History 367 Fall
2005
HISTORY
OF THE HOLOCAUST
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David Itzkowitz:
Office Hours: Tuesday, 3-5; Wednesday, 10-12. Other times by appointment
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Almost sixty years after the event, the Holocaust – the attempt by the Nazis to destroy European Jewry [1]– continues to haunt the modern imagination. Barely a month goes by that does not see the publication of at least one new book on the subject, and the terrible events of the early 1940s continue to be the subject of plays, films and television shows.
In this course we will examine the Holocaust as an historical phenomenon. We will try to understand what brought it about, how it was experienced by those who lived through it (and those who did not survive) and how the event continues to resonate in the world today.
Required Books
Saul
Friedländer, Nazi
Christopher
R. Browning, Ordinary Men
Alan
Adelson and Robert Lapides, eds.,
Primo
Levi, Survival in
Omer
Bartov, ed., The Holocaust: Origins,
Implementation, Aftermath
Peter
Novick, The Holocaust in American Life
Art
Speigelman, Maus II
We
will also read a number of shorter reviews, essays and documents, and watch
some films and videos.
On
November 3, the class will have the opportunity to visit the
Finally,
one way of plugging into the seemingly endless interest in the subject of the
Holocaust is to follow the discussions and debates—sometimes very scholarly,
sometimes touching, sometimes just plain
weird—is to read the exchanges on H-HOLOCAUST, the Internet holocaust
discussion list. I am asking all of you
to subscribe to H-HOLOCAUST and to check your messages every day. To subscribe to H-HOLOCAUST, send a message (from
your e-mail account—the subscription will automatically be entered at the
e-mail address of the computer
from
which the message is sent) to listserv@h-net.msu.edu Leave the subject
line blank. The text of the message
should be: SUBSCRIBE H-HOLOCAUST FIRSTNAME LASTNAME (where FIRSTNAME is your
first name and LASTNAME is your last name). At the very least, this will ensure that you
get lots of e-mail. The discussions on
H-HOLOCAUST are all archived at http://www.h-net.org/~holoweb/
along with a lot of other related material.
BUREAUCRATIC
EXPECTATIONS
We
will meet twice each week for lecture and discussion. Attendance is expected. It is also expected (and assumed) that the
reading, which may be considerable, will be done on time. Falling behind is not the best way to go.
Each
student will be expected to write a critical review of four of the
assigned readings. Everyone will write a review of the first reading, after
that, you may choose which readings you wish to review within each pair of two
readings. That is to say, you may review
reading 2 or 3, 4 or 5, 6 or 7. Each review is due, in
class, on the Tuesday week in which the reading is due. In addition, each student will write a
bibliographic essay, in which you discuss any aspect of Holocaust issues that
you choose. Please consult with me about
your topic. Finally, each student will
take a mid-term exam (October 25) and a Final exam (December 15). Upon consultation with me, a paper may
be substituted for either or both of the exams.
Critical
Review The critical review (of approximately
750-1000 words) should summarize the thesis or theses of the book, describe the
issues that the book was written to discuss, and
discuss
what you see as the strengths and weaknesses of the book.
Bibliographic
Essay
The bibliographic essay (of approximately 2200-2500 words) should identify an
issue of interest to scholars of the Holocaust and discuss the current state of
scholarship surrounding that issue.
Please consult with me about your topic.
Reasonable
accommodations will be provided for students with physical, sensory, cognitive,
learning, and psychological disabilities.
Please contact the Disability Services Office located at
Macalester Health Services, 696-6275, to discuss accessing accommodations.
COMPLETION
OF ALL WRITTEN WORK IS A REQUIREMENT FOR PASSING THIS COURSE.
EXCEPT
IN TRULY SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES, THERE WILL BE NO INCOMPLETES GRANTED IN THIS
COURSE.
SYLLABUS
Like
all things in this world, this schedule is subject to change
WEEK
OF TOPIC
September 8 Overview and
intro
WEEK
OF TOPIC
September 13 Before
the “Final Solution” Friedländer
Perpetrators and Victims (1)
September 20 The Perpetrators II, Lucy
“The Final Solution” Dawidowicz,
The War Against the Jews, Ch 1,
Bartov,
Ch 2-8 (2)
September 27 The
Perpetrators III Browning
(3)
October 4 The Perpetrators IV tba
Goldhagen Controversy
October11 The
Victims II: Adelson
(4)
Ghetto Life
No class meeting, October 13
October 18 The Victims II: Adelson
Ghetto Life (continued)
Felicia Weingarten
reading—October 20
October
25 Exam
November 1
Novick,
216-
20,
Other
reading TBA
Washington trip, November 3 –
November
8 The
Victims III Levi,
The Camps Bartov, Ch 12 (5)
November 15 Memory I Novick (7)
November 22 Memory II Speigelman(8)
THANKSGIVING BREAK ----
NOVEMBER 24
November 29 Memory
IV tba
Comparative advantage?
December 6 Contemporary
issues
December 13 Wrap-up
[1] As we shall see, both the name and the
definition can be very controversial.
This is the definition that we will be using for reasons that will
become clear over the course of the term.