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Home , Burnt by the Sun, Nikita Mikhalkov

Kollogium zur Geschichte Osteuropas Visualization of Violence: East-European History through Cinema Monday 16-18 Osteuropäische Geschichte Abteilung Konrad Adenauerallee 4-6, Room 301

Instructor: Prof. Dr. Béla Bodó Office Hours: Monday 14-15:30 or by appointment Office: Konrad Adenauerallee 4-6, Third floor, Room 300 Phone: ext. 9551 Email: [email protected]

Course Description: This course, a cross between political and cultural history, examines the cinematic portrayal of violence in Eastern Europe from 1917 until today. Perhaps more than any other genre, films about state and group violence can be connected to ideologies and political interests. The purpose of this course is to decode the political messages, and shed light on the political culture, behind each film; to explain the intentions, and map out the mental and moral universes, not only of the producers and the directors, but also of the political elites and the viewing public. The majority of the films that we are going to discuss in this class were seen by the contemporaries as pushing the boundaries in both the political and aesthetic senses: they portray violence in an unexpected or forbidden way or talk about issues, which were once considered taboo. The course, in other words, deals with the intellectual responses to political pressure and violence: with responses that ranged from willing complicity with the regime and collaboration to reluctant accommodation and active resistance. Besides examining the films as an art form and tool of propaganda, the course uses cinematic works to bring students closer to real events; social, cultural and political trends; civilizational patterns; and “ways of life.” In other words, they will be explored as collective memories and reservoirs of real experiences: as teaching tools to help students understand such experiences and gain a “feel” for the time, particularly people’s experience under Communism, and for the distinctive cultures that the cinematic works portray.

Course Requirements: The course has a standard seminar format. Each week students will be required to familiarize themselves with a film and complete reading assignments. The films are deposited on the shelf preserved for the course in our library (Osteuropäische Geschichte, Konrad Adenauerallee 4-6, Room 301). You can watch the film in the library on your computer, or borrow it for a day (overnight). The required readings are in the Dropbox or on the shelf in our library.

Each student is required to actively participate in the class. Students who plan to write their thesis (B.A or M.A) will present their research in class. The rest of the participants are expected to make a presentation on one the weekly topics and films. The presenter has to introduce the film, discuss its origins and significance and lead the discussion on the historical event that it portrays. If students are going to miss a class, they are required to notify me beforehand, and hand in a two-page summary of the film and one of the required readings. Languages: this is a bilingual course. Students can make their presentations, answer the questions and write their essay either in German or English. The knowledge of East European languages and the ability to use of primary and secondary sources in these languages are welcome and desired; however, they are not part of the course requirement.

Weekly Topics

1. and Civil War (October 14) Film: Sergei Eisenstein, October (1928) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:October:_Ten_Days_That_Shook_the_World?uselang=d e# Miklós Jancsó, Red and White (1969)

Readings: John Cunningham, Hungarian Cinema From Coffee House to Multiplex (London: Wallflower Press, 2004), pp. 110-115 and/or Daniel J. Goulding, Post-New Wave Cinema in the and Eastern Europe (Bloomington, 1989), pp. 143-171; 172-212. Martin Aust, Die Russian Revolution (C. H. Beck, 2017), pp. 156-212 or Jörg Baberowski, “Diktatur der Eindeutigkeit. Ambivalenze und Gewalt im Zarrenreich und in der frühen Sowietunion,“ in Jörg Babarowski, ed., Moderne Zeiten? Krieg, Revolution und Gewalt in 20. Jahrhundert (Göttingen, 2006), pp. 37-59 .

2. (October 21) Film: , (1994) Grigori Chujharai, Soldiers’ Ballads (1959)

Readings: Sheila Fitzpatrick, “Stalin’s Revolution,” In Russian Revolution (Oxford University Press, 1994), chapter 5, pp. 120-147. Sheila Fitzpatrick, “Everyday Stalinism: Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times,“ Hoffmann ed., Stalinism, pp 157-178. Jörg Baberowski, Verbrannte Erde. Stalin Herrschaft der Gewalt (2012), pp. 49-87; 317-368. Stefan Plaggenborg,“Stalinismus als Gewaltgeschichte,“ in Plaggenborg ed., Stalinismus: neue forschungern und Konzepte (Berlin, 1998), pp. 71-112 or Roland Grigor Suny, “Stalin and Stalinism: Power and Authority in the Soviet Union 1930-1953,” in David L. Hoffmann ed., Stalinism. The Essential Readings (Blackwell, 2003), pp. 11-36.

