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Social Science 305: "Shadows of the Holocaust: Exploring the Legacies" |
Social Science 305: Perspectives on the Holocaust and Genocide
at Sonoma State University
Spring 2002
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Social Science 305: "Shadows of the Holocaust: Exploring the Legacies" |
| Course Description | Required Texts | Grading Policy | Attendance Policy |
| Response Papers | Map Assignment | Terms Quizzes | |
| Final Examination | Schedule | Reading Assignments |
The idea, applications, and experiences of genocide in history raise basic questions for us all, especially those in minority communities threatened (past or present) by severe prejudice, discrimination, persecution or even annihilation. These questions arouse a variety of intellectual, emotional, and ethical responses. By studying the Holocaust and other genocides, we deepen our understanding of human nature, of organized society, political leadership, democratic participation, and civilization itself.
The Holocaust Lectures explore the dynamics of history's best-documented example of a systematic, deliberate brutalization and annihilation of one human group by another. Thus, German Nazis and European Jews serve as the central focus of this inquiry. From this central focal point, the lectures and discussions branch out into related conceptual and empirical areas showing how prejudice can escalate into genocide.
This year's theme reflects the organizers' concern for employing intellectual knowledge based on facts, evidence, critical thinking and emotional awareness in the service of effective ethical action to prevent genocide.
Note: Students enrolled in this class earn Upper Division Credit in GE Category D5 (Contemporary International Perspectives in the Social Sciences).
To earn upper-division GE credit for this course, you must have completed 60 units by the end of this semester (Spring 2001).
In order to ensure reasonable accommodation for students with disabling conditions, please discuss any accommodation you may need for this class with your discussion section leader prior to the end of the second week of classes. You must to self-identify with Disabled Student Services (Stevenson 1038) in order to be eligible to receive services or reasonable accommodation for any classes at SSU.
Botwinick, Rita Steinhardt. A History of the Holocaust,2nd edition. Prentice Hall.
Browning, Christopher: Ordinary Men. Harper.
Eichengreen, Lucille. From Ashes to Life: My Memories of the Holocaust. Mercury.
Gourevitch, Philip. We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda. Picador/Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Mitchell, Joseph R. and Helen Buss Mitchell. The Holocaust: Readings and Interpretations. McGraw Hill.
NOTE: Copies of Eichengreen are available at the SSU Bookstore. The other course texts are available at Northlight Books, 550 E. Cotati Avenue in Rohnert Park (707) 792-4300.
| Attendance and Participation | 15% | |
| Response Papers (4) | 40% | |
| Map Assignment | 10% | |
| Terms Quizzes (2) | 10% | |
| Final Examination | 25% |
Attendance at lectures and discussion sections is essential component in the learning process for this course. It is expected that students will attend all lectures and discussion sessions. There will be no grading penalty if you miss one lecture and one discussion. Thereafter, each additional unexcused absence will result in a deduction of 2% from your final total points.
Students respond to four (4) separate lectures
and the readings associated with them. Response papers should
integrate summaries of the lecture and reading assignment with
a personal intellectual and emotional response. Papers should
be 2 to 2 1/2 pages long. Response papers are due in discussion
section as noted in the schedule. Instructions for response papers
will be discussed in sections.
* DUE 2/28: Response
Paper # 1. Respond to Eichengreen.
* DUE 3/7: Response
paper # 2. (You can write on the 2/5,
2/12, 2/26. 3/5 or 3/12 lecture and associated readings).
* DUE 4/5: Response
Paper # 3. Respond to Browning.
* DUE 5/9: Response
Paper # 4. Respond to Gourevitch.
Understanding the geography and location of the death and concentration camps, as well as their physical proximity to the countries of Europe is vital in developing an understanding of the evolution of the Holocaust and the processes of annihilation. Guidelines for the assignment will be announced in discussion sections. Due 3/7.
