About A Divided Nation
A Germany Divided
From 1949 until 1990, Germany was divided into two nations. The German Democratic Republic in the east was a communist state under Soviet influence and was the most economically successful of the eastern bloc countries. In its Constitution, the GDR described itself as a “democratic republic” in which “all state authority emanates from the people.” The Federal Republic of Germany in the west was called the “economic miracle on the Rhine” and was held up as an example of a vibrant democracy. But in both cases beneath the surface was a darker story. In the GDR , one out of every sixty people was a Stasi informant, reporting on neighbors and friends to East Germany’s secret police. And in the west, those who controlled the political and economic systems in the decades after WWII had spent their formative years as part of the Nazi regime. Many of them had been dedicated members of the Nazi Party. Looming over all of this was the Cold War with its threat of nuclear annihilation. And nowhere did these multiple themes collide more powerfully than in the divided city of Berlin. As the two nations stared each other down over a militarized border, both sides knew that if the Cold War ever turned hot, Berlin was likely to provide the spark.
About The Course
In this course, we will explore the dramatic and tense history of a divided nation by spending time in three different cities. First is Frankfurt, the financial capital of West Germany and, during the Cold War, home to a major US Airforce base, but also a deportation site for countless Jews including Anne Frank. After several days in western Germany, we will move on to Jena, a picturesque, university town surrounded by hills and forests, where we will learn about day-to-day life in the GDR and will spend one day at Buchenwald, a Nazi concentration camp that was later used by the Soviets as a prison for captured Nazis. Then it is on to Berlin, the largest city in Germany and one of the most vibrant urban centers in Europe. Our site visits will include Hohenschönhausen, the infamous Stasi prison, where we will talk to witnesses who were incarcerated there, and Bernauer Straße, where East Germans tried to escape into the West by jumping from their apartment windows after the wall went up. We will talk with Berliners about what it was like to live in a divided city. And, as you work on your main project for the course, you will explore the city either on your own or with a classmate. By the time you return home, you will have a good sense of not only the Germany of yesterday but also the Germany of today.
