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The Age of Superman: The Masculine Ideal under Fascism and Socialism 1932-45

Module description

It has been a long held assumption that the idealisation of the male form under Fascism and Socialism was essentially two sides of the same coin, as both ideologies attempted, through various means and drawing on various theories, to make man anew. However, as historians have moved away from the totalitarian model for analysing such societies, this has brought into question the notion that these two ideologies held the same vision of who this ‘new man’ would be. Using a wide variety of material, and with particular emphasis on cultural sources, this module will allow you to examine the similarities and divergences between these two models of masculinity in the decade that culminated with their brutal confrontation on the battlefields of World War Two.

Module aims - intentions of the module

• The aim of the module is to introduce you to the rich range of sources available that allows historians to analyse the ways in which the Nazi and Soviet states constructed and projected their image of the ideal man; in what ways were they similar, how did they differ, what media were mobilised in the articulation of these ideals and what theories were used to underpin them?
• A wide variety of source material will be used to explore these issues that will range from ‘traditional’ textual sources such as speeches, decrees or pieces of legislation, to cultural sources such as cartoons, film, posters, paintings and sculpture.
• Each week the seminar will centre on the discussion of such sources and some of the methodological issues related to their analysis. You will also have the opportunity to conduct your own research into the source material, to consider its utility and limitations, and use it to explore particular topics and themes. In doing this, the module will help you develop skills in source analysis and research that will provide a foundation for future historical work.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate an understanding of some of the theories that underpin approaches to gender studies and to apply them to specific case-studies
• 2. Assess critically the range of sources emerging from Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Identify the problems of using historical sources, e.g. utility, limitations, etc., and to compare the validity of different types of sources
• 4. Present work orally, to respond to questions orally, and to think quickly of questions to ask other students

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Conduct independent study and group work, including the presentation of material for group discussion, developed through the mode of learning
• 6. Digest, select and organise material to produce, to a deadline, a coherent and cogent argument, developed through the mode of assessment
• 7. Work with others in a team and to interact effectively with the tutor and the wider group
• 8. To write to a very tight word-length

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

• Defining the Ideal: Theories of Masculinity in the Twentieth Century
• Creating the Ideal: Eugenics and Social Engineering
• Shaping the Ideal: Education and Youth Movements
• The Soviet Ideal: The Image of the Heroic Worker in Stalinist Poster Art
• The Fascist Ideal: The Classical Nude and Monumental Sculpture
• Following the Ideal: National Leaders as National Supermen
• The Sporting Ideal: Masculinity and Physical Culture
• Confronting the Ideal: Masculinity in the Second World War
• Caricaturing the Ideal: Emasculating the Enemy
• Falling Short of the Ideal: Combating and Correcting ‘Deviant’ Masculinities
• Concluding session

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Basic Reading and Source Collections:

• Apor, B., Behrends, J. C., Jones, P., and Rees, E. A. (eds.), The Leader Cult in Communist Dictatorships: Stalin and the Eastern Bloc (Basingstoke, 2004)
• Bartov, O., Murder In Our Midst: The Holocaust, Industrial Killing, and Representation (Oxford, 1996)
• Berkhoff, K., Motherland in Danger: Soviet Propaganda During World War II (Oxford, 2012)
• Bonnell, V., Iconography of Power: Soviet Political Posters under Lenin and Stalin (Los Angeles, 1999)
• Clements, Friedman and Healey (eds.), Russian Masculinities in History and Culture (Basingstoke, 2001)
• Dudink, Hagemann and Tosh (ed.), Masculinities in Politics and War: Gendering Modern History (Manchester, 2004)
• Evans, R., The Third Reich in Power (London, 2005)
• Fitzpatrick and Geyer, Beyond Totalitarianism: Nazism and Stalinism (Cambridge, 2008)
• Fritz, S., Frontsoldaten: The German Soldier in World War II (Lexington, 1997)
• Healey, D., Homosexual Desire in Revolutionary Russia: The Regulation of Sexual and Gender Dissent (London, 2001)
• Hoffmann, Cultivating the Masses: Soviet Social Intervention in Its International Context (New York, 2011)
• Mangan, J., Shaping the Superman: Fascist Body as Political Icon – Aryan Fascism (London, 1999)
• Mosse, G., The Image of Man: The Creation of Modern Masculinity (Oxford, 1999)

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=3316
• Seventeen Moments in Soviet History: www.soviethistory.org
• German Documents Online: http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/index.cfm
• Stalinka: http://images.library.pitt.edu/s/stalinka/
• German Propaganda Archive: http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa

Key words search

Masculinity, Nazi, Soviet, Fascism, Communism