Davidson College July Experience | The Holocaust | Denham

Every weekday 8:30-10am in Chambers 3155. Some film screenings evenings, Chambers 3155

Texts (available in the college bookstore):
Bartov, Omer, ed.. The Holocaust: Origins, Implementation and Aftermath. Routledge, 2000.
Spiegelman, Art. Maus: A Survivor's Tale. My Father Bleeds History; Here My Troubles Began. 2 vol. boxed  set. Pantheon, 1993.
and others availble via download from this page


  in class read or view for next class write for next class
Mon
7/7
  • introductions
  • what we know
  • what we want to know
  • what we need to know
  • defining our project
  • brief précis (max 100 words) of Bartov and Hilberg
  • one line questions raised for you by Nicholls, Wistrich essays, and both Wagner pieces
  • timeline points
Tue
  • Hilberg mainly;
  • Wistrich and Nicholls;
  • your questions.
  • Distill to basics.
  • précis for Burleigh and H. Friedlander (max 100 words each)
  • timeline points
Wed
  • Burleigh
  • Friedlander
  • euthanasia
  • Ich klage an (1941; dir. Wolfgang Liebeneiner; excerpt in class)
  • S. Friedlander, "The Externiation of European Jews in Historiography" (Bartov, 79-91);
  • Aly, "The Planning Intelligentsia and the 'Final Solution'" (Bartov, 92-105);
  • précis for S. Friedlander and Aly (max 100 words each)
  • timeline points
Thu
  • S. Friedlander;
  • Aly
  • précis
  • timeline points
Fri
  • meaning of Wannsee
  • essay 1 due via email to me by 6pm, or on paper by 5pm in the library
  • précis
  • essay 1 assignment: As discussed in class today, choose a point, problem, statement, situation, argument, etc. of interest to you and explain why you find it worth thinking about. What is it about the problem you've chosen to discuss that is relevant for you and for us as a class. Remember you're writing for the class, not just for me.
  • timeline points
Mon
7/14
  • go over essay 1
  • "Crimes of the Wehrmacht" images (I'll bring these to class)
  • FILM: East of War (1996; dir. Ruth Beckermann; excerpts in class)
  • Klee, Dressen, Riess (eds.), "'Once again I've got to play general to the Jews': From the War Diary of Blutordensträger Felix Landau" (Bartov, 185-203)
  • précis
  • timeline points
Tue
  • perpetrators
  • FILM: Hasenjagd (1994; dir. Andreas Gruber; excerpt in class)
  • Horwitz, "Places Far Away, Places So Near: Mauthausen, the Camps of the Shoah, and the Bystanders" (204-18);
  • Crew on photography;
  • Garton Ash on Lanzmann and Reitz
  • précis
  • timeline points
Wed
  • Bystanders
  • FILM: Shoah (1985; dir. Claude Lanzmann; excerpts in class)
  • Kovály, "Under a Cruel Star: A Life in Prague 1941-1968" (Bartov, 219-31)
  • précis
  • timeline points
Thu
  • survivor testimonies
  • Langer, "Redefining Heroic Behavior: The Impromptu Self and the Holocaust Experience" (Bartov, 235-50);
  • essay 2 assignment here
  • précis
  • timeline points
Fri
  • others
  • essay 2 due via email to me by 6pm, or on paper by 5pm in the library
  • Levi, "The Grey Zone" (Bartov, 251-272)
  • Finkielkraut, "Remembering in Vain: The Klaus Barbie Trial and Crimes Against Humanity" (Bartov, 273-91)
  • read everyone's essays, posted here by Sunday at 7pm.
  • Tzvetan Todorov, "Exposures" on Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others.
  • précis
  • opinions on your essays
  • timeline points
Mon
7/21
  • essay 2 discussion
  • prep essay ideas
  • timeline points
Tue
  • Spiegelman reception
  • American contexts
  • essay questions
  • timeline points
Wed
  • Spiegelman reception
  • cultural studies and Holocaust studies
  • final essay: Connect Paul Celan's "Death Fugue" to another reading, image, idea, or point of interest for you in our course and discuss this connection in 500 words or so. be sure to refer directly to both Celan's poem and to the other point of connection.
  • photograph and upload timeline
Thu
  • FILM in class: Resnais, Night and Fog (35 mins)
  • Libeskind and Eisenman
  • Celan
  • final essay
  • exit meetings with me morning 10-12:30 or afternoon (in my office, Carolina Inn 100).
    • 10:15 Conner
    • 10:30 Mark
    • 10:45 Christina
    • 11:00 Julie
    • 11:15 Eliza
    • 11:30 Mary Alyce
    • 11:45 Elizabeth
    • 12:00 Sarah
    • 3:15 Dan
    • 3:30 John David
    • 3:45 Anderson
    • 4:00 Brenda
    • 4:15 Marisa
    • 4:30 Kate

     

  • Celan connection essay emailed to me by Thursday night at 9pm
Fri
  • final essay presentations
    five minutes each
    • thesis, premise
    • argument, , interpretations, evidence
    • conclusions
    • further questions
    • [essays here]
   
   

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