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2016/17 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

GERM3250 Perpetrators and/or Victims? Remembering the Second World War in Germany

20 creditsClass Size: 21

Module manager: Dr Stephan Petzold
Email: s.petzold@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2016/17

Pre-requisite qualifications

Successful completion of Level 2 German

Pre-requisites

GERM2030	German Core Language 2
GERM2031	German Core Language 2

This module is mutually exclusive with

GERM2100

Victims and/or Perpetrators? Remembering the Second World Wa

This module is not approved as a discovery module

Module summary

One of the fiercest intellectual controversies in post-1945 Germany was provoked by a newspaper article titled 'Vergangenheit, die nicht vergehen will'. In this article, the historian Ernst Nolte lamented that West German identities had been marked by a preoccupation with guilt for Nazi crimes. Nolte's call for a different conception and a different historical foundation for Germany's self-understanding resulted in the Historikerstreit of the 1980s. It represents one of many examples, before and after Nolte's intervention, which show that the past has not passed.This module examines the different ways in which the legacy and memory of the Second World War have shaped Germany since 1945. It investigates how three different German societies have tried to confront (and played down) the Nazi past, how they have remembered (and forgotten) the Second World War. The changing dynamics of collective memory of the war will be analysed by looking at a variety of expressions and practices, ranging from intellectual debates and political interventions to high and popular culture. Particular emphasis will be placed on the wider significance of war remembrance for political and cultural developments in German society in order to understand why the Second World War continues to play such a crucial role in German culture.This module is taught and assessed in German.

Objectives

The aims of this module are:
- to examine German remembrance of the Second World War and the Holocaust since 1945
- to understand how meanings of terms such as 'perpetrator', 'victim' and 'bystander' shifted and explain their wider historical relevance
- to explore the links between memory and national identity to explain the controversial nature of German war memory
- to analyse a variety of different practices and sites of memory, including film, trial reports, speeches, newspaper articles, photographs, novels, opinion polls
- to use war memory as an analytical tool for understanding developments in post-1945 German history more generally

Learning outcomes
On completion of the module, students should have developed:
- detailed knowledge of key developments and debates in German collective memory of World War II
- the ability to assess the wider political and cultural significance of war memory for West Germany, East Germany and unified Germany
- a critical understanding of the relationship between German war memories and the construction of German national identities
- the skills to analyse primary material and engage with scholarly research
- the ability to communicate complex ideas in spoken and written German

Skills outcomes
- A profound awareness of the ways in which the present is shaped by memory and how the future is imagined through the past
- a deeper understanding of German culture and identities
- ability to communicate complex ideas in spoken and written German
- ability to analyse a variety of primary material in German
- an enhanced ability to critically engage with scholarly literature

Syllabus

The first semester examines key events and processes in German collective memory between 1945 and 1990, while the second semester focuses more closely on developments and controversies in unified Germany.

Topics in the first semester may include:
- the impact of the Nuremberg trials
- German debates over collective guilt
- Representations of German suffering and victimhood
- Critical confrontation with the Nazi past in the 1960s
- the emergence of Holocaust memory

Topics in the second semester are likely to include:
- German reactions to Schindler’s List
- Debates over German perpetrators
- political rhetoric in debates over German military intervention
- debates surrounding the Berlin Holocaust Memorial
- the resurgence of German victimhood
- Generation War TV series

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Seminar	20	1.50	30.00
Private study hours			170.00
Total Contact hours			30.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			200.00

Private study

- reading and reflection in preparation for seminars
- researching, preparing and writing assessed written work
- preparation of one seminar discussion (in a group of two)
- self-directed reading around the topic

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

- Participation in seminar discussions
- Completion of smaller written assignments
- Discussion of plans for student-led discussion
- Submission of essay plans

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	2,500 words	50.00
Assignment	Literature Review 1,500 words	30.00
Assignment	Student led discussion and reflective report of 1,000 words	20.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 01/04/2015

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