History 240 The Holocaust in History Jeremy King TTh 11:00-12:15 Fall 2005 Mount Holyoke College

[email protected] Telephone: 538-2749 Office hours: Wed., 9-11 Skinner Hall, room 306

This course concerns an event of world-historical significance: Nazi Germany's attempt during the Second World War to exterminate European Jews. How did the Holocaust happen, step by step? What patterns can be found in who died and who survived, who murdered and who saved? What can we learn from such extremes about politics, and about ourselves? Students who enrol in this course do not need to have studied the Holocaust before. On the other hand, students with considerable background will still find much new material, and many new opportunities for insight and challenge. Regardless of background, everyone should be clear at the outset that studying the Holocaust is deeply upsetting. All of us, at various points during the semester, will find ourselves disturbed and unnerved. Reading assignments will average about 120 pages each week. Class sessions will blend lecture and discussion. Feel free to contact me one-on-one with questions, suggestions, reactions, or concerns. Course requirements Participation Take-home midterm exam, due October 18 Take-home final exam

(30%) (30%) (40%)

Texts Part of the readings for this course will be made available on-line. Please print out these materials, mark them up, and bring them to class. The following five books are recommended for purchase, although the Library has copies on reserve: Hilberg, Raul. The Destruction of the European Jews. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1985. Gross, Jan. Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland. New York: Penguin, 2002. Kershaw, Ian. Hitler. Second edition. New York: Longman, 2001. Levi, Primo. Survival in Auschwitz. Touchstone: 1996. Novick, Peter. The Holocaust in American Life. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1999. Schedule of Topics and Readings 1. Thursday, September 8 INTRODUCTION

[* = available on-line]

Film screening in class: Night and Fog (France, 1955), directed by Alain Resnais 2. Tuesday, September 13 WHERE DOES THE STORY START? Readings: Hilberg, Destruction of the European Jews, 5-15 *Dwork and van Pelt, Holocaust: A History, xvii-xx, 3-49 3. Thursday, September 15 WEIMAR AND HITLER Readings: Kershaw, Hitler, 1-17, 41-53 *Nazi Party program, 1920 (Arad, 15-18) *Hitler, Mein Kampf, 50-65, 300-8, 324-29 4. Tuesday, September 20 THE NAZI SEIZURE OF POWER Readings: Kershaw, Hitler, 61-93 *documents on the army (Noakes & Pridham, 624, 633-36) 5. Thursday, September 22 NAZI PROPAGANDA Readings: Kershaw, Hitler, 53-59, 105-117 *Klemperer, I Will Bear Witness, 5-17, 40-42, 74-77 *Hitler, Mein Kampf, 176-86, 579-89 Film screening in class: excerpts from The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl (Germany, 1993), directed by Ray Muller 6. Tuesday, September 27 ARYAN AND JEW Readings: Hilberg, Destruction of the European Jews, 27-63 *Nazi legislation, 1933-1935, and documents on Kristallnacht (Arad, 37-42; Noakes & Pridham, 530-41; Arad, 102-17) 7. Thursday, September 29 1939: WAR ON SLAVS AND JEWS Readings: Hilberg, Destruction of the European Jews, 64-96 *documents on the Nazi occupation of Poland (Noakes & Pridham, 922-41) 8. Tuesday, October 4 NAZI-OCCUPIED EUROPE Readings: *Dwork & van Pelt, Holocaust, 153-65, 227-38 Kershaw, Hitler, 146-57 *documents on euthanasia (Noakes & Pridham, 1019-43) 9. Thursday, October 6 MASS MURDER IN THE EAST Readings: Hilberg, Destruction of the European Jews, 99-138 *documents on Einsatzgruppen, 1941-42 (Noakes & Pridham,2 483-509)

