I. ASCRC General Education Form (revised 2/8/13)
Use to propose new general education courses (except writing courses), to change or
renew existing gen ed courses and to remove designations for existing gen ed courses.
Note: One-time-only general education designation may be requested for experimental courses
(X91-previously X95), granted only for the semester taught. A NEW request must be
submitted for the course to receive subsequent general education status.
Group
II. Mathematics
VII: Social Sciences
(submit
III. Language
VIII: Ethics & Human Values
separate forms
III Exception: Symbolic Systems * IX: American & European
if requesting
IV: Expressive Arts
X: Indigenous & Global
more than one
V: Literary & Artistic Studies
XI: Natural Sciences
general
w/ lab  w/out lab 
education
VI: Historical & Cultural Studies
group
*Courses proposed for this designation must be standing requirements of
designation)
majors that qualify for exceptions to the modern and classical language
requirement
Dept/Program GRMN
Course #
105
Course Title
Prerequisite
Introduction to German Culture and Civilization
None
Credits
II. Endorsement/Approvals
Complete the form and obtain signatures before submitting to Faculty Senate Office
Please type / print name Signature
Instructor
Marton Marko
Phone / Email 243-5418
Program Chair Liz Ametsbichler/Jannine Montauban
Dean
Chris Comer
III. Type of request
New X
One-time Only
Renew
Reason for Gen Ed inclusion, change or deletion
3
Date
Change
Remove
As a new introductory course on
German culture and civilization the
class highlights a number of
features typical and characteristic
of General Education courses at
UM
Description of change
IV. Description and purpose of the general education course: General Education courses
must be introductory and foundational within the offering department or within the General
Education Group. They must emphasize breadth, context, and connectedness; and relate course
content to students’ future lives: See Preamble:
http://umt.edu/facultysenate/archives/minutes/gened/GE_preamble.aspx
The chronology of the course material covers over 2000 years of Central European/German
cultural history. In addressing this breadth of time, key themes are emphasized and
contextualized as they relate to ideas of national identity in general terms and German national
identity specifically. The course punctuates the interconnectedness of topics within German
cultural history itself but also emphasizes the ties between the German cultural tradition and
European ones as well as the global impact of cultural developments which emerged from
Central Europe. The course aims to imbue appreciation among students for cultural study in a
variety of dimensions so that they can bring the experience of examining a cultural tradition at
the introductory college level into a number of potential contexts and settings both personally
and academically.
V. Criteria: Briefly explain how this course meets the criteria for the group. See:
http://umt.edu/facultysenate/documents/forms/GE_Criteria5-1-08.aspx
In the heart of Europe, the geographic setting
of German-speaking culture speaks to the
literal centrality of its historical significance
in the development of European ideas,
institutions, innovations, as well as its role in
continental and global conflicts. An
introductory course in German Culture and
Civilization presents students with an
opportunity to learn not only about German
cultural history but also of Germany’s
surrounding cultural neighbors. Similar
points can be made with regard to the
important relationship between German
culture and American culture. German
represents the most common cultural
heritage in the US and Central Europeans
have left distinct signatures on the American
cultural landscape. While the course
examines particular features that distinguish
German culture from others, the meeting
point of traditional German and Western
cultural definitions with new global ones in
Central Europe reflect issues that are both
broadly European and connect to current
American issues, as well.
VI. Student Learning Goals: Briefly explain how this course will meet the applicable learning
goals. See: http://umt.edu/facultysenate/documents/forms/GE_Criteria5-1-08.aspx
As students are presented with a number of
different types of texts, art works, statistics
and empirical findings, they will have the
opportunity to synthesize the course
material in a number of ways and illustrate
their ability to identify key phenomena,
figures, and institutions, as well as interpret
their significance in the context of German
cultural history and in European
perspective. Attention will also be given to
the historic and current resonances between
German and American culture. Students
will illustrate their knowledge of
phenomena and their ability to interpret
course material on quizzes and, in more
comprehensive form, on midterm exams and
a final. Students are also encouraged to
partake in discussion in class to foster
further interaction and engaged learning and
sharing.
