Department of German and Dutch

Modern & Medieval Languages

Department of German and Dutch

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Paper Ge 13

Aspects of German-speaking Europe since 1945

MML Part II

This paper deals with the literature, thought, and history of Germany, Austria and Switzerland since 1945, but its main focus is Germany since 1989. It should prove particularly attractive to those who have just spent a year in Germany. Those who have spent a year elsewhere will not, however, be at a disadvantage.

The recent period is remarkably rich, and it takes in the aftermath of the 'failed' socialist experiment in the GDR as well as the culture of the industrialised, 'postmodern' society of the other German-speaking societies. This is a period in which a wide range of different forms of culture are taken seriously and where the feminine voice is heard particularly strongly. Challenges to authority are frequent, and there is ever greater awareness of the manipulative power of the media - the press, radio and television. Film also enjoys a strong revival.

The paper does not aim to cover every aspect but to concentrate on particularly fascinating features in which members of the Department have a strong research interest. Currently there are topics on such issues as contemporary German politics, Berlin in modern German film, Germany and Europe, literature and cultural responsibility in East and West, multiculturalism in modern Germany; Austrian culture and politics since 1986.

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Introductory reading:

  • Eva Kolinsky, W. van der Will (eds.). The Cambridge Companion to Modern German Culture (Cambridge, 1998)
  • R.Wittlinger, German National Identity in the Twenty-First Century. A Different Republic After All? (Houndmills, 2010)
  • Jeffrey J. Anderson and Eric Langenbacher (eds), From the Bonn to the Berlin Republic: Germany at the Twentieth Anniversary of Unification (Oxford, 2010)
  • H. Glaser, Kleine deutsche Kulturgeschichte von 1945 bis heute (Frankfurt a.M., 2007)
  • H.-P. Schwarz (ed.), Die Bundesrepublik Deutschland: Eine Bilanz nach 60 Jahren (Munich, 2008)

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Course guidance

The paper is divided into topics, some of which may change from year to year depending on the teachers available. Topics will be advertised in advance in course information issued by the Department and candidates may be able to do preliminary work on certain topics during their period abroad. Lectures and seminars will be organised on all these topics and they will form the basis of examination questions. There will be two mutually exclusive questions on each topic (EITHER/OR). There will also be one or two questions of a general nature relating to the themes of the paper as a whole. Students will be able to answer ANY three questions.

Here are links to a recent examination question paper and the examiners' report on it.

[In past papers prior to Tripos 2007 you will see that there were two sections, A and B, and candidates were required to answer at least one question from each section, but this is no longer the case.]

Topics for Tripos 2013

Contemporary German politics

The opening of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the reunification of Germany in 1990 transformed the landscape of German politics and generated a mass of unforeseen problems, many of which are only now beginning to be resolved. Fundamental have been the problems of integrating the Länder of the former GDR into the federal system of the Federal Republic, the socio-economic and political legacy of the GDR, the question of the identity and self-image of the newly reunited Germany. Equally important have been the implications of reunification for Germany's position in the European Union and for the development of Germany's relations with the wider world, the latter in ways which have shaped the German government's response to the world crisis triggered by the events of 11 September 2001. The changes of government from Helmut Kohl's CDU/CSU coalition to Gerhard Schröder's SPD/Green coalition in 1998 both underlined continuities and introduced changes. The emergence of Angela Merkel at the head of a grand coalition in 2005 and then of a CDU/CSU/FDP coalition from 2009 has been accompanied by a growing self-confidence of the Berlin Republic which was evident in the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of 'Die Wende' in 2009-10. Finally, it seems, the perennial 'German question' may have been answered.

Multicultural Germany

During the last fifty years, since migrant labourers were first formally encouraged to come to the Federal Republic to assist in Germany’s economic development, a variety of ethnic communities have settled in Germany, and they contribute significantly to its present-day cultural landscape. Public attention tends to focus on those of Turkish descent, not least because of concerns about the compatibility of Christian and Moslem cultures, an issue which tends to flare up at times of political and economic crisis. This module focuses on three writers and a film-maker of Turkish descent who do not present the world straightforwardly in terms of antagonism between the German society in which they live and their Turkish background, but who explore in their works the complex interactions between German and Turkish cultural experiences. The works selected for study provide opportunities to investigate the subtleties of communicating in German about the specifics of living with a multiplicity of cultural legacies in the global society of today.

Berlin in Film

Berlin is one of the great film cities of the world. Film has played a fundamental role in fashioning the city's image and cultural self-understanding. This option will consider some of the stations of Berlin's post-war film history, from Staudte's 'Trümmerfilm' Die Mörder sind unter uns (1946), through Helke Sander's 'Frauenfilm' Redupers: Die allseitig reduzierte Persönlichkeit (1977), Fassbinder's Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980), and Wenders' Der Himmel über Berlin (1989), to the new Berlin films of the last decade, when the city has been rediscovering the sort of productivity and innovation which characterised the pre-war hey-day of the UFA production company. Particular emphasis will be given to six post-reunification films that illustrate the variety of the new representational 'takes' on the city.

