The Third Reich

Catalog description

This course examines the origins and legacy of the Nazi dictatorship during the years 1933-1945. We begin by analyzing the factors that facilitated the Nazis' rise to power including the long-term peculiarities of German history, the short-term crises of the years 1918-33, and the relationship between Hitler and the German people. Thereafter, the course examines the social, economic, political, and cultural life of the Third Reich during the years, 1933-39, before turning to Hitler's unleashing of World War II and the Holocaust in the years 1939-45. The course concludes by surveying the Nazi era's lingering legacy in postwar German and European memory.