KENNESAW STATE UNIVERSITY THE HOLOCAUST: HISTORY AND MEANING SPRING 2004

Instructor: Dr. Catherine Lewis Office: 315 Library Office Hours: Mon. and Wed. 8:00-9:15 a.m. and 11-12:15 p.m. or by appointment Phone: (678) 797-2058 or (404) 814-4117 E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]

Course Description: The goal of this course is to put the Holocaust into historical perspective and reflect on what it reveals about genocide in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The course will examine the roots of anti-Semitism, the rise of fascism in Europe as it relates to the ideology of the Nazi Party, and the implementation of the Final Solution. The structure and purpose of the ghettos and death camps will be studied, as well as efforts to resist. The course will conclude by looking at what contemporary representations of the Holocaust mean for a post- Shoah generation.

Course Rationale: Studying the rise of the Nazi Party and their extermination of the Jews other groups deemed "socially undesirable" is an exploration into how ordinary people can – through persuasion, propaganda, or coercion – commit genocide. Examining the voices of the chroniclers, victims, and the perpetrators is essential to understanding what the Holocaust means for contemporary society.

Classroom Policies: o An atmosphere of mutual trust is essential to the success of this course. I strongly encourage lively debates and urge students to respect each other's opinions. Expressions of intolerance are discouraged. Disagreeing with others intelligently and politely is a skill, one that we will all strive for during the semester. o "Every KSU student is responsible for upholding the provisions of the Student Code of Conduct, as published in the Undergraduate and Graduate catalogs. Section II of the Student Code of Conduct addresses the University's policy on academic honesty, including provisions regarding plagiarism and cheating, unauthorized access to University materials, misrepresentations/falsification of University records or academic work, malicious removal, retention, or destruction of library materials, malicious/intentional misuse of computer facilities and/or services, and misuse of student identification cards. Incidents of alleged academic misconduct will be handled through the established procedures of the University Judiciary Program, which includes either an 'informal' resolution by a faculty member, resulting in a grade adjustment, or a formal hearing procedure, which may subject a student to the Code of Conduct's minimum one semester suspension requirement" (KSU Senate 15 March 1999). o Students are required to seek assistance from the Writing Center (770-423-6380), located in Humanities Room 237, for all writing assignments.

o Punctual, regular class attendance is required. Students are responsible for all assigned work. An absence does not absolve them from this responsibility. If possible, absences should be discussed with the instructor in advance. All exams will be taken as scheduled.

Evaluation:

Participation and preparation of 20% discussion questions Research Presentation 20% Anne Frank Project 15% Research Paper (15-20 pages) 45%

Evaluation:

A 90-100 B 80-89 C 70-79 D 60-69 F 59 and below

Required Text (Available in the Campus Bookstore):

Bergen, Doris L. War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust. Lanham: Rowan and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2003. Bloxham, Donald. Genocide on Trial: The War Crimes Trials and the Formation of Holocaust History and Memory. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. Frank, Anne. The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition. Ed. Otto H. Frank and Mirjam Pressler. New York: Doubleday, 1995. Goldhagen, Johah Daniel. Hitler's Willing Executioner's: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust. New York: Knopf, 1996. Lipstadt, Deborah. Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory. New York: Plume, 1993. Levi, Primo. Survival in Auschwitz: The Nazi Assault on Humanity. New York: Collier, 1973. Spiegelman, Art. Maus I: My Father Bleeds History. New York: Pantheon, 1992. ---. Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began. New York: Pantheon, 1991.

Reserve Readings (available at the Sturgis Library Circulation Desk): It is helpful to have your syllabus with you when you request materials on reserve. It would be wise to copy all of the reserve readings in the first week of the semester. Reading Schedule

Week 1: The Origins of Anti-Semitism

W 1.7 Introduction to the course. Film: Nuit et Brouillard (Night and Fog, 1955)

Week 2: The Origins of Anti-Semitism

M 1.12 Bergen, "Foreword," "Preface," and "Preconditions: Anti- Reserve Semitism, Racism, and Common Prejudices in Early Twentieth- Century Europe," in War and Genocide, i-28 and Michael Berenbaum, "Before the Holocaust" in The World Must Know: The History of the Holocaust as Told in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 10-16, and Saul Friedlander, "The Extermination of the European Jews in Historiography: Fifty Years Later," in The Holocaust: Origins, Implementation, Aftermath, ed. Omer Bartov, 79-91. W 1.14 Raul Hilberg, "The Destruction of the European Jews: Precedents," in The Holocaust: Origins, Implementation, and Aftermath, ed. Omar Bartov, 21-42 and Daniel Goldhagen, "Eliminationist Assimilation: The 'Common Sense' of German Society During the Nazi Period," in Hitler's Willing Executioners, 80-128

