The Origins and Development of the German National Character: From Caesar to Nietzsche
9:00 a.m., Monday, Nov. 24, 2008
Webster Hall Auditorium
Admission: free

It is the purpose of this presentation to follow the development of the German national character through the historical record. Dr. Rader will explore how historical events have conditioned the Germans in modern times to react as they have toward the rest of the world. The presentation will seek to understand Nietzsche’s quote that “the question ‘What is a German?’ never dies out among them…The German himself does not exist: he is becoming, he is developing himself! ‘Development’ is therefore the essentially German discovery…a ruling idea, which, together with German beer and German music, is laboring to Germanize all Europe.” Dr. Rader will seek to identify enduring German “character traits” and explain how those traits have predictably contributed to the “German problem” in our time.

Dr. Gary Rader, a Joplin native, graduated from MSSU with a degree in English and political science. He completed his master’s at Pittsburg State University in political science and his Ph.D. in East German-Soviet studies, European comparative politics, and international relations at the University of Kansas. He lived in Germany from 1979 to 1997 conducting his dissertation research and teaching political science and history for the University of Maryland-European Division on American air force and army bases. Dr. Rader is fluent in German and conducted research in West and East Germany as a Fulbright travel grant recipient as well as the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships for study in Germany at the Universities of Erlangen, Bonn, and Greifswald in the former German Democratic Republic. In 1997 Dr. Rader returned to the United States and Drury University in Springfield, where he founded and directed the Drury online education program from 1999 to 2008. Since September, he has been the director for online education at Missouri State University.