Winter 2008

German 5390/7390 – Graduate Seminar: Memory, Trauma, and Holocaust Representation

Instructor Contact Info: Office Hours:Prof. Anne Rothe (313) 577-3024 (dept. office) Tue. 1.15 – 3.15

(313) 577-6237 (my office) & by appointment453 Manoogian Hallrothe@wayne.edu

Course Description

This graduate seminar will explore how both individuals and societies remember their past and how the individual and cultural memory processes differ if this past involves traumatic experiences. We will analyze how memories are externalized from the individual mind and ‘translated’ into interpersonally communicable forms of representations in cultural artifacts, such as literature, film, TV, monuments, and oral history testimony. We will discuss the collective processes of meaning construction and dissemination of collective memories in and through such cultural artifacts and how the culturally negotiated collective memories are re-internalized in the reception processes. Furthermore, the seminar will explore which specific processes occur when traumatic events, such as imprisonment in concentration camps, are remembered by survivors as well as the collective processes involved when cultural memories of traumatic events, such as the Holocaust, are externalized through embodiment in cultural artifacts and in turn ‘re-internalized’ by an audience who has no first-hand experience of them.

We will contextualize the explorations into memory, trauma and Holocaust representation in the current fascination of Western culture with trauma, suffering and victimhood embodied in innumerous artifacts – e.g. in representations of child abuse, rape, war crimes, the exploitation of the disenfranchised in the developing world, and even ‘sci-fi-sounding’ alien abduction stories. And we will question how the trauma narratives constructed Holocaust representations and embodied (as potential) in memory artifacts function in the contemporary culture of trauma and victimhood.

Materials

RecommendedThe course assumes familiarity with the core historical events and developments in the history of the Holocaust as well as with canonical forms of its representation. If necessary, please familiarize yourself with them before the start of the semester. I recommend the following texts:

History of the Holocaust:L. J. Altman (1999) The Holocaust, Hitler and Nazi Germany. Berkeley Heights, NJ:

Enslow Publ. W. Benz (1995) Der Holocaust, München: C.H. Beck.W. Benz (1999) The Holocaust, New York: Columbia UP.

Canonical Cultural Artifacts Representing the Third Reich and the Holocaust:E. Wiesel, NightP. Levi, Survival in AuschwitzA. Spiegelman Maus, vol. I and IICh. Wolf, KindheitsmusterSt. Spielberg, Schindler’s ListR. Benigni, Life is Beautiful

These texts and films are available in the library or through interlibrary loan and can be purchased at on-line book stores in used and new form.

RequiredAll research articles and book chapters on theories of memory, trauma, and representation, all secondary literature as well as Wilkomirski’s text Bruchstücke are available for download and print-out at the course Blackboard site.

In addition, you will need the following books:R. Klüger, weiter lebenB. Schlink, Der VorleserP. Weiss, Die ErmittlungW. Schumann, Being Present, Growing up in Hitler’s Germany. They have been ordered at Barnes & Noble. But you may also order the three German books via ibis@ibiservice.com and Schumann’s memoir via amazon.com or other American on-line book stores.

RequirementsAttendance & Participation in Class Discussion 20%Regular in-class presentations (approx. 7 to 8 presentations per

student; exact number depends on class size) 50%Final Paper (8-10 pages in either English or German) 30%

PresentationsThere will be at least one student presentation in each class. The serve as our roter Faden for class discussion, i.e. presentation and discussion will not be separate but integrated.

You are required to make a handout summarizing (as bulletin points, not complete sentences) the core ideas from the readings on which you will present. Please email the handout to me, the deadline is the day before the class in which you present at 2pm. I will edit the handout – I may supplement ideas you did not include, and/or cut ideas you did include, and/or paraphrase what you wrote – and email it back to you some time (usually in the late evening) the same day. Please print the edited handout.

You will also need to come and see me the day of your presentation (between 1.15 and 4pm in my office) and we will discuss your presentation. This should take about 30 minutes. Please bring the edited handout to our meeting and read over it several times before the meeting to make sure you understand my changes.

Please make copies of the edited handout for everyone and bring them to class.

Final PapersYour final papers do no require additional readings but you are of course free to do so. Please start thinking about a topic early and come and see me and/or email me so we can ‘fine-tune’ it together. If you decide on a topic that does require additional readings, I will assist you in selecting them.

