Nazism: Origins, Cultures, Race, Power, Empire, Holocaust

Catalog description

This course is an intensive workshop covering the political, intellectual, and cultural history of National Socialism. We will study the rise and fall of Nazi Germany against several backdrops, including the transformation of empires and the international order; the rise of fascisms (across Europe and beyond); World War I, the communist struggles in Europe, and the Weimar experience; the history of racism; intellectual claims to authenticity and technological modernity; and its own attempt to engender a new world based on racial, national, and gendered status. The course will culminate in a study of the Third Reich’s expansionist and annihilatory policies in World War II, especially the Shoah.