Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

An examination of major debates concerning the history of late-nineteenth and twentieth century Germany. Themes may include the nature of German modernity, interpretations of the Third Reich, or German memory after the Second World War. Content may vary from offering to offering; see course outline for further information. HIST 401 may be repeated for credit only when a different topic is taught.

COURSE DETAILS:

The Rise and Fall of Democracy: The Weimar Eta, 1918-1933

The resurgence of far-right politics and xenophobia cloaked as patriotism have produced numerous comparisons over the last several years between contemporary politicians and the emergence of fascism in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s. This period in German history has long been defined by what came before it (ignominious wartime defeat and revolution) and what eventually destroyed it: the rise of Nazism. Such an interpretation emphasizes the widespread resentment and political apathy of the German population and suggests a certain inevitability, a falling towards Hitler that became, at some point, irreversible. This course interrogates this interpretation and explores the Weimar Republic on its own terms, beginning with the two revolutions of November 1918 and ending with the official death knell of the republic, the passage of the Enabling Act in March 1933, entrenching Hitler’s dictatorship. Over thirteen weeks, we will examine the construction of parliamentary democracy in war’s aftermath and attempts to undermine and overthrow it; economic upheaval and hyperinflation; social issues, including shifts in class consciousness, the rise of the “new woman,” immigrants and outsiders, and new attention to issues of sex and sexuality; cultural explosions in the realm of cinema, art, and literature; and the ever-present tension between the growth of a liberal-capitalist system, the German socialist movement, and the threat of communism, which ultimately increased the appeal of far-right politics and ultra-nationalism.

Grading

Materials

MATERIALS + SUPPLIES:

The Weimar Republic Sourcebook, edited by Anton Kaes, Martin Jay, and Edward Dimendberg (1995)

Frank McDonough, The Weimar Years: Rise and Fall 1918-1933 (2025)

Peter Gay, Weimar Culture: The Insider as Outsider (2002)

Mel Gordon, Voluptuous Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin (2006) – available free via the library catalogue

Plus ONE of the following (any edition):

Irmgard Keun, The Artificial Silk Girl

· Vicki Baum, Grand Hotel

· Ernst Jünger, Storm of Steel

· Hans Fallada, Wolf Among Wolves

· Christopher Isherwood, Goodbye to Berlin

· Hans Keilson, Life Goes on

REQUIRED READING NOTES: