Course Schedule

WEEK 1 – INTRODUCTION

Wed 1/20—Introduction to Course

In class

  • Introductions
  • Intro to course and requirements
  • War in 20th Europe
  • “Memory” as an object of study
  • Examples of works of memory

After Class—Discussion forum

  • Share initial reading comments on Judt by Friday night at midnight – Joanna and Dylan
  • Everyone else share one comment by Sunday night at midnight (night before class)

WEEK 2 – ORIENTATION TO HISTORY & MEMORY IN CONTEMPORARY EUROPE

Mon 1/25—Myth and Memory Post-1945

Read for class

  • Tony Judt, “The Past Is Another Country: Myth and Memory in Postwar Europe,” in The Politics of Retribution in Europe (2000) – in Moodle readings folder
  • European Parliament resolution of 19 September 2019 on the importance of European remembrance for the future of Europe (2019) – in Moodle readings folder

In Class

  • Introduction to Tony Judt and the Reading on Postwar Memory (Failures)
  • Discussion Questions
  • Ex. of the Myth of Resistance
  • European Parliament Resolution on European Remembrance

After Class—Discussion forum

  • Follow up comments are welcomed
  • Share initial reading comments on Winter by Monday night at midnight – Turner and Jay
  • Everyone else share one comment by Tuesday at midnight (night before class)

Wed 1/27—Memory in History and the First World War

Read for class

  • Jay Winter, Remembering War: The Great War Between Memory and History (2006), “Setting the Scene” – in Moodle readings folder

In Class

  • Guiding Thoughts for the Course
  • Introduction to Jay Winter and the Reading on Memory Booms
  • Discussion Questions
  • Ex. of the Stab in the Back Myth

After Class—Discussion forum

  • Follow up comments are welcomed
  • Share intro to Monday’s topic by midnight on Friday – everyone presenting on Monday

WEEK 3 – READINGS IN THE HISTORY OF WAR AND MEMORY

Mon 2/1

Before Class

  • Skim this short intro:
    • Jay Winter and Emmanuel Sivan, War and Remembrance, “Introduction,” pp. 1-5 – see book on CONSORT or Cambridge Core
  • Read with your partner (if you have one) your assigned chapter/article – see book on CONSORT or Cambridge Core
    • Jay Winter, “Forms of kinship and remembrance in the aftermath of the Great War” in Winters and Sivan, War and Remembrance (1999) – Collin & Jay
    • Catherine Merridale, “War, death, and remembrance in Soviet Russia” in Winters and Sivan, War and Remembrance (1999) – Lachlan
    • Paloma Aguilar, “Agents of memory: Spanish Civil War veterans and disabled soldiers” in Winters and Sivan, War and Remembrance (1999) – Dylan & Joanna
  • Note: You may want to read in JSTOR articles or encyclopedias or reference works to get additional background on your topic
  • Also of interest
    • Pierre Sorlin, “Children as War Victims in Postwar European Film” in Winters and Sivan, War and Remembrance (1999)
  • Discuss your article with your partner (if you have one)
  • Prepare a short (3 slide, 10 minute) presentation on the article you read. Your aim is to teach the article to the rest of the class. I’d suggest a few slides: an intro to the topic, the key arguments and examples of the article, and some questions for discussion. Leave the class with some questions that we could talk about together.

In Class

  • Introduction to “Social Agency” Approach to Memory
    • Nora, Psychology, Warburg, Halbwachs, etc.
  • Kinship in Great War Memory
  • Wounded Soldiers and Memory of Spanish Civil War
  • Discussion

After Class—Discussion forum

  • Share a brief introduction to your topic by Monday night at midnight – everyone presenting on Wednesday

Wed 2/3

Before Class

  • Read with your partner (if you have one) your assigned chapter/article – see book on CONSORT or Cambridge Core
    • Annette Wieviorka, “From survivor to witness: voices from the Shoah” in Winters and Sivan, War and Remembrance (1999) – Caitlin & Isabel
    • Antoine Prost, “The Algerian War in French collective memory” in Winters and Sivan, War and Remembrance (1999) – Matthew
    • Martin Jay, “Against consolation: Walter Benjamin and the refusal to mourn” in Winters and Sivan, War and Remembrance (1999) – Peter & Turner
  • Note: You may want to read in JSTOR articles or encyclopedias or reference works to get additional background on your topic
  • Discuss your article with your partner (if you have one)
  • Prepare a short (3 slide, 10 minute) presentation on the article you read. Your aim is to teach the article to the rest of the class. I’d suggest a few slides: an intro to the topic, the key arguments and examples of the article, and some questions for discussion. Leave the class with some questions that we could talk about together.