VII. Justification: Normally, general education courses will not carry pre-requisites, will carry
at least 3 credits, and will be numbered at the 100-200 level. If the course has more than one
pre-requisite, carries fewer than three credits, or is upper division (numbered above the 200
level), provide rationale for exception(s).
VIII. Syllabus: Paste syllabus below or attach and send digital copy with form.  The syllabus
should clearly describe how the above criteria are satisfied. For assistance on syllabus
preparation see: http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/syllabus.html
INTRODUCTION TO GERMAN CULTURE AND CIVILIZATION
GRMN 105
Spring 2015
MWF (Time)
(Room)
Marton Marko
Office: LA 435
Office Hours: (Time)
Email: marton.marko@mso.umt.edu
Phone: 243-5418
I. Objective & Goals:
This course provides an introductory overview of major developments, ideas, and influences involving
German-speaking culture from its documented origins in the Roman era to today. Students will become
familiar with the chronology of key historical events in Central Europe as well as with major figures in
such areas as politics, literature, art, and philosophy. Attention will also be given to significant
contributions that German-speaking culture has made globally.
II. Expectations, Learning Outcomes, Assessment Activities
Students are expected to attend class regularly and to recognize the importance of keeping up with the
course material as we go through it during the semester. There are two midterm exams along with a
final exam. In addition to these tests, there will be quizzes occasionally to help you gauge how well you
are picking up and synthesizing the material we’re covering. Quizzes will be announced at least one
class session before they are given. They will be shorter and more term- and concept-based than the
exams. Emphasis on the exams will be placed on the definition and identification of key terms, guiding
ideas, and movements, which can be seen as having connected and influenced time periods in German
cultural history. Students will learn to recognize main characteristics and trends in German cultural
history and be able to identify texts, artifacts, and cultural material within those frameworks. To help
you with this, in addition to the quizzes and exams, there will be discussion time for questions and
comments so that you may learn in a more consistently participatory way. You are reminded that your
sharing and reception of ideas during class discussion and lecture in a respectful, productive fashion are
also included in the course expectations.
III. Student Conduct and Attendance
Class attendance is mandatory. Lectures and discussions are essential parts of the course. If you are
absent four sessions during the semester, this will automatically demote your grade by one letter-grade.
If you are absent for more than four sessions, each following increment of three absences will result in a
corresponding demotion of a letter grade. In class, your instructor asks you to refrain, if possible, from
eating, drinking, or chewing gum. If on account of a given health issue or conditions (i.e. a hot day and
a warm classroom) you need to consume something in class, that can be OK. Otherwise, please refrain.
Thanks. Unless you have been advised that you may use electronic devices for an activity in class, you
are also asked to place electronic devices on a setting that will not disturb class and not distract you
from what is going on in class.
All students must practice academic honesty. Academic misconduct is subject to an academic penalty by
the course instructor and/or a disciplinary sanction by the University. All students need to be familiar
with the Student Conduct Code. The Code is available for review online at:
http://life.umt.edu/vpsa/student_conduct.php
IV. Grading Breakdown:
Below is the grading breakdown for the course based on the activities outlined above.
Tests:
Midterm 1
Midterm 2
Final Exam
20%
20%
40 %
Quizzes:
10%
Classroom Participation:
10%
V. Course Texts:
Our main text for the semester is:
Schulze, Hagen. Germany: A New History. Trans. Deborah Lucas Schneider. Cambridge: Harvard U
Press, 1998.
A number of readings will also be provided as handouts.
Text readings will be complemented by presentations in class on such topics as music, art history, and
key biographic figures.
VI. Course Films
We will view a number of films during the semester. Group screenings outside of class will be arranged
when possible. Otherwise, films are on 4-hour in-library reserve at the Mansfield Library. Please be
sure that you have viewed the assigned films one way or another before the designated date of
discussion. See syllabus.
VII. Students with Disabilities
This course offers equal opportunity in education for all participants, including those with documented
physical and documented learning disabilities. Please note that your instructor can only provide for
such accommodations if notified and that such accommodations and considerations can only be made
after an instructor has been provided information by the student. For information regarding
documentation of disabilities, approaching your instructor with pertinent information, and establishing
guidelines for potential accommodation, you may consult the Disability Services for Students (DSS)
website at http://life.umt.edu/dss . The DSS Office is located in Lommasson 154; the phone number is
243-2243.
