Wed., 1-3 pm, 210 Kastle Hall
Office hours: Tues., 3:30-4:30; Wed., 3:30-4:30, and by appointment (7-1415)
Professor’s email address: popkin@uky.edu
Professor’s Web site: http://www.uky.edu/~popkin
Course Description: This course is designed to introduce students to the historical literature concerning the Holocaust, the Nazi attempt to exterminate the Jews and other ‘undesirable’ groups during the Second World War. In the first 15 years after World War II, historians were reluctant to consider the Holocaust as a subject of study, even though the capture of German wartime archives meant that sources were immediately available. History has generally been concerned with events that could be fitted into some kind of positive framework: the largest recorded case of mass murder in human history did not fit into such a context. The emergence of Holocaust history as one of the major areas of contemporary research thus has important implications, not just for our understanding of the event itself, but for the whole way we view the human past. Studying the Holocaust forces us to confront the darker side of human experience. It raises critical questions about the motivations for human action, the abilities of humans to control their own destinies, and the moral basis of collective life. The ways in which historians have come to study the Holocaust are leading them to take a new look at many other events: the settlement of the Americas, the history of slavery, other cases of massacre and genocide throughout history. While the readings for this course will emphasize specific events that took place in Europe during World War II, discussions will be designed to bring out the wider implications of these events and of the way historians have tried to understand them.
Topics to be covered in this course will include the origins of anti-semitism, the development of Nazi policy toward the Jews and other targeted groups after Hitler’s seizure of power in 1933, the design and carrying out of the ‘Final Solution,’ Jewish responses to Nazi persecution, the role of ‘bystander’ populations, gender issues in the study of the Holocaust, the responses of other governments to Nazi policy, and the issue of Holocaust memory and its construction, as well as Holocaust denial. A previous college-level course on the Holocaust is not required for enrollment. Students from other graduate-level programs are encouraged to enroll.
This course is meant to be of value to graduate students in modern European history, as well as to students in other fields with an interest in the issues it raises. It should also be of value for students who anticipate teaching courses in western civilization or European history at any level, and for students in other fields that deal with issues related to the Holocaust.
Course requirements:
(1) regular attendance and active, informed participation in discussions; each student will serve as discussion co-leader at least once during the semester
(2) timely completion of common readings. I encourage you to use the reading-response form found on my Web site to help you summarize your thoughts on the readings
(3) 3 book review assignments (3-4 pp each) and one longer historiographical essay (15 pp), totalling approximately 25-30 pp over the course of the semester.
Attendance and class participation: 40%; papers 60%
J. Katz, From Prejudice to Destruction. Harvard UP, 0-674-32507-9
R. Hilberg, Destruction of the European Jews, abridged ed. Holmes and Meier 0-841-909-105
S. Friedlander, Nazi Germany and the Jews. Harper Collins pb 006-0928786
D. Ofer and L. Weitzman, Women and the Holocaust. Yale UP, 03-000-80808
N. Tec, When Light Pierced the Darkness. Oxford UP, 0-19505-1947
M. Marrus and R. Paxton, Vichy France and the Jews. Stanford UP, 0-80472-4997 (the older Schocken edition is also OK)
C. Browning, Ordinary Men. Harper Collins 0-06-099506-8
E. Linenthal, Preserving Memory. Columbia UP, 0231124074 (the older Penguin edition is also OK)
R. Evans, Lying about History. Basic Books 0-465-021-530
A Spiegelman, Maus. Pantheon pb 0-6797-48407
R. Poznanski, Jews in France during World War II. University Press of New England. 1-58465-144-X
*A small number of xeroxed readings will be on reserve in rm. 1714
Jan. 15 Introduction to the historical study of the Holocaust
Jan. 22 Narrating the Holocaust: Insights from a Mouse. Readings: Spiegelman, Maus, all.
Jan. 29 The Origins of Antisemitism. Readings: Katz, From Prejudice to Destruction, all; selections from James Carroll, Constantine’s Cross (58-63, 122-34).
Feb. 5 Nazi Policy toward the Jews, 1933-1938. Readings: S. Friedlaender, Nazi Germany, all; Ofer and Weitzman, Women in the Holocaust, chs. 1, 2.
Feb. 12 The Policy of Destruction. Readings: Hilberg, Destruction of the European Jews, all; H. Friedlander, Origins of Nazi Genocide, 39-61.
*Feb. 19 The Perpetrators. Readings: Browning, Ordinary Men, all; Ofer and Weitzman, ch. 5; selection from M. Allen, Business of Genocide.First book review due (Katz, Friedlander, or Hilberg)
Feb. 26 Life in the Ghettos. Readings: Ofer and Weitzman, Women in the Holocaust, chs. 3-4, 6-9; each student will be some additional readings relevant to this topic; there will be a list of common questions to consider.
Mar. 5 The Extermination Camps. Readings: Ofer and Weitzman, Women in the Holocaust, chs. 15-17; additional assigned readings.
*Mar. 12 The Issue of Jewish Resistance. Readings: Ofer and Weitzman, chs. 10-14; each student will do some additional individual readings. Second essay due, on readings about ghettos or camps.
Mar. 19 Spring Break; no class meeting
Mar. 26 The Holocaust in France: the role of Vichy. Readings: Marrus and Paxton, Vichy France and the Jews, all.
Apr. 2 The Holocaust in France: Jewish Experience and Response. Readings: Poznanski, Jews in France during World War II, all.
*Apr. 9 Bystanders and Rescuers. Readings: Tec, When Light Pierced the Darkness, all. Third Essay due.
Apr. 16 Interpreting Holocaust Memoirs. Readings: Each student will read a different Holocaust survivor memoir; in addition, Popkin, “Holocaust Memories, Historians’ Memoirs,” and Ofer and Weitzman, Women in the Holocaust, chs. 18-21.
Apr. 23 Memorializing the Holocaust in America. Readings: Linenthal, Preserving Memory, all.
Apr. 30 Denying the Holocaust. Readings: Evans, Lying About History, all.
May 5 (Monday of finals week): final paper due.
Course Policies
1. Late Work and
Make‑Up Exams: Late papers are
not accepted and make‑up exams are not administered unless students
requesting them can produce documented evidence of illness, accident or
other cause beyond their control accounting for absence. Students who will miss an exam or assignment
because of a scheduled university activity must make arrangements to make up
the work before the scheduled due date.
2. Plagiarism:
Plagiarism is defined in the UK Student Handbook. Students submitting work which is not their
own will receive an 'E' for that assignment and will not be allowed to make it
up. Plagiarism includes not only the
copying of material from printed sources but also copying from sources on the
Internet; it also applies to any work submitted under a student’s name that is
not in fact his or her own writing and for which a source is not acknowledged.
3. Modern
Technology: Recording devices are not permitted during lectures and
discussions, except for students who have a valid physical reason for needing
them (e.g., inability to take written notes).
Students wearing earphones during class will be invited to go be bored
somewhere else. Beepers, cellular phones
and other devices which may cause a distraction must be turned off during
class.