Germany in Europe 1945-2012

Since the end of 2009, the European Union has been in a severe crisis. Germany is one of the few European states that remains prosperous and dynamic and over the last year there has been intense debate about whether Germany will or can save Europe and about the conditions that the Germans might impose for doing so. As some begin to proclaim the failure of the Euro and the collapse of the EU, it seems appropriate to reflect on the history of the European project and on the central role that Germany has played in it from the outset. Germany is now seen as the answer, but initially European integration was a solution to the 'German problem'. We examine how Germany's role in the EU has evolved, the long-standing German partnership with France in EU politics, the impact of reunification on German attitudes to Europe, the implications of the rapid growth of the EU in the 1990s, and the nature of the present crisis. Will German arguments in favour of austerity prevail or will French and southern European arguments in favour of spending and growth win through? Will the EU itself survive and, if so, what kind of union will it be? This module reviews the history, present and future of European integration and the place of Germany within it.

Vergangenheitsbewältigung, culture and politics in Austria

This module will explore Austrian politics and literature since the Waldheim affair in 1986, when Austria incurred international condemnation and President Kurt Waldheim was declared persona non grata by the United States and other countries for being less than frank about his service in the German army before 1945. As much as the Austrian political landscape was shaped by a remarkable reluctance to engage with Vergangenheitsbewältigung, certain leading cultural figures succeeded in exploiting this deficit for their own purposes. Although both they and their opponents engaged in excessive polemics, the clash of the cultural with the political sector eventually resulted in a belated acknowledgement of Austria’s eager participation in the crimes of the Third Reich.

Literature and political responsibility in East and West

Günter Grass and Christa Wolf are the two most famous recent German writers. This module examines their respective major autobiographical texts as well as a short fictional work by each. The focus will be on the relationship between literature and political responsibility. Grass and Wolf offer an illuminating contrast between the gender perspective of a man and a woman, between the different experience of citizens of two different post-war German states, and as individuals who have had to come to terms with the loss of an entire belief system (in Wolf's case twice)

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Reading lists

Contemporary German politics

  • H. Williams, C. Wright and N. Kapferer (eds), Political Thought and German Reunification (Houndmills, 2000)
  • P. O'Dochartaigh, Germany since 1945 (Houndmills, 2003)
  • Tom Heneghan, Unchained Eagle. Germany after the Wall (London, 2000)
  • R.Wittlinger, German National Identity in the Twenty-First Century. A Different Republic After All? (Houndmills, 2010)
  • Jeffrey J. Anderson and Eric Langenbacher (eds), From the Bonn to the Berlin Republic: Germany at the Twentieth Anniversary of Unification (Oxford, 2010)
  • H. Glaser, Kleine deutsche Kulturgeschichte von 1945 bis heute (Frankfurt a.M., 2007)
  • I. Götz, Deutsche Identitäten: Die Wiederentdeckung des Nationalen nach 1989 (Cologne, 2011)
  • E. Wolfrum, Die geglückte Demokratie: Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland von ihren Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart (Stuttgart, 2006)

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Multicultural Germany

Prescribed texts:

  • Zafer Şenocak, Deutschsein: Eine Aufklärungsschrift (Hamburg, 2011)
  • Emine Sevgi Özdamar, Die Brücke vom goldenen Horn (Cologne, 1998)
  • Feridun Zaimoglu, Liebesmale, scharlachrot (Hamburg, 2000)
  • Fatih Akin, Auf der anderen Seite (filmed in 2007)

Secondary reading:

  • Deniz Göktürk, David Gramling, Anton Kaes (eds), Germany in Transit: Nation and Migration 1955-2005 (Berkley, 2007)
  • Moray McGowan, ‘Turkish-German fiction since the mid 1990s’, in Stuart Taberner (ed.), Contemporary German Ficton. Writing in the Berlin Republic (Cambridge 2007)
  • Helmut Schmitz, Von der nationalen zur internationalen Literatur: Transkulturelle deutschsprachige Literatur und Kultur im Zeitalter globaler Migration (Amsterdam, 2009), Introduction and section III (Deutsch-türkische Literatur und Film)
  • Leslie A. Adelson, The Turkish Turn in Contemporary German Literature: toward a new critical grammar of migration (Houndmills, 2005)

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Berlin in Film

Prescribed films:

  • Ostkreuz (1991)
  • Das Leben ist eine Baustelle (1997)
  • Lola rennt (1998)
  • Lola und Bilidikid (1999)
  • Sonnenallee (2000)
  • Die Unberührbare (2000)

(Copies of these films are now kept in the MML Library, not in the Department of German's film collection.)

