Jill Massino
HST 172
Oberlin College, Spring 2008
Meeting Place: King 101
Meeting Time: M and W 3- 4:15
Office: Rice 311
Office hours: W 10-1 or by appt.
Phone: 440-775-5684
Jill.Massino@oberlin.edu
Eastern Europe under Communism: From the Iron Curtain
to the Velvet Revolution
This course explores the political, intellectual, social, and cultural history of Eastern
Europe from 1939 to the present. We begin by examining World War II and the
Holocaust in Eastern Europe, moving on to explore the early period of brutal takeover
and Stalinization, the purges, and the post-Stalin “Thaw.” We then explore the
emergence of revisionist Marxism, the period of normalization, the rise of dissent
movements, and the revolutions of 1989. Finally we will focus on the wars in the former
Yugoslavia, the challenges faced by East European countries in transitioning to
democracy and attaining EU membership, and the complex issue of communist nostalgia.
A central aim of this course is to examine how socialist states sought to transform
conceptions of civic and national (ethnic) identity, gender and class roles, and relations
within the family. As a corollary to this, we will consider how women and men
responded to, negotiated, and in some cases resisted communist policies and ideologies
through their participation in broader political events and social movements and in their
everyday lives.
Required Texts:
Heda Margolius Kovály, Under a Cruel Star: Life in Prague, 1941-1968 (Penguin,
1989).
Milan Kundera, The Joke (Harper Perennial, 1993).
Herta Müller, The Land of the Green Plums (Northwestern University Press, 1998).
Joseph Rothschild and Nancy M. Wingfield, Return to Diversity: A Political History of
East Central Europe Since World War II (Oxford, 2008).
Michael Sells, The Bridge Betrayed: Religion and Genocide in Bosnia (University of
California Press, 1998).
Gale Stokes, From Stalinism to Pluralism: A Documentary History of Eastern Europe
Since 1945 (Oxford, 1996).
Additional articles available on e-reserve.
Class Participation and Attendance (10%)
You are expected to participate actively in class discussion; therefore it is essential that
readings are completed prior to each class meeting. The evening prior to each class
meeting students are required to post 1-2 questions about the readings on blackboard
(these questions must be posted by 8 pm so that your colleagues will have ample time to
read and reflect on them). You are exempt from three posts over the course of the
semester.
Midterm Exam (30%) This will be an in-class exam covering key figures, terms, events,
and ideas examined in class and in the readings up to this point.
Take Home Final (40%) 2-3 essay questions due the day of the final.
Book Reflections (10% each; 20% total)
You are expected to write a 3-4 page book reflections on TWO of the following books:
Under and Cruel Star, The Joke, Land of the Green Plums. Rather than a simple
summary, you should write a critical analysis of the book in which you place it in its
specific historical context and consider its relevance to broader themes and issues of
socialist Eastern Europe. The reflections will serve as springboards for class discussion.
Due dates for the reflection papers are marked on the syllabus. You are exempt from
posting reading questions when you turn in a reading reflection.
Grading Scale
A = 94-100%
A- = 90-93%
B+ = 87-89%
B = 83-86%
B- = 80-82%
C+ = 77-79%
C = 73-76%
C- = 70-72%
D + = 67-69%
D = 66-60
F = 59% and below
Late assignments will be marked down 1/3 of a grade per day (B to B-). Extensions will
be granted in cases of documented personal illness and family emergency.
Honor Code All work is governed by the Honor Code. Any student found cheating,
plagiarizing, turning in another’s work as his/her own or otherwise violating the
instructor’s explicit or implicit instructions will be subject to a hearing before the Student
Honor Committee. To learn more about the code, please go to:
http://www.oberlin.edu/students/links-life/rules-regs07-08/honorcode.pdf
Services for Students with Disabilities
If you are a student with a documented disability who will require accommodations in
this course please contact Jane Boomer, Coordinator of Services for Students with
Disabilities in G27 Peters Hall, ext. 58467.
Course Calendar
Week I: Course Introduction/What is Eastern Europe?/ What is Socialism?/
February 4: Course Introduction/What is Eastern Europe?
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February 6: What is Socialism?/ Eastern Europe during the interwar period
Rothschild and Wingfield, chapter 1
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels: The Communist Manifesto (1848) at:
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/marx.html
V.I. Lenin, “What is to be Done? (1902) at:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1902lenin.html
Week II: World War II and the Communist Takeovers
February 11: World War II and the “Liberation” of Eastern Europe
Stokes: “Report of the Crimea Conference,” “The Yalta Negotiations,” “The Percentages
Agreement,” Harry S. Truman, “The Truman Doctrine,” and Andrei Zhdanov, “The TwoCamp Policy”
Rothschild and Wingfield, chapter 2
February 13: The Communist Takeovers and the Stalinization of Eastern Europe
Stokes: Jakub Berman “The Case for Stalinism”
Rothschild and Wingfield, chapter 3
Week III: Mobilizing the New Socialist Man and Woman/The Purge Trials
February 18: Mobilizing the New Socialist Man and Woman
Padraic Kenney, “Remaking the Polish Working Class: Early Stalinist Models of Labor
and Leisure,” Slavic Review, 53:1 (Spring 1994), 1-25 e-reserve
Basia Nowak, “Constant Conversations: Agitators in the League of Women in Poland
during the Stalinist Period,” Feminist Studies, 31, no. 3, (Fall 2003) e-reserve
February 20: The Tito-Stalin Split/The Purge Trials
Stokes: “The Tito-Stalin Correspondence,” “The Trial of László Rajk” and “The Slánsk!
