Europeans Remember War in the Twentieth Century HIST121 SP

In recent years, questions about the ways we remember the past have attracted wide public attention and produced considerable controversy. Both President Reagan's decision to visit a German cemetery at Bitburg and, more recently, the debates about the Smithsonian exhibit on the bombing of Hiroshima have demonstrated the various contexts in which history can be, and is, produced outside of the academy. This seminar will examine the different ways that Europeans have remembered and memorialized the World Wars of the twentieth century. We will explore the differences between collective official memory, and history as we examine the different genres used to represent historical events. We will inquire: How did memories of World War I affect interpretations of World War II? What is at stake in the choice of particular war memorials? When we speak of collective memory, exactly whose memory is being invoked? Are there differences between collective memory and official memory? How has mass culture affected the transmission of historical memory? What kind of history emerges through docudramas and documentaries?

MAJOR READINGS

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

COURSE FORMAT: Seminar

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UG Credit: 1.00 Gen Ed Area & Dept: SBS HIST

Prerequisites: None

Last Updated on MAR-10-1997