German History: 1871 – Present Custom Essay

1. Drawing on the range of relevant sources, discuss relationships among people living in Germany during the Third Reich, and how these relationships transformed over the course of the period. In what ways do you see the significance of these different relationships: how specifically does this help you to understand this period in German history and “how Nazi German could have happened”?

2. Consider the nature of relations specifically between representatives of the state and “ordinary” Germans, comparing and contrasting these relations under Nazi, West German, and East German rule. What efforts did officials exercise to “control” the population under these regimes, and how effective were these? In what ways in turn were members of the populace able to deflect these controls? To express their views and to influence officials?

3. How “different” were East Germans and West Germans under a divided Germany? What seem to be sources of these differences, as our readings and other materials suggest? What were some of the implications of any such differences in the post-1989 period? How do you see these changing over time? In our readings, what do you see as the viewpoints and presumptions the commentators themselves seem to bring to the discussion?

4. Drawing on examples provided by our course, how have Germans remembered their past (individual, national, and otherwise)? How have they used history to narrate this past? In what ways do you see this changing over time? What are the implications of these different sets of memories and ways of remembering?