Department of Modern Languages — German Requirements

General Requirements for Major in French, German Studies, Italian, Russian Studies

Only one course taken on a pass/fail option can be counted toward the major.
No course with a grade below C- can be counted toward the major.
Students must attain a 2.0 average in their major in order to graduate.

German Studies

Requirements and Recommendations

The Major

A minimum of 30 credits beyond the intermediate sequence (GERMAN 201-202) is required (the equivalent of 10 3-credit courses). Requirements include

GERMAN 301-302 (Advanced German I and II: Contemporary German Life and Culture).
GERMAN 330-331 (Introduction to German Literature and Culture I and II).
GERMAN 230 (Crisis and Continuity: German Culture and Society in the 20th Century).
GERMAN 250 (German Culture from Luther to Hegel); or HIST 328 (Germany to 1815) and HIST 329 (Germany, 1815-1945).
Two or three additional courses, to be selected with major adviser’s approval, from those offered by German studies faculty and from courses outside the department. If requirement D is met by the History 328 and 329 sequence, only two additional courses must be taken under this requirement; if requirement D has been met by GERMAN 250 three courses must be taken. Courses may be selected from the following lists, but at least one course selected must be offered by a department other than Modern Languages. No more than two courses from list c) may be counted for the major.

a) Courses offered by German faculty in the Modern Languages Department (Please note: Most of these courses are offered only occasionally, when demand and resources permit)

GERMAN 165 (Masterpieces of German Literature)
GERMAN 208 (Business German)
GERMAN 260 (Aspects of Modern German Literature)
GERMAN 263 (Germany in the Twentieth Century: Weimar and Nazi Culture)
GERMAN 277 (The World of Kafka)
GERMAN 279 (Thomas Mann: The Writer and His Times)
Any 400-level course offered in German
HUMAN 271 (Literature of the Holocaust)

b) Courses with a significant German component (1/3 or more):

ART 347 (Arts of Power) (when relevant)
EURST L200/MDNLNG L200 (Europe Today)
HIST 327 (Germany since 1945)
HIST 328 (Germany before 1815)
HIST 329 (Germany, 1815-1945)
HIST 358 (War in the 20th Century)
HUMAN 254 (Romanticism and European Literature)
MUSIC 202 (Music History II: Bach, Händel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert)
PHIL 455 (Hegel)
PHIL 462 (Critical Philosophy of Kant)
PHIL 465 (Kant’s Moral Philosophy and Its Critics)
PHIL 470 (Wittgenstein)
POLSCI 472 (Political Philosophy of Hegel)

c) Courses with general European content and minor German component:

ART 202 (Renaissance to Modern Art)
ART 210 (Studies in the History of Art) (when relevant)
ART 314 (Northern Painting of the 17th Century)
ART 316 (Painting 1780-1850) (including Runge, Friedrich)
ART 339 (Twentieth Century Architecture)
ECON 208 (History of Economic Thought) (including Marx, the German History School)
ECON 334 (International Trade)
ECON 372 (Comparative Economic Systems)
HIST 313 (19th Century Europe)
HIST 315 (Europe, 1900-1945)
HIST 316 (Europe since 1945)
HIST 338 (Jewish History since 1500)
HUMAN 220 (MDNLNG 220) (Hades, Heaven, and Hell)
MUSIC 203 (Music History III)
POLSCI C252 (Modern Political Thought)
POLSCI 220 (International Relations)
POLSCI 224 (The Political Novel)
POLSCI 305 (Images of World Politics in Film and Literature)
POLSCI 353 (European Political Development)
POLSCI 354 (Postwar European Problems)
POLSCI 361 (The Politics of Eastern Europe)
THRART 218 (Modern European Drama)

GERMAN 490, the German Studies Seminar, an integrative and in-depth seminar on a topic in German Studies, taught by German Studies program faculty from Modern Languages or another department. May be taken more than once if seminar topic is not repeated.
A semester or year of study abroad is strongly recommended for German studies majors. (See the Study Abroad adviser for information concerning the Baden-Württemberg Partnership Program.)

The Minor

A minimum of 12 credits (the equivalent of four 3-credit courses) beyond the intermediate sequence (GERMAN 201-202) is required. Requirements include

GERMAN 301 (Advanced German I) and GERMAN 302 (Advanced German II: Contemporary German Life and Culture).
GERMAN 230 (Crisis and Continuity: German Culture and Society in the 20th Century) or GERMAN 250 (German Culture from Luther to Hegel).
At least one other course from those listed above under German Studies Major requirements B, C, D, E, or F.

Honors

See “Honors” at the beginning of the Modern Language Department section.

Transfer Credit Policy

Transferring German studies majors must take a minimum of 4 courses in the department, at least 2 of which must be at the 300 or 400 level, including at least one seminar.