Department of Germanic and Slavic

Languages and Literatures

McKenna 129
276 UCB
Boulder, Colorado 80309-0276

GRMN 2301: Inside Nazi Germany
MW 2-2:50 in CHEM 142, plus recitation
Professor Patrick Greaney
Office hours: Wednesday 12:30-1:30 in McKenna 235
Syllabus date: January 18, 2017
Teaching assistants:
Giovanni Doveri / Office hours: Friday 11-12 in McKenna 116
Ross Etherton / Office hours: Monday 12:30-1:30 in McKenna 227
Franziska Schweiger / Office hours: Friday 9-10 in McKenna 227

Course summary and learning goals:
This course is a three-unit introduction to the culture of Nazi Germany. In the
first unit of the course, we begin with a discussion of the historical background for the
Nazi Partys rise to power, and then focus on the major tenets of Nazi thought. The
second unit focuses on the cinema as an exemplary form of Nazi cultural production and
also presents Nazi views on modern art. The final unit of the course examines Nazi
youth culture.
At the end of the semester, students should be able to:
- Explain Nazisms major tenets and use them to interpret Nazi texts and films;
- Describe the historical development of Nazi thought and the Nazi regime;
- Use the concepts from the course to explain how the Nazis understood and
justified their policies and actions.

Course texts:
The course books are available in the CU Bookstore; there are five: Mein Kampf,
On Pain, Nazi Germany, Ministry of Illusion, and A Hitler Youth in Poland. If you would
like to order the books online (at Amazon.com or other sites), please make sure to
order the exact edition of Mein Kampf that is in the bookstore. There are inferior
editions of Mein Kampf that are abridged and/or poorly translated, and your grade will
suffer if you rely on them. The best way to make sure you are ordering the correct
books: look up the books on the CU Bookstore website and use the ISBN listed to order
the books online.
Readings on the syllabus followed by (D2L) are on Desire2Learn, which you can
access with your Identikey at learn.colorado.edu.
All books will also be on reserve in Norlin Library, where they can be checked
out for 2 hours from the Circulation Desk. Look up the call numbers using this link:
http://libraries.colorado.edu/search/p?SEARCH=greaney

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SCHEDULE OF TOPICS AND READINGS:


UNIT 1: NAZI THOUGHT
The goal of this unit is to introduce the major tenets of Nazi thought and to explain the
rise of the Nazi movement. By the end of the unit, students should be able to define
Nazism, summarize its tenets and historical context, and discuss the importance of
culture and art in Nazi thought.

Week 1: 1/18-1/20 Introductions: Emergence of Nazi Ideology

Wednesday: Introducing the course
Recitation: Excerpt from Biology for the Middle School (D2L)
Week 2: 1/23-1/27 Rise of Nazism

Monday: Caplan, Nazi Germany, 26-47 (The Emergence of Nazi Ideology) (D2L)
Wednesday: Caplan, Nazi Germany, 48-72 (The NSDAP 1919-34: From Fringe
Politics to the Seizure of Power)
Recitation: Ernst Jnger biography; Jnger, Storm of Steel, excerpts (D2L)
Week 3: 1/30-2/3 Weimar Culture and Hitler

Monday: Texts about the Weimar Republic (D2L)
Wednesday: Ian Kershaw, The Power of the Idea (D2L); and Hitler, Mein Kampf,
157-75 (The World War)
Recitation: Hitler, Mein Kampf, Dedication and Preface and 463-80 (The
Struggle of the Early Period the Significance of the Spoken Word)
Week 4: 2/6-2/10 Race in Mein Kampf

Monday: Excerpts from Steven Beller, Antisemitism: A Very Short Introduction (D2L)
and Saul Friedlnder, Redemptive Antisemitism (D2L)
Wednesday: Hitler, Mein Kampf, 438-41 (Subjects and Citizens); 284-329
(Nation and Race)
Recitation: Klemperer, Language of the Third Reich, 97-112 (I Believe in Him)
(D2L) and discussion of Beller and Friedlnder
Week 5: 2/13-2/17 The Leadership Principle

