126-477 Mastering the East German Past: Victims, Perpetrators of the Stasi

Note

Available as 126-377 at 3rd-year level.

Credit Points

Coordinator

Semester

Contact

Subject Description

This subject will look at recent attempts to examine and confront the East German past in literature, film, diaries and memoirs, particularly as it relates to the explosive issue of East Germany's secret police, the Stasi. The focus of the subject will be on texts and narratives written by the Stasi's victims and perpetrators which address questions of individual guilt and moral responsibility in relation to the past. The sorts of narratives studied include: documentary narratives by victims in search of psychological and historical reasons for their sufferings at the hands of the Stasi, diaries by journalists who interviewed Stasi employees, interviews with Stasi informers themselves and their stories, to fictional works such as Christa Wolf's Was Bleibt which have as their theme surveillance by the Stasi and individual complicity.

Assessment

Written work of no more than 5,000 words for MA, 4,000 for 4th year and 3,000 for 3rd year.

Prescribed Texts

• Wolf, Christa, Was Bleibt?. Luchterhand 1990.