Tentative Session Schedule
Week One: Romans and Germans, Pre-Medieval and Medieval Central Europe (ca. 120 BC to 1400)
Mo 1/26
Course Introduction / Overview
We 1/28
Schulze, Chapter 1 pp. 1 – 16: Romans and Germans, from Hermann to Reign of Otto I
Fr 1/30
Schulze, Chapter 1, pp. 16 – 29, Medieval Period, Development of Courtly and Literary
Culture (Added Reading: Walther von der Vogelweide, Under the Lime Tree)
(Handout)
Week Two: Early Modern Era to the Aftermath of the Reformation (1400 – 1650)
Mo 2/2
Schulze, Chapter 2, pp. 31 – 46: Early Modern Era to Reformation
We 2/4
Focal Point: The Age of Luther (Reading: Martin Luther, Address to the Christian
Nobility of the German Nation) (Handout)
Fr 2/6
Schulze, Chapter 2, pp. 47 – 67: Luther and Wittenberg, Impact of Reformation, Thirty
Years War
Week Three: Disintegration of the Holy Roman Empire (1650 – 1806)
Mo 2/9
Schulze, Chapter 3, pp. 69 – 85: Catholic and Protestant Central Europe, the Baroque
(In-Class Listening: Johann Sebastian Bach: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring;
Brandenburg Concerto Nr. 1)
We 2/11
Schulze, Chapter 3, pp. 85 – 99: Rise of Prussia, End of Holy Roman Empire
Fr 2/13
Focal Points: Cultural and Political Developments in Austria and Prussia from mid-18th
to early 19th century (In-Class Viewings: Architecture and Power: Vienna and
Schönbrunn Palace, Potsdam and Sanssouci Palace)
Week Four: Awakenings of German Nationalism in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries
Mo 2/16
Presidents Day (No Class Meeting)
We 2/18
Focal Point: Enlightenment in Central Europe (Reading: Immanuel Kant, “What is
Enlightenment?”) (Handout)
Fr 2/10
Focal Point: Romanticism, Mysticism, Folk Culture (Readings: Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe: Der Erlkönig, Selections from Grimm’s Fairy Tales) (Handout) (In-Class
Listening: Franz Schubert, Der Erlkönig)
Week Five: Birth of the German Nation (1806 – 1848)
Mo 2/23
Schulze, Chapter 4, pp. 101 – 111: Napoleonic Wars, Congress of Vienna, the German
Romantic Vision (In-Class Viewings: Paintings by Caspar David Friedrich)
We 2/27
Focal Points: Conservatism and Progressivism in the Early 19th Century (In-Class
Viewing: Biedermeier Paintings and Design; Added Reading: Heinrich Heine,
Germany. A Winter’s Tale – excerpts) (Handout) (In-Class Listening: Ludwig van
Beethoven, Symphony #9)
Fr 2/27
Schulze, Chapter 4, pp. 111 – 121: Toward German Revolution (Added Reading: Karl
Marx, Communist Manifesto) (Handout)
Week Six: Road toward German Unification (1848 – 1871)
Mo 3/2
1st Midterm Exam
We 3/4
Schulze, Chapter 5, pp. 123 – 135: Industrialism and Demographic Changes
Fr 3/6
Schulze, Chapter 5, pp. 135 – 145: Bismarck and German Unification (In-Class
Viewings: “Age of Realism,” Paintings by Adolph Menzel)
Week Seven: From Unification to the Great War (1871 – 1914)
Mo 3/9
Schulze, Chapters 6 and 7, pp. 147 - 167: German Possibilities, A Nation State in the
Middle of Europe
We 3/11
Focal Point: Naturalism (Reading: Gerhardt Hauptmann,
The Weavers - excerpts) (Handout)
Fr 3/13
Schulze, Chapter 8, pp. 169 – 189: Internal Unification and the Dream of World Power
Week Eight: From the Great War to the First Decade of the Weimar Republic (1914 – 1929)
Mo 3/16
Focal Point: Artistic Movements in Social Context: Symbolism and Expressionism
(In-Class Viewings: Expressionist Prints and Paintings; Readings: Selected Poems of
Rainer Maria Rilke, Georg Heym, Else Lasker-Schüler) (Handout)
We 3/18
Schulze, Chapter 9, pp. 191 – 213: The Great War and Its Aftermath
Fr 3/20
Schulze, Chapter 10, pp. 215 – 230: Cultural Renewal and Crisis in the First Decade of
the Weimar Republic (In-Class Viewings: High Modernism, The New Objectivity,
Bauhaus Architecture and Design)
Week Nine: The Fall of Weimar, the Rise of National Socialism (1927 – 1937)
Mo 3/23
Schulze, Chapter 10, pp. 230 – 243: The End of German Democracy
We 3/25
Focal Point: 20th Century Metropolitanism and Class Conflict.