The paper should be well-researched and well-argued. It can be concise (8-10 pages) but may also be longer. I only require comparatively short papers because I did not want you to have to ‘blow up’ a well-argued and concise paper by inserting ideas and extensive quotes not necessary to the argument solely to achieve the required length. I consider a well-argued, shorter paper a realistic expectation for this course whereas well-argued and well-researched papers of significantly more than 10 pages would, I believe, take more time than you realistically have. In short, I take quality over quantity and did not want to experience the ‘sticker shock’ of having to write a 20-25 page paper either.

Papers may be entirely theoretical or combine theory and the analysis of a cultural artifact (memoir, film, fictional literary text, photograph/s, museum, memorial, commemorative performance). In the latter case, the focus may be on the theory, on the analysis of the artifact or equally on both. You may either chose artifacts and/or theories we did not discuss in class to discuss in your paper or elaborate on class readings and discussions in it. The artifact/s you discuss do not have to be representations of the Holocaust as long as you use theories of memory in your discussion, e.g. you could discuss the collective memory of the GDR in recent memoirs of East German childhood or the use of the (male) Jewish body as a (counter-)memory artifact in the Zionist ideal of the Muskeljude.

Language UseWe will speak both English and German in class. Generally, if the readings are in German, the language of our discussion will be German, if readings were in English we will speak English. But you may use either language in any class.

SEMINARPLAN

I. MEMORY & TRAUMA

Introduction

Session 1 Astrid Erll (2005) „Einleitung: Warum ‚Gedächtnis’?“ A. Erll Kollektives Gedächtnis und Erinnerungskulturen. Stuttgart: Metzler, pp. 1-11.

Aleida Assmann (2000) „Individuelles und kollektives Gedächtnis – Formen, Funktionen und Medien“ K. Wettengl (ed.) Das Gedächtnis der Kunst. Geschichte und Erinnerung, Frankfurt/M: Hatje Cantz Verlag, pp. 21-27.

Session 2 Aleida Assmann “Gedächtnis als Leitbegriff der Kulturwissenschaften,”

pp. 27-45.

Individual Memory & Trauma

Session 3 Anne Rothe (2003) “Trauma and Memory” Constructing Memory in/through Contemporary German Literature, PhD. Diss UCLA, pp. 90-139.

Session 4 Anne Rothe (2003) “(Traumatic) Memory and Language” Constructing Memory in/through Contemporary German Literature, PhD. Diss UCLA, pp. 140-177.

Collective Memory

Session 5 Astrid Erll (2005) “Die Erfindung des kollektiven Gedächtnisses: Eine kurze Geschichte der kulturwissenschaftlichen Gedächnisforschung“ A. Erll Kollektives Gedächtnis und Erinnerungskulturen. Stuttgart: Metzler, pp. 13-39.Astrid Erll (2005) “Gedächtnisse. Disziplinspezifische Zugänge und Vernetzungsmöglichkeiten“ A. Erll Kollektives Gedächtnis und Erinnerungskulturen. Stuttgart: Metzler, pp. 41-61.

Session 6 Anne Rothe (2003) “Collective Memory” Constructing Memory in/through Contemporary German Literature, PhD. Diss UCLA, pp. 224-244.

Session 7 Wulf Kansteiner (2006) “Finding Meaning in Memory: A Methodological Critique of Collective Memory Studies. W. Kansteiner In Pursuit of German Memory: History, Television, and Politics after Auschwitz, Athens, OH: Ohio UP, pp. 11-27.

Wulf Kansteiner (2006) “Towards a Social Geography of Collective Memory” W. Kansteiner, In Pursuit of German Memory: History, Television, and Politics after Auschwitz, Athens, OH: Ohio UP, pp. 316-334.

Collective Trauma & Trauma Culture Session 8 Jeffrey Alexander (2004) “Towards a Theory of Cultural Trauma,” J.

Alexander et. al. Cultural Trauma and Collective Identity. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press., pp. 1-30.

Session 9 Wulf Kannsteiner (2004) “Genealogy of a Category Mistake: A Critical Intellectual History of the Cultural Trauma Metaphor, Rethinking History 8, 2, pp. 193-221.

Session 10 Roger Luckhurst (2003) “Traumaculture” New Formations 50 pp. 28-47. Anne Rothe “Introduction: Victim Culture” and “Conclusion: Trauma

Culture and Victimhood” A. Rothe “Ich erlaube ihr nicht, den Opferstatus für sich zu beanspruchen” – The Competition for Victim Status in Erica Fischer’s Aimée und Jaguar, unpubl. manuscript, pp. 1-3, 8-10.

Nancy Miller, Jason Tougaw (2002) “Introduction,” N. Miller, J. Tougaw Extremities. Trauma, Testimony and Community. Urbana: Univ. of Illinois Press, pp.1-21 (excerpt pp. 1-5).

