FUBiS - Freie Universität Berlin International Summer and Winter University

Course Description

This course provides an overview of Berlin's architectural development during the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. Following an introduction to the urban development of the 19th century, the Neo-Classical period and the architectural tendencies of the 19th century will be surveyed with special reference to the works of Karl Friedrich Schinkel. The subsequent classes will explore the architecture of the German Empire and its dynamically growing capital Berlin after 1871 including its modern and conservative tendencies. Manifold avantgarde movements during the time of the Weimar Republic in the 1920s such as Modernism, Bauhaus and the Housing Revolution will be covered. The architecture of the Nazi period will be examined, followed by the developments in the divided city in East and West Berlin after the Second World War. The course concludes with a detailed review of the city’s more recent and current architectural profiles, including a critical analysis of the conflicts concerning the re-design of Berlin after the Cold War and the German reunification and contemporary planning issues.

Seven walking tours to historically significant buildings, historic sites and museums are included (Unter den Linden, Gendarmenmarkt, New Housing Estates, Chancellory, Potsdamer Platz, Holocaust Memorial etc.). The course aims to offer a deeper understanding of the interdependence of Berlin’s architecture and the city’s social, economic and political structures. It considers Berlin as a model for the highways and by-ways of a European capital in modern times.

Download Syllabus (printable PDF incl. day-to-day schedule)

Recommended Course Combinations (Selection)

• Berlin: Music and Sound in the Digital Age
• History of European Art: Travelling Artists and Artworks
• Urban Imaginaries: Between Place and Space in Berlin
• Urban Economics: Key Drivers of City Development

Course Description

This course is about Berlin, the city that was at the epicenter of the defining catastrophes of the twentieth century, including the First World War, the horror of the Nazi era that resulted in the Second World War and the Holocaust, and the long grubby Cold War that saw the city physically divided between capitalism and communism in an embodiment of the conflict between the American and Soviet worlds.

Yet amidst these horrors (and arguably because of them), Berlin was also a place where some of the most boundary breaking avant-garde art, progressive politics and anarchic subcultures of the twentieth century bloomed and died in the furnace of its constantly changing social, political and economic turmoil.

The livid imprint of this tormented history marks Berlin up until today, and demands to be known, studied and understood,

With this urgency in mind, in this course we examine the history of twentieth century Berlin through various lenses: the biographies of individuals, the words of writers who bore witness to the vertiginous social, political and physical changes the city underwent, and buildings and monuments whose physical construction, destruction and reconstruction reflected the ideological turmoil and conflict of those immense hundred years.

Famous Berliners we will meet include the murdered Communist leader Rosa Luxemburg, the artist Käthe Kollwitz, the actress Marlene Dietrich, the Nazi filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, the adopted Berliner David Bowie and the famous East German dissident musician Wolf Biermann. The contextualized stories of these individuals will offer us unique perspectives politically, artistically and socially into the tumult and struggle that marked their times in the city. These figures occupy a range of different position(s): as Berliners, as radicals, as artists of resistance to or collaboration with Nazism, and Communism, as drifters and exiles whose stories reflect Berlin’s unique position in the twentieth century as ‘no man’s land, frontier, a city adrift in the sands of Central Europe.’

In a similar way, we will examine the words of writers who bore witness to the extremism and societal upheaval that marked twentieth century Berlin. From the witnessing of Roth and Isherwood to life in Weimar and Nazi Berlin, to the social and political commentary by Christa Wolf on the moral struggles of life lived on different sides of the Berlin Wall, we will assess their writings in their historical contexts. We will assess their words as evocations of Berlin, but also as potential or overt acts of resistance to the extremism they lived under, that attempted to maintain a solidarity with the idea of Berlin as a place of artistic and social freedom and permissiveness.

Finally, we will examine some of the places in Berlin whose physical building, destruction and rebuilding can be situated in the wider systems of ideology, power and social relations that so cataclysmically defined the physical landscape of Berlin after 1933. In this, we will focus on the story of Potsdamer Platz, the Palace of the People (Palast der Republik) and the central site in Berlin for the mourning and remembrance of the Jewish Genocide by Nazi Germany, the Holocaust Memorial in Mitte.

This course does not seek to provide a ‘grand narrative’ of Berlin’s twentieth century history. Instead, it follows a thread that weaves through the history: the thread left behind by those who bore witness to their times. By tracing the stories of contemporary witnesses, left for us in books, films and songs, and in the physical construction of the city, we open up a human dimension that enriches and challenges our understanding of Berlin’s traumatic recent history.