Monday: Eric Michaud, Artist and Dictator (D2L)
Wednesday: EXAM 1: covers material up to week 4
Recitation: Hitler, Mein Kampf, 442-62 (Personality and the Conception of the
Folkish State, Philosophy and Organization), 508-17 (The Strong Man is the
Mightiest Alone)

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UNIT 2: NAZI CINEMA
The second unit focuses on the cinema under Nazism and includes discussion of the
Nazis cultural policies and views of modern art. Students should be able to interpret
Nazi films and views about art using the concepts from Unit 1 and the concepts
introduced in this unit in texts by Rentschler and Juenger.
A week of this unit is dedicated to a basic historical outline of the Shoah (or
Holocaust). By the end of the unit, students should be able to explain the basic steps in
the historical development of the Shoah.

Week 6: 2/20-2/22 Introduction to Nazi Cinema

Monday: Triumph of the Will (Dir. Leni Riefenstahl, 1935): introduction of film & in-
class partial screening; remainder of film should be viewed on D2L by Wednesday
Wednesday: Eric Rentschler, Ministry of Illusion, introduction
Recitation: Alan Sennett, Film Propaganda: Triumph of the Will as Case Study
(D2L)
Week 7: 2/27 3/3 1933: The First Nazi Feature Film

Monday: Hitler Youth Quex (Dir. Hans Steinhoff, 1933): introduction of film & in-
class partial screening; remainder of film should be viewed on D2L by Wednesday
Wednesday: Richard Evans, excerpt from Coming of the Third Reich (D2L)
Recitation: Rentschler, Emotional Engineering: Hitler Youth Quex (1933)
Week 8: 3/6-3/10 1934 German Bodies: On Pain

Monday: Ernst Jnger, On Pain, xxvii-xlvii and 1-47
Wednesday: Joseph Bendersky, Total State vs. the Dual State and Polycracy from
A Concise History of Nazi Germany (D2L)
Recitation: Discussion of On Pain and selection of Nazi texts about fitness (D2L)
MIDTERM CLASS PARTICIPATION GRADE POSTED
Week 9: 3/13-3/17 Degenerate Art

Monday: Nazi texts on culture and art (D2L)
Wednesday: Stephanie Barron, 1937: Modern Art and Politics in Prewar Germany
(D2L)
Recitation: Original brochure for Degenerate Art exhibition (D2L)
Week 10: 3/20-3/24 A Nazi Diva: Zarah Leander

Monday: No class (conference)
Wednesday: Claudia Sandberg, Far From Home? Functions of Escapism and
Portrayal of the Tropics in La Habanera (D2L); La Habanera (Dir. Detlev Sierck,
1937): introduction of film & in-class partial screening; remainder of film should be
viewed on D2L before recitation
Recitation: Eric Rentschler, Ministry of Illusion: Nazi Cinema and its Afterlife,
Astray in the New World: La Habanera
WEEK 11: SPRING BREAK

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Week 12: 4/3-4/7 From Exclusion to Mass Killing

Monday: Caplan, Nazi Germany, 122-45, 219-245 (The Policy of Exclusion:
Repression in the Nazi State, 1933-39 and Occupation, imperialism, and genocide,
1939-45)
Wednesday: EXAM 2: covers material from week 1 to week 10
Recitation: Goebbels, Sportpalast speech and selected texts on total war (D2L)
Week 13: 4/10-4/14 Total Entertainment

Monday: Mnchhausen (Dir. Josef von Baky, 1943): introduction of film & in-class
partial screening; remainder of film should be viewed on D2L by Wednesday
Wednesday: Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe and Jean-Luc Nancy, The Nazi Myth (D2L)
Recitation: Eric Rentschler, Ministry of Illusion: Nazi Cinema and its Afterlife, 193-
214; and discussion of Mnchhausen


UNIT 3: EVERYDAY LIFE AND YOUTH CULTURE
The final unit focuses on everyday life and youth culture in Nazi Germany, as well as
the transition to post-war Germany. Students should be able to explain the role of Nazi
thought and politics in everyday life; identify the similarities between Nazi society and
contemporary Western societies; and use the concepts from the earlier units to
interpret Nazi texts.

