Spring Quarter 2005
History 12S
MW 2:15-3:30
Office Hours: Tuesday 1-3 pm & by appt.
Daniela Blei
[email protected]
From the Constitution to the Cabaret:
Art and Politics in the Weimar Republic, 1918-1933
For many observers, the period in German history between
1918 and 1933 (called the Weimar Republic after the city
where the constitution was signed) symbolizes political
failure that led inevitably it seems, to Hitler’s Third Reich.
Germany’s experiment with democracy, so the argument
goes, brought about instability and discontentment that
created a climate in which the Nazi party could thrive. But it
would be a mistake to reduce the Weimar years to a chapter
in the prehistory of National Socialism. The legacies of the
Weimar Republic—as a center for intellectual and artistic
innovation, political experimentation, and social change—
have endured until the present day, defining our ideas of
what it means to be modern.
This seminar is intended as an introduction to the sources
and methods of historical interpretation and analysis. As it is
an introductory seminar, it assumes students have no prior
experience with German history. For this reason, the course
includes secondary literature to supplement the student’s
knowledge. Most of the reading and writing assignments,
however, involve working with primary materials in order to
develop the critical skills of the historian. Reading paintings,
films, and novels “as historical texts,” students will confront
the challenges of using cultural artifacts to interrogate the
past. Students will do history instead of reading about
history, exploring the emancipatory ideas of the “golden
twenties” as well as ordinary voices struggling to come to
terms with profound change.
Course Requirements
Students are expected to read weekly assignments closely and critically before class. Reading critically means
actively engaging with the text. Remember to ask questions and take notes while reading. Consider the context in
which the document was formed and the intentions of the author. Think about the audience and how the document
might have been received.
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A one page response to the assigned readings is due at the beginning of class each Monday.
Attendance and participation are mandatory and having more than one absence and/or persistent silence
during class discussions will lower the student’s grade.
At least one visit to office hours during the course is also required. Office hours will be held on Tuesdays
from 1-3 pm at the Stanford Bookstore Café. Please do not hesitate to make an appointment to meet at a
different time.
There are two writing assignments:
o The first assignment is a 5-7 page analysis of one primary source from the course. It is due on the day that
the document is discussed in class. Students may select a document from week 3, 4, 5, or 6.
o The second assignment is an 10-12 page analysis of a primary source from outside of class. It is due the last
day of class, June 1. This source must be pre-approved by the instructor. Students may select from a number
of sources: a work of fiction, government document, memoir, film, or work of art. (Tip: A class visit to the
Hoover Archives is scheduled for April 18, where director Elena Danielson will guide students through the
poster collections from the Weimar Republic.) Students are required to submit a 2-3 page outline on May 11,
three weeks prior to the due date of the assignment.
All papers must be in hard copy. Emailed papers will not be accepted. All papers must be double spaced with good
margins.
There will be two film screenings. On Wednesday, April 27: Fritz Lang’s Metropolis at 7:30 pm and on Wednesday,
May 18: The Blue Angel at 7:30 pm. Locations t.b.a.
Honor Code
Students are responsible for fully understanding and complying with the Honor Code. Please visit the Honor Code at:
http://judicialaffairs.stanford.edu.
Grading Breakdown
Attendance and participation = 30%
Paper 1 = 35%
Paper 2 = 35%
Required Texts
The following books are available at the Stanford Bookstore and on two-hour reserve at Green Library:
Detlev Peukert, The Weimar Republic: The Crisis of Classical Modernity.
Hans Fallada, Little Man, What Now?
Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera.
Other readings can be found in the course reader, available through Copy America. A representative from Copy
America will be selling readers immediately after the first two class sessions. Copies of the course reader are also
available on reserve at Green Library.
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I. INTRODUCTION: WAR AND DEFEAT
March 30: In class examination of World War One memoirs, photographs, and propaganda.
II. CIVIL WAR, COMPROMISE, AND NEW BEGINNINGS
April 4, 6
Peukert, 3-51.
Mary Fulbrook, The Divided Nation, 17-35.
