GER 371T The Berlin Wall: Division and Unification in Narratives, Architecture and Politics
When asked where they were and what they were doing when they heard about the fall of the Berlin wall, most people who were adults at the time can tell you in fair detail. Indeed, the fall of the wall, and the political and cultural upheavals that ensued, has had a geopolitical effect similar to that of the moon landing or the murder of John F. Kennedy. And yet for today's students, the notion of a divided Germany, of the co-existence of two separate regimes (the BRD, or West Germany, and the DDR, or East Germany), and even of the wall itself, is distant history rather than lived experience. The focus of this travel is to animate that history by taking students to the original sites of the divide, and to what remains of the wall; to study what led up to and away from November 9, 1989, in literature, documentaries, history books, and in discussion with witnesses; to explore the remnants of the Stasi, the former East German secret police; and to sample "Ostalgia", complete with a taste of "authentic" DDR cuisine and a ride in a Trabi.
This course has no prerequisites if taken for German cultural credit. There is also an option to take it as a CLCS course, also without prerequisites. To take it as a German language credit, students must have completed GER 300 with a C, or have obtained the instructor’s permission.
(Students are responsible for their own transport to and from Berlin.)