FALL BREAK 10. Thursday, October 13 THE FINAL SOLUTION Readings: Hilberg, Destruction of the European Jews, 138-68 *Browning, "From 'Ethnic Cleansing' to Genocide," 1-25 11. Tuesday, October 18 Midterm exam due, 11:00AM Film screening in class: The Wannsee Conference (Germany, 1984), directed by Heinz Schirk 12. Thursday, October 20 NEIGHBORS Readings: Gross, Neighbors, 13. Tuesday, October 25 POLISH AND GERMAN PERPETRATORS Readings: Gross, Neighbors, Hilberg, Destruction of the European Jews, 263-93 14. Thursday, October 27 DEPORTATION Readings: Hilberg, Destruction of the European Jews, 168-217 *Browning, Ordinary Men, 26-37 15. Tuesday, November 1 THE EXTERMINATION CAMPS Readings: Hilberg, Destruction of the European Jews, 220-51 *documents on Chełmno, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka (Noakes & Pridham,2 544-65) *Höss, Death Dealer, 155-64 16. Thursday, November 3 CLASS CANCELED 17. Tuesday, November 8 Film screening in class: excerpts from Shoah (France, 1985), directed by Claude Lanzmann 18. Thursday, November 10 Film screening in class: more excerpts from Shoah 19. Tuesday, November 15 AUSCHWITZ Readings: *documents on Auschwitz (Noakes & Pridham,2 583-607) Levi, Survival in Auschwitz, 19-37, 77-100, 123-30 20. Thursday, November 17 THE END

Readings: Hilberg, Destruction of the European Jews, 251-59 Levi, Survival in Auschwitz, 151-73 *Wiesel, Night, 76-109 21. Tuesday, November 22 ATTEMPTS AT RESISTANCE AND RESCUE Readings: Hilberg, Destruction of the European Jews, 293-331 Film screening in class: more excerpts from Shoah (interview with Karski) THANKSGIVING BREAK 22. Tuesday, November 29 THE POLITICS OF SILENCE Readings: Novick, Holocaust in American Life, 1-15, 85-145 23. Thursday, December 1 CONFRONTING THE HOLOCAUST IN AMERICA? Readings: Novick, Holocaust in American Life, 146-209, 239-44, 257-63 24. Tuesday, December 6 CONFRONTING THE HOLOCAUST IN POLAND? Readings: *Polonsky and Michlic, The Neighbors Respond, vii-xiv, 87-118, 130-44 Film screening in class: Birthplace (Poland, 1992), directed by Paweł Łoziński 25. Thursday, December 8 COMPARISON Readings: Novick, Holocaust in American Life, 267-81 *Gordon, "The Theater of Terror," 252-73 *Weitz, A Century of Genocide, 8-15, 236-54 26. Tuesday, December 13 CONCLUSIONS Readings: Kershaw, Hitler, 205-17 *Deak, "The Incomprehensible Holocaust," 67-88 *Wiesel, "A Plea for the Dead," 67-77

History 240 The Holocaust in History Fall 2005 ASSIGNED READINGS Table of Contents Author, title, etc. [original date, if different from that of the English translation]

page #s

Dwork, Deborah, and van Pelt, Robert Jan. Holocaust: A History. New York: Norton, 2002. xvii-vv, 349 Nazi Party program, 1920. In Arad, Yitzhak et al, eds. Documents on the Holocaust. Eighth edition. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999. [1920] 15-18 Hitler, Adolf. Mein Kampf. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1943. [1925]

50-65, 300-8, 324-29

"The Regime and the Armed Forces, 1933-1936." In Noakes, Jeremy, and Pridham, Geoffrey, eds. Nazism 1919-1945, vol. 3: Foreign Policy, War and Racial Extermination: A Documentary Reader. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1995. [1933-36] 624, 633-36 Klemperer, Victor. I Will Bear Witness: A Diary of the Nazi Years, vol. 1: 1933-1941. New York: Random House, 1998. [1933] 5-17, 4042, 74-77 Hitler, Mein Kampf.

