Leo W. Riegert

Intensive Introductory German

GERM 111Y

This is the first half of a yearlong course for students who are beginning the study of German or who have had only minimal exposure to the language. The first semester introduces students to the German language in all four modalities: reading, writing, speaking and listening. The work includes practice in understanding and using the spoken language. Written exercises and elementary reading materials completed outside class serve as a basis for vocabulary-building and in-class discussion and role-plays. Students also will write four short essays on familiar topics over the course of the semester. During the second semester there is more advanced practice in the use of the spoken and written language and we will use short fictional and authentic cultural texts in order to develop techniques of reading. This course includes required practice sessions with an apprentice teacher (AT), which will be scheduled at the beginning of the semester. Students enrolled in this course will be automatically added to GERM 112Y for the spring semester. Offered every fall.

Intensive Introductory German

GERM 112Y

This is the second half of a yearlong course for students who are beginning the study of German or who have had only minimal exposure to the language. As in the first semester, the work includes practice of the German language in all four modalities — reading, writing, speaking and listening — in class, in scheduled review sessions with an apprentice teacher and using an online workbook. There will be more advanced practice in the use of the spoken and written language. We will develop reading skills through a variety of fictional and cultural texts, including a short book we will read in its entirety. This course includes required practice sessions with an apprentice teacher (AT), which will be scheduled at the beginning of the semester. Prerequisite: GERM 111Y or placement or permission of instructor. Offered every spring.

Intermediate German Language

GERM 213Y

This first-semester middle-level course is designed to develop German reading, writing, and speaking skills beyond GERM 111Y–112Y. We will use a grammar text for reviewing and expanding upon aspects of German grammar from the first year. We will apply this review as we read short literary and journalistic texts, as we gain a basic understanding of films in the original German, and as we converse in German with a partner or in groups. These texts and films will serve as a point of departure for short compositions as well. Keeping a diary in German also is an integral component of the course.This course includes required practice sessions with an apprentice teacher (AT), which will be scheduled at the beginning of the semester. Students enrolled in this course will be automatically added to GERM 214Y for the spring semester. Prerequisite: GERM 111Y–112Y or equivalent. Offered every fall.

Intermediate German Language

GERM 214Y

This second-semester middle-level course is designed to develop German reading, writing and speaking skills beyond GERM 111Y-112Y. We will use a grammar text for reviewing and expanding upon aspects of German grammar from the first year. We will apply this review as we read short literary and journalistic texts, as we gain a basic understanding of films in the original German, and as we converse in German with a partner or in groups. These texts and films will serve as a point of departure for short compositions as well. Keeping a diary in German also is an integral component of the course. Studying the novel "Der Richter und sein Henker" by Swiss author Friedrich Dürrenmatt will be a special component of GERM 214Y. This course includes required practice sessions with an apprentice teacher (AT), which will be scheduled at the beginning of the semester. Prerequisite: GERM 213Y or equivalent. Offered every spring.

Myth of Nation: German Film from Nosferatu to Hitler and Beyond

GERM 255

This course will examine the construction of national identity through the medium of film. For Germany, which historically looked to its writers to define its national identity, film became a very important medium for expressing this goal. In addition to a basic understanding of the terms and methods used in the formal description of film, this course provides students with the sociohistorical background to be able to understand and evaluate the role that films played in both shaping and reflecting German cultural ideals from the early 20th century through the present. The majority of films viewed in this course will represent three distinct historical epochs: (1) the Weimar period, which produced some of the greatest silent films ever made, such as "Nosferatu," "The Golem," "Dr. Caligari" and "Dr. Mabuse" (2) the Nazi period, which resulted in the artistically unequaled propaganda film "The Triumph of the Will," as well as examples of Hollywood-inspired Nazi propaganda films such as "Jew Süss;" and (3) the post-World War II period, for which we will view films made by members of the New German Cinema, like Fassbinder's "The Marriage of Maria Braun," Werner Herzog's "Aguirre: The Wrath of God," and "Wings of Desire" by Wim Wenders. Finally, we will view a number of films that represent a reaction of sorts to the New German Cinema, such as the (anti-) war film "Das Boot," as well as recent works by female filmmakers such as Margarethe von Trotta ("Rosenstraße"), Dorris Dörrie ("Men") and Vaness Jopp ("Forget America"). No prerequisite. This course is taught in English translation. No prerequisite. Generally offered every three years.

