This course explores the pivotal role of Berlin in German culture and memory of the 20th and 21st centuries. Few places have seen as much upheaval as the German metropolis in this period, from the final years of the Wilhelminine monarchy, the heady “dancing on the volcano” of the Weimar Republic, and the horrors of National Socialism and its aftermath, to the walled division of the city during the Cold War, reunification in 1990, and the cultural flourishing of the “Berlin Republic” in the 21st century. Through literature, film, and popular culture, discussion will focus on representations and transformations of Berlin’s urban spaces, including as sites of protest, nostalgia, Heimat (home), trauma, and memory. This will include stories by writers and artists from Berlin as well as from further afield, such as narratives of Jewish-German, immigrant, and subcultural life. Students who have completed this course will demonstrate advanced levels of spoken and written expression that accord to the conventions of academic German, in addition to substantial discipline-based research skills.