Lehrveranstaltungen im Wintersemester 2023/24

This course examines the history of modern Hungary from the outbreak of the First World War to the present. It scrutinizes the main political events and examines social and cultural developments in a wider East Central European and continental framework. Students will discuss such important and controversial issues as: Hungary’s role and participation in the First World War; revolutions and counterrevolutions between 1918 and 1921; the Treaty of Trianon and its short- and long-term consequences; the nature of the Horthy regime; Hungarian participation in WWII on the side of Nazi Germany; the Hungarian role in and responsibility for the genocide of Hungarian Jews; the Communist takeover of power and the creation of the Stalinist state after 1947; the popular uprising against the Stalinist state and Soviet occupation in 1956; retribution after the failed uprising; the nature Kádár regime and ”gulyás Communism;” modernization and social and cultural developments under state socialism; political dissent and social rebellions (including youth rebellions) in Hungary in the 1970s and 1980s; the crisis of state socialism in the 1980s; the change of regime in the late 1980s and early 1990; the rise of democracy in the context of a deep social and cultural crisis; Hungary’s entry into the NATO and the EU; the self-destruction of the political Left in 2006; the rise of ”illiberal democracy” after 2010.

The class will meet once a week for a long lecture on the weekly topic listed in the syllabus, which also contains the recommended readings. This is an elective course: the only requirement for the credit is regular participation. However, students might choose, to take an exam at the end of the course, or depending on their module, to hand in three protocols.

This is a bilingual course. With one or two exception s the lectures will be held in English. However, students can ask question both in English and German; they can also write the protocols in both languages.

 This course examines the rise of nationalism and nation states in East-Central and Eastern Europe after the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Conceived as a course in intellectual and political history, the seminar will examine such important topics as the birth of nationalism as a middle-class ideology; the failure of the 1848 Revolution; nationalism in multiethnic empires; the rise of the nation states in the region after 1918; the rise of fascism as an extreme form of nationalism; nation and nationalism in eh Soviet Union; the fate of ethnic minorities in Est-Central Europe after 1918; irredentism and World War II; nationalism as a form of dissent in Communist Eastern Europe after 1948; nationalist revival and the collapse of the Soviet Empire in the late 1980s; the rebirth of old nation states and the creation of new nation states in Eastern Europe after 1990, nationalism and memory.

The class will meet once a week for a two-hour session to discuss the readings and listen to students’ presentation. This is a bilingual course: much of the literature will be in English, but students have the option to ask and answer question in German or English and write their paper in the language of your choice.

This course examines, from a social and political perspective, the birth of ”classical modernity” in art and culture in Europe, the Soviet Union and North America after WWI. We will look at such important topics as: the link between modernity in art and politics; the impact of technical innovations and political democratization on both the form and the content of popular and high culture; the role of women and racial and ethnic minorities in the production and consumption of art; the ”culture of defeat” and the reaction of artists and writers, filmmakers to the trauma of war and revolutions; dadaism as a form of anarchism in art; classical modernity in painting and sculpture; the history of the Bauhaus as an international movement; the new women: sexuality and representation in art and fashion; the obsession with speed: car and car racings in the 1920s; mass communication and mass politics: the birth of the radio; film as a form of art and as a means of propaganda; jazz: from ethnic and American to modern and world music; the victory of Soviet and fascist totalitarianism and their war on modernity in art and culture.

The class will meet once a week for a two-hour session to discuss the readings and listen to students’ presentations. This is a bilingual course: much of the literature will be in English, but students have the option to ask and answer question in German or English and write their paper in the language of your choice.

Die vielfältige Geschichte der deutschen Aussiedler in Russland, die auch Russlanddeutsche genannt werden, erstreckt sich über mehrere Jahrhunderte und ist durch tiefe politische, kulturelle und wirtschaftliche Kontakte zwischen zwei Länder geprägt.

Thematisch werden wir im Proseminar verschiedene Aspekte und Fragen aus der Geschichte der Deutschen in Russland/der Sowjetunion eingehen: die durch die deutschen Aussiedler geprägte russische Migrations- und Kolonisationspolitik, die Geschichte der deutschen Siedlungen von der Deutschen Vorstadt (Nemezkaja sloboda) im 17. Jh. bis die autonome Republik der Wolgadeutschen, Verfolgungen und Deportationen in der Stalinzeit sowie nationales Selbstbewusstsein und Kultur.