Week 14: 4/17-4/21 Nazism and Girls: BDM

Monday: Selection of texts about women and Nazism (D2L)
Wednesday: Michael H. Kater, excerpt from Hitler Youth, 1-28 (D2L)
Recitation: Michelle Mouton, Sports, Song, and Socialization: Womens Memories
of Youthful Activity and Political Indoctrination in the BDM (D2L), selected original
BDM texts (D2L)
Week 15: 4/24-4/28 Nazism and Boys: The Hitler Youth

Monday: Jost Hermand, Hitler Youth in Poland, 1-56
Wednesday: Detlev Peukert, selections from Inside Nazi Germany: The atomization
of everyday life and Nazi Germany and the pathologies and dislocations of
modernity: thirteen theses (236-49) (D2L)
Recitation: Jost Hermand, Hitler Youth in Poland, 76-95; 122-123
Week 16: 5/1-5/5 Conclusions

Monday: TBA
Wednesday: TBA
Recitation: Ian Kershaw, Hitlers Power and Destruction (D2L)

FINAL EXAM: Scheduled for Thursday, May 11, 4:30-7PM; check D2L for final date

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Course requirements:
Midterm exams (48%). The two exams will consist of short answer questions and at
least one essay question. The first exam is worth 22%; the second exam is worth 26%.
Final exam (36%). This exam will be based on the material covered during the entire
semester.
Class participation (16%). The midterm class participation grade is worth 7%, and
the final participation grade is worth 9%. Class participation is a crucial part of this course. If
you find it difficult to participate, then you may want to prepare a question or comment (or
two) before class that you can bring up in discussion. In many courses, simply showing up to
class is enough to guarantee an A or B in class participation. This is not the case in this
course. To receive an A or a B for class participation, you should be a regular, prepared
participant in class discussions.
The class participation grade measures a number of things:
- whether you are reading the assigned texts;
- whether you contribute to discussions in recitations;
- and whether you comply with the universitys classroom behavior policy (see below).
The base for your class participation grade is determined by your attendance. For
example: a student attends half the recitations. His or her highest possible grade is 50/100.
When the student attends, his or her participation is about average, in the C range, which
would be a 75 if he attended every recitation. But since the student only attended half the
recitations, then he or she can only get 75% of 50 for his participation grade, which would be
37.5%.
You are responsible for ensuring that you are counted present for recitation; that
means you should make sure that you sign the attendance sheet each week. Signing the
recitation attendance list for someone else is a violation of the honor code.
Failure to comply with the universitys classroom behavior policy will result in a zero
participation grade.

Recitation policies:
Recitations are an essential element of the course and are not optional. The recitations will
cover material not discussed in the lectures and not contained in the readings.
You must bring hard copies of the readings (including D2L readings) to recitation; you will lose
50% of the participation grade on days that you do not have hard copies of the
readings. If you decide to read the books on reserve in the library, please check them
out if possible for recitation.
If printing out the D2L readings is a financial hardship, please contact me in the first three
weeks of class.
You must attend the recitation in which you are officially registered.

Attendance and make-up policies:
If you miss a class for any reason, it is your responsibility to find out from another student the
assignment for the next class. Please do not email us to ask what was covered in class.
If you miss more than 4 recitations and are unable to provide documentation to excuse your
absences, you may receive a zero for your class participation grade for the semester
and/or an F for the course.
Exams and quizzes that are missed cannot be made up, except under certain circumstances
(documented medical emergencies).
You may not reschedule an exam to accommodate personal or family travel needs.
If an academic, athletic, or professional activity is scheduled on the day of an exam, I am willing
to consider administering a make-up. This includes conferences related to a club or

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 professional activity. But you must let me know as soon as possible, preferably in the
first three weeks of class, and you must provide documentation of your participation in
the activity.
If you have three final exams scheduled on the same day, you may take the exam at a different
time. Please notify me by email by April 1 if this is the case.
Please inform me in the first three weeks of class about anticipated absences for religious
holidays.
If you are texting during lecture or recitation, you will be counted absent. If you are texting in
lecture, you may be called upon and asked to say your name so that your TA can count
you absent.