After Class—Discussion forum

  • Follow up comments are welcomed
  • Share first observations on work to come
  • Comment by Saturday at midnight

WEEK 4 – THEORIES OF HISTORY AND MEMORY

Mon 2/8

Before class:

Read excerpts from Jeffrey Olick, Vered Vinitzy-Seroussi, and Daniel Levy, eds., The Collective Memory Reader (2011) – in Moodle readings folder

Read one of the following:

  • Edmund Burke, from Reflections on the Revolution in France
  • Ernest Renan, from “What is a Nation?”

Read:

  • Maurice Halbwachs, from The Collective Memory

Read two of the following carefully and be ready to present the central idea and questions that follow:

  • Aleida Assmann, from “Canon and Archive”
  • Walter Benjamin, from “The Storyteller” and “Theses on the Philosophy of History” – on modernity – Peter
  • M. Christine Boyer, from The City of Collective Memory: Its Historical Imagery and Architectural Entertainments
  • Peter Burke, from “History as Social Memory”
  • Paul Connerton, from How Societies Remember – on inscribed memory – Collin
  • Daniel Dayan and Elihu Katz, from Media Events: The Live Broadcasting of History
  • Andreas Huyssen, from “Present Pasts: Media, Politics, Amnesia” – on late modernity
  • Reinhard Koselleck, from “War Memorials: Identity Formations of the Survivors” – Dylan
  • Daniel Levy and Natan Sznaider, from “Memory Unbound: The Holocaust and the Formation of Cosmopolitan Memory”
  • Michel-Rolph Trouillot, from “Abortive Rituals: Historical Apologies in the Global Era”
  • James Young, from At Memory’s Edge: After-Images of the Holocaust in Contemporary Art and Architecture – on counter memory – Isabel

In Class:

  • Glenna on Shoah, dir. Claude Lanzmann, France, 1985
  • Discuss Burke & Renan
  • Discuss Halbwachs
  • Discuss theories of historical memory

Additional references

Wed 2/10

Before class:

  • No additional reading
  • Come to class with your paper draft

In Class:

  • Discuss Halbwachs
  • Discuss theories of historical memory
  • Discuss papers

After class:

  • Paper #1 due Saturday night at 11:59pm

WEEK 5 – WORLD WAR 1

Mon 2/15

Before class:

  • Watch They Shall Not Grow Old, dir. Peter Jackson, New Zealand/UK, 2018
  • Optional: Read New York Times review, “World War I in Living Color,” New York Times, Jan. 31, 2019 – online here – and in Moodle readings folder

In class:

  • Icebreaker
  • A Few Words on WW1 Memory
  • Discuss They Shall Not Grow Old

Wed 2/17

Before class:

  • Read “AHR Roundtable: Reanimating the Great War on the Screen: Peter Jackson’s They Shall Not Grow Old” – in Moodle readings folder
    • Introduction
    • Santanu Das, “Colors of the Past: Archive, Art, and Amnesia in a Digital Age”
    • Susan Grayzel, “Who Gets to Be in the War Story? Absences and Silences in They Shall Not Grow Old”
    • Jessica Meyer, “Sound and Silence in Peter Jackson’s They Shall Not Grow Old”
    • Catherine Robson, “Age and Youth, Sound and Vision”

In class:

  • Icebreaker
  • Discuss They Shall Not Grow Old

For More

WEEK 6 – CONTENTIOUS MEMORIES IN CONTEMPORARY GERMANY

Mon 2/22

Before class:

In class:

  • Icebreaker
  • Introduction to German Memory of the Holocaust – Jay and Peter
  • Discuss Langenbacker

Tues 2/23 Evening Lecture

Watch lecture at United States Holocaust Museum, Tuesday 2/23 at 7pm

  • Susan Neiman, “Working through the Past”: German Efforts to Face Their Nazi History”
  • Watch here

Wed 2/24

Before class:

  • No additional reading

In class:

  • Icebreaker
  • Primary/Visual Source Leaders – Turner and Isabel
  • Discuss Neiman

