Europe Between the World Wars
Hist 331
Winter 2012
Prof. Andrew Ross
Department of History
Kenyon College
Seitz House 3
E-mail: rossa@kenyon.edu
Office Hours: M 11-12, Tu 10-12, W 1-3 and by appointment
Course Website: https://www.andrewisraelross.com/teaching/past-courses/europe-between-the-world-wars-winter-2012/
Course Description: This course introduces students to the cultural history of Europe between World War I and World War II. Beginning with the experience of trench warfare during “The Great War,” the course traces the anxieties and conflicts that defined social life in the first half of the twentieth century. We will ask how cultural anxieties and phenomena contributed to the rise of fascism in twentieth century Europe. Topics covered include Weimar Germany, the rise of fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism, gender and sexuality, and World War II.
Course Objectives: By the end of the semester, students will be able to:
- identify and understand key themes and concepts in European history between the world wars
- understand the relationship between culture, social life, and politics
- relate the history of gender and sexuality to larger historical narratives
- complete a research paper and incorporate peer feedback
- write and elaborate history for a popular audience
Required Texts:
Fallada, Hans. Little Man, What Now? Translated by Susan Bennett. Brooklyn: Melville House, 1996.
De Grazia, Victoria. How Fascism Ruled Women: Italy, 1922-1945. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992.
Fitzpatrick, Sheila. Everyday Fascism: Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times: Soviet Russia in the 1930s. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Fritzsche, Peter. Germans into Nazis. Cambridge, Mass: Havard University Press, 1998.
Orwell, George. Homage to Catalonia. Orlando: Harvest, 1952.
Fussell, Paul. Wartime: Understanding and Behavior in the Second World War. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
Spiegelman, Art. Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History. New York:Pantheon, 1973.
—–. Maus II: A Survivor’s Tale: And Here My Troubles Began. New York: Pantheon, 1986.
You also should purchase ONE of the following two books:
Jünger, Ernst. Storm of Steel. New York: Penguin, 1962.
Remarque, Eric Maria. All Quite on the Western Front. New York: Ballatine, 1982.
Any edition, including e-books, are suitable for purchase. All other readings will be available online at moodle.kenyon.edu or as a handout.
We will also watch three films; all are considered required texts for this course.
Course Format: Class will meet once a week. All class meetings will be discussion format and active participation is expected.
Course Requirements: Students are required to attend all class meetings, complete all readings and view all films, complete online reading responses, write a Wikipedia entry with a group, and research and write a final research paper.
Attendance and Participation: Attendance in class is a requirement in order to pass this course and role will be taken everyday. You are permitted to miss one class before your grade begins to suffer. Because this is a seminar class, active participation is also a requirement and will form the primary basis for this grade.
Readings: All readings are due the day for which they are listed on the syllabus. Film viewings will be scheduled outside of class; if you are unable to attend, then the film is also due the day for which they are listed on the syllabus.
Online Discussion: Every week are you to respond to the week’s material via the discussion board on Moodle (click the link at the top “reading responses” and reply to the correct week’s topic). Your response should simply be a short paragraph with the main point or two that you took from the readings. Responses are due every Tuesday at Noon.
Wikipedia Project: In small groups, all students will complete a Wikipedia page that you will then publish on the actual Wikipedia site. You are to choose one “stub” in relevant European history (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:
European_history_stubs) or topic not covered and, following Wikipedia article guidelines (start here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Your_first_article), complete or write the article. Each group should create one registered Wikipedia account (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:
UserLogin&type=signup).
After your article is posted in the middle of the term, your group should continue to monitor it for changes that you should then note down and/or change again. At the end of the semester, you will write a short (c. 3 pages) reflective essay on Wikipedia that addresses some of the challenges you faced when writing the article, your thoughts on the nature of writing scholarship for a wide public, and any difficulties posed by the ability of anyone to change and update your work. Also consider the difference between this project and your more “standard” research paper assignment.
