History 4336. 001. 2158 Third Reich and the Holocaust Fall 2015

This course will cover the history of Nazi Germany (the “Third Reich”), with additional concentration on its most salient aspect, the Holocaust. These twelve years in the history of one country have become among the most intensively studied in world history, for very good reason: the period gives insight into nearly every aspect of the human condition, from why societies collapse to why human beings collapse. Everything we think we know about how human beings behave gets put to the test in this period. Expect your studies here to outrage, frighten, and perhaps even inspire you.

This will NOT be a course about World War II! War “buffs” and History Channel fans will find that a knowledge of weapons specifications, battles, and Hitler’s pets, or Nazi occult newsreels will be of no help.
Likewise, this course does not reward the mere reciting of events much. Such information is necessary but not sufficient. You will not get far by simply spitting back facts, in college or in “real life”. Instead, this course focuses as much on how and why things happened as they did, as much as on what happened. You will learn a lot about processes and structures. To do well in this course, you will have to consider how what you are reading relates to previous readings and current themes... In short, you must evaluate data more than recite it.

READINGS:
I have assigned the following four books to everyone:
Required:

Michal Burleigh: The Third Reich: a New History

Terrence Des Pres: The Survivor

Richard Bessel: Germany 1945

Michael Stargardt: Witnesses to War

Hans Fallada: Every Man Dies Alone

Kate Turabian’s A Manual for Writers will help you with proper formatting of your essays.

I will not usually grade on attendance or participation, but reserve the right to give pop quizzes in order to ensure attendance. Thoughtful participation on the discussion board on the Blackboard site for this class, however, will help your grade and enrich your class experience. I will check the discussion area regularly, to post responses to comments, and perhaps even to raise a question or two myself.

ASK QUESTIONS. IF YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND SOMETHING, SAY SO. CONTACT ME.
“Avatar”:
I will assign each student a randomly chosen “character”. Each of these characters will represent a different facet of German society: a farmer, a factory worker, or the wife of a teacher,l, for example. All of them share a common birthdate in 1914, which means they will be 32 by the end of the course.
Your task will be to create (first) some more extensive background for your character, based on your understanding of German history. They will be Catholic, Protestant, male, female, urban, or rural. You will decide what the character will think and how he or she will act in response to the events and themes of that section. You will have to justify that choice, based on your understanding of how the trends in German history affect that person. Your more extensive background will be based on the readings for the course, *and* on additional reading and research of that character’s attributes.
* What was happening in his/her city, region or profession during these years, for example, and how did that resemble or differ from experiences in the rest of the country?

(PARAMETERS: Your character may not emigrate, though he or she might end up dying, if you make consistently bad decisions for him or her, in my judgement. No “miracle” plot twists are allowed. Your character hopefully will live at least through 1946 (for reasons which also will become clear). Each student will make regular submissions on his/her character, telling what happens to the character AND WHY (based on readings of the course, and other research). You will choose when and if your character marries, has children, when your character fights or flees... but remember, there’s NO “reset”. If you post it to me and I pass it on as plausible, it’s permanent, and subsequent choices available will be based on your decisions, unless I veto your posting as something unlikely … and I *always* have the right to throw a monkey-wrench in your plans, just the way the world would do to you in real life. If I return it with details about why your interpretation is *not* plausible (for example, a woman giving birth at age 55, or a mine worker being hired as a professional baseball coach in 1930s Germany), it will be returned to be redone. AT THE END OF THE SEMESTER… you will turn in a biography of your character, compiling all of your research into one larger paper.

AVATARS: 20%, with potential for extra credit.

The course schedule is still to be determined. However, the course will be divided into five units, which I describe here:

FINAL EXAM: