HST 497/597: Film and History: Postwar Germany and the Nazi Years Portland State University June 26 July 20, Dr. Karen E.

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1 HST 497/597: Film and History: Postwar Germany and the Nazi Years Portland State University June 26 July 20, 2006 Dr. Karen E. Hoppes Phone: Office Hours: MTWR, 3:00-3:30, CH 441-E COURSE MATERIALS: Required: Sabine Hake, German National Cinema (London: Routledge, 2002) Supplemental: Lothar Kettenacker, Germany Since 1945 (London: Oxford University Press, 1997) COURSE DESCRIPTION: The course is designed to examine how post-war Germany explains, justifies, excuses and understands the Nazi era through film. Starting with the Rubble Films immediately after the war and continuing through the development of New German Cinema, this course will trace the evolution of German thought about the development, activities and resistance of the Nazi period. Films by directors such as Peterson, Wicki, Sanders- Brahms and Fassbinder will be seen. All films are subtitled. This course thus has several distinct, though closely related goals: To gain a broad understanding of the historical development of German National Socialism, beginning with the political, social, and economic causes for the Nazi rise to power and continuing through to the collapse of the Nazi regime in 1945 To explore the post war history of Germany and the attempt to explain the Nazi past To explore how film expresses the issues and concerns of Postwar Germany regarding the Nazi Past To determine to what degree the nature of postwar German film helps to created a mentality of German historical understandings about the Nazi years To determine how post war German society has created and delineated what is to be remembered about the Nazi past and how cultural memory impacts German film ASSIGNMENTS, EXAMINATIONS, AND GRADING Assignments: ESSAYS: Three written essay assignments are to be completed. They will consist of four-to-six page essays on themes taken from the course readings and films. Your essays will be on the weeks discussion questions in which you are not a discussion participant. The essays are due the same day of the discussion. The essays should show that you have read the articles and applied the information from the readings to the films. Use examples from the films to expand on the readings. 1

2 SEMINAR: You will participate in three formal discussions. You will produce a list of 5-7 questions generated from the films and suggested readings for that week. These questions should probe the meaning of the articles and films and extend our learning. The questions will be the basis of the class discussion. GRAD STUDENTS: If you are taking this course for graduate credit, you will write essays for all four topics. Grading: Your course grade will be based on the following: Three (3) essay assignments 40% Three (3) Discussions 40% Participation 20% Students are expected to attend all classes, unless other arrangements are made with me in advance. Come to class prepared to discuss the films. We cannot discuss everything in class, but it is assumed that the issues and questions addressed in the readings will become part of the working knowledge of all class members. Items on Reserve: All class readings are on reserve in the Library. In order to access copies of journal articles, go to Click on Material on Reserve; select an instructor or department then click GO; select the course you want; Click accept; select a document you want; Enter password (hoppes); click continue, now you can view or print out the article. You will need Adobe Acobat Reader to open or view it. You can get Adobe free of charge. 2

3 Week One Schedule June 26: Introduction, Film: Wolfgang, Staudte: Die Morder sind unter Uns (1946) 91 minutes [Murderers are Among Us] June 27: Film: Wolfgang Staudte: Rotation (1949) June 28: Film: Helmut Kautner: Des Teufels General (1955) [The Devil s General] June 29: Film: Istvan Szabo: Mephisto (1981) Hake, pp Robert Reimer, Searching for Culprits, Nazi Retro Film: How German Narrative Cinema Remembers the Past (NY: Twayne Publishers, 1992), pp Robert Reimer, Opposing Hitler and the Nazis, Nazi Retro Film: How German Narrative Cinema Remembers the Past (NY: Twayne Publishers, 1992), pp Robert R. Shandley, Rubble Films: German Cinema in the Shadow of the Third Reich (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2001), pp Jaimey Fisher, Who s Watching the Rubble Kids? Youth, Pedagogy and Politics in Early DEFA films, New German Critique, 82 (Winter, 2001), pp Marc Silberman, The Discourse of Powerlessness: Wolfgang Staudte s Rotation, German Cinema: Texts in Context (Detriot: Wayne State University, 1995), pp Paul Coates, Memory and Repression in Recent German Cinema, The Gorgon s Gaze: German Cinema, Expressionism and the Impact of Horror (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), pp Frederick W. Ott, The Great German Films: From Before World War I to the Present (Secaucus, NJ: Citadel Press, 1986), pp , Wayne Kvam, Grundgens, Mann and Mephisto, Theatre Research International, 15:2 (Summer 1990), pp Who was truly responsible for the Nazis? How did good people survive in difficult times? Do good people have a responsibility for the events of the Nazi Era? 3