Secondary reading

  • Thomas Elsaesser, New German Cinema: A History (Basingstoke, 1989)
  • Sabine Hake, German National Cinema (London, 2002), esp. pp. 168-92
  • Guntram Vogt, Die Stadt in Film: Deutsche Spielfilme 1900-2000 (Marburg, 2001)

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Germany in Europe 1945-2012

  • D. Urwin, The Community of Europe: A History of European Integration since 1945, 2nd edn (London, 1995)
  • T. Judt, Postwar: A History of Europe since 1945 (London, 2005)
  • F. R. Pfetsch, Die Europäische Union. Geschichte, Institutionen, Prozesse (Munich, 2005)
  • D. Herz and C. Jetzlsperger, Die Europäische Union, 2nd edn (Munich, 2008)
  • P. Alter, The German Question and Europe (London, 2000)
  • D. Dinan, Europe Recast. A History of European Union (Houndmills, 2004)
  • G. Brunn, Die Europäische Einigung (Stuttgart, 2009)
  • Johannes Varwick (ed), Die Europäische Union: Krise, Neuorientierung, Zukunftsperspektiven (Schwalbach/Ts., 2011)

For reference:

  • T. Bainbridge, The Penguin Companion to the European Union (1995)
  • Europa von A bis Z. Taschenbuch der europäischen Integration (2002)

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Vergangenheitsbewältigung, culture and politics in Austria

I. Literature

Prescribed texts:

  • Thomas Bernhard, Heldenplatz (Frankfurt a.M., 1989)
  • Elfriede Jelinek, 'In den Waldheimen und auf den Haidern', in Barbara Alms (ed.), Blauer Streusand (Frankfurt a.M, 1987), pp. 42-44.
  • Dagmar . G. Lorenz, 'Austrian Responses to National Socialism and the Holocaust', in Richie Robertson (ed.) et al., A History of Austrian Literature 1918-2000 (Rochester NY, 2006), pp. 181-200

Secondary reading:

  • Elfriede Jelinek, 'Präsident Abendwind' in edition text + kritik 117 (1999), pp. 17-34
  • Peter Handke, Preface, in Gruppe 'Neues Österreich' (ed.), Pflichterfüllung. Ein Bericht über Kurt Waldheim (Vienna, 1986), p.3
  • Johannes Kaminski, 'Der Lehrstuhl in Oxford ist meine Rettung – Wittgenstein-Orte in Thomas Bernhards Korrektur und Heldenplatz,' in Oxford German Studies 40.2, pp 189-206)

II. Politics

Prescribed texts:

  • Gerhard Botz, 'Österreich und die NS-Vergangenheit. Verdrängung, Pflichterfüllung, Geschichtsklitterung', in Dan Diner (ed.), Ist der Nationalsozialismus Geschichte? Zu Historisierung und Historikerstreit (Frankfurt a.M., 1987), pp. 34-50.
  • Richard Mitten, 'Waldheim Affair', in Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd ed., vol. 20, pp. 602-604.

Secondary reading:

  • Anton Pelinka and Ruth Wodak (eds.), 'Dreck am Stecken': Politik der Ausgrenzung (Wien, 2002)
  • Melanie A. Sully, The Haider Phenomenon (New York, 1997), pp. 138-142

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Literature and political responsibility in East and West

Prescribed texts:

  • Günter Grass, Katz und Maus (1961)
  • Günter Grass, Beim Häuten der Zwiebel (2006)
  • Christa Wolf, Kindheitsmuster (1976)
  • Christa Wolf, Was bleibt (1990)

Secondary reading:

  • Helen Bridge, Women's Writing and Historiography in the GDR (Oxford, 2002), pp. 57-75
  • Michael Beddow, 'Doubts about Despair: Christa Wolf's Kindheitsmuster', in James Harrdin (ed.), Reflection and Action: Essays on the Bildungsroman (Columbia, 1991), pp. 415-47
  • Anne Fuchs, '"Ehrlich, du lügst wie gedruckt": Günter Grass's Autobiographical Confession and the Changing Territory of Germany's Memory Culture', in German Life and Letters, 60 (2007), pp. 261-75.
  • Anna Kuhn, Christa Wolf's Utopian Vision: From Marxism to Feminism (Cambridge, 1988)
  • Anita Bunyan, 'Christa Wolf', in Hilary Brown, ed., Landmarks in German Women's Writing (Oxford, 2006), pp. 173-191
  • Julian Preece, The Life and Work of Günter Grass: Literature, History, Politics (Basingstoke, 2001)
  • John Reddick, The 'Danzig Trilogy' of Günter Grass (London, 1975), pp.87-169
  • Stuart Taberner, 'Private feelings and Public Virtues: Günter Grass's Beim Häuten der Zwiebel and the Exemplary Use of Authorial Biography', Modern Languages Review, (103) 2008, pp. 143-154.
  • Rebecca Braun, '"Mich in Variationen Erzählen": Günter Grass and the Ethics of Autobiography', Modern Language Review, 103, 2008, pp.1051-66
  • Moray McGowan, 'Turkish-German ficion since the mid 1990s', in Stuart Taberner, Contemporary German Ficton. Writing in the Berlin Republic (Cambridge, 2007)

Course adviser

Students who wish to discuss any aspect of the course may approach their Directors of Studies or supervisors. They may also consult the Department's undergraduate course adviser for this paper, who 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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