We encounter several different types of historical texts in our studies, including primary sources, statistics, maps, historical essays, textbook writings, and contemporary literature. Written assignments are designed to encourage students to analyze the ideas encountered in course readings to explain the unfolding of historical events and formulate persuasive arguments using historical evidence.

Required Texts:

• textbook: Mary Fulbrook, ed. German history since 1800.
• dramatic work: Bertold Brecht, The Threepenny Opera.
• anthology: Geoff Eley, ed. Society, Culture and the State in Germany, 1870-1930.
• documentary reader: Joachim Remak, The Nazi Years.

Course Format and Requirements:

This course consists primarily of short lectures, discussions, and activities. Students are required to attend all meetings on time and participate in class exercises and discussions. Attendance and participation will be graded. All readings are due on the date listed on the course calendar. There may be 1 or more unannounced quizzes. Students who arrive to class after roll call will be marked absent. Students who are absent or late for more than 6 classes will automatically fail the course.

One 6-8 page paper, analyzing the Brecht text, and several additional 1-2 page essays are required. All assignments are due at the beginning of class on the date due. The midterm and final examinations, composed of short and long essay questions, are not cumulative. Students will receive zero credit for all tests/papers/other work submitted late, or missed during unexcused absences. Students who have excused absences must write essays to make up missed classwork. Students who submit work copied from others or who fail to cite or acknowledge other peoples’ ideas are subject to university penalties for academic dishonesty, including, but not limited to, a grade of F for the course.

Paper format:

All papers must be typewritten, spell-checked, double-spaced with one-inch margins, collated, and stapled. A page of text must contain 250 words minimum -- a paragraph consists of at least three complete sentences. Do not begin or end a paragraph with a quotation. Avoid passive voice. Proofread carefully. Papers must provide Turabian-style footnotes or endnotes and a complete bibliography. All papers will be graded on the thoroughness of their research, quality of argumentation, use of evidence, and correctness of style and form.

Brecht papers:
What does The Threepenny Opera reveal about the problems of life in Weimar Germany?
Using the text of Brecht’s classic play, The Threepenny Opera, as an historical source, examine the problems Germany faced in the Weimar era. This assignment requires students to employ a contemporary play and other artistic works, as well as class readings and outside research, to uncover the nature of Weimar society. Select one aspect of Weimar culture to discuss in detail in order to highlight how well the play tells us about the era. Possible paper topics include Weimar class relations, women’s issues, politics, or economic concerns. For example, you might discuss how well the play exemplifies crime in Weimar Germany, or whether other working-class women faced the same problems as the female characters.

Essays:
Respond to one of the assigned questions in 500 words or less. You may not exceed this length. Use information from class readings and discussions to analyze assigned texts(and consult other sources if you wish). Students must redo this assignment until the instructor is satisfied with their results.

Essay topics:

1. Maynes or Blackbourne essay
   Why did the German state figure so strongly in ordinary Germans’ lives?
2. Retallak, Domansky, or Crew essay
   How did the German state’s policies benefit and/or restrict individual Germans?
3. Remak sourcebook
   Given what you know about the Nazi Party program, should Germans have been surprised by the results of Hitler’s dictatorship?