The Book that Jolted a Nation

Instructors: Professor George M. Muschamp, Department of Theatre Arts, and Dr. Kenneth W. Pool, Leonard Bernstein Center for Learning

It's 1933, and you are a college student in Berlin. A minority of voters has just elected Adolf Hitler as Reich's Chancellor of the national German government. As the global Great Depression critically deepens, a clear majority of Germans assert their view that Germany has been "heading in the wrong direction" for the past decade. "Anything's better than this," is a prevailing sentiment. Maybe the Nazis can finally do something to clean up "the mess." Many of your friends and fellow students are sympathetic to Chancellor Hitler, a charismatic leader who makes "good, common sense." They stampede to join his Nazi party. Still, the Nazis are somewhat controversial, and people are torn. What do you do?

You will arrive at your answer through your in-depth experience with Address Unknown, a best-selling novel authored in 1935 by a beloved Gettysburg College professor, the late Kathrine Kressmann Taylor. On the journey, you'll immerse yourself in a rich sampler of the politics, arts, culture, music, theatre, family life-even the cuisine-of pre-World War II San Francisco, Berlin, Munich, and Vienna.