The Holocaust, 1933-1945
The course provides a comprehensive introduction to the Holocaust and combines lectures, film, and discussion. Reading suggestions will be provided to the class but there will be no required assignments or examinations.
The course examines the Holocaust from 1933 to 1945 within the context of modern German history and as a culmination of the millennial phenomenon of antisemitism. Together, we will study the outcome of the First World War and its impact on the German psyche, Adolf Hitler and his ideology, the rise of the Nazi party and its immediate assault on the Jews of Germany, the general outline of World War II and the evolution of Hitler's Final Solution to the Jewish Question. The course will conclude with discussions about the process of liberation, the rise of Zionist consciousness in Displaced Persons camps and throughout the Jewish world, the establishment of the State of Israel, as well as the challenges facing Jews and Germans of the second generation.
Read the testimonials of our students
The course provides a comprehensive introduction to the Holocaust and combines lectures, film, and discussion. Reading suggestions will be provided to the class but there will be no required assignments or examinations.
The course examines the Holocaust from 1933 to 1945 within the context of modern German history and as a culmination of the millennial phenomenon of antisemitism. Together, we will study the outcome of the First World War and its impact on the German psyche, Adolf Hitler and his ideology, the rise of the Nazi party and its immediate assault on the Jews of Germany, the general outline of World War II and the evolution of Hitler's Final Solution to the Jewish Question. The course will conclude with discussions about the process of liberation, the rise of Zionist consciousness in Displaced Persons camps and throughout the Jewish world, the establishment of the State of Israel, as well as the challenges facing Jews and Germans of the second generation.
Read the testimonials of our students
Syllabus
World War I and the Treaty of Versailles
The first class will discuss the outcome of WWI and the terms dictated to Germany at Versailles. In addition to examining the reaction of Germans to the war and to their disastrous defeat and humiliation, we will discuss German nationalism, antisemitism, and the geopolitical factors unique to the German experience in Europe.
Adolf Hitler and the Rise of National Socialism
The dominant aspects of National Socialist ideology will be explained through an examination of Hitler's biography, especially his wartime experience, and his ideas about German racial supremacy and Jewish world conspiracy. The development of the Nazi party and its rise to power under his leadership will also be studied.
Nazi Germany: 1933-1939
Persecution of Jews in Germany began with Hitler's appointment to the office of Chancellor in January 1933. Three major developments in Nazi anti-Jewish policy will be our focus: the April Boycott of 1933, the Nuremberg Laws, and the 1938 November Pogrom (also known as Kristallnacht). German Jewish responses to these events will also be discussed.
Persecution of Jews in Germany began with Hitler's appointment to the office of Chancellor in January 1933. Three major developments in Nazi anti-Jewish policy will be our focus: the April Boycott of 1933, the Nuremberg Laws, and the 1938 November Pogrom (also known as Kristallnacht). German Jewish responses to these events will also be discussed.
The Second World War
The Holocaust could never have been perpetrated on the Jews of Europe were it not for Hitler's assault on Great Britain and continental Europe and his occupation of most of its land, especially in the East. This class will provide the general history of WWII (1939 to 1945) beginning with Hitler's pre-war violations of the Versailles Treaty.
Nazi Germany: 1939-1941
Hitler establishes his so-called Euthanasia Program in October 1939, which orchestrates the murder of disabled Germans in six asylums. This program and its dismantlement and re-application in the death camps of Poland will be our focus. We will also study the process and rationale of Jewish ghettoization in Eastern Europe with a closer look at the largest ghetto created by Nazi Germany: Warsaw. The Wannsee Conference will also be explained and the minutes of the meeting discussed.
Hitler establishes his so-called Euthanasia Program in October 1939, which orchestrates the murder of disabled Germans in six asylums. This program and its dismantlement and re-application in the death camps of Poland will be our focus. We will also study the process and rationale of Jewish ghettoization in Eastern Europe with a closer look at the largest ghetto created by Nazi Germany: Warsaw. The Wannsee Conference will also be explained and the minutes of the meeting discussed.
Nazi Europe: 1941-1945
The central part of Hitler's Holocaust unfolds in these years in Eastern Europe where the vast majority of European Jews live. This class will explain the design, goals, and implementation of the Final Solution to the Jewish Question. The Nazi death camp system that was built for this so-called solution will be our focus, with particular attention paid to Chelmno and Auschwitz.
The central part of Hitler's Holocaust unfolds in these years in Eastern Europe where the vast majority of European Jews live. This class will explain the design, goals, and implementation of the Final Solution to the Jewish Question. The Nazi death camp system that was built for this so-called solution will be our focus, with particular attention paid to Chelmno and Auschwitz.
Liberation & Survival
The process of liberation and the establishment of DP (Displaced Persons) camps will be discussed with emphasis on the shocking discoveries and enormous challenges faced by Allied fighting forces who were completely unprepared to cope with this humanitarian catastrophe. The specific experiences of Jewish survivors in liberated Poland, where there was renewed violence against Jews, and those who made their way into the DP camps in Germany will be addressed. The appeal of Zionism and the need for a refuge for the Sh'erit ha-Pletah (surviving remnant) will be discussed alongside the period of illegal immigration into Palestine and the end of the British Mandate.
The Second Generation: Jews and Germans
The course will conclude with a discussion of the reverberations of the Holocaust into the second generation as a way of demonstrating that the effects of this catastrophe extend far past 1945. Both children of survivors and the lesser known children of perpetrators (or children of the nation of perpetrators) will be studied for their perceptions and experiences, which are at times mirror images of one another.