HIST 281KThe Nazi State

Catalog

This course examines the rise and consolidation of the National Socialist regime in Germany, with particular emphasis on the critical period of 1930-1938. At its core, it addresses a fundamental question: How did German society transform to not merely accept but actively participate in the Holocaust? The curriculum moves beyond traditional chronological narratives to analyze the complex mechanisms of power, institutional transformations, and social dynamics that enabled and sustained the Nazi state. Key areas of investigation include the regime's methods of securing popular consent, the process of Gleichschaltung (enforced coordination) across German society, the implementation of racial policies, and the transformation of legal and bureaucratic structures. Through close readings of primary sources- including government documents and propaganda materials- students will analyze how ordinary Germans became complicit in extraordinary crimes. The course emphasizes historiographical debates and competing interpretations, engaging with both classic and recent scholarship to understand how individual choices, institutional pressures, and broader societal changes combined to make the Holocaust possible.