176-86, 579-89

Documents concerning Jews in the army and in the civil service, 1933. In Arad et al, Documents on the Holocaust. [1933] 37-42 The Nuremberg Laws. Noakes, Jeremy, and Pridham, Geoffrey, eds. Nazism 1919-1945, vol. 2: State, Economy and Society 1933-1939: A Documentary Reader. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1995. [1935] 530-41 Documents concerning Kristallnacht. In Arad et al, Documents on the Holocaust. [1938-39]

102-17

"The German Occupation of Poland." In Noakes and Pridham, Nazism 1919-1945, vol. 3. [1939-40] 922-41 "Gentile Life under German Occupation," and "Jewish Life under German Occupation." In Dwork and van Pelt, Holocaust: A History. 153-65, 227-38 "The 'Euthanasia' Programme 1939-1945." In Noakes and Pridham, Nazism 1919-1945, vol. 3. [1940-41] 1019-43 "The Transition to the Systematic Extermination of the Jews 1941-42." In Noakes and Pridham, Nazism 1919-1945, vol. 3, second edition, 2001. [1941-46, 1960] 483-

509 Browning, Christopher. "From 'Ethnic Cleansing' to Genocide to the 'Final Solution': The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, 1939-1941." In Browning, Christopher. Nazi Policy, Jewish Workers, German Killers. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000. 1-25

History 240 The Holocaust in History Fall 2005 ASSIGNED READINGS Table of Contents PART II Browning, Christopher. Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland. New York: Harper Collins, 1992. 26-37 "The Extermination Camps." In Noakes and Pridham, Nazism 1919-1945, vol. 3, second edition [19401946] 544-65 Höss, Rudolph. Death Dealer: The Memoirs of the SS Kommandant at Auschwitz. Steven Paskuly, ed. Buffalo: Prometheus, 1992. [1947] 155-64 "The Extermination Camps." In Noakes and Pridham, Nazism 1919-1945, vol. 3, second edition [19401946] 583607 Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York: Bantam, 1960. [1958]

76-109

Table of Contents, Preface. In Polonsky, Antony, and Michlic, Joanna, eds. The Neighbors Respond: The Controversy over the Jedwabne Massacre in Poland. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004. vii-xiv Nowak-Jeziorański, Jan. "A Need for Compensation." In Polonsky and Michlic, The Neighbors Respond. [2001] 87-92 Macierewicz, Antoni. "The Revolution of Nihilism." In Polonsky and Michlic, The Neighbors Respond. [2001] 93-102 Świda-Ziemba, Hanna. "The Shortsightedness of the 'Cultured.'" In Polonsky and Michlic, The Neighbors Respond. [2001] 103-13 Mac, Jerzy Sławomir. "Homo Jedvabicus." In Polonsky and Michlic, The Neighbors Respond. [2001] 114-18 "Address by President of Poland Aleksander Kwaśniewski at the Ceremonies in Jedwabne…." In Polonsky and Michlic, The Neighbors Respond. [2001] 130-32 "Findings of Investigation S 1/00/Zn into the Murder of Polish Citizens of Jewish Origin in the Town of Jedwabne on 10 July 1941…." In Polonsky and Michlic, The Neighbors Respond. [2002] 133-36

"Jedwabne—Let Us Be Silent in the Face of This Crime. Piotr Lipiński Talks with Professor Andrzej Rzepliński." In Polonsky and Michlic, The Neighbors Respond. [2002] 137-44 Gordon, Daniel. "The Theater of Terror: The Jacobin Execution in Comparative and Theoretical Perspective." In Historical Reflections, vol. 29, no. 2 (2003). 251-73 Weitz, Eric. A Century of Genocide: Utopias of Race and Nation. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003. 8-15, 23654 Deak, Istvan. "The Incomprehensible Holocaust." In Deak, Istvan. Essays on Hitler's Europe. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2001. [1989] 67-88 Wiesel, Elie. "A Plea for the Dead." In Morgan, Michael, ed. A Holocaust Reader. Responses to the Nazi Extermination. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. [??] 67-77