Consent and Coercion: The History of Nazi Germany

Transcription

1 Instructor: Julia Timpe Term / Time Location: Office Hours: Juliatimpe@gmail.com Consent and Coercion: The History of Nazi Germany COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course explores the history of Nazi Germany, with a particular focus on spaces and themes of the social, the cultural and the everyday. The course s core concern is practices of consent and coercion in Nazi state and society. We will focus on perpetrators and victims, fellow-travelers and the beneficiaries of the regime. The course engages thematically with the lives of youth, women, German workers and of those considered outsiders by the regime, and will look at Nazi ideology and historical developments leading to and during World War II and the Holocaust. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: This course aims to familiarize students with the complex historiography of Nazi Germany and introduce them to its major debates and trends. In addition, this course aims to teach students how to critically engage with this scholarly literature as well as how to craft well-supported arguments based on analyses of primary sources. Students will leave this class with a firm understanding of the political, social and cultural history of Nazi Germany and will be able to explain the regime s reliance on the entangled practices that fostered consent and coercion. Upon completion of this course, students should be able to analyze historical documents and connect them to varied interpretations given by scholars on Nazi Germany. In their writing, students should demonstrate their ability to craft clear arguments based on the critical reading of primary and secondary sources. In the end, students will have designed and conducted research projects on a topic related to Nazi Germany. 1

2 Course Requirements and Grading: Class Participation: 15% Midterm: 20% Primary Source Paper: 10% each Book Review: 15% Final/ Research Paper: 30% Readings, Discussions, Class Participation: Students are expected to attend all class meetings and to complete the readings. Furthermore, active participation in group assignments during class time is an essential part of the course. Participation is worth 15% of each student s final grade. Written Assignments [All page numbers refer to texts that are double-spaced, standard margins, 12-point font] a) Midterm The Midterm will be on the material previously assigned and discussed in the course and will deal with historical dates, terms and persons discussed in these readings. The goal of this midterm is to assess whether students are being provided with a firm understanding of the history of Nazi Germany as stated in the course s objectives. b) Primary Source Response paper Twice during the semester, students will choose one primary source from those assigned in class and write a reading response paper (three to five pages) that summarizes the source and highlights its problems and possibilities concerning the study of Nazi Germany. This paper is due on the day the source will be discussed in class. Students must have handed in their first primary source paper by week 7. Each primary source response paper is worth 10% of the student s final grade. The goal of this assignment is to develop and assess students ability to critically analyze historical primary sources. Students are asked to wait to begin their second paper until they have received feedback on their first response paper; this enables them torespond to any general recommendations for and critiques of their first paper. c.) Book review/ Movie review Students will select one text to review (from those marked with * in the list of readings). The review paper will be three to five pages long. Students should include a brief summary and, most importantly, a critique of the book s content and argument. Alternatively, a student can choose a movie to review (from the list of movies). The movie review paper will be three to five pages long. The analysis of the movie should be complemented by at least one scholarly article/ book on a topic related to that of the movie. The review paper is due on Nov., and is worth 15% of the student s final grade. The goal of this assignment is to develop and assess students ability to critically engage with scholarly literature or movies on Nazi Germany. Together with the primary response paper, this assignment will prepare students methodologically for the writing of a research paper. 2

