GERM 355 - Advanced Seminar

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

Topic for 2017/18b: Women in the Third Reich. The unprecedented freedom and progress women enjoyed during the Weimar Republic came to an abrupt end under the Nazis. Nevertheless, the experiences of women during the Third Reich was varied, revealing many perplexing paradoxes. For instance, while many German women were pushed into the traditional roles of mother, wife and homemaker, others had to toil as slave laborers in factories and on farms. And while the Nazis sought to restore the state as a male society, many women assumed leadership roles in women’s organizations and concentration camps, and several, including the filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl and the singer and film star Zarah Leander, became famous symbols of Nazi society. This course analyzes women’s contradictory roles as both perpetrators and victims, as apologists and resistance leaders. Materials include fictional works, autobiographies, films, songs, propaganda materials, and case studies, as well as secondary materials with a variety of disciplinary approaches. Silke von der Emde.

Prerequisite(s): GERM 260 or GERM 270 or the equivalent.

Two 75-minute periods.