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Conducted in German. This course explores the so-called Stunde Null or Zero Hour in German history: the years 1945-1949, from the end of World War II to the formal division of Germany into the DDR and the BRD. How did German writers, filmmakers, and intellectuals in the immediate aftermath of the war begin to grapple with questions of guilt and responsibility, and with possibilities for moving forward and national renewal? Additional topics include gender roles, the figure of the Trümmerfrau (rubble-woman), and crises of masculinity; exile, return, and the Gruppe 47. Texts/films include Karl Jaspers’s Die Schuldfrage, Roberto Rossellini’s Germania Anno Zero, Wolfgang Borchert’s Draußen vor der Tür, Wolfgang Staudte’s Die Mörder sind unter uns, Heinrich Böll’s Der Zug war pünklich.