HIST 4388/GERM 4322 Hitler: History and Image

Spring 2007 Dr. Thomas Adam Office: University Hall 320 Wednesdays 7-9:50pm Office Hours: Wednesdays 5-7pm, or by appointment Room: UH 25 Phone: 817-272-6065 Email: [email protected]

Course content: Hitler has been vilified, ridiculed, idolized, and mythologized. In this reading-intensive seminar we will examine Hitler the historical figure and compare it to the image of Hitler created through literature, theatre, and cinema both before and after his death. We will look at, for instance, the most recent scholarly biography of Hitler by Ian Kershaw, the novel Fatherland by Robert Harris, the play The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui by Bertolt Brecht, and the classic film The Great Dictator with Charlie Chaplin.

For GERMAN 4322 students:

• Although the course will be in English (as will be the readings), students taking this for German credit will have the opportunity to read and discuss with each other and the professors some texts or parts of texts as written in the original German. • As German 4322, this course may be repeated for credit as topic changes. Prerequisite for German credit: GERM 3313 or 3314 (with a grade of C or better) or consent of the department.

Student Learning Outcomes: Students will be introduced to the field of cultural history and, in particular, the study of cultural images and perceptions of Adolf Hitler and the history of the Third Reich, which have been produced by Western cultures since the early 1940s. By reading various biographical texts and historical treatments on the Nazi dictatorship, students will familiarize themselves with the basic information about Hitler’s private life and political career. Students will further read/watch various fictional treatments of Hitler’s life in form of novels, short stories, plays, TV shows, and movies. It will be the students’ task to analyze and deconstruct these fictional accounts with regards to their meaning and interpretation of events in class discussion and book and movie reviews. The overall goal HIST 4388/GERM 4322 Hitler: History and Image of this class is to enable students to compare historical and fictional approaches to history and to evaluate the place and power of historical and fictional representations of Hitler’s life in modern society.

Required Text books and other course materials: • Ian Kershaw, Hitler 1889-1936 Hubris (New York and London: W.W. Norton & Company, 2000). • Gavriel D. Rosenfield, The World Hitler never made: Alternate History and the Memory of Nazism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005). • Frederic Spotts, Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics (Woodstock & New York: The Overlook Press 2002). • Stephen Fry, Making History: A Novel. • Robert Harris, Fatherland. • Todd Strasser, The Wave: The Classroom Experiment that went too far. • Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front. • Bertolt Brecht. The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. • Philip Roth, The Plot against America. • Assorted other texts in electronic format (electronic course reserves)

Course Requirements and Grading Policy: 50% Book/Movie Reviews (5 reviews; each review is worth 10 percent) 30% take-home quizzes (3 quizzes; each is worth 10 percent) 20% Participation (presence in class and participation in class discussion)

The final grade consists of three components: 1) reviews (50 percent), 2) take-home quizzes (30 percent), and 3) class participation (20 percent). Each student is expected to write 5 reviews of movies and books (see the Schedule of Classes for details and deadlines). These are reviews and NOT reports. In a review students are expected to analyze the main idea of the text or movie under review. Students are NOT expected to retell the content of the text/movie under review (in fact doing so would result in an “F”). The reviews should be no longer than 3 pages (normal margins, double spaced, and Times New Roman 12 points). I accept ONLY paper submissions. Failure to submit the review in time results in a penalty for late submission (one letter grade per day). The two take-home quizzes consist each of ten questions which you are expected to answer based on the reading.

The grade for class participation is based on your physical presence in class (you can miss up to three classes without penalty) and your active AND informed participation in class discussion. Please keep in mind that this is NOT a lecture course but a seminar (meaning that this is a student-centered form of academic learning).

Those students who take this course as GERM 4322 are expected to translate a short German text into English. This translation is worth 20 percent and substitutes the Take- home quizzes of February 7 and March 28. It is due on March 28.

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Attendance and Drop Policy: Attendance will be taken at the beginning of all classes. However, I cannot drop students for excessive absences. Students are responsible for dropping a course before the cut-off date for drops. Drop dates: end of first drop period, February 28; last day to drop courses: April 13. Americans with Disabilities Act:

The University of Texas at Arlington is on record as being committed to both the spirit and letter of federal equal opportunity legislation; reference Public Law 92-112 - The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended. With the passage of federal legislation entitled Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), pursuant to section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, there is renewed focus on providing this population with the same opportunities enjoyed by all citizens.

As a faculty member, I am required by law to provide “reasonable accommodations” to students with disabilities, so as not to discriminate on the basis of that disability. Student responsibility primarily rests with informing faculty of their need for accommodation and in providing authorized documentation through designated administrative channels. Information regarding specific diagnostic criteria and policies for obtaining academic accommodations can be found at www.uta.edu/disability. Also, you may visit the Office for Students with Disabilities in room 102 of University Hall or call them at (817) 272- 3364.

Academic Integrity:

It is the philosophy of The University of Texas at Arlington that academic dishonesty is a completely unacceptable mode of conduct and will not be tolerated in any form. All persons involved in academic dishonesty will be disciplined in accordance with University regulations and procedures. Discipline may include suspension or expulsion from the University.

