HIEU 352
T/R 11-12:15
Clark 102
Ms. Lebow
Randall 216
924-1439
mailto:lebow@virginia.edu
Office hrs.: Tues. 2-3:00 or by appt.
lebow@virginia.edu
POST-WORLD WAR II EUROPE
What does it mean to call oneself a “European” today? This course will explore changing notions of Europe
and European identity since the end of World War II, encompassing social, cultural, economic, and political history.
Topics will include postwar retribution, resettlement, and reconstruction; the impact of the Cold War on cultural and
intellectual life; decolonization and immigration; transformations of gender and the family; consumerism and
Americanization; countercultures and youthful rebellions; the rise and fall of West European welfare states and East
European planned economies; European unification; and Yugoslav disintegration. A particular goal will be
reintegrating the study of East and West, stressing commonalities as well as differences in the two “halves” of
Europe, including: postwar reorganizations of states and societies; economic modernization; generational and
ideological conflicts; and the politics of memory and historical debates over the recent past.
Required texts (available at the University Bookstore and on reserve at Clemons Library):
Hitchcock, William I. The Struggle for Europe: The Turbulent History of a Divided Continent, 1945-2002. New
York: Doubleday, 2002. [SFE]
Kovály, Heda Margolius. Under A Cruel Star: A Life in Prague, 1941-1968. Cambridge, MA: Plunkett Lake Press,
1986.
Perec, Georges. Things: A Story of the Sixties and A Man Asleep. Translated by David Bellos. Jaffrey, NH: David R.
Godine, 1990.
Rosenberg, Tina. The Haunted Land: Facing Europe's Ghosts After Communism. New York: Vintage Books, 1995.
Selvon, Samuel. The Lonely Londoners: Longman, 1956.
Optional text:
Schissler, Hanna, ed. The Miracle Years: A Cultural History of West Germany, 1949-1968. Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 2001.
Schedule:
Readings are designated within brackets and should be completed before class on the day listed. Please bring your
copy of the reading to class with you on days marked “Discussion.” All readings other than required texts are
available on Toolkit.
9/2
Introduction
9/7
9/9
Lecture: “Zero hour” [SFE pp. 8-12, Ch. 1]
Discussion: The problem of rape [Naimark, “Soviet Soldiers, German Women, and the Problem of Rape”]
Presentations: The “hour of the women”: Gender and the reconstruction of national identity
9/14
Lecture: The Cold War and the division of Europe [SFE Ch. 4; “The Percentages Agreement”; Marwick,
documents]
No class–start reading Kovály!
9/16
9/21
9/23
Lecture: Behind the “Iron Curtain”: Stalinism in Eastern Europe [continue reading Kovály]
Discussion: The memoir of Heda Margolius Kovály [Kovály, entire]
Presentations: The experience of Stalinism in Eastern Europe, 1944-1956
9/28
9/30
Lecture: “Normalization”: Parties and politics in Western Europe [SFE, pp. 127-129, Chs. 2-3]
Discussion: Party politics, family politics [Schissler, “‘Normalization’ as Project: Some Thoughts on
Gender Relations in West Germany during the 1950s”]
Presentations: Camus, Sartre, de Beauvoir, and the Cold War
10/5
10/7
Lecture: The “economic miracle” [SFE Ch. 5]
Discussion: The making of the modern French consumer [Ross, “Hygiene and Modernization”]
Presentations: “Americanization,” “Coca-Colonization,” and the politics of consumption
10/12
10/14
No class (reading holiday)
Midterm
10/19
10/21
Lecture: De-colonization and immigration [SFE Ch. 6]
Discussion: The changing face of Western Europe [Selvon, The Lonely Londoners, 1-40, 73-90, 104-126,
159-171]
Presentations: The “other” and the shaping of European identity
10/26
10/28
Lecture: Workers, parties, and politics [SFE Chs. 7-8]
Discussion: Youth and popular culture in 1950s Europe [Maase, “Establishing Cultural Democracy”]
Presentations: The revolution of 1956 in Hungary
11/2
Lecture: They say you want a revolution...The sixties [Marwick, “Was There a Cultural Revolution c.
1958-1974?” and “If So, Why?”]
Discussion: Perec, Things [entire]
Presentations: Popular culture in the 1960s
11/4
11/9
11/11
Lecture: Two 1968s [SFE pp. 243-246, Ch. 9]
Discussion: Biography of a generation [Passerini, “One 1968"]
Presentations: Social movements in the 1960s
11/16
11/18
Lecture: What was socialism and why did it fall? [SFE Chs. 11, 13]
Discussion: Civil and un-civil society under “really existing socialism” [Havel, “The Power of the
Powerless”; Klíma, “A Christmas Conspiracy”; Nowakowski, various stories]
Presentations: The Revolutions of 1989
11/23
11/25
Lecture: The challenge of the nation-state: Unification and disintegration [SFE pp. 343-345, Ch. 14]
No class–Thanksgiving
11/20
Lecture: Commemoration and controversy: The presence of the past in post-1989 Europe [start Rosenberg,
Part Three]
Discussion: The ghosts of East Germany [Rosenberg, Part Three]
Presentations: The politics of memory in contemporary Europe
12/2
12/7
12/9
Lecture: European identity in the post-9/11 world [SFE Chs. 15-16] [paper due]
Discussion: What is Europe? Who is a European? [contemporary articles]
Requirements and evalution:
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One twenty-minute in-class presentation (in collaboration with one of your colleagues) on a topic relating
to the day’s theme and to be agreed upon in advance with the instructor. A 2-3 page typed or
word-processed, double-spaced summary should be handed in on the day of the presentation = 15%
Six one-page response papers. Response papers should answer one of the discussion questions circulated by
the instructor in advance of class and are due at the start of class that day. They should be no more than two
double-spaced word-processed or typed pages in length. No late response papers will be accepted.
Response papers will receive the grade of A, B, C or F = 15%
One 7-10 page typed or word-processed, double-spaced essay analyzing two films, drawn from a list
provided by the instructor, in light of ideas covered in the class, making reference to required readings and
using correct citation of sources = 25%
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One map quiz = 5%
One in-class midterm = 10%
One take-home final = 15%
Active, prepared participation in discussions = 15%
All assignments must be completed to receive a passing grade in the course. No makeups will be
given without prior arrangement with the instructor. No response papers will be accepted after the
start of class on the day due. Late essays will be marked down one half-grade per day (including the
first day). No extensions will be granted.