Cultural Artifacts as Memory MediaSession 11 Astrid Erll (2005) „Medien und Gedächtnis“ A. Erll Kollektives Gedächtnis

und Erinnerungskulturen. Stuttgart: Metzler, pp. 123-142. Astrid Erll (2005) „Literatur als Medium des kollektiven Gedächnisses“ A.

Erll Kollektives Gedächtnis und Erinnerungskulturen. Stuttgart: Metzler, pp. 143-166.

II. HOLOCAUST REPRESENTATION

Representation “after Auschwitz”

Session 12 Theodor Adorno and Hans Magnus Enzensberger (excerpts), P. Kiedaisch (ed.) (1995) Adorno und die Dichter. Stuttgart: Reclam, pp. 49, 53-57, 62-63, 66-69, 73-76.

James Young (1990) “Introduction. Narratives and the Consequences of Interpretation“ J. Young Writing and Rewriting the Holocaust. Narrative and the Consequences of Interpretation. Bloomington: Indiana UP, pp. 1-11.

Hayden White (1992) „Historical Emplotment and the Problem of Truth“ S. Friedlander (ed.) Probing the Limits of Representation. Nazism and

the ‘Final Solution’ Cambridge, MA; Harvard UP, pp. 37-53.

TVSession 13 Wulf Kansteiner (2006) “Entertaining Catastrophe: The Reinvention of the

Holocaust in the Television of the Federal Republic of Germany” W. Kansteiner (2006) In Pursuit of German Memory. History,Television, and Politics after Auschwitz. Athens: Ohio UP, pp.

109-130. Wulf Kansteiner (2006) “Nazis, Viewers and Statistics: Television History,

Television Audience Research, and Collective Memory in West Germany” W. Kansteiner (2006) In Pursuit of German Memory. History, Television, and Politics after Auschwitz. Athens: Ohio

UP, pp. 131-153.

Session 14 Wulf Kansteiner (2006) “The Radicalization of German Memory in the Age of its Commercial Reproduction: Hitler and the Third Reich in the TV Documentaries of Guido Knopp” W. Kansteiner (2006) In Pursuit of German Memory. History, Television, and

Politics after Auschwitz. Athens: Ohio UP, pp. 154-180.

Film Session 15 Winfried Fluck (2003) “Film and Memory” U. J. Hebel (ed.) Sites of Memory

in American Literatures and Cultures, Heidelberg: C. Winter Verlag, pp. 213-229 (excerpt pp. 213-218, 225-227)

Joshua Hirsch (2004) “Introduction. Film, Trauma, and the Holocaust“ J.

Hirsch Afterimage. Film, Trauma, and the Holocaust. Philadelphia: Temple UP, pp.1-27 (except pp. 3-7)

Anton Kaes (1990) “History and Film: Public Memory in the Age of Electronic Dissemination” History and Memory 2:1, pp. 111-129.

Session 16 Bernd Eichinger, Der Untergang H. Steyerl (2005) „Mimesis als Anpassung – Die unbewußte Optik des

Films Der Untergang.“ W. Bischof (ed.) Filmri:ss. Studien über den Film “Der Untergang.“ Münster: Unrast Verlag, pp. 29-37.

J. Weyrand (2005) „So war es! Zur Konstruktion des deutschen Opfermythos im Spielfilm “Der Untergang.“ W. Bischof (ed.) Filmri:ss. Studien über den Film “Der Untergang.“ Münster: Unrast Verlag, pp. 39-68.

A. Ruoff (2005) “Die Renaissance des Historismus in der Populärkultur. Über den Kinofilm “Der Untergang.” W. Bischof (ed.) Filmri:ss. Studien über den Film “Der Untergang.“ Münster: Unrast Verlag, pp. 69-78.

Session 17 Eli Cohen, Ha kayts shel Aviya (The Summer of Aviya) Eli Cohen, Ets ha-domin tafus (Under the Domin Tree)

Anne Rothe, “Delusional Holocaust Memories and their Intra- and Intergenerational Transmission in Eli Cohen’s Film Adaptation of Gila Almagor’s (Post)Holocaust Texts The Summer of Aviya and Under the Domin Tree,” International Conference “Trajectories of Memory: Intergenerational Representations of the Holocaust in History and the Arts” Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH (March 2006)

Session 18 Eitan Fox, La-Lechet al ha-maym (Walk on Water) Anne Rothe, film review La-Lechet al ha-maym (Walk on Water) Journal

of Jewish Identities, January 2008, pp. 99-101.

