Module Overview

Post-war Germany had only five percent of its original Jewish population left, while the country had not yet confronted its Nazi legacy allowing for anti-Semitic views to continue and former Nazis to hold on to official roles. It is not surprising that it took until the late 1980s before Jewish literary voices first emerged in the public sphere to address unspoken taboos and to speak about contemporary Jewish life in Germany. This seminar will look at the works of the first Jewish authors who broke the silence to openly address taboos and provoke a less stifled German-Jewish dialogue. By shifting focus to more recent works of a younger generation of Jews in Germany who were invited to settle in Germany by the German government after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the seminar will then discuss significant changes that distinguish these earlier works from German-Jewish literature today. We will observe a shift in perspective as the third-generation authors are more removed from the traumatic events of the Holocaust and often communicate the desire to move beyond victim and trauma-based conceptions of Jewish identity. We will also observe a change in tonality such as a shift away from a largely oppositional, sharp-edged humour and biting satire in the earlier works of German-Jewish authors towards a more conciliartoy use of (Jewish) humour which aims at relaxing German-Jewish relations and at building new Jewish self-confidence in Germany. Given their migration background, these young Jewish writers also celebrate the freedom to hybrid identity which is neither bound to specific religious or cultural practises nor to specific places of origin.

Some of the primary texts will be read in English translation and some will be read in German.  Secondary texts will be in English and all texts will be discussed in class through English.

In order to master the primary literature and some of the secondary material in German, students are required to have a minimum level of German of B1.2 on the CEFR.