The War against the Jews: History of the Holocaust Dr. Joel Zisenwine

The course will discuss some of the central issues of the Holocaust period, among them, the principles of Nazi anti-Semitic ideology, persecution of German Jews during the 1930s, ghettoization of Polish Jews, beginning of mass murder in the USSR during the summer of 1941, the implementation of the " Final Solution and the responses of the Allies and the "Yishuv" to the Holocaust. In addition, the course will discuss several topics related to the aftermath of the Holocaust: Trials of perpetrators and Israeli society's attitude towards the Holocaust and forms of commemoration. The seminar will be based on primary sources from the Holocaust era as well as contemporary research.

Course Requirements - Full attendance in class. (10%). -Preparation of class readings and participation in class discussion. (15%). -Mid-term exam (15%). -Final exam (60%).

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Recommended Background Reading Yehuda Bauer, A History of the Holocaust (New York : F. Watts, 1982). Saul Friedlander, Years of Persecution: Nazi Germany and the Jews 1933-1939 (New York: Harper Collins, 1997). Saul Friedlander, Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 19391945(New York: Harper Collins, 2007).

1. National Socialist Anti-Semitism and Rise to Power Eberhrd Jeckel, Hitler's Weltanschaung: a Blueprint for Power (Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, 1972), pp.47-67. Ysrael Gutman," On the Character of Nazi Anti-Semitism ", Anti-Semitism through the Ages (Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1986), pp. 349-380.

2. Persecution of German Jews 1933-1939 Saul Friedlander, Years of Persecution: Nazi Germany and the Jews 1933-1939 (New York: Harper Collins, 1997), pp. 73- 112. Marion A. Kaplan, Between Dignity and Despair: Jewish Life in Nazi Germany (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp.17- 49, 94-118.

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3. Ghettoization and Nazi Resettlement Policy 1939-1941 Dan Michman, the Emergence of Jewish Ghettos during the Holocaust (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), pp.61-90. Christopher Browning, “Nazi Resettlement Policy and the Search for a Solution to the Jewish Question”, Christopher Browning ed., The Path to Genocide (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), pp.3-27. Yarael Gutman, The Jews of Warsaw 1939-1943: Ghetto-Underground- Uprising (Brighton, Sussex: Harvester Press, 1982), pp.48-118.

4. Mass murder in the USSR and the Wansee conference Saul Friedalnder, Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 19391945(New York: Harper Collins, 2007), pp.198-260. , Christian Gerlach, “The Wansee Conference, the Fate of German Jews and Hitler’s Decision to Exterminate all European Jews”, Omer Bartov ed., The Holocaust, Origins Implementation, Aftermath (London: Routledge, 2000) , pp.106-140 Ernst Klee, Willi Dressen and Volker Riess eds., “The Good Old Days: the Holocaust as Seen by its Perpetrators and Bystanders (New York: Konecky & Konecky, 1991). 5. The Implementation of the Final Solution 1942-1945 Saul Friedlander, Years of Extermination, pp.399- 467. Ysrael Gutman, Michael Berenbaum, Anatomy of the Auschwitz Death Camp (Bloomington, Ind: Indiana University Press,1994), pp. 5-33. Chrsitopher Brwoning "One Day in Jozefow: Initiation to Mass Murder", Christopher Browning ed., the Path to Genocide: Essays on Launching the Final Solution (Cambridge: Cambridge University press, 1992), pp. 169- 183

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6. Resistance Nechama Tec, Defiance, The Bielski Partisans (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), pp. 3-63, 126-169. Yarael Gutman, the Jews of Warsaw 1939-1943, pp. 228-249.

7. The Allies and the Holocaust David, s. Wyman, "Why Auschwitz was Never Bombed?" Commentary (1978), pp. 37-46. David Silberklang , "The Allies and the Holocaust a Reappraisal, "Yad Vashem Studies, 24 (1994), pp.147-176. Richard Breitman, Official Secrets: What the Nazis planned, what the British and Americans knew New York: Hill and Wang, 1998).

8. Rescue Attempts Nahum Bogner, “The Convent Children: The Rescue of Jewish Children in Polish Convents during the Holocaust,” Yad Vashem Studies 27 (1998), pp. 235-285. Yehuda Bauer, a History of the Holocaust, pp.309-329 Leni Yahil, “The Uniqueness of the Rescue of Danish Jewry,” in Yisrael Gutman and Efraim Zuroff, eds., Rescue Attempts During the Holocaust (Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 1977), pp. 617-624

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9. The End: Liberation and Post War Trials Daniel Blatman, "The Death Marches, January- May 1945: Who Was Responsible for What?", Yad Vashem Studies 28 (2000),pp. 155-201. Zeev Mankowitz," The Formation of She'erit Hapleita: November 1944-July 1945", Yad Vashem Studies 20 (1990), pp. 337-370. Michael Marrus, "the Holocaust at Nuremberg", Yad Vashem Studies 26 (1998), pp.541.

10. The Yishuv and The state of Israel: Responses to the Holocaust Tom Segev, the Seventh Million: the Israelis and the Holocaust (New York: Hill and Wang, 1993),pp.255-322.

Yechiam Weitz, "Shaping the Memory of the Holocaust in Israeli Society of the 1950s", Proceedings of the Ninth Yad Vashem International Historical Conference, 1996, pp.497- 518. Yechiam Weitz," The Yishuv's Response to the Destruction of European Jewry, 1942-1943", Studies in Zionism (1987), pp. 211-222.

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