3 d.) Final/ Research Paper In this final paper, which is based on secondary literature, students will be asked to write about a selected and approved topic related to the history of Nazi Germany. Students must hand in an outline/ brief written proposal after Thanksgiving break and meet with me during office hours to discuss it. In addition, students will present their topic briefly in the last class meeting. The finished paper will be ten to fifteen pages long and should include a bibliography of at least four titles (secondary literature.) The paper is due at the end of reading week, and is worth 30% of the student s final grade. The goal of this assignment is to turn students from recipients into producers of historical knowledge about Nazi Germany. This assignment develops and assesses students abilities to critically engage with topics about Nazi Germany, based on an analysis and critique of primary and secondary literature, and to discuss their findings in an argumentative manner. Assigned Books [to be purchased]: *Götz Aly, Hitler s Beneficiaries: Plunder, Racial War, and the Nazi Welfare State* *Omer Bartov, Hitler s Army: Soldiers, Nazis, and War in the Third Reich* *Christopher Browning, Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland* Doris Bergen, War&Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust Mary Fulbrook, A History of German, : The Divided Nation *Robert Gellately, Backing Hitler: Consent and Coercion in Nazi Germany* Neil Gregor, ed., Nazism Timothy Mason, Social Policy in the Third Reich Roderick Stackelberg/ Sally Anne Winkle, eds., The Nazi Germany Sourcebook: An Anthology of Texts [in the following referred to as SB] Further primary and secondary sources can be found on the website for this course (mycourses; see details in schedule.) List of Movies Recommend for Review Papers: [movies made available for streaming on library/ course website] Aimee&Jaguar Rosenstrasse Defiance Downfall Europa, Europa Life is Beautiful Sophie Scholl The Reader Tin Drum Triumph of Will 3

4 LECTURE AND ASSIGNED READING SCHEDULE Week #1 Sept. 8 1 : AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF NAZI GERMANY Introduction Primary Sources #1: o #1A Nazi Party Program (SB, 64f.) Week #2 HITLER S COMING TO POWER Required Readings: Fulbrook, A History of Germany, 1-55 Gregor, Nazism, Primary Sources #2: o #2A Excerpts from Goebbels Diary (SB, 119f.) o #2B Hitler Speech from January 1933 (Download from Course Website) o # 2C William Shirer, Berlin Diary [excerpts] (SB, 177f.) Sept. 13: Sept. 15: Week #3 The End of Weimar and Hitler s Rise to Power Nazi Ideology and Hitler Myth GLEICHSCHALTUNG/ SYNCHRONIZATION Fulbrook, A History of Germany, , Primary Sources #3: o #3A Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of the People and State, 28 February 1922 (SB, 133f.) o #3B NSDAP Order for the Gleichschaltung of the Free Labor Unions, 21 April 1933 (SB, 153f.) o #3C The Nature and Function of Reich Chamber of Fine Arts (SB, 162f.) o #3D Erich Kempka s Eyewitness Description of "Operation Hummingbird" on June 30, 1934 (Retrospective Account, 1954) (Download from Course Website) Sept. 20: Sept. 22: Nazi Organizations Nazi Art and Architecture 1 In this sample syllabus, I have used the dates of Brown s Fall Semester

5 Week #4 VOLKSGEMEINSCHAFT David Welch, Nazi Propaganda and the Volksgemeinschaft: Constructing a People s Community, Journal of Contemporary History 39, no. 2 (April 2004): (Download from Course Website) Mason, Social Policy in the Third Reich [excerpts, page number TBA] Primary Sources #4: (Download from Course Website) o #4A [Visual Sources on Strength through Joy; Download from Course Website] Sept. 27: Sept. 29: Nazi Social Policy Case Study: The Nazi Leisure Organization Strength through Joy Week #5 NAZI PROPAGANDA & TREATMENT OF OUTSIDERS Gellately, Backing Hitler, Primary Source #5 o #5A Joseph Goebbels, Two Speeches on the Tasks of the Reich Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda, March 15 / March 25, 1933 (Download from Course Website) Oct. 4: Oct. 6: Nazi Persecution of Political Opponents and those Alien to the Community Nazi Propaganda Week #6 YOUTH Koonz, Nazi Conscience, (Download from Course Website) Primary Sources #6 (Download from Course Website) o #6A: Law on the Hitler Youth (SB, 204) o #6B: Guidelines on Teaching History (Download from Course Website) o # 6C: SD Report on the Attitude of Young People towards the Nazi Party, August 12, 1943 (Download from Course Website) Oct. 11: MIDTERM EXAM Oct. 13: Hitler Youth, the League of German Maidens and Edelweisspiraten 5