Film Discussion: Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927: View Film Before Class)
Fr 3/27
Schulze, Chapter 11, pp. 245 – 260: German Megalomania: National Socialism
Week Ten: Spring Break
Mo 3/30 – Fr 4/3
Spring Break (No Class Sessions)
Week Eleven: National Socialism, Propaganda, The Beginnings of World War II (1934 – 1942)
Mo 4/6
Schulze, Chapter 11, pp. 260 – 275: German Megalomania: National Socialism
We 4/8
Focal Point: Racism, Nazi Propaganda, Film, and Media: Film Discussion: Olympia
(Leni Riefenstahl, 1938: View Film Before Class)
Fr 4/10
2nd Midterm Exam
Week Twelve: From World War II to Postwar Reconstruction (1939 – 1953)
Mo 4/13
Schulze, Chapter 12, pp. 277 – 287: WWII and the End of the Third Reich, Exile
Culture (Added Readings: Bertolt Brecht: “To Those Born Later,” “Hollywood
Elegies”) (Handout)
We 4/17
Schulze, Chapter 12, pp. 287 – 297: WW II and Its Consequences
Film Discussion: The Murderers Are Among Us (Wolfgang Staudte, 1946: View Film
Before Class)
Fr 4/19
Schulze, Chapter 13, pp. 299 – 311: A Divided Germany, Postwar Introspections and
Aversions (Added Readings: Paul Celan: “Death Fugue,” Ingeborg Bachmann: “Early
Noon”) (Handout)
Week Thirteen: From “Economic Miracle” in the West and Socialist Experiment in the East to
Reunifcation (1953 – 1990)
Mo 4/20
Schulze, Chapter 13, pp. 311 – 317: After the War, Before the Wall
Film Discussion: Berlin, Schönhauser Corner (Gerhard Klein, 1957: View Film
Before Class)
We 4/22
Schulze, Chapter 13, pp. 317 – 331: From East/West Division to Reunification
Fr 4/24
Focal Point: Voices of Conscience and Dissent East/West I:
Reading: Christa Wolf (Divided Heaven, Kassandra, Accident – excerpts) (Handout)
Week Fourteen: Before and After Reunification: Environmentalism, Re-Assessing National Identity
(1984 – 2000)
Mo 4/27
Focal Point: Voices of Conscience and Dissent East/West II:
Reading: Petra Kelly (Fighting for Hope – excerpts) (Handout)
We 4/29
Schulze, Chapter 14, pp. 333 – 340, Epilogue: What is the German’s Fatherland?
Film Discussion: Good-Bye Lenin (Wolfgang Becker, 2003: View Film Before Class)
Fr 5/1
Focal Point: Impact of Unification on Cultural Values
Reading: Greg Nees (Germany: Unraveling an Enigma, Chapter 7: Wertewandel:
Creation of a New German Identity?) (Handout)
Week Fifteen: Situating German Culture in the Global Century (1990 – present)
Mo 5/4
Readings: Yoko Tawada: Canned Foreign, The Talisman; Zafer Şenocak: “Dialogue
about the Third Language: Germans, Turks and Their Future” (Handout)
We 5/6
Film Discussion: In July (Fatih Akin, 2000: View Film Before Class)
Fr 5/8
Course Review
Finals Week:
Final Exam
Please note: Approved general education changes will take effect next fall.
General education instructors will be expected to provide sample assessment items and
corresponding responses to the Assessment Advisory Committee.