Syllabus
JMMZ111 - Modern Central European History Compared PLEASE NOTE: This course is only for the English speaking master's programme Central European Comparative Studies (CECS). Course Structure The course is made up by double lessons, each of which is divided into a lecture and a seminar.
1. Introduction to the course
2. What is Central Europe? Definition, geography, identity
3. La Belle Époque: Central Europe at the beginning of the 20th century
4. Nation, War and Revolution: Downfall and reconstitution of Central Europe, 1914–1918
5. Democracy, autocracy and minorities in interwar Central Europe, 1918–1939
6. Occupation, resistance and collaboration in Central Europe, 1938–1945
7. Forced migrations, transitional justice and the “Iron Curtain”, 1945–1950
8. Central European Stalinism(s), 1950–1956
9. On different paths towards 1968
10. The limits of growth: consumer society in Central Europe in the 1970s and 1980s
11. Annus mirabilis 1989: Why so easy?
12. Neoliberal Central Europe, 1989–2008
Annotation
The course covers the historical development of Central Europe in 20th century. The focus is laid on crucial historical tendencies and nodal points in history of this macro-region with regard to the European and global historical development.
The course will highlight convergences and divergences in the modern history of ethnic groups, nations, territories and states that Central Europe has consisted of.