Representing the Holocaust in Words & Images

Jewish Studies/Hebrew Studies 261: Online

SAMPLE SYLLABUS: This is not the exact syllabus you will have in your semester, but it will give you a good sense of what we will do together

Dr. Rachel N. Baum [email protected] Greene Museum 120 (Center for Jewish Studies, next to Sabin, on Downer) 229-5156

Course Online Access:

Desire to Learn at http://d2l.uwm.edu

Any problems with access, please contact [email protected] or call (414)229-4040

Course Description: The Holocaust remains one of the most horrific events in modern history. It is nearly impossible to comprehend the torture and murder of men, women, and children on such a massive scale. History has had a difficult enough time piecing together the events of the past . . . what about art? Is it appropriate to write novels and poetry about such horror? Do literature and film add anything to the study of history? What should such literature and film do? Should it shock us? Educate us? Horrify us? Make us cry? How can literature and film help us to remember a past we did not experience?

This course will provide a general background to the Holocaust as well as to the study of literature.

Learning Outcomes:

A student successfully completing this course will be able to:

 Identify the major events of the Holocaust and describe the historical progression of the Nazi murder of the Jews of Europe  Describe the major ethical, aesthetic, and representational concerns around representations of the Holocaust  Recognize, evaluate, and analyze the complex moral context of the Holocaust, with particular attention to the roles of victim, perpetrator, and bystander  Analyze a Holocaust text (literature or film) with particular attention to the ethical, aesthetic, and representational issues raised by the text.

Required Reading:

1. Gerda Weissman Klein, All But My Life. You can purchase this from the UWM Bookstore, or online.

2. Other texts will be delivered electronically, via Ginkgotree. In fact, our class is participating in a pilot project on the use of Ginkgotree. Basically, this program allows professors to create a kind of “online textbook” for students, at reduced rates. You will pay $15 for access to Gingkotree, but will not have to buy the books that students in this course usually do, or a course reader. I am having you buy the Klein text because I want you to read a full length memoir, and it’s a great book. On D2L, you will find information about Ginkgotree (under Content) and the Gingkotree link is on the upper right hand side of the navigation bar (to the left of the Logout button).

3. Because I want to try to keep costs down for you, as part of the pilot project, I am not requiring you to purchase Maus II by Art Spiegelman. It is a graphic “novel” about Spiegelman’s father’s experiences in Auschwitz, and it's a very important book about the Holocaust. Some of you may already own one of the volumes, however (Maus I or Maus II), and/or may choose to purchase it or to get it from your local library. I think you will get more out of the unit if you do read one of the books in its entirety, but you will still get a lot out of the unit without purchasing the book.

Online Education: Online courses might also be called “self-directed learning.” Online courses allow students to more easily fit their learning into their schedule of work, family, and other courses. Yet the workload is just as stringent as the workload for a face-to-face course – perhaps even more so, because rather than sitting in class for 75 minutes a week, you will be sitting in front of your computer during that time, in addition to completing the reading and writing assignments of the course. This course in particular lends itself to online learning, because it is a course filled with media – films, video clips, images, and so on. If you stick with the work, I know you will have a valuable, enriching, and fun time. But you must keep up with the work! The schedule is set up in such a way as to prevent you from falling behind – Keep up with the assignments, and you will be fine! If you have questions or start to fall behind, be sure to contact me. This is even more important in an online course than in a face-to-face course.

Required Resources: Computer Skills. In order to be successful in this course you should have basic computer skills. You should be able to perform basic word processing tasks. You should be able to browse the Internet and send and receive email messages. There are other tasks that you will need to perform throughout the course, but we will learn these as we go. If you do not have the basic computer skills listed above, you will probably struggle in this course. You may consider finding another course option that will fit your needs.

Computer requirements. Because this course is conducted online, you will need access to a computer that has a broadband connection. You may own a computer and have high-speed internet access where you live. If not, you will need to use the UWM campus computer labs to complete your course work. Information about lab locations and hours are located here: https://www4.uwm.edu/uits/services/campus/ccis/

Checking D2L regularly: Because this is an online class, you must make an effort to “come to class” regularly. Please check D2L on Mondays for your work for that week/unit, and plan on checking in about every 2 – 3 days to read the forums, see if there are announcements, etc. You will not be able to see the entire course at once, but will receive each unit on the Monday on which it begins. Most of the units last for two weeks.

