Location: Berlin, Germany
2025 Dates: May 19-23 (online) + June 2-16 (Berlin)
Features of Course: Three credits
IUB GenEd S&H credit
IUB GenEd World Culture credit
COLL (CASE) S&H Breadth of Inquiry credit
The 2025 Application is available now! Due by January 31, although applications are welcome earlier. Apply Here.
Write to Program Director Pete Giordano at pgiordan@iu.edu if you have questions, or if you would like to meet and discuss the program.
Course description:
It is hard to find a better place than Berlin to study the Cold War. The city divided by the Wall (1961-1989) still keeps memories and cultures of life in the GDR and West Berlin, sites of the Soviet-Western confrontation and cooperation, and places where you can immerse yourself in the history of World War II. Students will look into the building of socialism, history of propaganda and surveillance, democratic revolutions and foreign politics, everyday life under the Soviet regime, and international cultural exchanges at the time of the Iron Curtain.
After spending the first week online studying the origins of the Cold War, students will travel to Berlin to see key memorials of the Cold War and meet students at Freie University. The group will visit Potsdam where a historic conference took place in July 1945 to decide on the future of the world after the war. Students will complete a story map that reflects their understanding of the cultural and political topography of the Cold War in Berlin.
This program does not require participants to speak German but enables them to experience German culture on a daily basis.
Instructor: Tatiana Saburova, History
Course fee: Approximately $1,600. Includes housing, some meals, local transportation, admission fees, and health insurance. Student is responsible for flights and personal expenses, plus three credits of summer tuition.
Eligibility requirements: Minimum 2.8 GPA. A GPA between 2.5 and 2.8 can be considered with explanation.