Oral Testimonies

Session 19 Guest Speaker: Holocaust Survivor George Vine

Session 20 James Young (1990) “Holocaust Video and Cinematic Testimony” J.

Young Writing and Rewriting the Holocaust. Narrative and the Consequences of Interpretation, Bloomington: Indiana UP, pp. 157-171.

Dominick LaCapra (2001) “Holocaust Testimonies. Attending to the Victim’s Voice” D. LaCapra Writing History, Writing Trauma, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, pp. 86-113.

Memoirs

Session 21 James Young (1990) “On Rereading Holocaust Diaries and Memoirs” J. Young Writing and Rewriting the Holocaust. Narrative and the Consequences of Interpretation. Bloomington: Indiana UP, pp. 15-39.

Robert Eaglestone (2003) “’Not read and consumed in the same way as other books’: The Experience of Reading Holocaust Testimony” Critical Quarterly 45: 3, pp. 32-41.

Session 22 Ruth Klüger, weiter leben E. Lezzi (2006) “Ruth Klüger: Literarische Authentizität durch Reflexion.

Weiter leben-Still Alive.“ N. O. Eke and H. Steinecke (eds.) Shoah in der deutschsprachigen Literatur Berlin: Schmidt Verlag, pp. 286-292.

E. McGlothlin (2004) „Autobiographical Re-vision: Ruth Klüger’s Weiter leben and Still Alive. Gegenwartsliteratur, 3, pp. 46-70.

Session 23 Willy Schumann, Being Present. Growing Up in Hitler’s Germany.A. Rothe (2008) “Narrative Silences and/in the Void between History and

Memory: Willi Schumann’s Hitler Youth Generation Memoir Being Present. Growing Up in Hitler’s Germany” L. O. Vasvari and S. Totosy (eds.) Studies in Holocaust Literature. Comparative Cultural Studies Series. Purdue UP. forthcoming

Fiction

Session 24 Peter Weiss, Die ErmittlungJames Young (1990) “Documentary Theater, Ideology, and the Rhetoric of Fact” J. Young Writing and Rewriting the Holocaust. Narrative and the Consequences of Interpretation. Bloomington: Indiana UP, pp. 64-80.P. Reichel (2007) “Die Ermittlung: Auschwitz vor Gericht” P. Reichel

Erfundene Erinnerung. Weltkrieg und Judenmord in Film und Theater“ Frankfurt: Fischer Taschenbuchverlag, pp.228-241.

Session 25 Benjamin Wilkomirski, Bruchstücke R. Carroll (2007) “Possessed by the Past: Agency, Inauthentic Testimony,

and Wilkomirski’s Fragments.” Lit: Literature, Interpretation, Theory 18, 1, pp. 21-36.

A. S. Gross and M. J. Hoffman (2004) “Memory, Authority, and Identity:

Holocaust Studies in Light of the Wilkomirski Debate” Biography 27, 1, pp. 25-47.

D. Oels (2004) “’A Real Life Grimm’s Fairy Tale:’ Korrekturen, Nachträge und Ergänzungen zum Fall Wilkomirski” Zeitschrift für Germanistik 14, 2, pp. 373-390.

Session 26 Bernhard Schlink Der VorleserW.C. Donahue (2001) “Illusions of Subtlety: Bernhard Schlink’s Der

Vorleser and the Moral Limits of Holocaust Fiction.” German Life and Letters 54, 1, pp. 60-81.

M. Swales (2003) “Sex, Shame and Guilt: Reflections on Bernhard Schlink’s Der Vorleser (The Reader) and J. M. Coetzee’s Disgrace.” Journal of European Studies 33, 1, pp. 7-22.

Photography Session 27 Barbie Zelizer (2001) “Gender and Atrocity: Women in Holocaust

Photographs. Barbie Zelitzer (ed.) Visual Culture and the Holocaust, New Brunswik, NJ: Rutgers UP, pp. 247-271.

Marianne Hirsch (2001) “Surviving Images: Holocaust Photographs and the Work of Postmemory” Barbie Zelitzer (ed.) Visual Culture and the Holocaust, New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UP, pp. 215-246.

Memorials

Session 28 James Young (1993) “Introduction. The Texture of Memory” J. Young The Texture of Memory. Holocaust Memorials and Meaning, New Haven: Yale UP, pp. 1-15.

Session 29 Summary session, to be held at my house=>every student should prepare a 10-15-minute presentation (and handout) with the core ideas of their research paper (handout also needs to include a bibliography of three to five additional articles or book chapters serving as resources for paper and presentation)