6 Week #7 WOMEN & WORKING CLASS Gregor, Nazism, ; ; Timothy Mason, The Workers Opposition in Nazi Germany, History Workshop 11 (1981): (Download from Course Website) Alf Lüdtke, The Appeal of Exterminating Others : German Workers and the Limits of Resistance, The Journal of Modern History 64 (December 1, 1992): (Download from Course Website Primary Sources # 7: (Download from Course Website) o #7A Adolf Hitler, Speech to the National Socialist Women s Organization (SB, 182 f.) o #7B Emilie Müller-Zadow, Mothers who give us the future, (SB, 184f.) o #7C Sopade Report on the Mood among Workers, September 1938 (Download from My Course Website Oct. 18: Mothers in the Fatherland LAST DATE TO TURN IN FIRST PRIMARY RESPONSE PAPER! Oct. 20: Working Class Opposition? Week #8 THE RACIAL STATE Gregor, Nazism Gellately, Backing Hitler, Primary Sources #8 o #8A Victor Klemperer, I will Bear Witness: A Diary of the Nazi Years, (excerpts) (Download from Course Website) o #8B Reich Citizenship Law, 15 September 1935 (SB, 187f.). o #8C First Regulation of the Reich Citizenship Law, 14 November 1935 (SB, 188f. o #8D Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor, 15 September 1935 (SB, 190 f.) Oct. 25: Oct. 27: State Power in Nazi Germany Pre-War Persecution of Jews 6

7 Week #9 ECONOMY/ WAR Aly, Hitler s Beneficiaries Nov. 1: Nov. 3: Road to War: Nazi Foreign Policy Road to War II: Economic Policy Week #10 WAR/ HOLOCAUST Bartov, Hitler s Army Primary Sources #10 o #10A William L. Shirer, Berlin Diary [excerpts] (SB, 260f.) o #10B Directive for Operation Barbarossa, 18 December 1940 (SB, 274f) BOOK/MOVIE REVIEW PAPER DUE! Nov. 8: Nov. 10: Blitzkrieg and Operation Baberossa Racial War Week #11 HOLOCAUST Bergen, War & Genocide, Primary Sources #11 o #11A Hitler s Authorization of the Curing of the Incurably Ill (SB, 332) o 11B Minutes of the Wannsee Conference (SB, 346) Nov. 15: Nov. 17: Life and Death in Nazi Ghettos and Concentration Camps Film showing in class: SHOAH (excerpts) 7

8 Week #12 HOLOCAUST Browning, Ordinary Men Primary Sources #12 o # 11A Himmler Speech at Posen (Download from Course Website) Nov. 22 Nov. 24: The Perpetrators of the Holocaust Thanksgiving No class Week #13 Nov. 29: HOMEFRONT Hans Mommsen, German Society and the Resistance against Hitler (Download from Course Website) Gregor, Nazism, Primary Sources #13 o #13A The Second Leaflet, Fall 1942 (SB, 304f.) o #13 B The Third Leaflet, Fall 1942 (SB, 305 f.) o #13C Resistance Leaflet, January 1943 (SB, 310f.) Forced Labor PROPOSAL FOR RESEARCH PAPER DUE TODAY! Dec. 1: Resistance or Consent? Week #14 DOWNFALL/ COMING TO TERMS Gregor, Nazism Primary Source # 14 o # 14AMathilde Wolff-Mönckeberg s Letter Describing the Aftermath of the Hamburg Firestorm, August 24, 1943 (Download from Course Website) o # 14 B Analysis of Denazification Categories in the Western Occupation Zones, (Download from Course Website) Dec. 6: Allied Bombings, Escape, Breakdown LAST DATE TO TURN IN SECOND PRIMARY RESPONSE PAPER! Dec 8 Coming to Terms FINAL PAPER DUE, MIDNIGHT, DEC