The history of postwar West Germany is often told as a success story that traces the gradual evolution of the Federal Republic from the ashes of the Third Reich to a prosperous and pluralist liberal democracy. Yet at the same time, the same history is characterized by recurring cycles of …read more
Whether Volkswagen or Deutsche Bank, Berlin’s failure to build an airport , or the collapse of Hamburg’s bid for the Olympics 2024, “Made in Germany” is no longer a guarantee for outstanding engineering and successful planning. Why did it happen and is there a way back to the top? Christoph von …read more
…read more
Taking a close look at the ways in which individuals, towns, and cities in Germany have been dealing with the unprecedented influx of refugees in the wake of the war in Syria– from housing to language instruction to dealing with right-wing hostilities and growing uncertainty especially in the wake of …read more
Focus in Distraction 24th Annual Interdisciplinary German Studies Conference University of California, Berkeley February 26-27, 2016 In an era that valorizes attention, coherence, and focus, it is more relevant than ever to consider how distracted modes of perception challenge our established notions of self. In this conference, we question contemporary popular narratives of …read more
Wendy Lower will present on her new book, Hitler’s Furies, a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Jewish Book Award. Drawing from wartime documents, postwar trials, private letters, diaries and interviews, she will discuss outstanding cases of women who became direct witnesses, accomplices, and perpetrators of the Holocaust. In …read more
The son of Andalusian Gastarbeiter, writer José F.A. Oliver was born in the village of Hausach in the Black Forest. His work has been awarded numerous prestigious literary prizes, and he has worked as writer in residence in Cairo, Dresden, and Istanbul. This workshop (conducted in German, English, and Spanish) will …read more
Join this info session to learn more about a NEW Berkeley Summer Abroad program in Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic! The program focuses on both historical and contemporary minorities: the Jews of Europe and most specifically Poland; the Roma of Northern Bohemia; the Vietnamese in Prague, the Turkish in …read more
…read more
Hito Steyerl is one of the most critically acclaimed artists working in the field of video today. Holding a PhD in philosophy from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and teaching at the Universität der Künste Berlin, she is also a frequent contributer to E-Flux magazine, a lecturer, and an …read more