German Studies 223GU - German Unification Revisited
Spring
2016
01
4.00
Karen Remmler
MW 01:15PM-02:30PM
Mount Holyoke College
94912
Williston Memorial Library 618
kremmler@mtholyoke.edu
Twenty-five years after German unification, the legacy of East Germany (GDR) continues to be the topic of popular culture and scholarship alike. How do post-Wall films, literature, and memoirs depict everyday life in the former GDR? How do these depictions intersect with transnational issues of migration, identity, and responses to oppression? How do we account for the contradictory emotions that emerge in renditions of the GDR from Ostalgia to comparisons between the Stasi and the Gestapo? We explore the changing depictions of the GDR by insiders and outsiders against the backdrop of current debates about the legacy of the GDR within the ongoing conflicts in contemporary Europe.
Prereq: Previous study of German.
Students may consult with the instructor about taking this course for 300-level credit.