Life and Art in Hitler’s Germany

Instructor:  Winder McConnell, Department of German and Russian, College of Letters and Science

Description:  The purpose of this Freshman Seminar is to introduce students to an area of National Socialist Germany that is rarely discussed in courses on the Third Reich – the idea of “national aestheticism.” What was the national Socialist concept of beauty? How did it manifest itself in the spheres of painting, sculpture, and film? What was the role of the Propaganda Ministry in disseminating an ideal of beauty? The course will also attempt to elucidate the role of Adolf Hitler and the NSDAP in arriving at a determination of “national aesthetics.”

Format:  The course will meet for two hours each week for eight weeks.  A reader compiled by the instructor will be available in the bookstore. Weekly sessions will consist of lectures by the instructor, the showing the film excerpts and discussion of group projects assigned during the first session. Grading: There will be two papers assigned in the course, the first, consisting of three pages, for 40%; the second, consisting of four pages, for 60% of the final grade.

About the Instructor:  Professor McConnell was born in Belfast, Ireland. He received his B.A. in History and German from McGill University, Montreal, and holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Medieval German literature from the University of Kansas. He is the author/editor/translator of eleven books and has written numerous articles on Medieval German romance and heroic epic. His hobbies include drumming with jazz bands and collecting books on German élite military formations in World War II.