Please be sure to check the “Announcements” section on the front page of our D2L course site frequently. I will use this space for introductions to the units, things I want you to know, general announcements, etc.

Software Requirements/Second Life Assignment: In addition to needing to use D2L, you will need a computer that can run Second Life. Second Life is a virtual 3D world. You create an avatar and use him/her to live in the virtual world. There are a variety of educational and recreational activities to do in Second Life. Our class will be going on a virtual field trip to an exhibit of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. This will require that you download the Second Life software. If your computer is not able to run SL, you will need to find one that can. Please do this early in the semester, so by the time the assignment comes around, you will know which computer you will use. UWM campus computers have SL installed on them.

Facebook page. I have set up a Facebook page for our class. This will let me send you reminders, announcements, articles & videos of interest, and so on. I use FB in all my classes, but require it in my online classes, because it is so helpful for keeping online students connected. This does NOT mean that you need a Facebook account, or must actively use Facebook. If you have a FB account and “like” our class page, my announcements will show up in your news feed. If you do not use FB, please check the page about once a week to see what you have missed. You can find the link on our class D2L site (Look on the right hand side navigation bar), or do a search for “UWM Jewish 261 Fall2013” (make sure you find FALL 2013, since I have other pages).

I don’t friend students, so don’t be offended – It’s not that you’re not fabulous; it’s just easier this way. 

GRADING

ASSIGNMENTS: When an assignment has a due date, it means that the assignment must be completed by MIDNIGHT of that day. If a forum response is due on Sunday, therefore, it means that you have until midnight Sunday night. Things that you hand in are generally due on Thursday or Sunday, which leaves you the beginning of the week for reading/viewing.

Forum Postings: 240 points (40 points per post)

Forums are the online version of in-class discussion. They are vital to our course, because they give you an opportunity to work through the issues of the course, and to engage in discussion about them with your classmates. They also offer me a chance to see your thinking about the issues and to raise some of the key concerns of the course. You must respond to the question I have asked, and your post must be a minimum of 250 words.

Forum posts & responses will be graded between 0 – 4 points (This will be multiplied by 10 to get your points for the post) . Full assignment on D2L.

For the discussion forums, you will be in a group of 7 - 9 students. This will let you really participate in the forums without having a burdensome number of posts to read, and will let you get to know the students in your forum better.

I have written the forum prompts on the syllabus, but may tweak them or expand on them as the semester progresses. Be sure to respond to the prompt you see on D2L, which will always be the most recent and correct version! 

Forum Responses: 180 points (30 points per response)

These are brief (minimum of 150 words) responses to the posts made by your classmates. The more thoughtful you make these, the better class discussion will be. Say something substantive about the original comment, rather than just finding 150 words to say, “Great job!” You might use this space to ask for clarification about an issue, or to ask a question of your classmate.

These will be graded from 0 – 3. This will be multiplied by 10 to get your points score for the response.

Quizzes: 320 points (64 points each)

There are five quizzes throughout the semester. These are graded immediately on D2L.

Reflections (260 points)

There will be three written reflections on your learning throughout the course. Full assignment on D2L. The first reflection is worth 40 points; the second is worth 80 points, and the final reflection is worth 140 points.

Grading is based on a 1000 point system. Your final grades will be computed thusly:

950– 1000 points = A 900 - 949 points = A- 860 - 899 points = B+ 821 - 859 points = B 800 – 820 points = B- 760 – 799 points = C+ 721 – 759 points = C 700 – 720 points = C- 650 – 699 points = D+ 600 – 649 points = D Below 600 points = F

A Personal Note about Technology

I’m really excited about the use of Second Life in this class and want to tell you why, so you can be excited too! I think that sometimes students feel like technology is just one more thing to figure out, and it can feel like it’s not an essential part of the course. I think that at its best, technology can help us learn in new ways. A lot of professors are teaching exactly the same way they were taught, TWENTY OR THIRTY YEARS AGO. When I went to grad school, the internet was only in its infancy and Windows was just being developed………..and I’m 44, not 90. So the world has changed in HUGE ways in a short amount of time, and I think that education must change with it. I love finding 21st century ways to learn, teach, explore, reflect, connect. I still believe in the basics – reading, writing, thinking – but know that there are 21st century ways to do those things.

