This seminar sets out to explore how the geopolitical division between East and West shaped German society, politics, culture, and economy. The course begins by analyzing the legacies of World War II and the immediate postwar years, focusing on the occupation zones and the birth of two German states: the Federal Republic (FRG), implementing a liberal, clearly West-oriented democracy, and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) with a state socialist system as part of the Eastern bloc. Yet despite their political division, the two German states remained intimately connected through a shared past, family relations, economic linkages, and through mutual observation rooted in a deep-seated competition geared to proving the superiority of their own political system. Students will investigate how the Cold War influenced everyday life, from political repression and economic strategies to cultural identity and gender roles. Particular attention will be given to the dynamics of border regions, Berlin as a Cold War flashpoint, and trans-national influences on both German states. The seminar also highlights resistance and reform movements, forms of political protest on both sides of the Iron Curtain, the interactions between East and West Germans, and both the international and domestic processes that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification. Over the course of the semester, students will engage with primary sources, including government documents, propaganda, and oral histories, as well as secondary historical accounts to explore the entangled history of the two German states and societies amidst a polarized world, and the Cold War's enduring impact on Germany up to the present.
3-5 units · Letter or Credit/No Credit
This seminar sets out to explore how the geopolitical division between East and West shaped German society, politics, culture, and economy. The course begins by analyzing the legacies of World War II and the immediate postwar years, focusing on the occupation zones and the birth of two German states: the Federal Republic (FRG), implementing a liberal, clearly West-oriented democracy, and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) with a state socialist system as part of the Eastern bloc. Yet despite their political division, the two German states remained intimately connected through a shared past, family relations, economic linkages, and through mutual observation rooted in a deep-seated competition geared to proving the superiority of their own political system. Students will investigate how the Cold War influenced everyday life, from political repression and economic strategies to cultural identity and gender roles. Particular attention will be given to the dynamics of border regions, Berlin as a Cold War flashpoint, and trans-national influences on both German states. The seminar also highlights resistance and reform movements, forms of political protest on both sides of the Iron Curtain, the interactions between East and West Germans, and both the international and domestic processes that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification. Over the course of the semester, students will engage with primary sources, including government documents, propaganda, and oral histories, as well as secondary historical accounts to explore the entangled history of the two German states and societies amidst a polarized world, and the Cold War's enduring impact on Germany up to the present.