Advanced Composition and Conversation

GERM 321

In this course, we will explore a wide array of topics in contemporary German culture to provide advanced students with the opportunity to strengthen their abilities to write, read and speak German. Topics may include the impact of reunification on contemporary Germany, religious life and popular music. Textbooks and/or articles from the current press in German-speaking countries, films, other media and websites may provide material for conversation and composition. Students will develop fluency in German to perform linguistically and culturally appropriate tasks. The composition component will seek to improve the ability to write clearly and coherently in German. To foster these goals, the course also will provide a review of advanced grammatical structures. This course can be repeated for credit up to 1.0 unit. Prerequisite: GERM 213Y–214Y or equivalent. Offered every fall semester.

Approaches to German Literature and Culture I

GERM 325

This course is designed as an introduction to the study of German literature and culture beginning with the earliest writings by the Germanic tribes in the early Middle Ages and going through 1900. Students will gain a greater understanding of German literary history and of related social and philosophical trends. Other central goals include practice in the close reading of texts and acquiring a basic German vocabulary to do so. We will read samples from various genres — drama, prose, and lyric poetry. Authors and works to be studied may include the "Hildebrandslied," Walther von der Vogelweide, Martin Luther, Immanuel Kant, Ludwig Tieck, Georg Büchner (including Werner Herzog's film rendition of Büchner's "Woyzeck"), Karl Marx, Louise Otto-Peters, Gerhard Hauptmann, Karl May and others. Prerequisite: GERM 213Y–214Y or equivalent. GERM 321 is recommended.

Jewish Writers in German Culture: Assimilation and Its Discontents

GERM 355

Heinrich Heine, Arthur Schnitzler, Franz Kafka and Paul Celan. These authors are considered among the greatest ever to have written in the German language — one might argue, in any language. And they also were all Jews. In this course, we will read short fictional texts and poems created over the last 250 years by these and other German-language Jewish artists. In addition, we will examine a variety of treatises surrounding the origins of Germany's so-called Judenfrage and the answers to the Jewish question given over time by important Jewish and non-Jewish thinkers such as G. E. Lessing, C. W. von Dohm, Karl Marx, Richard Wagner, Theodor Adorno, Jean Amery and Gershom Scholem. Even as we consider the meaning of the Holocaust's unhealable rupture in the German-Jewish encounter, the primary focus of the course is on the continuity and vibrancy of German-Jewish life and on the variety of German-Jewish cultural expression during the period in question, including after the Shoah. Other possible authors include Moses Mendelssohn, Fanny Lewald and Karl Emil Franzos in the late 18th and the 19th centuries; Theodor Herzl, Joseph Roth, and Else Lasker-Schüler in the early 20th century; Ilse Aichinger in the immediate postwar period; and Jurek Becker, Andre Kaminski, Maxim Biller and Doron Rabinovici in more recent times. Films by Ernst Lubitsch, Ruth Beckermann, and Dani Levy also are examined. Prerequisite: GERM 325 or above or permission of instructor. Generally offered every three years. \n

Vienna 1900: The Joyful Apocalypse

GERM 357

At the turn of the 20th century, Vienna was home to figures as diverse as Sigmund Freud, Gustav Klimt, Gustav Mahler, Leon Trotsky, Adolf Hitler and Bertha von Suttner, the first women to be solely awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. How do we explain the extraordinary cultural energy of the capital of the far-flung Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was itself on the verge of disintegration? The course will first examine some of the tensions that characterized “fin-de-si&egravecle” Vienna. These included a new urban modernism that confronted historicist architectural trends; the rise of mass politics and the disintegration of political liberalism; and the power of the Habsburg monarchy in Vienna vis-&agrave-vis nationalist movements at the periphery of the empire. Against this historical backdrop, Vienna 1900 became home to a variety of modernist movements. We will explore significant figures in literature (Schnitzler, Hofmannsthal, Musil), music (Mahler, R. Strauss, Schanberg) and the visual arts (Klimt, Schiele, Kokoschka, Otto Wagner, Adolf Loos). We will investigate the psychoanalysis of Freud and the important role of the coffee house in cultural exchange. We will ask ourselves, where are women in all of this? Finally, we will examine the specific role of Jews played in this cultural flowering, tracing the emergence of modern Zionism (Theodor Herzl) in a context of growing antisemitism. This seminars readings and discussions are in German. Students who have completed GERM 321 should contact the instructor for permission. Prerequisite: GERM 325 or above or permission of instructor. Generally offered every three years.