Okay, I’ll throw in one more.  Because you will be using 21st century tools to learn & to reflect on your learning, you will also be developing 21st century skills. Using Ginkgotree and Second Life will help you to think about important 21st Century issues and will increase your “digital literacy” (ability to use and think about digital tools).

POLICIES:

Participation by Students with Disabilities: If you need special accommodations in order to meet any of the requirements of this course, please contact me as soon as possible

Accommodation for Religious Observances: Students will be allowed to complete examinations or other requirements that are missed because of a religious observance.

Academic Misconduct: Students are responsible for the honest completion and representation of their work, for the appropriate citation of sources, and for respect of others' academic endeavors. Claiming other people’s writing or ideas as your own is a serious offense. Be sure to credit your sources – including information you’ve gotten off of the Internet – in your work. If you are unsure how to do this, be sure to see me.

The University Policy about these issues and others (e.g., students called to active military duty, discriminatory conduct, incompletes, etc.) can be found at: http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/SecU/SyllabusLinks.pdf

Email Etiquette: I check my email regularly and will usually respond to email within 24 hours. Please make the subject line something identifiable, such as Jewish Studies 261, so that I don’t accidentally delete your message. Should you not hear from me within a day, please resend it. And while we’ve all gotten more informal, please remember that I’m your professor.

Major/Minor in Jewish Studies This course fulfills a requirement for the Jewish Studies major and minor. The major offers two tracks: Hebrew Studies and Jewish Cultural Studies (which does not require Hebrew language). With its combination of core courses and electives, the Jewish Studies program allows students to create a course of study that can focus on religion, culture, Israel, Holocaust, media, or immigration. A dynamic and innovative major, Jewish Studies prepares students to work in our multicultural world. For more information on the Jewish Studies major and minor, please contact me, as I am coordinator of the Jewish Studies program. CALENDAR

Subject to change

WEEK ONE: CLASS ORIENTATION/FIRST REFLECTION

Day of Monday Thursday Sunday Week Week of 9/3 Reading (Week one Post Introduction Reflection #1 due on D2L lecture, syllabus)

Hello! This is week one of the class! I want you to jump right in and get familiar with the D2L site, so you can keep up with the work. This is going to be a great class and you will learn a lot – but only if you keep up! So here’s the plan for this week:

Read: Syllabus, welcome letter. Familiarize yourself with D2L. Post any questions to the “Help!” forum or to our Facebook page – unless you don’t know how to do either, in which case, email me!

Read/Watch: Read “Week one lecture”. In some of the lectures, you’ll see hot links. Be sure to click on them as you read. I try to check all the links, but if you have any trouble, please google it and locate the video. I always tell you what you are about to watch, so you should have no problems finding it again in Google if need be. And if you get stuck beyond that, email me!

Write: I am going to ask you to hit the ground running with two assignments during the first week.

1. Introduction. Before Thursday at midnight, please go to the Discussions section of the site and post your introduction. Click on the blue link, “Introductions.” There you can read my introduction and post your own. 5 points of extra credit if you respond to another person’s post by Sunday, midnight. We won’t have a lot to respond now, but I want you to get used to using D2L.

2. Reflection #1. Before Sunday at midnight, please post your first reflection to D2L. (in terms of grades, this is actually reflection #1, rather than a discussion post, but you will be posting it in the discussion forum so you can see each other’s posts). The full assignment is on D2L. You are probably thinking, “For REAL?!? An essay in the FIRST WEEK?” I know. I get it. But here’s the thing – Later, you will be writing more reflections, and it will be good for you to know what you were thinking when the class first began. Plus, it will get you thinking about the interesting issues of the class, and make you want to learn more. 

You don’t have to respond to anyone else’s post, but if you do, you can get between 1-10 points of extra credit (depending on the quality of the response). To earn credit, you need to say something substantive, and can’t just say, “Great job!”

The first week is a very easy start, so you will have plenty of time to start your reading for the next session. It’s a lot, so try to break it up into manageable pieces.

WEEKS TWO & THREE: WHAT WAS THE HOLOCAUST?

