History 309
The Holocaust and Genocide in Modern History
George S. Vascik
Mosler 572
7885-3272
vascikgs@muohio.edu
I hope for the course to be both content rich and philosophically/ethically challenging. The reading required for this class is daunting; the subject matter is intense. You are expected to read the material before class and come prepared to engage. For my own part, the subject matter requires a change in my normal classroom levity. Looking into the dark night of the human soul and seeing the face of genocide staring back isn't fun. At the same time, however, we fail to honor those who were murdered and those who sacrificed themselves if we remember only their victimhood and ignore their larger, entire lives. Let's truly make this class a common enterprise where we all grow intellectually and morally.
Class begins at 7:15 with informal discussion and review of the readings. On those nights when readings quizzes are scheduled, these will be completed between 7:15 and 7:30. At 7:30, I will begin a formal lecture/recitation, which will last until 8:45. After a fifteen-minute break, we will resume less formally for the remaining 55 minutes of class. Exceptions to this format will be the film showings and guest lectures.
Dwork and van Pelt, Holocaust. A History
Browning, The Origins of the Final Solution
My office hours this term are Monday and Wednesday, 10:15-11:15 and 1:00-4:00, Tuesday and Thursday, 10:00-11:15 and 1:00-2:15. In addition to my office phone, you can contact me at home at 523-9990 or via e-mail at vascikgs@muohio.edu. For e-mails, please put HST309 in the subject line.
5 of 6 readings quizzes 25%
midterm exam 25%
final exam 25%
project 25%
8/26 Introduction to Holocaust Studies
methodological/theoretical overview
showing of Night and Fog
9/2 anti-Semitism new and old readings quiz
Varieties of Jewish life in 18th and 19th century Europe
the Dreyfus Affair,/Karl Lueger/pogrom of 1902
Dwork &
van Pelt, pp. 3-28.
9/9 Hitler and the First World War readings quiz
the Jewish question in Germany and the East
Dwork & van Pelt, pp. 29-62.
excerpt from Mein Kampf.
9/16 The Nazi Racial State I readings quiz
from the Nuremberg Laws to T4
Dwork &
van Pelt, pp. 63- 132, 259-284.
9/23 The Nazi Racial State II
Browning,
pp. 1-110.
9/30 Midterm examination
viewing of Europa,Europa
10/7 Jewish life in occupied Europe readings quiz
Dwork & van Pelt, pp. 133- 258.
Browning, pp. 111-212.
10/14 Stages of Extermination I readings quiz
Browning, pp. 1-110
10/21 The Wannsee Conference
viewing of Conspiracy
Browning, pp. 213-308.
10/28 Stages of extermination II readings quiz
Browning, pp. 309-373.
11/4 Project work
11/11 Auschwitz and the machinery of death
Browning, pp. 374-423.
Dwork & van Pelt, pp. 356-374.
11/18 Browning lecture
Browning, pp. 424-433.
12/2 Memory/Memoriallization/Restituiton
Dwork & van Pelt, pp. 275-386.
12/9 student project presentations
Projects may be either group projects or individual projects. I suggest projects organized around the following topics:
camps
countries
perpetrators
victims
sources:
film
memoir
fiction
documents to include
T4 documents
Nuremberg Laws
Wannsee Protocol
Mein Kampf exerpts
something on emancipation, modernity
include selection of maps from Gilbert
if I do cd,, put lectures in an arc, off each link on the arc is a set of materials against a motif. items: powerpoint; text outline; readings; maps; illustrations