IS311 BERLIN: EXPERIMENT IN MODERNITY Core Course of the Bard in Berlin Semester Abroad Program Dr. Florian Becker Spring Semester 2015 Associate Professor of German and Monday and Wednesday Comparative Literature, Bard College 10.45-12.15 Office 010, P24 Seminar Room 2, P98 f.becker@berlin.bard.edu Friday Excursions: Phone 0157-31 63 51 56 15.10-19.00 (approx.) Berlin ist mehr ein Weltteil als eine Stadt. Berlin is not so much a city as a slice of the world. Jean Paul Berlin, ein Trümmerhaufen bei Potsdam. Berlin, a pile of rubble near Potsdam. Bertolt Brecht More than any other city, Berlin has been a source and a theater for the forces shaping Western modernity. The city's importance and its by turns glorious and catastrophic role in European culture and history have their origins in its peculiar development. Built on a swamp, in a poor duchy surrounded by more powerful states, it was remade during the Enlightenment as a center not only of military discipline and administrative control but also of learning and innovation. Increasingly characterized in the later nineteenth century by almost uncontrolled growth, it rose to the status of capital of the German Empire and became a center of science and technology. With rapid industrialization came sharp social polarization and bitter political conflict, but also the birth of aesthetic modernism and avantgarde culture. After the clamor for imperial power and colonial expansion culminated in the cataclysm of World War I, Berlin witnessed the unparalleled artistic explosion of the Weimar Republic. During the Nazi dictatorship the city became the point of origin of political terror, war and genocide. Still reduced to little more than a pile of rubble near Potsdam (Brecht), Berlin found itself after World War II on the frontline of the Cold War and remained forcibly divided for more than four decades between two radically different political and economic systems. Through a combination of historical sources, literature, philosophy, and a wide range of artifacts from paintings over photographs to film, from archival to contemporary we shall seek to understand Berlin s significance and its current position at the heart of Europe. And we will speculate about its possible futures as a place of gathering and experiment for a population from across the world. Class Format Although Berlin: Experiment in Modernity is a single-credit course (4 US credits/ 8 ECTS), you should expect to spend more time on this course than you would for a regular course (e.g. a US junior seminar or Bard College Berlin elective). In addition to the two 90-minute seminar meetings each week (on Mondays and Wednesdays), we will go on excursions approximately every other week, usually on Friday afternoon. Excursions may involve student presentations, lectures or discussions. Most of them will take us to places in central Berlin, some to places farther afield. There is one overnight trip, to Weimar. All excursions are an integral part of the course and thus mandatory.
Required Texts (available for pickup at the Library) Course Reader Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera (Penguin Classics, 2007) Tony Judt, Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 (Penguin, 2006) Brian Ladd, The Ghosts of Berlin: Confronting German History in the Urban Landscape (University of Chicago Press, 1998) David Clay Large, Berlin (Basic Books, 2000) Frank Mecklenburg and Manfred Stassen (eds.), German Essays on Socialism in the Nineteenth Century (New York: Continuum, 1990) Sven Regener, Berlin Blues (Random House, 2004) Peter Weiss, The Investigation (Marion Boyars, 2000) Additional texts are available on your Bard College Berlin Google Drive for download. Please print double-sided whenever possible, get a binder for the course, and bring paper copies of all readings to class. Requirements Short weekly responses to