Day of Monday Thursday Sunday Week Week of 9/9 Reading Reading Quiz (Holocaust History I) Week of Reading Reading/Lecture on Quiz (Holocaust History II) 9/16 Death camps

Lecture: Lecture on Holocaust (read first); Lecture on Death Camps (read in second week)

Read: Holocaust History I (first week) and Holocaust History II (second week), in Ginkgotree. If you are using the Berenbaum book (The World Must Know) instead of Gingkotree, please read pp 1 – 66 for the first week, and 67 – 144 for the second week.

Assessment: Quizzes on D2L

WEEKS FOUR & FIVE:

TELLING THE STORY I: VICTIMS

Day of Monday Thursday Sunday Week Week of Read Klein Read Klein Quiz #3 (on Klein) 9/23 Week of Video: One Survivor Forum Post Forum Response due 9/30 Remembers

Read: All But My Life by Gerda Weissman Klein (must be finished before taking quiz)

Assessment: Quiz by 9/29, on All But My Life

Watch: One Survivor Remembers, and “Gerda Klein accepts Academy Award”

Respond:

Write a forum post (250 words) in which you respond to the following questions. You do not need to address each question, but do address the issues as a whole: How does Gerda Weissman Klein connect with her audience? How does she build bridges between her unique experience of the Holocaust and the reader, who has not experienced anything remotely similar? To what extent do you find her strategies effective? Are there any potential problems with such strategies? Are the connecting strategies different in the memoir than in the video?

Post due Thurs, 10/3 (midnight); Response (150 words) due 10/6 (midnight)

WEEK SIX AND SEVEN: REFLECTING ON IMAGES

Days of Week Monday Thursday Sunday Week of 10/7 Read Lecture on Forum Post Forum Response Night & Fog. Watch Night & Fog (video) Week of 10/14 Watch lecture on Forum Post Forum Response Shoah. Watch Shoah clips

There are two very different films about the Holocaust in this unit. Each week will have a similar schedule.

Week of 10/7

Lecture: Lecture on Night and Fog

Watch: Night and Fog

Respond: Write a forum post (250 words) in which you respond to the following questions: Do you think it it ethical to show the graphic images of Night & Fog? In your response, consider the perspective of at least two of the below:

 A Holocaust survivor  A family member of someone who was killed in the Holocaust  A woman who recognizes herself in the images  A filmmaker  A young Jewish woman  A young German woman  A Holocaust researcher/scholar  You

Post due 10/10; response due 10/13

Week of 10/14

Lecture: Watch video lecture on Shoah

Watch: Clips of Shoah

Respond: Write a forum post (250 words) in which you respond to the following questions:

In Shoah, Claude Lanzmann makes the decision to place his film entirely in the present, without any use of archival images. This means that his film has none of the graphic images of emaciated skeletons that are seen in Night & Fog and in your Berenbaum book (or on the webpages of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum). Lanzmann also centers his films around interviews with people who were actually in the Holocaust -- as victims, perpetrators, or bystanders.

Write a response in which you consider the ethical dimensions of Shoah – that is to say, the moral issues raised by the film. In your response consider:

 Lanzmann’s treatment of the victims  Lanzmann’s treatment of Franz Suchomel, the perpetrator testimony you saw  The position of the viewer (how does Shoah put the viewer in a different position than Night & Fog?)  The position of the filmmaker (What do you think are Lanzmann’s goals for the film? What would he say about the ethics of the film?)

Post due 10/17; response due 10/20 WEEK EIGHT: REFLECTING ON AND WITH IMAGES

Day of Monday Thursday Sunday Week Week of Lecture about Images Reflection #2 10/21

Read: Lecture about Images.

Respond: Write your REFLECTION #2 . The full assignment is on D2L.

WEEKS NINE & TEN

TELLING THE STORY II:

VICTIMS, PERPETRATORS, AND THE GRAY ZONE

Day of Monday Thursday Sunday Week Week of Read lecture on Read “Helmut Quiz #4 10/28 Perpetrators. Read Reiner”. excerpts from The Good Old Days. Week of Read Lecture on “The Forum Post Forum Response 11/4 Gray Zone”. Read “The Block of Death” and ”Esther’s First Born”

Lecture: Lecture on Perpetrators. Lecture on Gray Zone.