Structured largely chronologically, the course will work with films and novels whilst building on a clear historiographical base provided in class seminars. The teaching will be augmented by physical excursions into Berlin to trace the stories we encounter and class discussions will form the basis for a seminar paper that students will be required to submit at the end of the course. This history course approaches the story of Berlin through the reflections and refractions of individual humans’ lives who struggled upon the immense stage of a city at the very symbolic and literal heart of the catastrophes of the twentieth century

Download Syllabus (printable PDF incl. day-to-day schedule)

Recommended Course Combinations (Selection)

• Akademisches Schreiben auf Deutsch
• Europe, Migration, Refugees
• Berlin: Music and Sound in the Digital Age
• History of European Art: Travelling Artists and Artworks
• The Cold War
• Berlin Architecture, Culture and City Marketing, 1750 – Present
• Urban Imaginaries: Between Place and Space in Berlin
• Urban Economics: Key Drivers of City Development

Course Description

This course introduces students to politics, governance, and ethics of sustainability in an increasingly interconnected world. The defining challenges of our time - ranging from poverty and inequality to climate change, biodiversity loss, and political polarization - are global in nature. Yet the current system of governance, built on competing sovereign countries, remains poorly equipped to address problems that transcend national borders. As societies confront these shared threats, they are compelled to adopt a new logic of cooperation, responsibility for the global commons, and awareness of the long-term consequences of human activity.

Throughout the course, students will explore the major global challenges shaping the 21^st century, divided into economic, social, political, and environmental dimensions. Special attention will be given to the causes and consequences of climate change, as well as to the international frameworks designed to address it, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The Paris Agreement will serve as a case study for examining both the possibilities and limitations of global climate governance.

Beyond environmental concerns, the course will investigate wider systemic issues such as income disparity, migration, gender inequality, the rise of populism, and the rapid development of new technologies. We will discuss how artificial intelligence, renewable energy, and innovative governance models might contribute to a more sustainable and equitable future. The final sessions encourage students to think critically and creatively about global interdependence and to envision pathways toward a fairer, more resilient world.

Classroom discussions will be complemented by field visits and guest lectures that connect theoretical insights with real-world practice.

Download Syllabus (printable PDF incl. day-to-day schedule)

Recommended Course Combinations (Selection)

• Sustainable Business: Strategy and Innovation
• Urban Imaginaries: Between Place and Space in Berlin
• Urban Economics: Key Drivers of City Development
• Europe, Migration, Refugees
• The European Union in the 21st Century: Internal and External Challenges
• Pathways to a Better Future: Concepts and Projects for a Transformation to Sustainability

Course Description

The ‘thousand year Reich’ that Hitler promised when he became Chancellor of Germany in January 1933 lasted but 12 years. During this time, however, Hitler and his Nazi Party came to dominate European and even world affairs, terrorizing vast numbers of Germans, launching a devastating war, and orchestrating the murder of more than five million Jews. Yet Hitler and the Nazi Party gained the active support and involvement of most Germans. How was this possible?

This class focuses on Hitler’s Germany and it begins with the essential 19th century background. How did political anti-Semitism grow there? What shaped the social and political life? Central to this session will be a discussion of the broad political currents and the popular literature that Hitler and many of his supporters read and absorbed.

Crucial to understanding the lure of Hitler and the Nazi Party was Germany’s experience in the First World War, a conflict that decimated a generation and destroyed Europe as it was known. Germany became a democratic state, but was torn by political divisions and dissatisfaction. In this climate of uncertainty and despair, Hitler and the Nazi Party grew from a small group on the radical fringe in Munich to a national force. How did this happen? Those traits of Hitler crucial to his success, particularly his charisma, will be defined and analyzed within the broader political context of Weimar political life.

In late January 1933 Hitler gained the long desired but elusive goal: he became chancellor of Germany, the leader of a coalition government. Much attention will be paid to how Hitler, his cabinet, and supporters were able to consolidate the control over the state and society within a matter of months. This came at the cost of political liberties, through the growing use of terror, oppression, and intimidation. Yet, Hitler gained supporters as he seemingly offered economic stability and a new unity to the German people. How the regime solidified its control over society and political life will be examined and discussed at length in this session.

A key element of Hitler’s rule was the concentration camp system, what came to be a vast chain of prisons and centers of oppression and death. How this developed will be examined and analyzed.