the readings. (Please post them on the Google Drive.) Two essays (draft and final versions). Final examination. Informal writing assignments and quizzes. ***Please note: Use your new Bard College Berlin email account (j.doe@berlin.bard.edu) for all correspondence. Participation This course is a seminar. Your consistent, vociferous, and thoughtful participation in our discussions is crucial to your success. Class sessions may include brainstorming and writing periods, in which you may work alone or with a partner. You are expected to take an active part in all activities. ***The use of laptops, tablets, phones or other electronic devices in the classroom is prohibited.*** Seminar Preparation and Weekly Responses Please come prepared to seminar meetings and excursions: Upon reading the assigned texts every week, formulate a question or observation that you want the group to address. Paste it into the blank document shared with you on the Google Drive (labeled Response Week x ), no later than Sunday, 16.00h. Before our meeting on Monday, please print out the document, read everybody else s questions and prepare responses to a couple of them. Your notes should help you present your responses coherently in class. Essays and Tutorials Students write two versions of each essay. The first version has to be a complete and coherent essay. For the first paper: After handing in the first version, students will have individual tutorial meetings on how to improve their essays. For the second essay: Students bring two paper copies to class, one for me and one for a writing partner of their choice. Writing partners are expected to provide critical questions, comments, and suggestions for each other and to bring these (in writing) to the next seminar meeting. It is worth spending a substantial amount of time on revisions for your final version. For this process to function, hard copies of both the first and second versions have to be handed in on time. Extensions can only be granted in medical or other emergencies. 2
***All essays must be submitted both through the Bard College Berlin online system and in hard copy. Electronically submitted essays have to be in the European A4 format! (In the MS Word file menu, choose page setup, then change the paper size from US letter to A4. )*** Academic Honesty Bard College Berlin does not tolerate plagiarism. Intellectual honesty is at the heart of academic ethics and plagiarism is the most serious offence against it. Penalties include failure of the course, suspension from the university and expulsion. Please cite the ideas of others properly. See me if you have any questions about when or how to acknowledge your sources. Important Dates Deadline Essay 1, First Version Monday, February 16 12.30h Deadline Essay 1, Final Version Monday, February 23 23.59h Deadline Essay 2, First Version Wednesday, April 1 12.30h Deadline Essay 2, Final Version Monday, April 8 23.59h Final Examination Wednesday, May 13 10.00h-13.00h Grades Seminar Participation: 25% (quality and quantity of preparation and contributions) Essay 1: 20% Essay 2: 25% Final Examination: 20% Excursion Participation: 10% (visual analysis exercises; quality and quantity of preparation and contributions) ***Please note: At Bard College Berlin, professors submit midterm grades for essays and participation to the Registrar, from whom students can then retrieve them. (For Bard students, mid-term grades will also be posted on BIP.)