Introductory description

In recent years the topic of German terror has made a popular cultural come back and it has been a feature of numerous films and literary, historical and autobiographical texts (i.e. Der Baader-Meinhof Komplex (2008)), sparking debates about the glamorisation of terrorism (Prada Meinhof) and discussions on the place of terror in the German national narrative. This course examines the outbreak of terrorism in West Germany during the late 1960s and 1970s against this background. It explores the origins and aims of different terrorist groups which unsettled West German political and civilian life during this period and, in this way, moves beyond the usual focus on the Rote Armee Fraktion (raf).

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Week 1: Introduction: What terrorists want(ed) – A Cultural History of West German Terror
Week 2: “Hitler’s Children” and the “Red Decade” (1): 1968 and the radical 1970s
Week 3: “Hitler’s Children” and the “Red Decade” (2): F.C. Delius, "Mein Jahr als Mörder"
Week 4: Film and Terror (1): "Deutschland im Herbst"
Week 5: Art and Terror: Gerhard Richter’s 18 Oktober 1977; raf exhibition
6 Reading Week
Week 7: Film and Terror (2): Terror Goes East? "Die Stille nach dem Schuss"
Week 8: Film and Terror (3): Terrorist Afterlives and the Family -- "Die innere Sicherheit"
Week 9: Film and Terror (4): Prada Meinhof -- "Der Baader Meinhof Complex"
Week 10: Conclusion
Week 11: Revision

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• 1. Intercultural awareness, understanding and competence
• 2. A critical understanding of other cultures and practices other than one’s own
• 3. Knowledge of the cultures, communities and societies of the country of the target language(s) gained through the study of written texts and other cultural products in the target language
• 4. Ability to access, read and critically analyse primary and secondary source materials in target language
• 5. Knowledge and understanding of one or more aspects of the literatures, cultures, linguistic contexts, history, politics, social and economic structures of the country or countries of the target language
• 6. Familiarity with the methodologies and approaches appropriate to the discipline

Indicative reading list

Novels:
F.C. Delius, Mein Jahr als Mörder (rowohlt)

Films:
Der Baader-Meinhof Komplex (Bernd Eichinger, 2008, 144 minutes)
Die Stille nach dem Schuss (Volker Schlöndorff, 2000, 143 minutes)
Die innere Sicherheit (Christian Petzold, 2000, 106 minutes)
Deutschland im Herbst (Rainer Maria Fassbinder et al., 1978, 119 minutes)

Secondary Literature
Jan Gerrit Berendse and Ingo Cornils (eds), Baader-Meinhof Returns: History and Cultural memory of
German Left-Wing Terrorism (Amsterdam, NY: Rodopi, 2008)
Sarah Colvin, Ulrike Meinhof and West German Terrorism: Language, Violence, and Identity
(Studies in German Literature Linguistics and Culture), Camden House, 2009.
Stefan Aust, Der Baader-Meinhof Komplex (Hamburg: Hoffmann & Campe, 1987)
Steve Giles and Maike Oergel (eds), Counter-cultures in Germany and Central Europe (Oxford, NY: Lang,
2003)
Alex P. Schmid, The Routledge Handbook of Terrorism Research (Hoboken: Taylor & Francis, 2011)
Jeremy Varon, Bringing the War Home (Berkeley, LA, London: U of California P, 2004)
Anne Siemens, Für die RAF war er das System, für mich der Vater. Die andere Geschichte des deutschen
Terrorismus (Munich, Zurich: Piper, 2007)
Julian Preece, Baader Meinhof and the Novel: Narratives of the Nation / Fantasies of the Revolution 1970-
2010 (NY: Palgrave, 2012)
Louise Richardson, What Terrorists want: Understanding the Terrorist Threat (London: Murray, 2006)
Gerd Koenen, Das rote Jahrzehnt: Unsere kleine deutsche Kulturrevolution 1967-1977 (Frankfurt am Main:
Fischer, 2002)
Thomas Elsaesser, German Cinema – Terror and Trauma: Cultural memory since 1945 (NY and London:
Routledge, 2014)

View reading list on Talis Aspire

International

All modules delivered in SMLC are necessarily international. Students engage with themes and ideas from a culture other than that of the UK and employ their linguistic skills in the analysis of primary materials from a non-Anglophone context. Students will also be encouraged to draw on the experiences of visiting exchange students in the classroom and will frequently engage with theoretical and critical frameworks from across the world.

Subject specific skills

This module will develop students’ linguistic skills through engaging with primary materials in the target language. It will build students’ capacity to engage with aspects of German culture through analysis of this primary material and through seminar discussion aimed at deeper critical thinking. In particular, students’ awareness of German terror and cultural memory will be enhanced through lectures and seminars which engage in scholarship in the field.

Transferable skills

All SMLC culture modules demand critical and analytical engagement with artefacts from target-language cultures. In the course of independent study, class work and assessment students will develop the following skills: written and oral communication, creative and critical thinking, problem solving and analysis, time management and organisation, independent research in both English and their target language(s), intercultural understanding and the ability to mediate between languages and cultures, ICT literacy in both English and the target language(s), personal responsibility and the exercise of initiative.