German Studies

German Studies courses (in both German and English) introduce students to the literature, history, culture, and politics of German-speaking Europe through a focus on critical analysis of cultural texts.

German Studies Department Response to COVID-19: Students unable to fulfill the study abroad requirement due to extraordinary circumstances should discuss alternative accommodations with their major advisor. Please see the College’s Coronavirus Response page for additional information.

The German Studies department offers:

Majors

Minors

Featured course

Jump to level: All German Studies courses

by level: 100 • 200 • 300 • 400

GER 260 Media Violence/Violence in the Media
Topics include cultural negotiations of hierarchies of power in the family, abuse, trauma, terror, war and the representation of the Holocaust.
GER 280 European Cinema
The course challenges the widely accepted binary opposition between European Art Cinema and Hollywood by also considering popular genre cinema.
GER 285 European Jews: History, Holocaust Future
Topics include medieval ghettos, emancipation, assimilation, antisemitism, racism, persecution, Zionism and Israel, refugees and displaced persons, European Jewish communities after 1945, and we also explore present and future options for twenty-first-century European Jewish communities.

Our distinguished faculty’s publications

News

Events

Each fall and spring semester, the department of German Studies holds a colloquium series of speakers and lectures. There are ongoing weekly events such as Kaffeeklatsch and Stammtisch as well as German Club meetings that students can be involved in while they are studying at Gettysburg.

German Studies Department Spotlight

Elizabeth Topolosky '14
Prosecuting crimes against humanity

Elizabeth Topolosky ’14 pursues a career in international law

Elizabeth Topolosky '14
FYS: Psst! Secret Clubs, Clandestine Societies, and Conspiracy Theories

Read more about Prof. Henning Wrage's First-Year Seminar