*** Attendance Attendance is required at all classes sessions and excursions. Absences are registered in all classes and lateness is registered as absence. We understand that serious illness and other bona fide emergencies may arise during the semester and students may miss up to two classes for these reasons without external documentation. For any additional absences a medical note (for illness) or other documentation (for emergencies) must be submitted to the Registrar within one week of the absence. Finally, please be punctual and considerate. Switch off your phone and keep bathroom breaks to a minimum. This syllabus is subject to change. All updates to the schedule will appear on the electronic version of this document, on the Google Drive. You remain responsible throughout the semester for knowing where and when we meet for classes and outings, and what your assignments are for each meeting. 3
Semester Overview Events with Professor Becker: Orientation Week January 21 17.30 Welcome to Bard College Berlin (Cafeteria, W70) January 22 14.00 General Academic Orientation, 13.00 (Lecture Hall, P98a) 15.00 Administrative Orientation, 10.30 (Seminar Room 2, P98) 19.00 Study Abroad Welcome Dinner, 18.30. January 23 11.30-12.30 Individual Advising Meetings (Room 010, P24) 13.30-15.00 Bard in Berlin Orientation (Lecture Hall, P98a) 16.00-17.00 Individual Advising Meetings (Room 010, P24) January 24 January 26 January 28 Berlin Excursion: Visit to the exhibition on Everyday Life in the GDR (Haus der Geschichte), Kulturbrauerei (M1/U2 Eberswalder Straße). Zoltan Helmich will take you From campus to meet Professor Becker at 14.30 inside the museum entrance. Week One 2015 Where Are We Now? David Bowie, Where Are We Now? (Video, January 2013) Exberliner 106: 2002-2012: What s Changed? (June 2012) David Clay Large, Berlin (Basic Books, 2000), Introduction, pp. xvii-xxvii Introduction to the Course: Berlin and Germany Timothy Garton Ash, The New German Question, The New York Review of Books, August 15, 2013 George Packer, The Quiet German: The Astonishing Rise of Angela Merkel, the Most Powerful Woman in the World, The New Yorker, December 1, 2014 Chronology: Germany, 1800-1990, in Mary Fulbrook (ed.), German History since 1800 (London: Arnold, 1997), pp. 585-595 January 31-February 1 Berlin Weekend (Excursions) Visit to the Jewish Museum with Professors Soika and Dekel (Lindenstraße 9-14, 10969 Berlin). DATE TBD Visit to the German Bundestag (Reichstag Building). Special Tour and visit of Norman Foster s dome. Please bring your passport or government-issued photo ID; you will need it to be admitted to the building. Meet at security. February 2 Week Two 1237-1870 Berlin, Brandenburg, Prussia With Dr. Aya Soika, Professor of Art History. Iain Boyd Whyte, Berlin 1870-1945: An Introduction Framed by Architecture, 4
in Irit Rogoff (ed.), The Divided Heritage. Themes and Problems in German Modernism (Cambridge, 1991), pp. 223-224 Architecture: Study images of Andreas Schlüter et al., Berlin City Palace; Carl Gotthard Langhans (1732-1808), Brandenburg Gate (1788-1791); Johann Gottfried Schadow (1764-1850), Quadriga (1793); Friedrich August Stüler (1800-1865), Old National Gallery (1876); Paul Wallot (1841-1912), Reichstag Building (1884-1894). February 4 1871-1890 Berlin, Capital of the German Empire Large, Berlin, Berlin under Bismarck, pp. 1-45 February 9 February 11 February 13 Week Three 1870-1900 The Metropolis and the Arts I: Academic Painting and the Berlin Secession With Professor Soika. Large, Berlin, World City? pp. 62-81 Iain Boyd Whyte, Berlin 1870-1945, pp. 231-233 Shearer West, The Visual Arts in Germany, 1890 1937: Utopia and Despair, Chapter 1, pp. 12-32 Adolph Menzel (1815-1905): Departure of King Wilhelm I for the Army, July 31 1870 (1871), Iron Rolling Mill (1872-1875) Anton von Werner (1843-1915): A Billet outside Paris, October 24, 1870 (1894), The Proclamation of the German Empire (18th January 1871) (1885) Robert Köhler (1850-1917), The Socialist (1885), The Strike (1886) Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945), Misery (1895-1896), The Weavers Revolt (cycle of six prints, 1895-1897) Max Liebermann (1847-1935), Cobbler s Workshop (1881), The Net Menders (1887-1889) Walter Leistikow (1865-1908), Lake Grunewald (1895) Lovis Corinth (1858-1925), Self-Portrait with Skeleton (1896), The Blinded Samson (1912) 1888-1918 Berlin under Wilhelm II Large, Berlin, World City? pp. 47-62, 81-99 Iain Boyd Whyte, Berlin 1870-1945, pp. 224-230 Friday Excursion: Alte Nationalgalerie (Museum Island). February 16 Week Four 1884-1918 The German Empire and Colonialism Large, Berlin, Discord in the Castle, pp. 109-136, and reread pp. 35-40 Exberliner 108: Africa in Berlin (September 2012) Otto von Bismarck, Speech on Pragmatic Colonization (June 26, 1884), PDF The Congo Conference: Points of Dispute Shown in the Opening Speeches, The New York Times, November 18, 1884 Wilhelm II., The Hun Speech (1900), PDF 5
Sara Friedrichsmeyer, Sara Lennox and Susanne Zantop, Introduction, in Friedrichsmeyer et al. (ed.), The Imperialist Imagination: German Colonialism and Its Legacy (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press), pp. 1-29. Essay 1, First Version Due. February 17-18 February 18 Individual Tutorials on Essay 1, first version. 1918-1923 Defeat, Revolution, Inflation Large, Berlin, The Great Disorder, pp. 157-184, reread pp. 146-155 Demographic and Economic Data, from Detlev Peukert, The Weimar Republic: The Crisis of Classical Modernity (New York: Hill and Wang, 1989), pp. 8, 10, 12 Study photographic documents of Berlin 1918-1919, in reader and online. February 23 February 25 February 28 Week Five 1905-1914 The Metropolis and the Visual Arts II: Expressionism With Professor Soika. Large, Berlin, pp. 136-146 ( Keep Hittin Em ), and reread p. 73 Georg Simmel, The Metropolis and Mental Life (1903), in Donald N. Levine (ed.) Simmel on Individuality and Social Forms (University of Chicago Press, 1972), pp. 174-185 Shearer West, The Visual Arts in Germany, chapter 2, pp. 48-58 Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Programme of Die Brücke (1906), in Charles Harrison and Paul Wood (eds.), Art in Theory, 1900-2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas (Oxford: Blackwell, 2002), p. 65 Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1937), Berlin Street Scene (1913), Street Scene (1913), Potsdamer Platz (1914) Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (1884-1976), Three Nudes (Nidden) (1913) Erich Heckel (1883-1970), Glassy Day (1913) Max Pechstein (1881-1955), The Yellow and Black Tricot (1910); On Nidden Beach, Portrait of his Wife Lotte (1911) Emil Nolde (1867-1956), Papua Boys (1914) Essay 1, Final Version Due. 1916-1920 Politics and the Avantgarde: Berlin Dada With Professor Soika. Large, Berlin, The Great Disorder, pp. 184-201, and reread pp. 143-146, 165 Richard Huelsenbeck, En avant Dada, in Robert Motherwell (ed.), The Dada Painters and Poets (Cambridge, MA: Belknap, 1981), pp. 23-47 Richard Huelsenbeck and Raoul Hausmann, What is Dadaism and What Does It Want in Germany? (1919), in Motherwell (ed.), pp. 41-42 Study images online: Hannah Höch, Cut With the Kitchen Knife through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany (1919) Saturday Excursion: Museum für Film und Fernsehen (Museum of Cinema and Television). Potsdamer Straße 2 (Sony Center). 6
March 2 March 4 Week Six 1848-1914 Berlin and the European Labor Movement Special Session with Sebastian Gerhardt, Topography of Terror and Haus der Demokratie und Menschenrechte. Large, Berlin, pp. 99-107 ( Red Berlin ), Discord in the Castle, pp. 146-155, and reread pp. 40-45, 54 Nick Wingfield and Melissa Eddy, In Germany, Union Culture Clashes with Amazon s Labor Practices, The New York Times, August 4, 2013 Paul Göhre, Three Months as a Factory Worker and Journeyman (Leipzig, 1891) Friedrich Engels, Speech at the Gravesite of Karl Marx, in Frank Mecklenburg and Manfred Stassen (eds.), German Essays on Socialism in the Nineteenth Century (New York: Continuum, 1990) 1924-1932 Berlin, the Glittering Thing Large, Berlin, The World City of Order and Beauty, pp. 203-253 