German 231: The Holocaust: History and Representation
TuTh 8:30-9:45 Chambers 3198

Denham
Fall 2004

It took between 3 to 15 minutes to kill the people in the death chamber depending on climatic conditions. We knew when the people were dead because their screaming stopped. We usually waited about one-half hour before we opened the doors and removed the bodies. After the bodies were removed our special commandos took off the rings and extracted the gold from the teeth of the corpses. Rudolf H–ss, Commandant in Auschwitz

The truth is, Auschwitz refutes creator, creation, and the creature. Life as an idea is dead. This may well be the beginning of a great new era, a redemption from suffering. From this point of view only one crime remains: cursed be the one who creates life. I cremate life. That is modern humanitarianismóthe sole salvation of the future. Rolf Hochhuth, The Deputy

The National-Socialist world view is the volkish-political doctrine which determines and forms the German man. And as such it is also binding upon German Christians. The Evangelical [Lutheran] Church honors a divinely established order in the state and demands from its members a total service in this order. The National-Socialist philosophy fights relentlessly against the political and intellectual influence of the Jewish race on the life of our Volk. In obedience to the divine order of creation, the Evangelical [Lutheran] Church affirms ist responsibility to preserve the purity of our Volkdom. Beyond that, in the realm of faith, there is no sharper contrast than that between the message of Christ and the Jewish religion with its sterile legalism and its hope for a political messiah. German Evangelical Church Yearbook, 1937

Man is only a reed, the weakest in nature, but he is a thinking reed. There is no need for the whole universe to take up arms to crush him: a vapour, a drop of water is enough to kill him. But even if the universe were to crush him, man would still be nobler than his slayer, because he knows that he is dying and the advantage the universe has over him. The universe knows none of this. Thus all our dignity consists in thought. It is on thought that we must depend for our recovery, not on space and time, which we could never fill. Let us then strive to think well; that is the basic principle of morality. Pascal, PensÈes

This semester it will be our common project to try to understand the most momentous event of our violent recent twentieth century, if not indeed the weightiest of all human deeds ever. The task of understanding the Holocaust is hardly possible in a lifetime, if at all, yet we will try to learn enough about the it in a few brief months to know at least what is at stake for us as interpreters andólike the victims, bystanders, and perpetrators--as human beings. We will learnÝ what happened, by whom, and to whom, and we will learn perhaps something about why. To attempt to interpret the premeditated murder of millions of innocent human beings is a presumptuous undertaking. I do not know if any of us will find meaning in the Holocaust. For us to come to any sort of interpretations at all, however, demands that we think not in a vacuum, but surrounded by a wealth of knowledge. The amount of material this course of study requires is vast. We will all read a dozen books and see a dozen films between now and the end of the course; we will travel to Washington to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; we--you--will write and discuss with an intensity new to many of you. No doubt many of you will--as I have since I first encountered the Holocaust in a serious way--continue to read and search and question this topic for years to come. The readings are compelling. The history complicated and well documented. The stories are wrenching. The films are exhausting. Our human capacity for evil is boundless and I will ask you to confront it as directly as you can through much documentary and analytical history, but also through memoirs, novels, poems, films, statistics, art, music, memorials; through analysis and debate, through discussion and contemplation, through your own writing. Our course of study consists of these elements:

Readings: roughly a book per week, with additional documentary material as handouts or reserve readings.
Read these three books before the semester begins, or at least before the end of the first week: Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz; Sara Nomberg-Przytyk, Auschwitz: True Tales from a Grotesque Land; and Elie Wiesel, Night. Get these from any good bookstore or order them from Powells.com or bn.com or amazon.com. Any edition is fine; used is also great. These books are quick to read, canonical Holocaust memoirs, and provide an important background for the histories to come.

Class meetings: Tuesdays and Thursdays 8:30-9:45. We will usually begin with a brief review of the readings, this by way of some quick Q&A or maybe a brief writing assignment, always a brief reading quiz, and then we'll move to a passage of text or an image or a document for analysis. I will sometimes lecture, usually informally. At times I will ask you to present a brief aspect of the reading to the group or to give a brief analysis of a text or image before us.

Discussion meetings: On alternate Thursdays you will each be in a four- or five-person small group. One student leads and one takes minutes (max one page only; outline form), which are submitted to everyone via e-mail by the end of the day Thursday. You will each be responsible for leading the discussion and also for submitting minutes at least once during the semester. These discussion sections meet instead of the regular class meeting on alternate Thursdays (more or less--see schedule) and are organized by you.

