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Course Syllabus

Bachelor 2019/2020

The History of the Holocaust

Type: Elective course (History)
Area of studies: History
Delivered by: School of History
Where: Faculty of Humanities
When: 3 year, 1 module
Mode of studies: offline
Instructors: Seth Bernstein
Language: English
ECTS credits: 3
Contact hours: 42

Course Syllabus

Full Syllabus

Abstract

From 1933 to 1945, Nazi leaders initiated the systematic marginalization, expropriation and murder of millions of Europe’s Jews. As a central part of Nazi regime’s war aims, the Holocaust provides a window into the unfolding of World War II, including the radicalization of Nazi ideology and its growing hold over ethnic Germans in the Third Reich. The study of the genocide itself can show students how people – perpetrators, victims and bystanders – living under the extreme conditions of war, ghettos and concentration camps react to mass murder. Finally, the Holocaust has made an enormous impact on post-World War II politics, ideology and memory, from the founding of Israel to the so-called human rights revolution to the commemoration in dozens of films. The course unfolds in a chronological manner. It begins in the 1930s and earlier by exploring the place of Jews before and after the rise of Hitler. Students then will learn about the Holocaust as it occurred in different contexts and as it was experienced from the perspectives of different groups. Finally, the course will examine the aftermath of genocide – how survivors adapted to the postwar world, trials against perpetrators and the impact of the Holocaust on modern memory. In addition to the history of genocide, the class will pay attention to the role of fiction and film in the memory of the Holocaust.
Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives

  • Learn about modern history
  • Improve academic English
  • Acquaint with scholarly literature
Expected Learning Outcomes

Expected Learning Outcomes

  • ability to discuss modern history in class setting.
  • writing short paper in English
  • ability to list scholars and contributions
Course Contents

Course Contents

  • The pre-history of the Holocaust
    This part of the course examines the factors that allowed the Holocaust to occur. It begins with the place of Jewry in Europe from the Middle Ages into the twentieth century. It also explores the conditions that led to the Nazi Party's takeover of power in Germany in 1933 and the expansion in anti-Jewish acts over the decade.
  • The implementation of the Holocaust
    This part of the course examines the mass murder of European Jewry. It begins with the creation of ghettos across German-dominated Europe after the start of World War II. It looks at the Holocaust by bullets in occupied Soviet territories. It ends by looking at the workings and lived experience of death camps in Poland.
  • Investigation and memory of the Holocaust
    This part of the course explores the aftermath of the Holocaust. It looks at the investigations of mass murder just after liberation. It looks at the trials for war crimes of Germans and people of other nationalities. The course finishes with an analysis of the rise of Holocaust studies as an academic field.
Assessment Elements

Assessment Elements

  • non-blocking In-Class Participation
  • non-blocking Quizzes
  • non-blocking Essay
  • non-blocking Final Exam
Interim Assessment

Interim Assessment

  • Interim assessment (1 module)
    0.15 * Essay + 0.4 * Final Exam + 0.25 * In-Class Participation + 0.2 * Quizzes
Bibliography

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

  • Anna Hajkova. (2013). Sexual Barter in Times of Genocide: Negotiating the Sexual Economy of the Theresienstadt Ghetto. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.6E93AF2F
  • Arendt, H. (2006). Eichmann in Jerusalem : A Report on the Banality of Evil. New York, N.Y.: Penguin Classics. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1129497
  • Feferman, K. ((Kirill)). (2003). Soviet investigation of Nazi crimes in the USSR : documenting the Holocaust. Journal of Genocide Research, 5(4), 587–602. https://doi.org/10.1080/1462352032000149512
  • Fest, J. C., Winston, R., & Winston, C. (2013). Hitler. Orlando: Mariner Books. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1626255
  • Hoffmann, S.-L. (2016). Human Rights and History. Past & Present, 232(1), 279–310. https://doi.org/10.1093/pastj/gtw013
  • Kaplan, M. A. (1999). Between Dignity and Despair : Jewish Life in Nazi Germany. New York: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=287568
  • Stola, D. (2007). Fear: Anti-Semitism in Poland after Auschwitz, an Essay in Historical Interpretation. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.DDA0F30B
  • Victor Klemperer. (2016). I Will Bear Witness, Volume 1 : A Diary of the Nazi Years: 1933-1941. [N.p.]: Modern Library. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1157340
  • Victor Klemperer. (2016). I Will Bear Witness, Volume 2 : A Diary of the Nazi Years: 1942-1945. [N.p.]: Modern Library. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1157341

Recommended Additional Bibliography

  • Bartov, O. (1992). Hitler’s Army : Soldiers, Nazis, and War in the Third Reich. New York: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=288548
  • Bartov, O. (2003). Germany’s War and the Holocaust : Disputed Histories. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=671355
  • Gerwarth, R., & Horne, J. (2012). War in Peace : Paramilitary Violence in Europe After the Great War (Vol. 1st ed). Oxford: OUP Oxford. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1213527
  • Greble, E. (2011). Sarajevo, 1941–1945 : Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Hitler’s Europe. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=673661
  • Kalyvas, S. N. (2006). The Logic of Violence in Civil War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=165326
  • Kater, M. H. (2004). Hitler Youth. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=282437
  • Koonz, C. (2013). Mothers in the Fatherland : Women, the Family and Nazi Politics. London: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=573492
  • Manley, R. (2009). To the Tashkent Station : Evacuation and Survival in the Soviet Union at War. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=671519