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FS30EA: CONFRONTING THE NAZI PAST IN GERMAN AND AUSTRIAN FILM - A (2020-2021)

Last modified: 05 Aug 2021 13:04


Course Overview

 The process of confronting the crimes and legacy of the Third Reich in Germany and Austria has been a long and difficult one. In West Germany this process began in earnest following the 1968 student revolution, with a younger generation questioning the role that their parents had played in the Second World War. In Austria, the process of coming to terms with the Nazi legacy took substantially longer to get underway, and it is only over the past thirty years that the country's view of its role during the Third Reich has shifted decisively from that of victimhood to complicity. The discussion about the Nazi past in Germany has further evolved following German re-unification in 1990. This course will look at a number of key films and directors from the past seven decades to examine the changing discourse and shifts in representation of the Nazi legacy in Germany and Austria. The course will proceed chronologically, encompassing both fiction and documentary film, offering the opportunity to compare and draw connections between films from different periods and of diverse genres.

 

Course Details

Study Type Undergraduate Level 3
Session First Sub Session Credit Points 30 credits (15 ECTS credits)
Campus Aberdeen Sustained Study No
Co-ordinators
  • Dr Katya Krylova

What courses & programmes must have been taken before this course?

  • Either Programme Level 3 or Programme Level 4
  • Film And Visual Culture (FS)
  • Any Undergraduate Programme

What other courses must be taken with this course?

None.

What courses cannot be taken with this course?

None.

Are there a limited number of places available?

No

Course Description

The process of confronting the crimes and legacy of the Third Reich in Germany and Austria has been a long and difficult one. In West Germany this process began in earnest following the 1968 student revolution, with a younger generation questioning the role that their parents had played in the Second World War. In Austria, the process of coming to terms with the Nazi legacy took substantially longer to get underway, and it is only over the past thirty years that the country's view of its role during the Third Reich has shifted decisively from that of victimhood to complicity. The discussion about the Nazi past in Germany has further evolved following German re-unification in 1990. This course will look at a number of key films and directors from the past seven decades to examine the changing discourse and shifts in representation of the Nazi legacy in Germany and Austria. The course will proceed chronologically, encompassing both fiction and documentary film, offering the opportunity to compare and draw connections between films from different periods and of diverse genres.

We will begin by looking at the first film made in postwar Germany, Die Mörder sind unter uns (The Murderers Are Among Us, 1946) by Wolfgang Staudte, and its depiction of the immediate aftermath of the war. We will proceed to analyse Die Sehnsucht der Veronika Voss (Veronika Voss, 1982) by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and its portrayal of the pervasive culture of forgetting in postwar Germany. In the Austrian context, we will examine Axel Corti’s seminal trilogy Wohin und zurück (Where to and back, 1982-86), focusing particularly on the concluding part, Welcome in Vienna, which documents the problematic return of the protagonist to his hometown at the end of the Second World War. We will consider two exemplary Austrian documentary films, which explore the climate of silencing and repression surrounding personal involvement in the Nazi war machine and in the Holocaust: Ruth Beckermann’s Jenseits des Krieges (East of War, 1996), and Eduard Erne’s and Margareta Heinrich’s Totschweigen (A Wall of Silence, 1994). The treatment of the Holocaust in the new Berlin Republic will be examined through Margarethe von Trotta’s Rosenstraße (2003). We will proceed to look at documentary films which detail the fraught endeavour of confronting a family legacy of National Socialism: Malte Ludin’s 2 oder 3 Dinge, die ich von ihm weiß (2 or 3 Things I Know About Him, 2005) and Marcus J. Carney’s The End of the Neubacher Project (2006). The phenomenon of the “comedic turn” in German fiction films about the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler will be explored through Dani Levy’s Mein Führer (My Führer, 2007) and David Wnendt’s 2015 adaptation of Timur Vermes’s bestseller Er ist wieder da (Look who’s back). The course will conclude with two recent treatments of the Nazi legacy, Christian Petzold’s film Phoenix (2014) and Giulio Ricciarelli’s Im Labyrinth des Schweigens (Labyrinth of Lies, 2014), films which offer a commentary on the insufficient confrontations with the Nazi legacy in early postwar Germany.


Contact Teaching Time

Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.

Teaching Breakdown

More Information about Week Numbers


Details, including assessments, may be subject to change until 31 August 2023 for 1st half-session courses and 22 December 2023 for 2nd half-session courses.

Summative Assessments

Tutorial/Seminar Participation

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 20
Assessment Weeks Feedback Weeks

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Feedback

Written and oral feedback.

Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
Sorry, we don't have this information available just now. Please check the course guide on MyAberdeen or with the Course Coordinator

Essay

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 40
Assessment Weeks Feedback Weeks

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Feedback

Written feedback.

Word Count 2000
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
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One 3-day take-away exam paper

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 40
Assessment Weeks Feedback Weeks

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Feedback

Written feedback.

Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
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Formative Assessment

There are no assessments for this course.

Resit Assessments

resubmission of 2,000 word essay submission

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 100
Assessment Weeks Feedback Weeks

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Feedback
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
Sorry, we don't have this information available just now. Please check the course guide on MyAberdeen or with the Course Coordinator

Course Learning Outcomes

Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ReflectionAnalyseFocus on the development and evolution of filmic representations of the Nazi past in German and Austrian cinema since 1945, encouraging students to draw connections and comparisons
ReflectionEvaluateExplore how cinema can both reflect and shape debates and controversies related to confronting the Nazi past in the German and Austrian context.
ConceptualAnalyseIntroduce students to German and Austrian film since 1945 from different periods and of diverse genres

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