HIST430 - THIRD REICH

The meteoric rise of Hitler's NSDAP in Germany, the nature of Nazi rule, and the final collapse of the Third Reich. The first half of the semester analyzes the appeal of the NSDAP- who joined the party, who voted for it, and why. Nazi mobilization tactics, campaign strategy, and grass-roots techniques, the content of the party's social appeals. The second half of the course concentrates on the Nazis in power, their use of terror and propaganda, their ideological objective, everyday life in the Third Reich, the possibilities of resistance to the regime. Special attention will be devoted to Nazi Jewish policy and the step that led to the "Final Solution" and the Holocaust.