Film screenings: Most Wednesday nights we will watch a film together; screenings in Chambers 3155; films begin at 9:00pm. If you are unable to attend, most films will be available for viewing on reserve in the library.

Writings: We will all write often in this course. Most Tuesday class meetings you will turn in a brief essay to me. The essay must be one page only (single-spaced in a 10-point font, like this syllabus), no shorter, no longer. Sometimes these will be reflective and responsive, sometimes analytical, sometimes I will ask you to address a very specific problem, sometimes I will leave the topic open. Some of your essays which are exceptionally insightful I will distribute to the class; sometimes I will cite from your essays in lecture or in handouts (sometimes anonymously, sometimes not; if you would like a certain essay of yours, or portion of it, to be cited only anonymously, please mark it accordingly); if an essay is especially ill-conceived or poorly written I will return for rewriting and re-reading. Refer please to the following style manuals as necessary: (1) The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2003), earlier editions back to the 12th ed. ok; (2) Francine Wattman Frank and Paula A. Treichler, ìGuidelines for Nonsexist Usageî in Language, Gender, and Professional Writing (NY: MLA, 1989). The final research paper, which takes the place of an exam, is much longer (12-18 pages) and is due on the last day of exams. We will begin preparing this paper during the 8th or 9th week and I will accept drafts beginning in the 12th week.

Grades: …weekly essays 30%; participation (questions, discussion, reading quizzes) 30%; final research paper 40%; any unexcused absence (class or discussion) = 5% each

Reading List (required books)

Bartov, Omer. The Eastern Front, 1941-45: German Troops and the Barbarisation of Warfare (St. Antony's Series). Palgrave Macmillan; 2nd edition  ISBN: 0333949447. Paper.
Browning, Christopher. The Path to Genocide. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1992. ISBN 0-521-42695-2.
Browning, Christopher. Nazi Policy, Jewish Labor, German Killers. Cambridge Univ Pr (Trd); ISBN: 052177490X
Frank, Anne. The Diary of Anne Frank: the Definitive Edition. NY: Bantam, 0553577123.
Friedlander, Henry. Origins of Nazi Genocide: From Euthanasia to the Final Solution. Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 1995. ISBN: 0-8078-4675-9.
Hilberg, Raul. The Destruction of the European Jews. 3 volumes.  3^rd edition (this edition only!), Yale UP, ISBN: 0300095570. (This is a $150 set of books.)
Höss, Rudolf. Death Dealer : The Memoirs of the SS Kommandant at Auschwitz. Ed. Steven Paskuly. Intro. Primo Levi. Da Capo Pr; ISBN: 0306806983
Hoffman, Eva. Shtetl: The Life and Death of a Small Town. Boston, NY: Houghton Mifflin, 1997. ISBN 0-395-82295-5. (paper)
Levi, Primo. The Drowned and the Saved. NY: Vintage, 1988. ISBN 067972186X.
Ozick, Cynthia. The Shawl. Vintage Books; ISBN: 0679729267
Spiegelman, Art. Maus I & II. 2 vols. NY: Pantheon, 1993. ISBN 0679748407 (Paper, boxed set)

Films

Shoah
The Eternal Jew
The Wannsee Conference
Ich klage an [I Accuse]
Hasenjagd [Rabbit Hunt]
Schindler's List
Sophieís Choice
The White Rose
The Nasty Girl
East of War
Triumph of the Will
Night and Fog
Architecture of Doom

US Holocaust Memorial Museum trip

Please visit the USHMM at some point during the semester. If several or all would like to plan a trip together, I can help arrange overnight arrangements with Davidson alumni or families. We will plan this in class in August. One possible option: Depart campus, 4:30pm on a Friday, arrive late; spend Friday night with Davidson College alumni and friends in Washington, D.C. Saturday morning: Museum visit. Saturday afternoon: other memorials on the Mall (Vietnam Veterans War Memorial, FDR Memorial, WWII Memorial, Korean War Memorial. Saturday evening, Davidson gathering with alumni and firends. Presentation of the course by students to alums, prospectives, parents (probably in a downtown hotel). Saturday night: free time, spend the night as Friday. Sunday morning, early departure, arrive Davidson mid-afternoon.

Schedule