Courses
Courses taught in English
The projected lecture wants to provide a wide range of information about Germany’s regions and their specific geographic, natural, historic, cultural, economic and ethnological situation. The underlying idea is that students from abroad living for a certain time in the Federal Republic of Germany should have the opportunity to gain a thorough basic knowledge about their guest state, its people and all non-political factors influencing everyday life in Germany.
The framework for the disposition of the course is provided by the German federal system, i.e. “die 16 Bundesländer”, the 16 federal states: Baden-Württemberg, Bayern, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hessen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz, the Saarland, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein and Thüringen.
Every German federal state will be dealt with not only in featuring statistics about the state (number of population, size of the state etc.) but also in explaining its geographical position and morphological characteristics. Important towns, rivers and mountains will be mentioned as well as famous natural or historical sites (a special emphasis will be laid on the 37 German UNESCO-World Heritage sites). After a short survey of the “Land” history, main industries and crafts of the respective part of Germany are presented to the students and some hints are given about tribal background and dialectal peculiarities of the local population. Famous music festivals (e.g. Mozart Festival Würzburg) and performances of the leading theatres (e.g. Weimar National Theatre) in that “Land” will be commented on as they are indicators of cultural life. Information will also be given about typical popular feasts (fun fairs, trade fairs, religious ceremonies etc.), special beverages (wine, beer etc.) or local dishes (types of meat, vegetables, fruit etc.).
In order to facilitate understanding, the use of different media will be help- and useful for the purpose of the lecture. Geographical maps, photographs and slides are together with music or language recordings the mediating means to communicate the knowledge to the students. If, in surplus, the students participate in the several excursions provided by the International Office of Würzburg University, there will be plenty of opportunities to enlarge their skills acquired during the course to encompass a spectrum of everyday life in Germany.
Lecturer: Dr. Peter A. Süß
For many contemporaries German history is overwhelmingly coined by German people’s striving for national unity in the 19th century which subsequently led to the catastrophes of two World Wars and a dictatorship in the first half of the 20th century. However, the question arises whether it is truthful, honest and fair to reduce the entire history of a people possessing a past of at least more than a millennium to a period of just 150 years?
Therefore, the lecture attempts to provide a concise view onto the first thousand years of Germany’s historical development. This will emphasize that many of the present day structures and mentalities in German political and cultural life actually possess a backdrop of longevity, partly persistent already since the Middle Ages or the period of Early Modern History. So, beginning with the Roman days in Germany over the creation of Charlemagne’s European empire and the impact of feudalism as well as the development of German states the lecture will also cover topics like Martin Luther’s Reform and the successive religious conflicts. Moreover the class encompasses information about the organisational and structural progress in Germany, its interference in European questions as well as the final decay of the “Holy Roman Empire of German Nation” in the 18th century, not least because of the emerging Prussian-Austrian Dualism.
Research fields like the development of German statehood, the special relationship of state and church in Germany, the influence of religious disputes, the European system of balance of powers and interferences of foreign powers in Germany together with the structural frailty of the Old Empire will shape the main focus of the lecture. At best, in the end of the term students will have improved their fundamental knowledge of German history and possess a much better understanding of Germany’s tedious way towards its current political situation.
Lecturer: Dr. Peter A. Süß
In the last decades and in the course of worldwide cultural but also economic linking-up, events like Halloween or Valentine’s Day arrived in Germany and Europe. Formally, those originally American festivities were not known in Germany and the rest of Europe. However, this does not mean that these countries did not have their own customs and traditions. Actually, each of them looks back on a huge amount of different local, regional and even nationwide customs for any kind of event: practices for annually repeating feasts like Christmas and Easter or saints’ days, e.g. processions or parish fairs, as well as modes for special and individual festivities as weddings, baptisms and funerals. Furthermore, customs and traditions are still instrumentalised and interpreted for political and economic purposes today. With this in mind, it is also worthwhile to look at the way customs have changed in the recent past. The course will give an overview over different German regions and their churchly and worldly customs as well as a pass through the ecclesiastical year with its most important rites and traditions. It can help students from abroad, but also students from different German regions to understand the different practices they might see during their stay in Germany and maybe even participate in them to experience centuries-old traditions in different locations.
Lecturer: Luise Stark M.A.