Trial”
Rothschild and Wingfield, chapter 4
Week IV: The Purge Trials in Czechoslovakia/ Coming of Age in post-Stalinist
Yugoslavia
February 25: The Purge Trials in Czechoslovakia
Kovaly, Under a Cruel Star
Film: A Trial in Prague (selections)
Book Reflection 1 Due
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February 27: Coming of Age in post-Stalinist Yugoslavia
Film: Tito and Me (Goran Markovi", 1992)
(I’ll be at a conference, but make sure to attend class as we’ll discuss the film on
March 3)
Week V: From Freeze to Thaw: the de-Stalinization of Eastern Europe
March 3: Thaws, Revolts, and Rebellions
Nikita Khrushchev: Secret Speech to the Closed Session of the Twentieth Party
Congress, February 25, 1956 at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/krushchevsecret.html
Stokes: Imre Nagy, “Reform Communism,” Gyorgy Lukacs, “Contemporary Problems
of Marxist Philosophy” and Milovan Djilas, “The New Class”
Rothschild and Wingfield, pp. 118-129
March 5: Gender, Culture, and Consumption under Socialism
Uta Poiger, “Rock 'n' Roll, Female Sexuality, and the Cold war Battle over German
Identities.” Journal of Modern History, Sep 1996, Vol. 68 Issue 3 e-reserve
David Crowley, “Warsaw Interiors: The Public Life of Private Spaces, 1949-65,” in
David Crowley and Susan Reid eds., Socialist Spaces: Sites of Everyday Life in the
Eastern Bloc (Berg, 2002) e-reserve
Week VI: Socialism and Disillusionment in Czechoslovakia
March 10: Socialism and Disillusionment in Czechoslovakia
Begin Kundera, The Joke
Screening of The Joke pt.1 (dir. Jaromil Jire#, 1968)
March 12: Socialism in Czechoslovakia
Finish Kundera, The Joke
Screening of The Joke pt. 2
Book Reflection 2 Due
Week VII: Springtime of Nations: Marxist Revisionism in Poland, Yugoslavia, and
Czechoslovakia
March 17: Springtime of Nations: Marxist Revisionism in Poland, Yugoslavia, and
Czechoslovakia
Stokes: “The Kuron-Modzelewski Letter to the Party,” “The Praxis Group” “Towards a
Democratic Political Organization of Society,” and Ludvik Vaculik “Two Thousand
Words to Workers, Farmers, Scientists, Artists, and Everyone”
Rothschild and Wingfield, pp. 133-139; 144-152
March 19: Midterm Exam
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Week VIII: Spring Break
Week IX: Repression and Normailization
March 31: Normailization and “Living as if”
Stokes: “The Helsinki Accords,” “Charter 77,”and Václav Havel, “The Power of the
Powerless”
Paulina Bren, “Weekend Getaways: The Chata, the Tramp and the Politics of Private Life
in Post-1968 Czechoslovakia” in Crowley and Reid eds. Socialist Spaces e-reserve
Rothschild and Wingfield, pp. 165-168
April 2: Stalinism for all Seasons: Romania
Rothschild and Wingfield, pp. 129-133
Begin Müller, The Land of the Green Plums
Week X: Stalinism for all Seasons: Romania
April 7: The Survival of Stalinism: Romania
Finish Müller, The Land of the Green Plums
Katherine Verdery, "The 'Etatization' of Time in Ceausescu's Romania"
Book Reflection 3 Due
April 9: What’s Happening in Bulgaria and Albania?
Stephen Ashley, “The Bulgarian Rock Scene under Communism (1962-1990) in Sabrina
Ramet, ed. Rocking the State: Rock Music and Politics in Eastern Europe and Russia
(Westview, 1994) e-reserve
Week XI The Rise of Anti-Politics and Dissent
April 14: Solidarity and Martial Law in Poland
Stokes: “KOR’s Appeal to Society,” “Pope John Paul II Speaks in Victory Square,
Warsaw,” “Solidarity’s Program,” “Jaruzelski Declares Martial Law,” and Adam
Michnik “Letter from Gdansk Prison”
Shana Penn, Solidarity's Secret: The Women Who Defeated Communism in Poland
(selections) e-reserve
Rothschild and Wingfield, pp. 153-165
April 16: Youth and Dissent
Stokes: Sabine Rosenbladt, “Environmental Concerns in Poland”
Padraic Kenney, “How the Smurfs Captured Gargamel, Or A Revolution of Style,” in
Kenney, A Carnival of Revolution: Central Europe 1989 (Princeton, 2002) e-reserve
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Week XII: The Velvet Revolution/The Disintegration of Yugoslavia
April 21: The Velvet (and not so velvet) Revolutions
Stokes: “The Opening of the Berlin Wall” and Havel “New Year’s Day Speech, 1990”
Rothschild and Wingfield, chapter 7
April 23: Yugoslavia from Unity to Disintegration
Begin Michael Sells, The Bridge Betrayed
Week XIII: The War in Yugoslavia
April 28: The War in Yugoslavia
Finish Sells, The Bridge Betrayed
Film: Vukovar (dir. Boro Dra#kovi", 1996)
April 30: Justice and Post-war Yugoslavia
Slavenka Drakuli", They Would Never Hurt a Fly: War Criminals on Trial in The Hague
(Viking Adult, 2004) (selections, e reserve)
check out the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) at:
http://www.un.org/icty/
WEEK XIV: The Transition to Democracy and EU Integration
May 5: The Transition to Democracy and EU integration
Rothschild and Wingfield, pp. 211-234
May 7: Remembering Communism
Richard S. Esbenshade, “Remembering to Forget: Memory, History, National Identity, in
Post-war East Central Europe” in Representations (Winter, 1999) e-reserve
Jill Massino “Identities in Transition: Gender, Nostalgia, and Everyday Life in
Post-Communist Romania”
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