republic: West German Democracy, 1945-90. London: Longmans, 1997.
- Fulbrook, Mary. Anatomy of a Dictatorship: Inside the GDR 1949-1989. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.
- Schissler, Hanna (ed.), The Miracle Years: A Cultural History of West Germany 1945 – 1968 (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2001)
- Ross, C., The East German Dictatorship: Problems and Perspectives in the Interpretation of the GDR (London, Arnold, 2002)
- Banchoff, Thomas, The German Problem Transformed (Michigan University Press, Ann Arbour, 1999)