Some general course policies:
If you would like to be addressed using a name or gender different than the one indicated on
the course registration list, please let us know.
I encourage you to come to office hours to discuss your assignments and any other academic
issue that you would like to talk about. You may visit the office hours of any one of us,
regardless of which recitation you are in.
The use of computers or other electronic devices is not allowed during lecture or recitation. If
you have a special reason for using a computer, please talk to me during my office
hours.
Exams will cover material covered in readings, lectures, and recitations.
Please inform the professor (for lecture) or the teaching assistants (for recitations) at least one
day in advance if you would like to bring a guest to class.
If you have a letter from Disability Services about accommodations for a disability, please
provide a copy of that document in person or by email to me, not to the TA. Please let
me know in the first two weeks of class, if you can. I can only make accommodations
for disabilities if I receive this document from Disability Services.
Honor code violations: Please be aware of the universitys honor code policy, which can be
found on http://honorcode.colorado.edu/ Honor code violations include not only
plagiarism, but every form of academic dishonesty. This includes signing in for
someone else on an attendance sheet or having someone else sign you in when you
are absent.

Email policy:
We are very happy to meet with you in our office hours!
We offer office hours every week in which we are available to answer questions and discuss
the course and any other academic issue. Due to the large number of students in this
course, we have to limit the amount of time dedicated to answering emails. For this
reason, you should avail yourself of our office hours.
If you do have to write us an email, please remember that email correspondence with your
professors and teaching assistants should be professional. Please use appropriate
salutations, such as Dear Prof. Greaney or Dear Dr. Greaney. Professional mails do
not begin without salutations or with salutations like Hey!
We try to answer emails within 5 days.
We cannot correspond about grades over email. Grades will be posted on D2L, and you can
discuss them in office hours.
If you have a question about the course, please check the syllabus to see if it is answered here.
Please do not send the professor or TA emails about your unexcused absences. We do not need
to know about your absences before or afterwards. Exceptions: see the make-up policy
above.

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Email contact information:
Giovanni.Doveri@colorado.edu
Ross.Etherton@colorado.edu
Greaney@colorado.edu
Franziska.Schweiger@colorado.edu

Grades:
This course will be graded according to the University of Colorados grading scale:
C = competent/average
B = good/better than average
A = superior/excellent
D- = minimum passing
F = failing
Please note that work that is just ok competent or average will receive a C.
If you ever believe that you have been graded unfairly, please come to office hours with the
assignment in question, and we will be happy to discuss the grade with you.

Grade appeal policy:
If you would like to have your grade reconsidered on any assignment, you may appeal the
grade in writing. Please submit a written explanation of the appeal to Professor
Greaney (not to your TA) within 14 calendar days of when the grade is posted on D2L.
(Exception: Appeals of the final participation grade must be submitted within 4
calendar days of being posted.) The grade appeal should be turned in in person in
office hours or after class; please do not email the appeal. You will hear about the grade
appeal decision within 14 days.
Your appeal should have two parts:
1) In the first part, explain in your own words the rationale given by your TA or the
professor for the current grade; show in this part that youve taken the time to
understand the current grade and the reasoning behind it.
2) In the second part, you should explain why you think this rationale is incorrect and
why you think you deserve a better grade. Be as specific as you can in your appeal and
include a copy of your assignment stapled to your appeal.

Some basic tips for doing well in this class:
v Keep up with the reading schedule and plan ahead. If you start studying for an exam at
the last minute, theres no time to think through complex problems or to discuss your
questions with your peers and with me.
v Come to class prepared to discuss the days text. To do this, you should read the
assigned text actively, taking notes as you read and thinking about how the reading
relates to previous assignments and class discussions.
v If the text is difficult (and some of them are difficult), ask yourself what makes it
difficult and take some notes about why and where youre stuck. This is a good starting
point for resolving the difficulty or discussing it in class.
v Take good notes in class and when reading. Your notes will be helpful for studying -
and taking notes makes you a better listener and thinker during class.
v The same goes for participation: if you take part in discussions and ask and answer
questions, you will be able to understand the material much better than if you just sit
there in class. Active engagement with the course material will make preparing for
the exams much easier.

