From the Renaissance to Nazi Germany:Ancient Greece and Rome in German Nationalism

3 units

In 1943 the Nazi SS stormed the Italian Villa Fontedamo in search of a book: the Germania of the ancient Roman historian Tacitus. Storming the villa was just one example of a quest Germans had been undertaking since the Renaissance: to find German national identity with the help of Ancient Greece and Rome. Graeco-Roman antiquity provided the Germans with the first comprehensive description of their ancient ancestors in the Germania and their first national hero, Arminius. In this course, we will study the impact of that Greece and Rome had on German national identity starting in the 16th century when a group of poet-scholars transformed the Germania and Arminius into central components of German national identity. We will trace it through the Enlightenment in the 17th-18th centuries and into the age of imperialism in the 19th century when the first monument to Arminius was erected in Germany, the so-called Hermannsdenkmal (Monument to Arminius). We will end with how the Nazis reinterpreted the culture of Ancient Greece and Rome as a justification for fascism and violent nationalism. We will debate extensively and write in detail about questions of authority, identity, tolerance, intolerance, belonging, and ultimately why classical culture has been one of the most influential forces of the last 500 years. Our focus will lie on three key questions, each of incomparable relevance in today's world: 1. Why did German nationalists turn to Ancient Greece and Rome? Addressing this question will help us understand the decisive role classical antiquity has had since Rome fell in 476 CE 2. What specific mechanisms were used to interpret Graeco-Roman culture and knowledge? Answering this will allow us to evaluate how history is always in service of identity and power. 3. How did German identity develop? Evaluating this will help us understand how Renaissance-era poet-scholars were at the beginning of an identity creation that exploded in the 1900s. Our goals are to understand classical culture's potential for use and abuse, and to develop tools for historical thought and insight that help us understand the past and present