Film: Walter Ruttmann, Berlin Symphony of a Great City (1927) Siegfried Kracauer, Seen from the Window, in Helen Constantine (ed.), Berlin Tales (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009) Alfred Döblin, East of Alexanderplatz, in Constantine (ed.), Berlin Tales March 5 Thursday Excursion: Brecht-Haus, Chausséestraße 125. Meet there by 18.00; the tour starts promptly at 18.15. Week Seven March 9 Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera (1928) March 11 Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera Spring Break March 23 March 25 Week Eight 1918-1933 The New Architecture: Modernism for the Masses Reread Large, Berlin, pp. 206-207, 241 Iain Boyd Whyte, Berlin 1870-1945, pp. 233-242 Photographic evidence of Weimar-Era housing, in Course Reader John Willett, chapters 6 ( The Bauhaus at Weimar, pp. 49-50), 8 (pp. 72-82), 12 ( The Dessau Bauhaus, pp. 118-23), 13 ( Berlin, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, pp. 124-32) and 14 ( Living Design, pp. 133-39) Bruno Taut, A Program for Architecture (1918), in Anton Kaes, Martin Jay and Edward Dimendberg (eds.), The Weimar Republic Sourcebook (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), pp. 432-434 Walter Gropius, The Theory and Organization of the Bauhaus (1923), in Art in Theory, pp. 309-314 1933-1939 Terror, Persecution, and Acquiescence With Professor Soika. Large, Berlin, Hitler s Berlin, pp. 255-317 7
Iain Boyd Whyte, Berlin 1870-1945, pp. 242-252 Study images of Nazi architecture, especially: Ernst Sagebiel: Imperial Aviation Ministry (1935), Tempelhof Airport Terminal (1935-1941); Werner March: Olympiastadion (1936); Plans for Germania : Albert Speer, model of the Great Hall (ca. 1940), model of the North-South Axis (ca. 1940); Wilhelm Kreis, model of the Soldiers Hall (ca. 1943). March 27 Friday Afternoon Excursion: Topography of Terror. Guided tour with Sebastian Gerhardt. Meet Aya at the reception desk at 16.15. March 30 April 1 April 3 Week Nine 1939-1945 War and Genocide Large, Berlin, Now People, Arise, and Storm, Break Loose!, pp. 319-367 Peter Weiss, The Investigation (1965) (Marion Boyars, 2000) *If available, watch Giulio Ricciarelli, Im Labyrinth des Schweigens (Germany, 2014). Peter Weiss, The Investigation Large, Berlin, reread pp. 13-14, 25-26, 182-84, 225-27, 232-33 Essay 2, First Version Due. Federal Holiday April 6 Federal Holiday Week Ten April 8 April 10 1945-1961 Occupation and Denazification Large, Berlin, Coming into the Cold, pp. 369-417 (to richer relatives. ) Tony Judt, Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945, The Legacy of War, pp. 13-40; Retribution, pp. 41-62; The Rehabilitation of Europe, pp. 80-99 (from Nevertheless, outside Britain ); and The Coming of the Cold War, pp. 153-159 (to that they stood apart ). Essay 2, Final Version Due. Friday Excursion: German-Russian Museum Karlshorst. Guided tour with Sebastian Gerhardt. Meet Florian at the reception desk. April 13 Week Eleven 1945-1961 Berlin, Capital of the German Democratic Republic Large, Berlin, Coming into the Cold, pp. 418-443 Tony Judt, Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945, The Impossible Settlement, pp. 104-7 (from Thanks to German aggression to common problems ) and pp. 121-128 (from Everyone expected ) Film: Frank Beyer, The Trace of Stones (1966) 8
