History

This course examines German history from the end of the Second World War to the present. Beginning with the Allied occupation of Germany in 1945, the course investigates the formation of two separate states: the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany. Using the tools of social, cultural, political, and gender history, the course considers themes such as: everyday life under communism and capitalism, Cold War politics, protest and terrorism, the memory of Holocaust crimes, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and the many challenges facing Germany in the post-unification era.