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Academic Year 2003/2004

Nazi Germany and the Holocaust
HIST 376 SP
Crosslistings:
GERM 296

This seminar course seeks to give a firm historical grounding in the processes that led to Hitler's rise to power, the National Socialist regime, and the origins and implementation of the Holocaust based on the latest historical research. The basic premise of this course is that National Socialism, while enabled by the failure of the Paris Peace, Weimar instability and worldwide economic depression, was from the outset driven by a belligerent and genocidal logic. The course therefore focuses on the racial and geopolitical ideology of National Socialism and the policies of conquest, domination, and extermination that followed from it, culminating in aggressive war and genocide. It also seeks to impart a critical understanding of the ongoing problems of interpretation that accompany Nazi Germany and the Holocaust and therefore an awareness of the main outlines of current debate regarding assessment of the various factors involved in these complex historical problems.

MAJOR READINGS

Borowski, THIS WAY FOR THE GAS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN Levi, SURVIVAL IN AUSCHWITZ Weil, LIFE WITH A STAR Mendelsohn, THE JEWS OF EAST CENTRAL EUROPE BETWEEN THE WORLD WARS Dawidowicz, A HOLOCAUST READER Levy, ANTISEMITISM IN THE MODERN WORLD Marrus, THE HOLOCAUST IN HISTORY Yahil, THE HOLOCAUST: THE FATE OF EUROPEAN JEWRY

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Short papers, class presentations, and a term paper. Films are shown on Friday afternoons at 2 PM. Members of the class must keep this time free.

COURSE FORMAT: Discussion

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS HIST    Grading Mode: Graded   

Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-19-2004

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