GERM 202(S) Borders and Border Crossings: East and West Germany During the Cold War

Nowhere was the global phenomenon of the Cold War more evident than in post-World War II Germany. Its shifting borders represented the changing dynamics of global politics, of course, but they also mediated the rich and complex lived experience of a changing German population. In the course will ‘travel’ across Germany by taking the role of tourists, cultural historians, journalists, readers, and spectators to explore the politics of changing national borders, racial identifications, and gender boundaries. Who is allowed to enter a country? Who is allowed to leave? Who is defining and who is transgressing borders? What were the consequences of such transgressions? After looking briefly at Nazi Germany and the politics of war, oppression, and national expansion, the course concentrates on three main decades: the postwar era, occupation, and the 1950s; the protest movements of the 1960s and 1970s; and the end of the Cold War. We will investigate texts, films and film clips, as well as a variety of news articles, documentaries, and interviews that define, redefine, and question the power of divisions in national space, public space, and private space. The course will employ written, video, audio and cyber-materials to explore postwar German histories and the politics of the Cold War and to continue the development of advanced reading, writing, and speaking skills begun in German 201. Conducted in German. Requirements: active class participation, one oral Referat, several 1-2 page writing assignments, final project. Prerequisite: German 201 or the equivalent. Expected enrollment: 8.

Hour: STEHLE