Hitler’s ambitions, the conquest of ‘living space’ in Eastern Europe and the annihilation of the Jews, motivated his foreign ambitions and led directly to World War II, the most destructive conflict in human history. A central element of the war was the Holocaust, the all-out program to destroy the Jews of Europe. The session will examine closely these developments, the nature of the war, how the Holocaust was implemented, and the role that terror played in sustaining Nazi rule. We will also discuss the measures taken against the handicapped, homosexuals, Sinti and Roma.

In Germany and later in occupied Europe opposition and resistance emerged and challenged Nazi rule. Opponents were motivated by a variety of reasons, some personal, some political, and these too will be discussed.

Lastly, the class will examine the end of the war, the so-called ‘zero hour’ in Germany, the destruction and collapse of Germany, and then how this nation has dealt with the legacy of Hitler and Nazi rule.

We will be visiting local museums, historical sites and locations that reveal the operations of Nazi rule. These visits are a key element of the class and the experience of studying in Berlin.

Download Syllabus (printable PDF incl. day-to-day schedule)

Recommended Course Combinations (Selection)

• The Cold War
• German Philosophy: From Kant to Habermas
• Akademisches Schreiben auf Deutsch

Course Description

This course explores the intersection of law, society and politics, and aims to foster discussion of contemporary issues among students from different cultures and disciplines. After an introduction to law and legal culture, we will engage with classical social theorists as well social scientists who examine the impact of law on issues such as morality, crime and punishment, free speech, inequality, and private property.

Throughout the course students will be invited to consider 1 - how law simultaneously plays complex constitutive, regulative and coercive roles in society; 2 - that there are both state and non-state legal systems; and 3 - how an individual’s place in society affects experiences, values or choices. Students will also develop written and oral communication skills to express informed opinions about issues in law and society, as well as intercultural competence through discussion with other students.

Download Syllabus (printable PDF incl. day-to-day schedule)

Recommended Course Combinations (Selection)

• The Cold War
• The European Union in the 21st Century: Internal and External Challenges 
• Europe, Migration, Refugees

Course Description

Leadership surrounds us always and everywhere. Be it as a supervisor, team captain, student activist, or parent – we all need certain leadership skills to thrive in our private and professional lives. However, what makes a good leader has long been the subject of controversial debate in research and practice. Leadership theories have constantly evolved, and modern concepts are manifold. At the same time, management scandals (e.g., Wirecard, Dieselgate, Twitter) repeatedly bring leadership failures to light. This course introduces a basic understanding of what leadership actually is and how that understanding depends on time and context.

On this basis, we will take a closer look at what enables individuals to lead in an entrepreneurial way and why an entrepreneurial mindset is more than ever important among today’s leaders. The economic, political, and ecological crises around the world have led us to question many of the assumptions on what entrepreneurship and ‘typical’ entrepreneurs are. Various initiatives have been established to promote diverse forms, purposes, and initiators of entrepreneurial activity. Behind such endeavours lies the hope that entrepreneurship will not only create new jobs, but also new ideas for the future and solutions to the world's most pressing problems.Accordingly, the European Commission developed a reference framework (“EntreComp”) to establish an understanding of entrepreneurship as a competence that results in social, cultural, or financial value for others. The basic idea of this framework is that the necessary skills and attitudes can be learned and applied by anyone.

However, the outcome in practice regarding entrepreneurial diversity looks different. Women and ethnic minorities, for instance, remain significantly underrepresented in startup ecosystems worldwide. Counting a global average of 15% female founders, we are still far from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #5 (gender equality) in the entrepreneurial context. We will touch upon the causes and discuss possible solutions in class. The course also emphasizes learning about the diversity of the Berlin startup ecosystem. To this end, we invite and/or visit guests from local startups and impact communities.

Through participation in the course, students will gain a basic understanding of entrepreneurial leadership in its diversity with a focus on Berlin and Europe. Integrated work with historical and modern role models will help students adopt a critical perspective on good leadership. Moreover, students will have the opportunity to reflect on and develop their own (entrepreneurial) leadership skills. For this purpose, the course is designed to be highly interactive and relies on innovative teaching methods.

Syllabus available soon (printable PDF incl. day-to-day schedule)

Recommended Course Combinations (Selection)

• Sustainable Business: Strategy and Innovation
• The European Union in the 21st Century: Internal and External Challenges
• Urban Economics: Key Drivers of City Development