Challenging Borders: Nation, Migration and Identity in Germany

GERM 359

Taking the concept of borders and border crossing as a central theme, we will consider how German-speaking countries have long been nodes of cultural transit and migratory exchange. The course will furthermore explore how migration challenges the borders drawn between nation states, and also blurs the boundaries of identity, language, religion, and culture. We will examine the topic from a variety of perspectives, studying the history, politics, rhetoric, and culture of immigration in Germany. The cultural aspect of the course will include literary and cinematic expressions of migration and immigrant communities. Of particular interest for this course is the influx of refugees to Europe and to Germany during the years 2014-15, as well as the political changes that have come to Germany since then. Germany took on an outside role in responding to the refugee situation in the Middle East, accepting around one million refugees and asylum seekers. Though admirable in scope and aspiration, the events sparked an intense debate about the country’s ability to absorb and integrate such a large number of immigrants, fueling the rise of right wing parties such as the “Alternative for Germany” and xenophobic groups such as Pegida. We will contextualize these contemporary debates about the refugee crisis within long-standing discussions of migration and German identity. This advanced-level course taught in German may count toward all three major tracks in MLL. Prerequisite: GERM 325 or above or permission of instructor. Generally offered every two-three years.

Uncanny Love Stories: Theories of Love in German Literature from the Enlightenment to the Present

GERM 374

The purpose of this course is twofold: to provide an overview of the development of German literature from the 18th century to the present; and to focus on the ways different writers and thinkers (and later, filmmakers) represent the fundamental human experience of love in exceptional or "uncanny" ways. The course begins with a consideration of the role of the emotions versus reason in the German Enlightenment. We then turn to the literary works from major German authors, from Goethe to Kleist, Kafka and Thomas Mann, in which love is marked by loss, violence and tragedy and/or elevated to the realm of the aesthetic. Freud's theory of love as outlined in his psychoanalytic writings informs the course in general. The course will conclude with a selection of films from the postwar era. Prerequisite: GERM 325 or above or permission of instructor. Generally offered every three years.

Special Topic

GERM 391

Myth of Nation: German Film from Nosferatu to Hitler and Beyond

GERM 395

This course will examine the construction of national identity through the medium of film. For Germany, which historically looked to its writers to define its national identity, film became a very important medium for expressing this goal. In addition to a basic understanding of the terms and methods used in the formal description of film, this course provides students with the sociohistorical background to be able to understand and evaluate the role that films played in both shaping and reflecting German cultural ideals from the early 20th century through the present. The majority of films viewed in this course will represent three distinct historical epochs: (1) the Weimar period, which produced some of the greatest silent films ever made, such as Nosferatu, The Golem, Dr. Caligari and Dr. Mabuse; (2) the Nazi period, which resulted in the artistically unequaled propaganda film The Triumph of the Will, as well as examples of Hollywood-inspired Nazi propaganda films such as Jew Süss; and (3) the post-World War II period, for which we will view films made by members of the New German Cinema, like Fassbinder's The Marriage of Maria Braun, Werner Herzog's Aguirre: The Wrath of God, and Wings of Desire by Wim Wenders. Finally, we will view a number of films that represent a reaction of sorts to the New German Cinema, such as the (anti-) war film Das Boot, as well as recent works by female filmmakers such as Margarethe von Trotta (Rosenstraße), Dorris Dörrie (Men) and Vaness Jopp (Forget America). No prerequisite. The course will be conducted in English. The course may be taken for credit toward the German major; students should consult with the instructor regarding requirements for German credit. Normally offered every two to three years.

The Holocaust: An Interdisciplinary Inquiry

INDS 231

This course presents an interdisciplinary inquiry into the destruction of European Jewry during World War II. How was it that in the 20th century, in the midst of civilized Europe, a policy of genocide was formulated and systematically implemented? We will examine the Holocaust within the contexts of modern European history, Nazi ideology and practice, the Jewish experience in Europe, the history of anti-Semitism and the psychology of human behavior. Data will be drawn from films, literature, art, memoirs, theology and historical investigations. An ongoing concern of the course will be the significance of the Holocaust in political discourse and in our own thinking as individuals. When a faculty member from religious studies, modern languages and literatures (German) or history is teaching the course, it counts toward the history, German or religious studies majors.