A sheet of terms covering important concepts and ideas related to the Holocaust is attached to this syllabus. It is also on the class web page. There will be two Terms Quizzes. Each discussion leader will schedule the first. The second will be on 5/16.
The Final is a take-home exam due on 5/21.
All reading assignments should be completed by the day of the lecture.
| Week of: | Lecture Topic |
| January 29 | INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE |
| READ: Mitchell, Chapters 1 and 2 by 2/1. | |
| February 5 | MASTER RACE: 1933 |
| READ: Botwinick, Chapters 1, 3 and 4. | |
| February 12 | HISTORICAL LEGACIES AND THE THIRD REICH |
| READ: Botwinick, Chapters 5-8 and Mitchell, Chapter 3. | |
| February 19 | SURVIVORS' PANEL |
| READ: Eichengreen and Botwinick, Chapters 9-10 and epilogue. | |
| February 26 | ZIONISM, THE HOLOCAUST AND THE FOUNDING OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL |
| READ: Botwinick, Chapter 2 and Mitchell, Chapter 4. *DUE 2/28: Response Paper # 1. | |
| March 5 | THE POST-HOLOCAUST CHURCH |
| READ: Mitchell, Chapters 6 and 8. *DUE 3/7: Map assignment. | |
| March 12 | NEW PERSPECTIVES IN HOLOCAUST SCHOLARSHIP |
| READ: Mitchell, Chapters 5 and 7. | |
| March 19 | VOICES FROM THE SHOAH PROJECT |
| *DUE 3/7: Response paper # 2. | |
| March 26 | OVERCOMING THE PAST: AN UNCOMMON FRIENDSHIP |
| READ: Browning, Chapters 1-8. | |
| April 2 | SPRING RECESS |
| April 9 | FACING HISTORY AND OURSELVES |
| READ: Browning, Chapters 9-14. | |
| April 16 | LEGACIES OF NUREMBERG: INTERNATIONAL LEGAL ACCOUNTABILITY |
| READ: Browning, Chapters 15-16 and Mitchell, Chapter 9. | |
| April 23 | FORSAKEN CRIES: GENOCIDE IN RWANDA |
| READ: Gourevitch, Part One, 1-171. *DUE 4/5: Response Paper # 3. | |
| April 30 | THE SOCIOLOGY OF EVIL |
| READ: Gourevitch, Part Two, 172-353. | |
| May 7 | CONFRONTING CURRENT GENOCIDES |
| READ: Mitchell, Chapter 10, 503-541. | |
| May 14 | THE LEGACY CONTINUES: SECOND GENERATION PANEL |
| READ: Mitchell, Chapter 10, 542-end. *IN CLASS 5/16: Terms Quiz # 2. | |
| May 22 | WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED |
| DUE 5/21: Final Exam. |
Holocaust
Genocide
Pogrom
Concentration camp
Crematorium
Death camp
Zyklon B
Zionism
Anti-Semitism
Racism
Judaism
Yiddish/Hebrew
Ghetto
"Stab in the Back"
Versailles Treaty League of Nations
Weimar Republic
Evian Conference
Eugenics/Racial Hygiene
Fascism
Nazism
Totalitarianism
Authoritarianism
Militarism
Communism
Perpetrators
Rescuers
Liberators
Survivors
Mein Kampf
NSDAP (German National Socialist Labor Party)
Wehrmacht
Reichs Chancellor
Lebensraum
Einsatzgruppen ("Special Action Squads")
Third Reich
"Power Seizure" ("Machtergreifung")
Gestapo
SA ("Sturmabteilung"/"Storm Troopers")
SS ("Schutzstaffel"/"Elite Guard")
Fuehrer and Volk
Enabling Act
Nuremberg Laws
Night of Broken Glass (Kristallnacht)
Munich Conference
Axis Powers
Nazi-Soviet Pact
Blitzkrieg
Madagascar Plan
Wannsee Conference
judenrein (cleansed of Jews)
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
"Final Solution"
Updated 01.28.02
Required