Every member of the group will receive the same grade for the article itself; you will receive an individual grade for your reflective essay.
Research Paper: All students will also complete a research paper (7-10 pages) on a topic of their choice. Throughout the semester we will work together on this project and go through the various stages of writing together. Graded parts of this project include: an annotated bibliography, an outline, a first draft, workshopping, and the final paper. In addition to a grade on your own work, you will also receive a grade on your critiques of your peers.
Grade Breakdown:
Attendance and Participation: 20%
Online Discussion: 10%
Wikipedia Project:
Article: 15%
Reflective Essay: 10%
Research Paper:
Annotated Bibliography: 5%
Outline: 5%
First Draft: 10%
Final Draft: 20%
Workshop Comments: 5%
Grade Appeals: There are no grade appeals! I’m more than happy to talk to you about your grade and how you can improve your work (in fact, I highly encourage you to do so), but please do not ask me to change your grade.
Late Assignments: Late assignments will be deducted one grade for each day late. If I have not received your essay after four days you will automatically fail the assignment. If I never receive an assignment you will fail the course.
Paperless Grading: In an effort to both save trees and improve the quality of my comments to you, your assignments MUST be turned in electronically. You will do so via e-mail, with a subject heading “Europe Between the World Wars ASSIGNMENT from YOUR NAME.” Accepted file formats are .pdf (preferable), .doc, and .docx. All papers not already in .pdf format will be converted prior to grading. I will e-mail you your paper directly after all assignments have been graded. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns regarding this policy.
Contacting Me: The best way to get in touch with me is through e-mail. Please allow 24 hours for a response; if you have not heard from me in that time, do not hesitate to send another note. My office hours are at the top of this syllabus; if those times are not convenient for you I am happy to make other arrangements. I hope you will all come by my office at some point during the semester. Please check your Kenyon e-mail regularly and please keep apprised of materials available on the class website.
Online Resources: The course website can be found at http://aiross.wordpress.com/teaching/europe-between-the-world-wars-winter-2012/. There you will find a copy of the syllabus and other resources relevant to the course. Nina Clements has also set up a library resources page for your class assignments at ___________.
Technology in the Classroom: Because this course revolves around active discussion, laptops and other devices should NOT be used during class. All articles should therefore be printed out; dedicated eBook readers are permitted if you are using e-texts. The one exception is our workshop day where those of you who give electronic comments may bring and use your laptops.
Plagiarism and Academic Honesty: All students must follow the College’s policies regarding academic honesty as outlined in the Kenyon College Catalog. If you have any questions regarding this issue, please consult with me before submitting work. All work for this class must be your own and completed specifically for this class and all materials consulted, paraphrased and quoted must be cited.
Disabilities: If you have a hidden or visible disability that may require classroom or test accommodations, please see me privately as soon as possible during a scheduled office hour. If you have not already done so, you must register with the Coordinator of Disability Services, Erin Salva, salvae@kenyon.edu, or x5145, who is the individual responsible for coordinating accommodations and services for students with disabilities. All information and documentation of disabilities are strictly confidential. No accommodations will be granted in this course without notification from the Office of Disability Services.
Week 1: January 18: Introductions
In Class Film Screening: The White Ribbon (dir. Michael Haneke, 2009).
Week 2: January 25: World War I and the Nature of Modern Warfare
Reading: Jünger, Storm of Steel OR Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front
Individual research topic meetings in office hours.
Week 3: February 1: The Russian Revolution as Sexual Revolution
Reading: Hobsbawm, Eric, “The World Revolution,” in The Age of Extremes (New York: Vintage, 1994), 54-83;Karlinsky, Simon, “Russia’s Gay Literature and Culture: The Impact of the October Revolution,” in Hidden from History: Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian Past, ed. Martin Bauml Duberman, et al (New York: New American Library, 1989): 347-364; Healey, Dan, “The ‘Queer Subject’ and the Language of Modernity: Reforming the Law on Same-Sex Love Before and After 1917,” in Homosexual Desire in Revolutionary Russia: The Regulation of Sexual and Gender Dissent (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001), 100-125; (Available on Moodle); Alexandra Kollontai, “Communism and the Family”.