For More

  • “Holocaust remembrance in Germany: A Changing Culture,” in Deutsche Welle, January 27, 2019
  • “Never Forget” on Deutschland.de
  • “Vergangenheitsbewältigung” on Wikipedia
  • “Historikerstreit” on Wikipedia
  • Susan Neiman, “Learning from the Germans: Race and the Memory of Evil – Holocaust Living History Workshop” – University of California Television – at https://youtu.be/emyY97ToZZc
  • “How Germany Can Help America Remember” – On the Media at WNYC – online here
  • Geoff Eley, “Contemporary Germany and Denial: Is ‘Nazism’ All there is to Say?” History Workshop (2017)
  • Richard Evans, The Third Reich in History and Memory (2015) – at EBook Central
  • Robert Moeller, War Stories: The Search for a Usable Past in the Federal Republic of Germany (2001)
  • Jeffrey Herf, Divided Memory: The Nazi Past in the Two Germanys (1997)
  • Charles Maier, The Unmasterable Past: History, Holocaust, and German National Identity (1988)
  • Günter Grass, The Tin Drum (1959)
  • The Nasty Girl, Dir. Michael Verhoeven, BRD (1990)

WEEK 7 – THE HOLODOMOR – FAMINE IN UKRAINE

Mon 3/1

Before Class

  • For reference, but I suggest you spend a bit of time reading or skimming to understand the Holodomor as told by a major historian
  • Explore (for 30 minutes or so) the Holodomor Research and Education Consortium website (Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies)
  • Read – this will be the central topic of our discussion
    • Wiktoria Kudela-Świątek,”The Lieux De Mémoire Of The Holodomor In The Cultural Landscape Of Modern Ukraine,” in The Burden of the Past: History, Memory, and Identity in Contemporary Ukraine (2020) – online here and in Moodle readings folder

In Class

  • Icebreaker
  • Introduction to Ukraine and Holodomor Memories
  • Presentation & Discussion Questions on Reading – Collin & Dylan
  • Discuss

Wed 3/3

Before class:

  • Watch excerpts from Mr. Jones (2019), dir. Agnieszka Holland. Full film available here on Kanopy. You will need a Wooster account to access.
    • Watch as much as you like, but at least see the scene from 54min to about 1:05min, from Mr. Jones on a train full of peasants to his excursion into the Ukrainian countryside. Note that there are some harsh depictions of dead bodies and brutality – and worse, if you keep watching.
  • Read Daria Mattingly, “Idle, Drunk, And Good For Nothing: Cultural Memory of the
    Rank-and-File Perpetrators of the 1932–33 Famine in Ukraine,” in The Burden of the Past: History, Memory, and Identity in Contemporary Ukraine (2020) – online here and in Moodle readings folder
  • Bring notes on Paper #2 – your outline or draft or initial ideas

Some questions to consider:

  • What can the film Mr. Jones tell us about the suffering of the Holodomor and how widely this event was known around the world? How may that impact the memory of it today?
  • What else struck you about the film as important to note?
  • According to Mattingly, how was the Holodomor carried out?
  • How have low-level perpetrators been remembered- in print, film, popular culture, etc.
  • How did the intent, time period, country, and beliefs of the creator influence these works?
  • How did various groups – villagers, Soviets, diaspora, future ancestors, view and remember the low-level perpetrators?
  • What were the various reasons why villagers participated in enforcing collectivization? How did things like gender, class, occupation, age, and ideology play into this?
  • Does Mattingly’s work complicate what we know about the Holodomor, or what we know about how it has been memorialized, and if so, how?

In class:

  • Icebreaker
  • Paper #2 – Discuss Paper #2 Ideas – All
  • Presentation on a Primary Source – Matthew
  • DIscuss Mr. Jones and Film “Memories”
  • Discuss Mattingly and Perpetrators
  • Intro to next week

For More 

Sat 3/6–Paper Due

  • Paper #2 due Saturday night at 11:59pm (upload to Moodle)

WEEK 8 – THE RETURN OF THE REPRESSED IN CONTEMPORARY FRANCE

Mon 3/8—Who Fought for France?

Before class:

  • Read a couple current articles, as a way to understand the debate over French colonialism
  • Watch Days of Glory (Indigènes), dir. Rachid Bouchareb, France, 2006 – on our Stream Channel
  • Read Alec Hargreaves, “Indigènes: A Sign of the TImes,” Research in African Literatures  (2007) – online here – and in Moodle readings folder

Some questions to consider:

  • What memory of WWII does this film seek to create? What does it have to say about why men in North Africa joined the French Army, and why does it think we should remember them?
  • Does this film have a political memory? Does it seek to reconcile, bring awareness, or simply remember?
  • How do the visual and audio elements help to reinforce the ideas and memories of the film? What stood out to you?
  • What does Alec Hargreaves have to say about the memory this film creates, and do you agree with him?
  • What else, in your opinion, needs to be done to address the memory of the French soldiers of empire?

