The Holocaust

Catalog description

The Holocaust was the most significant human rights tragedy in twentieth-century history. This course examines the history and memory of the Nazi campaign from 1933 to 1945 to stigmatize, isolate, and destroy European Jews. Roots of the Holocaust are addressed by examining European antisemitism. The Holocaust is placed into the context of Nazi consolidation of power and World War II. The course focuses on key events in the Holocaust, including Nazi policies to isolate Jews from 1933 on, the removal of German citizenship from Jews, the Night of the Broken Glass (Kristallnacht), deportations of Jews to concentration camps, the mass shootings of Jews on the Eastern Front during World War II, and the gassing of Jews to death in camps and mobile vans. Topics such as Allied response to the Holocaust, liberation of prisoners from the camps, treatment of displaced persons, and the Nuremburg trials are addressed. Students are introduced to intentionalist and functionalist arguments concerning the origins of the Holocaust. Much consideration is given to the role of perpetrators in carrying out the Holocaust and of bystanders who failed to intervene. Memory of the Holocaust is analyzed through documentary films, oral histories, memorials, and the phenomenon of Holocaust denial.