3. The Second World War (October 28) Film: Andrzej Wajda: Kanal (1956) Tatjana Samoilowa, Die Kraniche Ziehen (1958) Grigori Chujharai, Soldiers’ Ballads (1959)

Readings: Denise J. Youngblood, Russian War Films on the Cinema Front, 1915-2005 Wlodzimierz Borodziej, Geschichte Polens im 20. Jahrhundert (C.H. B. 2010), pp. 188-258. Wlodzimierz Borodziej, Der Warschauer Aufstand 1944 (S. Fischer, 2001). (Recommended) 4. Holocaust (November 11) Film: Andrej Wajda, Korczak (1990) László Nemes, Saul’s Son (2015) Lajos Koltai, Fateless (2005) István Szabó, The Taste of Sunshine (2002) , Der Pianist (2002)

Readings: Primo Levi, "The Gray Zone," in The Drowned and the Saved (Summit Books, 1986), pp. 36- 69. Timothy Snyder, Black Earth. The Holocaust as History and Warning (London, 2016), pp. 178-225

4. Collaboration in East Central Europe (November 18) Films: Juraj Herz, The Cremator (1968) Agnieszka Holland, Angry Harvest (1985) Jan Hřebejk, Divided We Fall (2000)

Readings: Bartlomie Paszylk, The Pleasure and Pain of Cult Horror Films (McFarland Company, 2009), pp. 109-113. Timothy Snyder, Bloodlands, pp. 277-312 Kristián Ungváry, “Robbing the Dead. Hungarian Contibution to the Holocaust,” in Beate Kosmala eds. Facing the Nazi Genocide, (Metropol, 2004), pp. 231-262 or Jan Gross, The Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish community in Jedwabne. Poland (Penguin, 2002), pp. 15-112

5. Social Revolution in East-Central Europe after WWII (December 2) Film: Géza Radványi, Somewhere in Europe (1947)

Readings: John Cunningham, Hungarian Cinema From Coffee House to Multiplex (London: Wallflower Press, 2004), pp. 61-80. Tora Zahra, “Lost Children: Displaced Children between Nationalism and Internationalism after the Second World War,” in Nick Baron, Displaced Children in and Easter Europe 1915-1953 (Brill, 2018), pp. 187-218. Norman Naimark, “Revolution and Counterrevolution in Eastern Europe.” In Christiane Lemke, and Gary Markseds., The Crisis of Socialism in Europe (Durham: Duke University Press, 1992), pp. 61-83 or Jan T. Gross, “Social Consequences of War: Preliminaries to the Study of Imposition of Communist Regimes in East Central Europe.” In Irana Grudzinska-Groos and Andrej W. Tymowski eds., Eastern Europe: Continuity and Change (1987-1995)(Peter Long Edition, 2014), pp. 215-230 or

6. Stalinism in East-Central Europe: The Terror (December 9) Film: Péter Bacsó, Witness (1968) or Ryszard Bugajski, Interrogation (1989) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm4zY81qXvM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l2Q3B6KVMI

Readings: Dina Iordanova, Cinema of the Other Europe (London, 2003), pp. 67-91. Applebaum, Iron Curtain, chapter 11-12, pp. 265-318. Chapter 18, pp. 462-489 Marci Shore, “Children of the Revolution: Communism, Zionism, and the Berman Brothers.” Jewish Social Studies 10, no. 3 (2004): 23-86.

