German Studies 356: Rebels with a Cause: Rebels and Revolutionaries in the German Speaking World

This course introduces unconventional thinkers and political activists of the German-speaking world in the late nineteenth and throughout the twentieth century. From the suffragist movement and communist and anarchist theories in the Weimar Republic to dissent in the GDR and anti-imperialist critique in Western Postwar Germany via antifascist activism in Nazi Germany, students will study German history and culture through the lens of political essays, poetry and short stories. Students will read works by well-known thinkers and activists such as anarchist Rosa Luxemburg, Jewish writer Anne Frank, and RAF activist Ulrike Meinhoff, and explore texts by writers who are now mostly ignored by the literary canon, for example, the early feminist writer Elsa Asenijeff. The course is conducted in English, and readings will be available in both German and English. Students with advanced German language skills will complete reading, some writing, and discussion in German. Formerly German 409; may not be taken for credit if previously completed 409.