“Scholastic dishonesty includes but is not limited to cheating, plagiarism, collusion, the submission for credit of any work or materials that are attributable in whole or in part to another person, taking an examination for another person, any act designed to give unfair advantage to a student or the attempt to commit such acts.” (Regents’ Rules and Regulations, Series 50101, Section 2.2)

Student Support Services Available:

The University of Texas at Arlington supports a variety of student success programs to help you connect with the University and achieve academic success. These programs include learning assistance, developmental education, advising and mentoring, admission and transition, and federally funded programs. Students requiring assistance academically, personally, or socially should contact the Office of Student Success Programs at 817-272-6107 for more information and appropriate referrals.

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Schedule of Classes

Date Topic January 17 Introduction

Lecture: Hitler and the Third Reich January 24 NO CLASS January 31 History and Memory

Alvin Rosenfeld, Imagining Hitler (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985), pp. 13-41.

Alon Confino, “Telling about Germany: Narratives of Memory and Culture”, in The Journal of Modern History 76 (June 2004), pp. 389-416 (available online through EBSCO).

Dominick LaCapra, History and memory after Auschwitz (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1998), pp. 8-42.

Robert A. Rosenstone, History on Film/Film on History (Pearson Longman 2006), pp. 134-164. February 7 The monster is born

Take-home Kershaw, Hitler 1889-1936, pp. 1-69. quiz Kershaw Roald Dahl, Tales of the Unexpected (Genesis and Catastrophe). text is due Movie: Hitler Part I; Twilight Zone: Cradle of Darkness February 14 Hitler the Artist

Spotts, Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics, pp. 123-147.

J. Sydney Jones, Hitler in Vienna, 1907-1913: Clues to the Future (New York: Cooper Square Press, 2002), pp. 11-55.

Movie: Max February 21 Hitler was a product of World War One

Review of Kershaw, Hitler 1889-1936, pp. 71-105. All Quiet on the Eastern Remarque, All Quiet on the Eastern Front. Front is due February 28 Hitler the Orator

Spotts, Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics, pp. 43-72.

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Scenes from the movies Triumph of the Will, and The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

Movie: The Great Dictator March 7 The Making of the Party Leader

Take-home Kershaw, Hitler 1889-1936, pp. 107-253. quiz Kershaw Brecht. The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. text is due Movie: Hitler Part I March 14 Spring Break March 21 NO CLASS March 28 The Artist-Führer

Take-home Kershaw, Hitler 1889-1936, pp. 313-495. quiz Kershaw Eric Michaud, The Cult of Art in Nazi Germany (Stanford: Stanford text is due University Press, 2004), pp. 26-73.

Spotts, Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics, pp. 43-94, 151-186.

Scenes from the movie: Triumph of the Will April 4 The World without Hitler: better or worse?

Review Ian Kershaw, The Nazi Dictatorship: Problems and Perspectives of Making Interpretation (London and New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), History is pp. 59-79. due Rosenfield, The World Hitler never made, pp. 271-329

Fry, Making History. April 11 Hitler and the Future of the Third Reich

Review Rosenfield, The World Hitler never made, pp. 161-186. Fatherland is due Jeremy Noakes, Nazism 1919-1945 vol. 4: The German Home Front in World War II. A Documentary Reader (Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1998), pp. 281-300.

Ian Kershaw, “The ‘Hitler Myth’: Image and Reality in the Third Reich”, in David Crew (ed.), Nazism and German Society: 1933-1945 (London and New York 1997), pp. 197-215. (e-book)

Harris, Fatherland.

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April 18 The Fascination of Fascism

Strasser, The Wave.

Kershaw, The Nazi Dictatorship, pp. 20-46.

Martin Kitchen, “Fascism and the capitalist system: a Marxist view”, in: Martin Kitchen, Fascism (London: Macmillan, 1976), pp. 83-91.

Stanley G. Payne, “Fascism as a ‘generic’ concept” (from “The Concept of Fascism”), in: Stein Ugelvik Larsen, Bernt Hagtvet, and Jan Petter Myklebust (eds.), Who Were the Fascists? Social Roots of European Fascism (Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Columbia University Press, 1980), pp. 14, 19-24.

Seymor Martin Lipset, “Fascism as ‘Extremism of the Middle Class’” (from Seymor Martin Lipset, Political Man: The Social Bases of Politics) (London: Heinemann, 1960), pp. 132-135, 136-140, 174-176.

Thomas Mann, Mario and the Magician. April 25 Alternate History: The United States

Review The Rosenfield, The World Hitler never made, pp. 95-160. Plot against America is Roth, The Plot against America. due Movie: Star Trek: Patterns of Force May 2 Humanizing the Monster?

Review of Movie: The Fall Im toten Winkel is Ian Kershaw, Hitler 1936-45: Nemesis (New York and London: W. W. due Norton &Company, 2000), pp. 797-831.

Scenes from the movie Schtonk

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