Read: Excerpts from The Good Old Days: The Holocaust as Seen by its Perpetrators and Bystanders, “Helmut Reiner,” “The Block of Death,” “Esther’s First Born.” Assessment: Quiz due 11/3

Respond: Looking at the texts from this unit, write a forum post (250 words) that responds to all or some of the following questions:

 Did these stories challenge your thinking about the Holocaust? Did they deepen your engagement with the subject? How?  In what way did the setting & context of these stories shape the behavior of the people in the stories? Would they have made other choices if the situation were different? How does your answer to this question shape your opinion about their actions?  Do you find Primo Levi’s concept of the “Gray Zone” helpful in thinking about the moral issues raised by these stories? What are the dangers of the concept?  In the first week you read about perpetrators. In the second week, you read about victims. These are important moral categories, since the perpetrators killed and the victims were killed. Each had different choices available to them (or lack of choices). After reading these texts, how would you describe the different choices available to each group?

Post due 11/7; response due 11/10

WEEKS ELEVEN & TWELVE:

TELLING A STORY WITH IMAGES:

Day of Week Monday Thursday Sunday Week of Lecture & Maus II Maus II Quiz 11/11 Week of (start exploring Second Forum Post Forum Response 11/18 Life)

Lecture: Lecture on Maus

Read: Maus II, if you purchased it, or the Maus materials on Gingkotree. All students will find the interview with Art Spiegelman interesting & helpful.

Assess: Quiz due by 11/17

Write a forum post (250 words) in which you respond to the following question: Giving specific examples, think about what the images do in Maus, contrasted with what the words do. To get your thoughts moving, consider:

 How would Maus be different without the images?

 What do you understand or know by looking at the images that you would not understand or know otherwise?

 In what ways can the story of the Holocaust be told best with images? Compare and contrast Spiegelman’s images with more realistic drawing, or with photographs.

 Use specific examples to make your argument.

Post due 11/21; Response due 11/24

WEEKS THIRTEEN & FOURTEEN:

SECOND LIFE & VIRTUAL MEMORY

Week of 11/25 Second Life Assignment Second Life Assignment Second Life Assignment Week of 12/2 Second Life Forum post Forum Response

The Holocaust exhibit in Second Life offers a very different sort of Holocaust representation than we have seen so far this semester. While it incorporates first-person testimony, the position of the listener is quite different. Rather than sitting in front of a screen watching Holocaust testimony, you are responsible for moving your avatar around the space and interacting with the exhibit. Furthermore, the Holocaust exhibit is in part a simulation. As you walk through the streets, you see antisemitic propaganda, and shards of glass fall on you. You have the choice of walking into a space or walking around it. As you move, you have to make choices about where to stand, such as do you walk on the books on the ground? Do you listen to all of an audio testimony, or do you leave early? Write a response (250 words minimum) in which you consider the issues raised by the Kristallnacht exhibit in Second Life, and how it is different and/or similar to other representations we have seen this semester. Here are some questions to frame your response, although you needn’t answer them all:  The museum in Second Life, like the museum in Washington, D.C., seeks to take museum-goers and turn them into witnesses. How does the museum try to do this? How is it different from other efforts we have seen this semester?  How would you compare/contrast this representation to others we have seen this semester? You might specifically consider Maus, which represented the victims as mice. Here, the avatars can be human or animal or machine. Is this similar? Different? In what ways?  This is not the first time you learned about Kristallnacht this semester. What did this experience add to your understanding of the event, if anything?  Would you want to learn about other events in this way? Why or why not? What do you think it adds (or doesn’t add) to more traditional ways of learning?  How “real” did the experience feel to you? Did it feel more real than the rest of your online class? How would you compare it to being in a physical classroom with other students?  Are there issues with learning about the Holocaust in this way? What are the potential limitations to this medium? Forum post due Thurs, 12/5; Response due 12/8.

WEEK FIFTEEN: PAPER CLIPS

Week of Paper Clips Lecture on Paper Clips Reflection #3 (due 12/9 12/16/13)

Watch: Paper Clips

Read: Lecture on Paper Clips

Write: Final Reflection, due December 17, 2013