Department of German and Dutch

Modern & Medieval Languages

Department of German and Dutch

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Paper Ge 12

History and identity in Germany, 1750 to the present

MML Part II

From the mid-eighteenth century to the present the question of national and cultural identity has engaged many of the greatest German writers and thinkers. Their reflections have been stimulated by the disrupted history of the German lands: from the Holy Roman Empire, destroyed by the Napoleonic Wars, to the second Reich, destroyed by World War I, to the Third Reich, destroyed by World War II and then divided by the 'Iron Curtain' until 1989-90. The legacy of this troubled past has attracted fresh interest since the reunification of Germany in 1990. The 2005 commemoration of 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, the 2007 celebration of the 50th anniversary of the treaty of Rome, and the 2009-10 celebrations of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany were marked by important statements on German identity by major political figures such as the Chancellor and the German President and by a mass of media commentary. Every stage in the disrupted history of the Germans has prompted new debate about their identity and about the implications of the German past for the present and future development of Germany.

All students study a selection of texts from either Section A or Section B. You then select three other Sections (including either A or B) for further study. Two supervisions are devoted to each Section selected; the final two supervisions are devoted to revision. In the exam you answer three questions, at least one of which must be taken from Section A or Section B. A specimen question paper can be seen here.

Sections A and B focus on ideas about the meaning of history and on theories of culture and society. These are studied in selections from major writers such as Herder, Kant, Hegel, Marx and Engels, Nietzsche and Spengler. Section C concentrates on the history of German philhellenism and the significance of Greek antiquity for debates about national identity between 1750 and 1940. Section D explores the growing interest in the German past after about 1770, in particular the role of 'Hermann the German', the Middle Ages, and the Reformation as sites of collective memory and national myth-making. Section E examines the changing notions of the Volk from Fichte, Jahn, and Arndt, via völkisch and racial theorists, to Hitler. Section F looks at the debates about German identity in both East and West Germany after 1945 and at their role in the political and cultural life of the Germans since reunification in 1990.

The paper offers the opportunity to study texts and ideas which are of political, social and cultural rather than purely literary significance. We assume no prior knowledge of history, merely an interest in exploring the intellectual debates that have accompanied the cultural and political development of modern Germany.

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Introductory reading:

  • S. Berger, Germany. Inventing the Nation (London, 2004)
  • O. Dann, Nation und Nationalismus in Deutschland, 1770-1990 (Munich, 1993)
  • A Bowie, German Philosophy. A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2010)
  • Alexander Demandt, Philosophie der Geschichte: Von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart (Cologne, 2011), ch. 7-16
  • H de Berg and D Large (eds), Modern German Thought from Kant to Habermas: An Annotated German-Language Reader (Rochester, 2012)

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Reading list

SECTION A: THEORIES OF CULTURE, SOCIETY AND THE MEANING OF HISTORY (I)


Texts

  • Herder: Auch eine Philosophie der Geschichte (Reclam no 4460)
  • Kant: Idee zu einer allgemeinen Geschichte (in: Reclam no 9694)
  • Hegel: Vorlesungen über die Philosophie der GeschIchte (Einleitung) (Reclam no 4881)
  • Engels: Die Entwicklung des Sozialismus von der Utopie zur Wissenschaft (Dietz paperback; many other editions, including collections of Marx-Engels Werke)

Supervisors will advise on secondary reading.

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SECTION B: THEORIES OF CULTURE, SOCIETY AND THE MEANING OF HISTORY (II)


Texts

  • Burckhardt: Weltgeschichtliche Betrachtungen, Kröner Taschenausgaben Nr. 55, pp 1-26, 157-248
  • Nietzsche: Vom Nutzen und Nachteil der Historie für das Leben (Reclam no 7134)
  • Spengler: Der Untergang des Abendlandes (dtv no 838), 'Einleitung', pp. 3-70.
  • Meinecke: Die deutsche Katastrophe, [1946], any edition

Supervisors will advise on secondary reading.

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SECTION C: THE RISE AND FALL OF GERMAN PHILHELLENISM, 1750-1945


1. The Rise of Philhellenism

Primary reading

  • Winckelmann: Gedanken über die Nachahmung der griechischen Werke in der Malerei und Bildhauerkunst (Reclam no 8338)
  • W. v. Humboldt, 'Über den Charakter der Griechen, die idealische und historische Ansicht desselben' [1807], in: W.v. Humboldt, Werke in fünf Bänden, ed. A. Flitner and K. Giel (Darmstadt, 1969), vol. II, pp. 65-72

Secondary reading

  • S. Marchand, Down from Olympus: Archaeology and Philhellenism in Germany, 1750-1970 (Princeton, 1996), ch. 1
  • M. Fuhrmann, 'Die "Querelle des Anciens et des Modernes", der Nationalismus und die deutsche Klassik', in M. Fuhrmann (ed.), Brechungen. Wirkungsgeschichtliche Studien zur antik-europäischen Bildungstradition (Stuttgart, 1982)