7. Building Socialism (December 16, 23) Film: Andrej Wajda, Man of Marble (1977) Wladimir Walentinowitsch Menschow, Moskau glaubt den Tränen nicht (1980) Nowa Huta, propaganda film from the early 1950s Poland https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4rqCv-8lm8

Readings: J. Hoberman, The Red Atlantis. Communist Culture in the Absence of Communism (Philadelphia, 1998), pp. 11-42. Sándor Horváth, “Everyday Life in the First Hungarian Socialist City,” International Labor and Working Class History, Vol. 68; no. 68 (2005), pp. 24 – 46. Małgorzata Fidelis, “Equality Through Protection: The Politics of Women's Employment in Postwar Poland, 1945-1956.” Slavic Review 63, no. 2 (2004), pp. 301-24.

8. Youth Culture and Resistance under Communism (January 6) Film: Péter Gothár, Time Stands Still (1982)

Readings: John Cunningham: Hungarian Cinema from coffee house to multiplex (Wallflower Press, 2004), pp. 116-142 or Daniel J. Goulding, Post-New Wave Cinema in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe (Bloomington, 1989), pp. 143-171; 172-212. Sándor Horvath, “Hooligans, Spivs and Gangs. Youth Subcultures in the 1960s.” In Janos M. Rainer, and György Peteri eds., Muddling Through in the Long 1960s: Ideas and Everyday Life in High Politics and the Lower Classes of Communist Hungary (Trondheim: Institute for the History of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, Budapest, and Program on East European Cultures and Societies, Trondheim, 2005), pp. 99- 223.

9. Collapse of Communism/the Rolling 1990s (January 13) Films: Alexei Balabanov, Brother (1997) Krzysztof Kieslowski, Three Colors: White (1994)

Readings: Daniel Chirot, “What happened in Eastern Europe in 1989?” In Tismaneau ed, The Revolution of 1989 (London: Routledge, 1999), pp. 19-50. (Dropbox Or OEG Library on the shelf) Stephen M. Norris, Blockbuster History in the New Russia (Indiana University Press, 2012), pp. 19-111.

10. (January 20) Films: Denis Tanovic, No Man’s Land (2001) , Underground (1995)

Readings: Mischa Glenny, The Balkans. Nationalism, War and the Great Power 1804-2011 (Penguin, 2012), pp. 634-709. Norman Naimark and Holly Case, Yugoslavia and Its Historians. Understanding the Balkas Wars of the 1990s (Stanford University Press, 2003), pp. 116-139. Marie-Janine Calic, A History of Yugoslavia (Purdue University Press, 2019), pp. 251-333.

11. Conclusion (January 27)

Bibliography on the History of East-European Films

Imre, Anikó. East European Cinemas. New York: Routledge, 2005. Apor, Péter and Sarkisova, Oksana. (eds), Past for the Eyes : East European representations of communism in cinema and museums after 1989. Budapest: Central European University Press, 2008 Cunningham, John. Hungarian Cinema From Coffee House to Multiplex (London: Wallflower Press, 2004 Čulík, Jan. A Society in Distress: The Image of the Czech Republic in Contemporary Czech Feature Film, Gazelle, 2012. Etkind Alexander. et al. (eds.), Remembering Katyn, Polity, 2012. Goulding, Daniel J. (ed.) Post New Wave Cinema in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989. Hill, John and Church, Pamela. (eds), The Oxford Guide to Film Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. Iordanova, Dina. Cinema of the Other Europe: The Industry and Artistry of East Central European Film. London: Wallflower, 2003. Liehm, Mira and Liehm, Antonín. The Most Important Art: Eastern European Film after 1945. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977. Mark, James.The Unfinished Revolution: Making Sense of the Communist Past in Central-Eastern Europe, New Haven, 2010. Škvorecký, Josef. All the Bright Young Men and Women: A Personal History of the Czech Cinema. Toronto: Peter Martin, 1971. Taylor, Richard et al. The BFI Companion to Eastern European and Russian Cinema. London: British Film Institute, 2000 Todorova, Maria (ed.) Remembering Communism: Genres of Representation. New York: Social Science Research Council, 2010. Karl, Lars, and Skopal, Pavel (eds.). Cinema in Service of the State: Perspectives on Film Culture in the GDR and Czechoslovakia, 1945-1960. New York: Berghan Books, 2015.