In Class

  • Icebreaker
  • Introduction to French Memories of Colonialism
  • Presentation & Discussion Questions on Reading – Matthew & Collin
  • Discuss

Wed 3/10—The War Without a Name–Memories of the Algerian War

Before class:

  • Read these short news pieces for orientation:
  • Read Amy L. Hubbell, “Scandalous Memory: Terrorism Testimonial from the Algerian War,” Contemporary French and Francophone Studies (2018) – online here – and in Moodle readings folder
  • Read Benjamin Stora, “When A (War) Memory Hides Another (Colonial) Memory,”
    in The Colonial Legacy in France: Fracture, Rupture, and Apartheid (2017) – online here – and in Moodle readings folder

In class:

  • Icebreaker
  • Battle of Algiers & the Film Memory of the Algerian War – Glenna
  • Discuss French Memories of the Algerian War
  • Presentation on a Primary Source – Dylan
  • Presentation on a Primary Source – Turner
  • Discuss

For More 

WEEK 9 – DIGGING UP THE VICTIMS OF FRANCO

Mon 3/15—History and Memory in Post Franco Spain

Before class:

  • Read or skim a couple news articles and wikipedia pieces that will help give you a sense for the current state of “historical memory” in Spain
    • “Pact of Forgetting,” Wikipedia – online here
    • “Historical Memory Law,” Wikipedia – online here
    • “The Valley of the Fallen,” Wikipedia – online here
    • “The Guardian view on General Franco’s exhumation: a Spanish lesson in memory: Editorial,” The Guardian, Oct. 25, 2019 – online here
    • “Last public statue of Spanish dictator Franco is removed,” The Guardian, Feb, 23, 2021 – online here
    • Stephen Phelan, “The Valley of the Fallen: Inside Spain’s Most Controversial Tourist Site,” The Independent, March 31, 2017 – online here
  • Read – this will be the main subject of our discussion – Sebastiaan Faber, “¿Usted, qué sabe?” History, Memory, and the Witness,” from Memory Battles of the Spanish Civil War (2018) – online here – and in Moodle readings folder

In Class

  • Icebreaker
  • Introduction to Spain and Memories of Franco
  • Presentation & Discussion Questions on Faber – Peter & Glenna
  • Discuss

Wed 3/17—The Search for Justice

Before

  • Alternatively – if you want to learn more about the twists of memory in early 21st century Spain
    • Watch Volver, dir. Pedro Almodóvar, 2006 – on our Stream Channel
      • Volver is a work of entertainment from the fecund imagination of Pedro Almodóvar. The film is not explicitly about Franco, or Spanish history, or traumatic memories of Francoism. In what way does it seem to be a “work of memory”?
    • Watch Pan’s Labyrinth, dir. Guillermo del Toro, 2006 – on our Stream Channel
      • Pan’s Labyrinth tells the story of the 1940s in Spain through the eyes of a child seeking escape.

In class:

  • Icebreaker
  • Presentation on ARMH – Glenna
  • Presentation on a Source – Peter
  • Discuss

For More 

WEEK 10 – HOLOCAUST MEMORIES & DENIALS

Mon 3/22—Holocaust Denial

Before class:

  • Watch Deborah Lipstadt, “Behind the Lies of Holocaust Denial,” TEDxSkoll (2017) – online here
  • Read Deborah Lipstadt, “Holocaust Denial: An Antisemitic Fantasy,* Modern Judaism Vol. 40 (2020): 71-86 – online here
  • Alternative

In Class

  • Icebreaker
  • Introduction to Holocaust Denial
  • Presentation & Discussion Questions on Reading – Dylan & Isabel
  • Discuss

Wed 3/24—Holocaust in Eastern Europe

Before class:

  • Read Jelena Subotić, “The Politics of Holocaust Remembrance after Communism.” In Yellow Star, Red Star: Holocaust Remembrance after Communism (2019) – online here
  • Do some work to prepare your paper #3. Define the topic, do some initial research, put down your initial ideas, so we can discuss in class

In Class

  • Icebreaker
  • Paper #3 Planning
  • Introduction to Holocaust in Eastern Europe
  • Presentation & Discussion Questions on Reading – Turner & Isabel
  • Discuss

Sat 3/27–Paper Due

  • Paper #3 due Saturday night at 11:59pm (upload to Moodle)

WEEK 11 – CONTESTED MEMORIES IN EASTERN EUROPE

Mon 3/29—Polish Memories of WWII

Before class:

  • View photos and discussion of the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial, officially the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes (1948)
    • “Monument to the Ghetto Heroes,” Wkipedia – online here
  • Read Liz Elsby, “Rapoport’s Memorial to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising – a Personal Interpretation” at Yad Vashem – online here
  • Watch the film, The Innocents (2016) – online here
    • Dir. Anne Fontaine, France/Poland/Belgium, 115 mins., in French and Polish with English subtitles
    • Full film available here on Kanopy. You will need a Wooster account to access.
    • The idea for the film came from a French writer, based on the story of his aunt who worked in Poland after WWII.