2. The Dark Side of Hellas: Nietzsche, Burckhardt and the Revaluation of Greek Antiquity

Primary reading

  • Nietzsche, Die Geburt der Tragödie aus dem Geiste der Musik (Reclam 7131) ch. 1-12
  • Burckhardt, Griechische Kulturgeschichte, 3 vols, ed. R. Marx (Leipzig, 1928), vol. 1, 'Einleitung'

Secondary reading

  • H. Cancik, Nietzsches Antike (Stuttgart, 1995), ch. 3-4
  • M. Silk and J. P. Stern, Nietzsche on Tragedy (Cambridge, 1981), ch. 4-5
  • O. Murray, 'Introduction', in: J. Burckhardt, The Greeks and Greek Civilization, ed. O. Murray (New York, 1998)
  • M. Ruehl, 'Politeia 1871: Nietzsche contra Wagner on the Greek State', in I. Gildenhard and M. Ruehl (eds.), Out of Arcadia: Classics and Politics in Germany in the Age of Nietzsche, Burckhardt and Wilamowitz (London, 2003)


3. Philhellenism and Nazism

Primary reading

  • K. Hildebrandt, 'Einleitung', in: Platon: Der Staat, ed. A. Horneffer and K. Hildebrandt [1933] (Stuttgart, 1943), pp. I- XXXVI
  • H. Berve, Sparta (Leipzig 1936), 'Vorwort' and 'Vorkämpfer der Hellenen' pp. 75-85
  • Göring, 'Stalingrad-Thermopylä: Aus dem Appell des Reichsmarschalls an die Wehrmacht am 30. Januar 1943', in: O.W. v. Vacano (ed.), Sparta: Der Lebenskampf einer nordischen Herrenschicht, 2nd edn (Kempten, 1942), p. 120

Secondary reading

  • V. Losemann, 'NS-Ideologie und die Altertumswissenschaften', in: M. Landfester (ed.), Der Neue Pauly. Enzyklopädie der Antike. Rezeptions- und Wissenschaftsgeschichte, vol. 15/1 (Stuttgart, 2001), pp. 723-54
  • S. Rebenich, 'From Thermopylae to Stalingrad: the myth of Leonidas in German historiography', in A. Powell and S. Hodkinson (eds.), Sparta Beyond the Mirage (London, 2002)
  • R.H. Watt, '"Wanderer, kommst du nach Sparta." History through propaganda into literary commonplace', The Modern Language Review (1985). Online via JSTOR

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SECTION D: MYTH, MEMORY, AND HISTORY - THE INVENTION OF GERMAN TRADITIONS, c.1770-1945


1. The Gothic Revival and Romantic Medievalism

Primary reading

  • Goethe, 'Von deutscher Baukunst' [1772], in Von deutscher Art und Kunst (Reclam no 7497)
  • Wackenroder and Tieck, Herzensergießungen eines kunstliebenden Klosterbruders [1796], (Reclam 7860), pp. 7-24, 50-60, 90-102
  • M. v. Schenkendorf, 'Die Deutschen an ihren Kaiser' [1813]

Secondary reading

  • W.D. Robson-Scott, The Literary Background of the Gothic Revival in Germany (Oxford, 1965), ch.2-3
  • D.E. Barclay, 'Medievalism and nationalism in nineteenth-century Germany', Studies in Medievalism (1993)
  • T. Nipperdey, 'Der Kölner Dom als Nationaldenkmal', in T. Nipperdey, Nachdenken über die deutsche Geschichte (Munich, 1986)


2. 'Hermann the German' and the rise of 'Teutomania' in the 19th Century

Primary reading

  • Kleist, Die Hermannsschlacht (Reclam 348)

Secondary reading

  • R. Kuehnemund, Arminius or the Rise of a National Symbol in Literature (New York, 1966), ch. 6 and Conclusion
  • W. M. Doyé, 'Arminius', in: E. François and H. Schulze (eds.), Deutsche Erinnerungsorte, vol. 3 (Munich, 2001)
  • J. Hermand, 'Vom altständischen Reichsgedanken zum deutschnationalen Befreiungskriegspathos', in J. Hermand and M. Niedermeier (eds.) Revolutio Germanica. Die Sehnsucht nach der 'alten Freiheit' der Germanen. 1750-1820 (Frankfurt/M, 2002)


3. The Nationalist Conscription of Luther and the Reformation

Primary reading

  • Heine, Zur Geschichte der Religion und Philosophie in Deutschland, bk. 1 ('Deutschland bis Luther'). (Reclam 2254)
  • J.B. Müller (ed.), Luther und die Deutschen. Texte zur Geschichte und Wirkung (Reclam 7916), ch. 5 ('Luther als nationale Symbolfigur')

Secondary reading

  • T.A. Brady, The Protestant Reformation in German History (Washington DC, 1998)
  • G. Chaix, 'Die Reformation', in: E. François and H. Schulze (eds.), Deutsche Erinnerungsorte, vol. ii (Munich, 2001)
  • K. Kupisch, 'The "Luther Renaissance"', Journal of Contemporary History (1967). Online via JSTOR