The stylistic period between Renaissance and Neoclassicism is called Baroque and lasted from 1575 to 1770. In art history this era is divided in Early Baroque (ca. 1600-1650), High Baroque (ca. 1650-1720) and Late Baroque or Rococo (ca. 1720-1770). Baroque art can be defined as the typical kind of artistic development in the period of Absolutism and Catholic (Counter-)Reform which started its existence in Italy and, then, spread first over the catholic countries of Europe before finally establishing itself in a modified way in protestant regions, too. Thus, still today we find many examples of baroque art in Würzburg, its vicinity and all of southern Germany – a situation, which provides the best opportunities to become acquainted with this style during one’s studies at Würzburg University. The most important tasks architects, painters and sculptors had to fulfil in that epoch were to explain the christian belief to the faithful and allow them, with their artistic means, a first “glimpse into heaven” or, on the other side, to express and emphasise the power and importancce of the absolute princes. In consequence the artists had to build and decorate a plethora of beautiful churches and sumptuous palaces, they also had to project huge symmetrical gardens and to design new geometrical plannings for cities recently founded to glorify the princes. As the greatest achievement of this period might be mentionned its trial to unify the three main branches of fine art – architecture, painting and scultpure – in order to create a unity of the genres. This very impressive fact – called “Gesamtkunstwerk” – evoques a complexity in art that has never been achieved before or after that era. In many cases a kind of melting procedure happens between the artistic branches bringing illusion, imagination and reality to a close contextual situation which is often breathtaking. The projected lecture will exemplify baroque art in all its periodical subdivisions as well as in architecture, painting and sculpture using the vast repertory provided in southern Germany. Thus architects like Balthasar Neumann (1687-1753), Johann Dientzenhofer (1665-1726) and Dominikus Zimmermann (1685-1766), painters like Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770), Cosmas Damian Asam (1686-1739) and Johannes Zick (1702-1762) or sculptors like Balthasar Permoser (1651-1732), Ignaz Günther (1725-1775) and Egid Quirin Asam (1692-1750) with all their masterpieces will be in the focus of our interest.
Lecturer: Dr. Peter A. Süß
What food is typically German? Everybody could name some traditional dishes like Sauerkraut, sausages, pretzels or Schweinebraten. But why are these dishes the traditional dishes of Germany? How and when were they created? And does really every German eat them? In this course, we will follow the history of German food. Our journey will start with the first inhabitants of the country we call Germany today and will follow the food through the markets of the Middle Ages to our supermarkets today. The German cuisine is rich in regional variations, which are not only due to geographical and climatic reasons but also influenced by the special German history. Besides the history of some German dishes and typical ingredients, you will also learn a good bit about German’s history and its (food-)culture. This course will also take a look at the ways food is prepared and how and when food is eaten in Germany.
Lecturer: Dr. Christina Schäfer
"True Crime" is becoming increasingly popular. The genre owes its rise in particular to the media coverage, but in doing so, the latter has perhaps also struck a nerve with recipients. On the one hand, the seminar will thus focus on the legal historical development in Germany, but on the other hand, it will also discuss spectacular legal cases. In this way, participants will gain an insight into the German legal and media system. On this journey through such cultures of memory in Germany, the participants will encounter, for example, the "Vampire of Düsseldorf" and assess for themselves whether they would have convicted someone or not. To successfully complete the course, participants will present and write up a well-known case from their home country (optionally a different country).
Lecturers: Dr. Christina Schäfer / Lisa Stolz M.A.
Currently consisting of twenty-seven member states with supranational and intergovernmental features, the European Union has not only created a political and economic community but also a single market by a system of laws which apply in all member states, guaranteeing the freedom of movement of people, goods, services, and capital.
In this course, we will look at the development of the European Union from the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), an administrative agency established by the Treaty of Paris in 1952 to integrate the coal and steel industries in western Europe, to the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009, the inofficial EU constitution, and beyond. In particular, we will focus on Germany's role in the history of European integration. Topics presented include (but may not be limited to) decision-making in the EU, the various EU institutions such as the Commission, the Council of the EU, the EU Parliament, the EU Central Bank etc.; immigration and asylum; foreign and security policy; Brexit and Euroscepticism, the European Green Deal. Additionally, we will study and discuss national particularities such as the German social security system, the German labor market etc.
Lecturer: Sabrina Hüttner, M.A.
For understanding Germany in its contemporary state, the topic of Christian religion must not be skipped. As one of the key places of doctrinal and institutional debates within Christianity, Germany plays a prominent role in Church history; in consequence, this role did not only change the Church but Germany as well.
We look at key topics of Christianity that have a lasting influence on Germany as a European state, such as the Church as a social body, the sacramental matter of public Church service, the doctrine of original sin, the value of good deeds, and the relation of the Church to Judaism.
In our course, we will not only look into central passages of Christian doctrine; further, we will visit specific places in Würzburg that share a close connection to Church history.
Lecturer: Dr. Florian Klug