Primary Reading #1
Versailles Treaty
Erich Ludendorff, “On Overcoming the Consequences of the Lost War.”
Selections from “A Documentary History of the German Revolution.”
Harry Kessler, Diaries, 39-47; 52-69; 84-89; 117.
Novembergruppe, “Draft Manifesto 1918” and “Open Letter 1919.”
Heinrich Mann, “The Meaning and Idea of the Revolution.”
George Grosz, “Home to Berlin.”
The Constitution of the German Republic.
III. THE REPUBLIC SURVIVES
April 11, 13
2
Peukert, 52-77.
Elias Canetti, Crowds and Power, 169-171; 173-174; 178-188.
Primary Reading #2
Fritz Ringer, ed., The German Inflation of 1923, 99-118; 120-146; 163-218.
M.P. Price, “Dispatches from the Weimar Republic,” 117-144.
Thomas Mann, “Disorder and Early Sorrow.”
IV: THE PROMISES AND TASKS OF DEMOCRACY
April 18, 20: Class tour of Hoover Archives.
Peukert, 129-163.
Fulbrook, 35-43.
Primary Reading #3
Max Weber, “Politics as Vocation.”
SPD Party Program
Center Party Program
Efraim Frisch, “Jewish Sketches.”
Joseph Roth, Wandering Jews, 68-79.
Kurt Tucholsky, The World Is a Comedy, selections.
Carl von Ossietzky, “Anti-Semites.”
V: LIFE IN THE METROPOLIS
April 25, 27 (Film: Fritz Lang’s METROPOLIS)
Peukert, 164-190.
Primary Reading #4
Brecht, The Threepenny Opera.
“Berlin and the Countryside,” in The Weimar Republic Sourcebook, 420-422; 425-426.
“The Roaring Twenties: Cabaret and Urban Entertainment,” in Weimar Republic Sourcebook,
562-
567.
Carl von Ossietsky, “The Public Nuisance.”
VI: NEW ART FOR NEW TIMES
May 2, 4
Maud Lavin, Cut with a Kitchen Knife: The Photomontages of Hannah Höch, selections.
Maud Lavin, “Heartfield in Context,” 12-24.
John Willett, The New Sobriety: Art and Politics in the Weimar Period, 118-123.
Primary Reading #5
“From Dada to the New Objectivity: Art and Politics,” in Weimar Republic Sourcebook, 483-486;
493; 496-502.
Walter Gropius, “The Theory and Organization of the Bauhaus.”
Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.”
Carl von Ossietzky, “Cultural Bolshevism.”
490-
VII. WAS THERE A NEW WOMAN?
May 9, 11
3
Atina Grossman, “Girlkultur or Thoroughly Rationalized Female? A New Woman in Weimar Germany?”
62-80.
Renate Bridenthal, Claudia Koonz, “Beyond Kinder, Küche, Kirche: Weimar Women in Politics and Work,”
33-65.
Primary Reading #6
“The Rise of the New Woman,” in Weimar Republic Sourcebook, 206-213; 664-666; 715-717.
VIII. VOICES OF DISSATISFACTION
May 16, 18 (Film: THE BLUE ANGEL, starring Marlene Dietrich)
Peukert, 222-246.
Primary Reading #7
Carl von Ossietzky, The Stolen Republic, 65-73; 76-91.
Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political, selections.
“Cultural Pessimism and Diagnoses of Decline,” in Weimar Republic Sourcebook, 365-368; 369386-387.
Joseph Goebbels, “Knowledge and Propaganda.”
372;
IX. THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND THE COLLAPSE OF DEMOCRACY
May 23, 25
Peukert, 249-257.
Primary Reading #8
Hans Fallada, Little Man, What Now? 3-254.
X: THE TWISTED ROAD TO JANUARY 30, 1933
May 30 (no class), June 1
Peukert, 258-272.
Henry Ashby Turner, Hitler’s Thirty Days to Power, selections.
Primary Reading #9
Fallada, finish.
Carl von Ossietzky, The Stolen Republic, 117-129.
Bruno Heilig, “Why the Weimar Republic Fell.”
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