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SECTION E: VÖLKISCH THOUGHT AND RACIAL IDEOLOGIES, c. 1800-1945


1. Fashioning the Volk: Fichte, Jahn, and Arndt

Primary reading

Secondary reading

  • B. Vick, 'The origins of the German Volk: cultural purity and national identity in nineteenth-century Germany', German Studies Review (2003). Online via JSTOR
  • J. Whaley, 'Thinking about Germany, 1750-1815: the birth of a nation?', Publications of the English Goethe Society (1997)
  • H. Schulze, The Course of German Nationalism (London, 1991), ch. 3-6

2. The völkisch movement: Lagarde, Langbehn, Chamberlain

Primary reading

  • P. de Lagarde, Deutsche Schriften [1878], 'Die Religion der Zukunft' and 'Die graue Internationale'
  • J. Langbehn, Rembrandt als Erzieher [1890], ch. 1 'Deutsche Kunst'
  • H.S. Chamberlain, Die Grundlagen des XIX. Jahrhunderts [1899], ch. 9a ('Die Germanen als Schöpfer einer neuen Kultur')

Secondary reading

  • G. Mosse, The Crisis of German Ideology: Intellectual Origins of the Third Reich (New York, 1964), ch. 5-6
  • M. Burleigh and W. Wippermann, The Racial State (Cambridge, 1991), ch. 2
  • U. Puschner, W. Schmitz, J. H. Ulbricht (eds), Handbuch zur 'Völkischen Bewegung' 1871-1918 (Munich, 1996), Preface and pp. 22-45 ('Völkische Ideologie')


3. Nazi ideology between völkisch nationalism and biological racism

Primary reading

  • Hitler, Mein Kampf [1925-26], vol. i, ch. 11 and vol. ii, ch. 2-4
  • 'Gesetz zum Schutze des deutschen Blutes und der deutschen Ehre' [1935]; 'Reichsbürgergesetz' [1935]
  • Himmler, 'Rede des Reichsführer-SS bei der SS- Gruppenführertagung in Posen' (4.x.1943)

Secondary reading

  • I. Kershaw, Hitler: 1889-1936, Hubris (London 1998), ch. 2, 7
  • P. Weindling, 'Understanding Nazi racism: precursors and perpetrators', in M. Burleigh (ed.), Confronting the Nazi Past: New Debates on Modern German History, (London 1996), pp. 66-83
  • B. Mees, 'Hitler and Germanentum', Journal of Contemporary History (2004)

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SECTION F: HISTORY AND IDENTITY IN GERMANY 1945-2010

The titles listed below are not set texts or compulsory reading but are intended to give a general impression of the kind of works which will be used. Dr Joachim Whaley (jw10005) can give further advice.


1. Vergangenheitsbewältigung in the Federal Republic before 1989

  • M. Fulbrook, German National Identity after the Holocaust (Cambridge, 1999), ch. 1-6
  • C. E. Maier, The Unmasterable Past. History, Holocaust and German National Identity (Cambridge, Mass. l988)
  • J. Herf, Divided Memory. The Nazi Past in the Two Germanies (Cambridge, Mass. 1997), ch. 1, 7-10
  • S. Berger, The Search for Normality. National Identity and Historical Consciousness in Germany since 1800 (Oxford,1997), ch. 1, 2, 4
  • J.-W. Müller, Another country. German intellectuals, Unification and National Identity (New Haven, 2000), ch. 1


2. Antifascism and the German Past in the German Democratic Republic 1949-89

  • D. Orlow, 'The GDR's failed search for a national identity, 1945-1989', German Studies Review (2006)
  • J. H. Brinks, 'Political Anti-Fascism in the German Democratic Republic', Journal of Contemporary History (1997). Online via JSTOR
  • D. Diner and C. Gundermann, 'On the ideology of Antifascism', New German Critique, (1996). Online via JSTOR
  • T. Ahbe, Der DDR-Antifaschismus. Diskurse und Generationen, Kontexte und Identitäten. Ein Rückblick über 60 Jahre (Leipzig, 2007)
  • J Herf, Divided Memory. The Nazi Past in the Two Germanies (Cambridge, Mass. 1997), ch. 1-6, 9-10


3. Facing the German Past in a unified Germany, 1990-2010

  • B. Niven, Facing the Nazi Past. United Germany and the Third Reich (London, 2002)
  • K. Jarausch (ed.), After Unity. Reconfiguring German Identity (Cambridge, 1997), ch. 1
  • S. Berger, Inventing the Nation: Germany (London, 2004), ch. 8
  • B. Niven (ed.), Germans as Victims. Remembering the Past in Contemporary Germany (Houndmills, 2006), Intro and ch. 9, 10, 12
  • A. Fuchs, Phantoms of War in Contemporary German Literature, Films and Discourse. The Politics of Memory (Houndmills, 2008), ch. 1, 7

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Course adviser

The Department's undergraduate course adviser for this paper is Dr Joachim Whaley, (Gonville & Caius College, network tel: 32454, e-mail: jw10005@cam.ac.uk).

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Links to all German papers and comparative papers with a substantial German element

 

 

 

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