GM3134 National Socialism and the Third Reich in German film and visual culture from 1933 to the present

2018-9: Term 2

Convenor and tutor: Dr Jon Hughes

Assessment:

Formative assignment(0%) – an in-class presentation at the end of Term 1

Summative assignment (30%) – an essay of 2000-2500 words

Examination (70%) – 2 hours

Overview:

The course covers the period of the Third Reich to present-day Germany. You will study a broad range of examples of the visual representation of National Socialism as an ideology, a political movement and a 'national' phenomenon. Starting in the 1930s and 1940s, you will be introduced to National Socialism in its historical context and asked to consider its defining characteristics. You will consider the Nazis’ use of propaganda and ceremony, focusing on film and graphic and fine art under Hitler. The course will then focus on the aftermath of the war in both West and East Germany, and the problematic idea of the 'Zero Hour'. You will consider early attempts to 'come to terms' with the past. The debates around Vergangenheitsbewältigung (coming to terms with the past) provide the focus for the next part of the course. You will study the depiction of perpetrators/victims, and of moral ambiguity before moving on to analyse the debates around German national responsibility for the Holocaust in the context of depictions of the failure of memory and denial in German film of the 1980s and 1990s, and conclude by studying the more recent trend towards 'normalization' in films incorporating 'ordinary' Germans and/or 'good Germans'. Throughout, you will comparatively consider the role of visual art in the above debates and trends, using the post-war work of George Grosz and Anselm Kiefer as case studies, alongside analysis of site-specific memorials.

Set films:

Olympia I and II, dir. Leni Riefenstahl (1936)

Hitlerjunge Quex (Hitler Youth Quex), dir. Hans Steinhoff, 1933

Deutschland, im Jahre Null (Germany, Year Zero), dir. Roberto Rosselini, 1948

Die Blechtrommel (The Tin Drum), dir. Volker Schlöndorff, 1979

Das schreckliche Mädchen (The Nasty Girl), dir. Michael Verhoeven, 1990

Der Untergang (Downfall), dir. Oliver Hirschbiegel, 2004

Sophie Scholl, die letzten Tage (Sophie Scholl, the last days), dir. Marc Rothemund, 2005

Elser (13 Minutes), dir. Oliver Hirschbiegel, 2015