4 Week Two Schedule July 3: Discussion; Film: Franz Wisbar: Hunde, wollt bihr ewig leben? (1958) [Dogs, Do you Want to Live Forever?][97 min] July 4: NO CLASSES July 5: Film: Bernhard Wicki: Die Brucke (1959) [The Bridge] July 6: Film: Wolfgang Peterson, Das Boot (1981) Hake, pp Robert Reimer, Valorizing Death, Nazi Retro Film: How German Narrative Cinema Remembers the Past (NY: Twayne Publishers, 1992), pp Brad Prager, Beleaguered Under the Sea: Wolfgang Petersen s Das Boot (1981) as a German Hollywood Film, in Randall Halle, Light Motives (Detroit: Wayne State University, 2003), pp Robert Reimer, Picture-Perfect War: An Analysis of Joseph Vilsmaier s Stalingrad, in Randall Halle, Light Motives (Detroit: Wayne State University, 2003), pp Frederick W. Ott, The Great German Films: From Before World War I to the Present (Secaucus, NJ: Citadel Press, 1986), pp , Robert Reimer, Nazi-Retro Films: Experiencing the Mistakes of the Ordinary Citizen, Journal of Popular Film and Television, 12:3 (1984), pp How should the war be portrayed? How should valor be praised? 4

5 Week Three Schedule July 10: Discussion; Film: Lang ist der Weg (1948) [Long is the Road] [77 min] July 11: Film: Erich Engel: Die Affaire Blum (1948) [The Blum Affair] July 12: Film: Heinz Scheik: Die Wannseekonferenz (1984) [The Wannsee Conference] July 13: Film: Agnieszka Holland: Hitlerjunge Salomon (1991) [Europa Europa] Hake, pp Robert Reimer, The Final Solution, Nazi Retro Film: How German Narrative Cinema Remembers the Past (NY: Twayne Publishers, 1992), pp Robert R. Shandley, Rubble Films: German Cinema in the Shadow of the Third Reich (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2001), pp William Collins Donahue, Pretty Boys and Nasty Girls: The Holocaust Figured in Two German Films of the 1990s, New England Review, 21:4 (Fall 2000), pp How do we explain Nazi anti-semitism? How do we remember the Holocaust? Who is responsible? 5

6 Week Four Schedule July 17: Discussion; Film: Frank Beyer, Jakob der Leuger (1975) [Jacob, the Liar] [100 min] July 18: Film: Rainer Werner Fassbinder: Die Ehe der Maria Braun (1979) [Marriage of Marie Braun] July 19: Film: Helma Sanders-Brahms: Deutschland, bleiche Mutter (1980) [Germany, Pale Mother] July 20: Film: Oliver Hirschbiegel: Der Untergang (2005) [Downfall] Hake, pp Anton Kaes, History, Fiction, Memory: Fassbinder s The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979), in Eric Rentschler, German Film and Literature (New York: Methuen, 1986), pp Joyce Rheuban, The Marriage of Maria Braun: History, Melodrama, Ideology, in Sandra Frieden (ed.), Gender and German Cinema: Feminist Interventions, vol. II (Oxford: Berg, 1993), pp Susan E. Linville, The Mother Daughter Plot in History: Helma Sanders-Brahms s Germany, Pale Mother, Feminism, Film, Fascism: Women s auto/biographical Film in Postwar Germany (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1998), pp Angelika Bammer, Through a Daughter s Eyes: Helma Sanders-Brahms Germany, Pale Mother, New German Critique, vol. 36 (Fall 1985), pp E. Ann Kaplan, The Search for the Mother/Land in Sanders-Brahms s Germany, Pale Mother (1980), in Eric Rentschler, German Film and Literature (New York: Methuen, 1986), pp Richard W. McCormick, Confronting German History: Melodrama, Distantiation, and Women s Discourse in Germany, Pale Mother, in Sandra Frieden (ed.), Gender and German Cinema: Feminist Interventions, vol. II (Oxford: Berg, 1993), pp How do we remember the past? What memories about the Nazi years should be passed to a new generation of Germans? 6