Individual research topic meetings continue in office hours. I should have met with everyone before this class meeting.
Library Session with Nina Clements, 7:00p-8:30p
Week 4: February 8: Interwar Culture (1): Postwar Anxieties
Film: Metropolis (dir. Fritz Lang, 1927).
Reading: Roberts, Mary Louise, “‘This Being Without Breasts, Without Hips,’” in Civilization Without Sexes: Reconstructing Gender in Postwar France, 1917-1927 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994); Dorothy Rowe, “Representing Berlin,” in Representing Berlin: Sexuality and the City in Imperial and Weimar Germany (Burlington: Ashgate Publishing, 2003).
Wikipedia group topics due in class.
Week 5: February 15: The Hopes and Despairs of Weimar Germany
Reading: Hans Fallada, Little Man, What Now?
Annotated Bibliography Due Before Class
Week 6: February 22: Gender and Fascism in Italy
Reading: Victoria de Grazia, How Fascism Ruled Women (chapters 1-4, 7, and 9)
Week 7: February 29: Life in Stalin’s Russia
Reading: Everyday Stalinism (Introduction, chapters 1-3, 6-8, and conclusion)
Wikipedia Page Due Online Before Class
Spring Break
Week 8: March 21: France in the Era of the Popular Front
Film: The Grand Illusion (dir. Jean Renoir, 1937)
Reading: Eugen Weber, “The Decadence” and “A Famous Victory,” in The Hollow Years: France in the 1930s (New York: W.W. Norton, 1994), 111-182.
Research Paper Outline Due Before Class
Week 9: March 28: Interwar Culture (2): The Politics of the Body
Film: Olympia (dir. Leni Riefenstahl, 1938) (YouTube)
Reading: Erik Jensen, “Duty, Performance, and the Track and Field Athlete,” in Body by Weimar (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010); Ina Zweiniger-Bargielowska, “Building a British Superman: Physical Culture in Interwar Britain” Journal of Contemporary History 41 (October 2006): 595-610; Mark Mazower, “Healthy Bodies, Sick Bodies,” in Dark Continent: Europe’s Twentieth Century (New York: Vintage, 1998), 76-103.
Week 10: April 4: The Rise of the Nazis (1): The Fall of Weimar
Reading: Peter Fritzsche, Germans into Nazis
Reminder: Monitor Your Wikipedia Pages for Changes!
Week 11: April 11: The Spanish Civil War
Reading: George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia
First Draft of Research Paper Due to Me and Workshop Groups Before Class
Week 12: April 18: The Rise of the Nazis (2): Ordinary Men?
Reading: Klaus‑Michael Mallmann and Gerhard Paul, “Omniscent, Omnipotent,Omnipresent? Gestapo, Society and Resistance,” in: David F. Crew, ed., Nazism and German Society, pp. 166‑89; Kershaw, “The ‘Hitler Myth,’ Image and Reality in the Third Reich,” in David Crew, ed., Nazism and German Society, 1933-45 pp. 197-218; Christopher Browning, “Initiation to Mass Murder: The Jozefow Massacre” in Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland (New York: HarperCollins, 1992), 55-70.
In-Class Workshopping
Copy of reviewed essays with your comments due to me in class or by e-mail
Week 13: April 25: Second World War: A Good War?
Reading: Paul Fussell, Wartime (chapters 1-5, 7-12, 14, 18).
Discussion of Wikipedia Pages
Week 14: May 2: The Holocaust
Reading: Art Spiegelman, Maus
Reflective Essay on Wikipedia Project Due Before Class
Final Paper Due Wednesday, May 9 at Noon