Week 3: The Rise of the Third Reich

M 1.19 No Class. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Reserve "Leadership and Will: Adolf Hitler, the National Socialist Workers' Party, and Nazi Ideology, in War and Genocide, 29-51 and Roger W. Smith, "State Power and Genocidal Intent: On the Uses of Genocide in the Twentieth Century" in Studies in Comparative Genocide, eds. Levon Chorbajiah and George Shirinian, 3-14. W 1.21 "From Revolution to Routine: Nazi Germany, 1933-1938" in War Reserve and Genocide, 53-80; "The Nazi's Assault on the Jews: Its Character and Evolution," in Hitler's Willing Executioners, 131- 163; and Ian Kershaw, "'Symbol of the Nation': The Propaganda Profile of Hitler, 1933-1936," in The "Hitler Myth": Image and Reality in The Third Reich, 48-82 Week 4: War and Terror

M 1.26 "Open Aggression: In Search of War, 1938-1939" and Reserve "Experiments in Brutality, 1939-1941: The War Against Poland Prospectus and the So-Called Euthanasia Program," in War and Genocide, Due 81-130 and Susan Heschel, "When Jesus Was Aryan: The Protestant Church and Antisemitic Propaganda," in In God's Name: Genocide and Religion in the Twentieth Century, eds. Omer Bartov and Phyllis Mack, 342-349 W 1.28 "Expansion and Systematization: Exporting War and Terror, 1940-1941," in War and Genocide, 131-160 and "The Agents and Machinery of Destruction," in Hitler's Willing Executioners, 164- 178

Week 5: The Final Solution

M 2.2 Christian Gerlach, "The Wannsee Conference, the Fate of Reserve German Jews, and Hitler's Desire to Exterminate All European Jews," in The Holocaust, 106-161 and "The Peak Years of Killing, 1942 and 1943" in War and Genocide, 161-204 W 2.4 "Death Throes and Killing Frenzies, 1944-1945," in War and Reserve Genocide, and "Police Battalions: Agents of Genocide," in Outline Hitler's Willing Executioners, 181-202 Due

Week 6: Complicity

M 2.9 "Explaining the Perpetrators' Actions: Assessing the Competing Reserve Explanations," in Hitler's Willing Executioners, 375-415. Yehuda Bauer, "Overall Interpretation: Daniel J. Goldhagen, John Weiss, Saul Friedlander," in Rethinking the Holocaust, 93-118 W 2.11 Adelheid von Saldern, "Victims or Perpetrators? Controversies Reserve about the Role of Women in the Nazi State," in Nazism and German Society, ed. David F. Crew, 141-165. Film: America and the Holocaust: Deceit and Indifference (1999) Week 7: Eyewitness Accounts

M 2.16 Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl. W 2.18 Tim Cole, "Anne Frank," in Selling the Holocaust: From Reserve Auschwitz to Schindler, 23-46 and Film: Anne Frank Remembered (1996)

Week 8: Symposium

Th 2.26 Jewish Life in the South Symposium (7 p.m.) KSU Center F 2.27 Jewish Life in the South Symposium (9 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Lunch KSU Center will be provided)

Week 9: Resistance and Survival

M 3.1 Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz: The Nazi Assault on Humanity Reserve and Risa Sodi, "The Memory of Justice: Primo Levi and Auschwitz, in Holocaust and Genocide Studies 4:1 (1989): 89-104 W 3.3 Lawrence Langer, "Redefining Heroic Behavior" in The Holocaust, 235-250

Week 10: Spring Break

M 3.8 No class W 3.10 No class

Week 11: The Nuremberg Trials

M 3.15 Donald Bloxham, Genocide on Trial: The War Crimes Trials and the Formation of Holocaust History and Memory W 3.17 Donald Bloxham, Genocide on Trial: The War Crimes Trials and the Formation of Holocaust History and Memory

Week 12: Contemporary Representations of the Holocaust

M 3.22 Art Spiegelman. Maus I, My Father Bleeds History Complete Draft Due W 3.24 Art Spiegelman, Maus II, And Here My Troubles Began and Reserve Andreas Huyssen, "Of Mice and Mimesis: Reading Spiegelman with Adorno," in Visual Culture and the Holocaust, ed. Barbie Zelizer Week 13: Denying the Holocaust

M 3.29 Deborah Lipstadt, Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault Reserve on Truth and Memory W 3.31 Deborah Lipstadt, Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault Reserve on Truth and Memory

Week 14: The Holocaust in a Comparative Perspective

M 4.5 Yehuda Bauer, "Comparisons with Other Genocides," in Reserve Rethinking the Holocaust, 39-67 W 4.7 "169,198,000 Murdered Summary and Conclusion," R. J. Reserve Rummel, Death By Government, 1-28

Week 15: After Auschwitz

M 4.13 "The Legacies of Atrocity," in War and Genocide, 221-228 and Final Paper Andreas Huyssen, "Monuments and Holocaust Memory in a Due Media Age," in A Holocaust Reader, ed. Michael L. Morgan, 359-363. W 4.15 "From the Holocaust to the State of Israel," in Rethinking the Reserve Holocaust, 242-260 and Robert S. Wistrich, "Modernity and the Nazi Genocide," in Hitler and the Holocaust, 213-340

Week 16: Research Presentations

M 4.19 Research Presentations W 4.21 Research Presentations

Final Examination: Research Presentations