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 v If you dont understand something, ask a question. You probably arent the only one
who didnt understand something, and your question will be helpful not only for you,
but for the rest of the class. They will be grateful, and we will be grateful for the
opportunity to explain the material again and in a different way.
v Sometimes you might only realize after class that you didnt get something. In this case,
please ask a question during the next class.
v Avail yourself of your professors and TAs office hours.
v Do not miss class; absences will lower your final grade.
(Some of these tips are adapted from the syllabus of Michael Du Plessis, University of Southern
California.)

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The following paragraphs describe a number of university policies relevant to the classroom. If
you have any questions about them, please let me know, and I will be happy to discuss them or to
find out more about them for you.

Accommodation for Disabilities
If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, please submit to your professor a
letter from Disability Services in a timely manner (for exam accommodations provide your
letter at least one week prior to the exam) so that your needs can be addressed. Disability
Services determines accommodations based on documented disabilities. Contact Disability
Services at 303-492-8671 or by email at dsinfo@colorado.edu. If you have a temporary
medical condition or injury, see Temporary Injuries guidelines under the Quick Links at the
Disability Services website and discuss your needs with your professor.

Religious Holidays
Campus policy regarding religious observances requires that faculty make every effort to deal
reasonably and fairly with all students who, because of religious obligations, have conflicts
with scheduled exams, assignments or required attendance. Please let me know as soon as
possible about possible absences due to religious holidays, preferably within the first three
weeks of the semester. See the campus policy regarding religious observances for full details.

Classroom Behavior
Students and faculty each have responsibility for maintaining an appropriate learning
environment. Those who fail to adhere to such behavioral standards may be subject to
discipline. Professional courtesy and sensitivity are especially important with respect to
individuals and topics dealing with differences of race, color, culture, religion, creed, politics,
veteran's status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and gender expression, age,
disability, and nationalities. Class rosters are provided to the instructor with the student's legal
name. We will gladly honor your request to address you by an alternate name or gender
pronoun. Please advise us of this preference early in the semester so that we may make
appropriate changes to my records. For more information, see the policies on classroom
behavior and the student code.

Sexual Misconduct, Discrimination, Harassment and/or Related Retaliation
The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) is committed to maintaining a positive
learning, working, and living environment. CU Boulder will not tolerate acts of sexual
misconduct, discrimination, harassment or related retaliation against or by any employee or
student. CU's Sexual Misconduct Policy prohibits sexual assault, sexual exploitation, sexual
harassment, intimate partner abuse (dating or domestic violence), stalking or related

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retaliation. CU Boulder's Discrimination and Harassment Policy prohibits discrimination,
harassment or related retaliation based on race, color, national origin, sex, pregnancy, age,
disability, creed, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, veteran
status, political affiliation or political philosophy. Individuals who believe they have been
subject to misconduct under either policy should contact the Office of Institutional Equity and
Compliance (OIEC) at 303-492-2127. Information about the OIEC, the above referenced
policies, and the campus resources available to assist individuals regarding sexual misconduct,
discrimination, harassment or related retaliation can be found at the OIEC website.

Honor Code
All students enrolled in a University of Colorado Boulder course are responsible for knowing
and adhering to the academic integrity policy of the institution. Violations of the policy may
include: plagiarism, cheating, fabrication, lying, bribery, threat, unauthorized access, clicker
fraud, resubmission, and aiding academic dishonesty. All incidents of academic misconduct
will be reported to the Honor Code Council (honor@colorado.edu; 303-735-2273). Students
who are found responsible for violating the academic integrity policy will be subject to
nonacademic sanctions from the Honor Code Council as well as academic sanctions from the
faculty member. Additional information regarding the academic integrity policy can be found
at http://honorcode.colorado.edu.