In Class

  • Icebreaker
  • Introduction to Poland in World War II and Beyond
  • Presentation & Discussion Questions on Warsaw Ghetto Monument and Film – Lachlan & Collin
  • Discuss

Wed 3/31—Yugoslavia

Before class:

  • Read Dragan Nikoliæ, “Echo of Silence: Memory, Politics and Heritage in Post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina, a Case Study: Višegrad,” in Whose Memory? Which Future?: Remembering Ethnic Cleansing and Lost Cultural Diversity in Eastern, Central and Southeastern Europe (2019) – online here
  • For a more recent view of the Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge in Višegrad – see this tourist video from 2019 – by the Tourist Organization of Visegrad

In class:

  • Icebreaker
  • Introduction to Yugoslavia and Yugoslav Wars
  • Presentation & Discussion Questions on Reading – Turner
  • Presentation on a Source – Peter
  • Discuss

WEEK 12 – RESEARCH & REST

Mon 4/5

  • No regular meeting
  • We will meet individually this week to talk about your final projects

After meeting Prof. Shaya – but sometime this week

  • Required
    • Meet individually with Glenna Van Dyke to discuss final project proposal
    • Plan a 15 minute meeting – go to her office hours – or message over Teams
    • Bring one page outline (including working title, description of topic, research question, secondary sources, primary sources)

Wed 4/7

  • No Class – Rest Day

Sat 4/10–Final Project Proposal

  • Final Project Proposal due Saturday night at 11:59pm (upload to Moodle)

WEEK 13 – PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

We will meet this week as usual – splitting our attention between common readings and your research

Mon 4/12—Better to Forget?

Before class:

  • Read David Rieff, “The Cult of Memory: When History Does More Harm Than Good,” The Guardian, The Long Read, March 2, 2016 – online here
  • Read articles and book chapters on your final project
  • Bring excerpts and notes – be prepared to introduce your final project topic, including
    • Your topic
    • The question that guides your research
    • The theories of memory you are drawing on
    • The primary sources you are examining

Wed 4/14—The House of European Memory

Before class:

  • Explore the website of the House of European Memory – online here
    • Take one hour to explore the permanent collections and explanations
    • Take notes on the ways in which European conflicts – especially the ones we’ve studied – are treated.
    • Come to class with at least three concrete observations and examples
  • Read a bit about the House of European Memory
    • See the Wikipedia page – online here
    • Skim “The House of European History: A reservoir of the diversity and complexity of the memories of Europe: Interview with Constanze Itzel, Head of Unit at the House of European History” – online here at the Magazine of the European Observatory on Memories
  • Read articles and book chapters on your final project
  • Bring excerpts and notes – be prepared to introduce your final project topic, including
    • Your topic
    • The question that guides your research
    • The theories of memory you are drawing on
    • The primary sources you are examining

WEEK 14 – PRESENTATIONS ON FINAL PROJECTS

Mon 4/19

Some points on the final presentations:

  • keep your time constraint in mind: 10-12 minutes.
  • rehearse your presentation!
  • dress professionally!
  • utilize a visual aid/powerpoint – but don’t make it too wordy (only key phrases/terms)
  • give us some context for the period that you are studying – who, what, where, when?
  • refer to a few works – a book, a set of articles – that help to guide your paper
  • refer to the main primary sources that you are studying – give us an example whether that be a clip, an image, or an excerpt
  • add a thank you slide and the end!  : )
  • more generally, think about how you will combine the primary and secondary sources you are analyzing to make it yours

Presentations and Discussion

  1. Collin
  2. Matthew
  3. Dylan

Wed 4/21

Presentations and Discussion

  1. Isabel
  2. Lachlan
  3. Peter
  4. Turner

WEEK 15 – LAST WEEK

Mon 4/26—Celebration

Before class:

  • No reading
  • Course evaluations
  • Bring questions on final project

Fri 4/30—Final Project Due

  • Final Project Due Friday, April 30 at 6:30pm (upload document and/or link to Moodle)