April 15 1961-1989 The Wall Large, Berlin, The Divided City, pp. 445-460 (to size and beauty ) and pp. 496-515 ( Real, Existing Socialism ) Tony Judt, Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945, Culture Wars, pp. 197-203 (to none at all ); The Politics of Stability, pp. 249-254 (from A second issue to the Berlin Wall ). Film: Frank Beyer, The Trace of Stones (1966) April 20 April 22 April 24 Week Twelve 1960-1969 West Berlin: The City as Theater Large, Berlin, The Divided City, pp. 460-66 (to over the wall. ), 469-95 Tony Judt, Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945, The Politics of Stability, pp. 265-77 (from The most dramatic ); The Spectre of Revolution, pp. 390-98 (to most foolish ), 401-13 (from The youthful impulse to at all ), pp. 416-21 (from Italian radicals to ); and The End of the Affair, pp. 447-49 (from The Sixties ). Ulrike Meinhof Napalm and Pudding, Vietnam and Germany, in Meinhof (ed. Karin Bauer), Everybody Talks About the Weather... We Don t: The Writings of Ulrike Meinhof (Seven Stories Press, 2008) 1969-1989 West Berlin: Life on the Island Film: Uli Edel, Christiane F. (Germany, 1981) Sven Regener, Berlin Blues (Herr Lehmann) (Random House, 2004) Tony Judt, Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945, Politics in a New Key, pp. 493-94 (from In time, to just that. ) and pp. 496-503 (from In 1969 ), The New Realism, pp. 535-37 (to political culture ). Friday Excursion: Visit to the exhibition West: Berlin An Island in Search of its Mainland in the Ephraim-Palais, with Professor Soika (Poststraße 16, 10178 Berlin). Meet Aya inside the entrance at 16.15. April 27 April 29 Week Thirteen 1989-1994 Peaceful Revolution and Reunification Large, Berlin, From Bonn to Berlin, pp. 517-572, pp. 580-583 ( On June 18, 1994 ) Tony Judt, Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945, The End of the Old Order, pp. 590-93 (from The clamp-down to to compromise ), pp. 610-16 (from The Hungarian Revolution to the masses ), and pp. 627-33 (from Why did Communism ); A Fissile Continent, pp. 638-43 (from Credit for to the burden ). 1961-2015: City of Immigration Large, Berlin, pp. 466-469 ( Little Istanbul ), pp. 572-580 ( Arrivals and Departures ), and reread pp. 8-12 Emine Sevgi Özdamar, My Berlin, in Constantine (ed.), Berlin Tales 9
Rita Chin, Aras Ören and the Guestworker Question, in The Guest Worker Question in Postwar Germany (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007), pp. 30-85 Gökçe Yurdakul and Y. Michal Bodemann, We Don t Want to Be the Jews of Tomorrow : Jews and Turks in Germany after 9/11, German Politics and Society 24:2 (2006), pp. 44-67 Lucian Kim, Barbarians at the Gate. New York Times Latitude Blog (February 14, 2013). http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/14/germanystough-stance-on-refugees/ Carla Bleiker, Experts: German Integration Policy Needs Reform, Deutsche Welle (April 12, 2014). http://www.dw.de/experts-german-integrationpolicy-needs-reform/a-17562390 http://www.taz.de/!142359/ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/30/berlin-protest-asylumseekers-kreuzberg-police-standoff http://www.vice.com/video/berlins-refugee-crisis-124 Weekend Excursion to Weimar May 1 Leave: Berlin Hbf on Friday morning. May 3 Return: Berlin Hbf on Sunday, late evening. May 4 May 6 May 7 May 8 May 9 Week Fourteen 1990-2015: Berlin and the Future of Europe Tony Judt, Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945, The Old Europe and the New, pp. 736-43 (from There was nothing to political elite ), The Varieties of Europe, pp. 761-64 (from In order to understand to eastern Europe ). Brian Ladd, Capital of the New Germany, in Ladd, The Ghosts of Berlin Tony Judt, Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945, Introduction and Epilogue, in pp. 1-10 and 803-33 Thursday Evening: Bard College Berlin Annual Conference Privacy Keynote Address at 18.30. Institute for Cultural Investigation (ICI Berlin), Christinenstraße 18-19, Building 8; use elevator to third floor (U2 Senefelder Platz). All day Friday: BCB Annual Conference: Privacy (ICI) Excursion: Former Prison of the GDR Ministry of State Security ( Stasi ), Memorial Berlin-Hohenschönhausen, Genslerstraße 66, 13055 Berlin. TBC. Week Fifteen May 13 10.00-13.00 Final Examination. 10
I have read the syllabus for IS311 and I am aware of my obligations throughout the semester. January, 2015 Date Student signature 11