Was versteht man unter dem vielseitigen Begriff „Russlanddeutsche”? Welchen Beitrag leisteten die deutschen Aussiedler zur Modernisierung und Europäisierung des Russischen Reiches in der Neuzeit? Wie war ihr rechtlicher Status? Wie gut waren sie in die russische/sowjetische Gesellschaft integriert? Wie haben sich die beiden Weltkriege auf ihr Leben ausgewirkt? Anschließend wird auch die Emigration in die Bundesrepublik und ihre Besonderheiten diskutiert.

Als Bereicherung des Programms ist eine eintägige Exkursion zum Museum für russlanddeutsche Kulturgeschichte nach Detmold geplant, um die Geschichte der Russlanddeutschen aus der kulturhistorischen Perspektive kennenzulernen.

Die Ära des Stalinismus (1928-1953) prägte die sowjetische Gesellschaft sowie die post-sowjetischen Staaten immens. Im Proseminar werden verschiedene Aspekte des Stalinismus thematisiert, die kennzeichnend für seine Zeit waren. Dazu gehören zum Beispiel der Umgang mit ethnischen Minderheiten, die Rolle der Frau, Kultur- und Bildungspolitik sowie die Gewaltgeschichte des Stalinismus (Deportation, politische Säuberungen, GULAG). Das Proseminar wird sich jedoch nicht nur auf Ebene der Politikgeschichte mit diesen Inhalten beschäftigen, sondern auch auf Ebene der Alltagsgeschichte, z.B. durch das Konzept der Subjektivität. Zudem werden wir nicht nur den Stalinismus in Russland thematisieren – wir werfen einen Blick auf die gesamte Sowjetunion. Besonders im Fokus stehen werden die Ukraine und Kasachstan.

Um die ambivalente Haltung post-sowjetischer Gesellschaften zum Stalinismus fassbar zu machen, wird Erinnerungskultur ebenfalls Inhalt des Proseminars sein. So lernen Studierende nicht nur das wissenschaftliche Arbeiten mit der „Geschichte ersten Grades” (Ereignisgeschichte), sondern auch mit der „Geschichte zweiten Grades” (Umgang mit der Geschichte im kollektiven Gedächtnis der Gegenwart) kennen.

It sounds ironic, but this course is possible only now when the social changes in Ukraine over the past thirty-odd years have led to Russian aggression against Ukraine. Ukraine has dramatically ceased to be a "grey area" for the world and has found subjectivity with its voice.

Although it sometimes seems that for many researchers and journalists, the primary interest is in the radical changes in Russia as a condition for peace and stability on the world stage. Nevertheless, it is evident that for Russia, establishing a civil society in Ukraine and choosing a pro-European political course has become a challenge and an obstacle to realizing its ambitions.

After the breaking of the Soviet Union in December 1991 and the vote for Independent Ukraine by 90% population, it started searching the national identity and ways of political development in its historical roots. Some political streams considered Ukraine the heiress of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which automatically belong to a conglomeration of Union Independent States initiated by the Russian Federation. The other political groups took into account the historically permanently occupied status of Ukraine by Russian Imperia and further by the Soviet Union, making attempts to reanimate the ideology of Ukrainian statehood developed at the beginning of the XX century. Until the Orange Revolution of 2004, Ukraine tried to balance pro-west and pro-Russian political orientations. The culmination became the political race between Yushchenko and Yanukovich, electoral fraud that led to the protests and defending the choice of European integration. However, deep economic and energy dependency from Russia and business and political links on a personal level did not bring success in this attempt. In the next elections, Yanukovych won.

Nevertheless, Ukraine came again to a crossroads: democracy values with economic loss while the association process with the EU, or financial stability with political stagnation when turning to RF. The Revolution of Dignity in 2014 showed the choice of the Ukrainian people. Since then, Ukraine changed two presidents and has followed a pro-European course, defending the right of national independent development, despite the annexation of Crimea, Russian initiating hostilities in Donbas, and the further full invasion of Russia in Ukraine.

With its modern history, Ukraine has raised many issues about:

- the subjectivity of developing countries, including their right and chances for self-determination and sovereignty;

- the political risks and responsibilities toward countries have supported the way of democratization and social reforms;

- the issue of security and the boundaries between alliances, countries, and cultures;

- the role of fear and hope as drivers of political and social decision-making;

- how collective identity shapes by the process of external endangerment and internal rethinking;

- the power of civil society in times of revolutions and wars. 

This course invites us to emerge into Ukrainian history since 1991, from the deep crisis of the 1990s, and the political turmoil of the 2000s, to the appreciation of freedom of self-determination and the willingness to defend it even with a price of life.