HIST134 - Origins of Nazism: From Democracy To Race War and Genocide

Activity
REC
Section number integer
402
Title (text only)
Origins of Nazism: From Democracy To Race War and Genocide
Term
2019C
Subject area
HIST
Section number only
402
Section ID
HIST134402
Course number integer
134
Registration notes
Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen.
Registration also required for Lecture (see below)
Meeting times
F 01:00 PM-02:00 PM
Meeting location
WILL 6
Level
undergraduate
Instructors
Samuel Julius Finkelman
Description
Where did the Nazis come from? Was the Weimar Republic bound to fail? Did the Treaty of Versailles or the Great Depression catapult the Nazis into power? What was the role of racism, of Anti-Semitism? How did the regime consolidate itself? What was the role of ordinary people? How do we explain the Holocaust and what kind of a war was the Second World War? Grappling with these and more questions, the first half of the course focuses on Germany's first democracy, the Weimar Republic and its vibrant political culture. In the second half, we study on the Nazi regime, how it consolidated its power and remade society based on the concepts of race and struggle. Discussions of race and race-making are crucial throughout the course. In the name of the "racial purity," the Nazi state moved ruthlessly against Germany's Jewish population and cleansed German society of all "undesirable" elements. These ideas and practices didn't originate with the Nazis and they didn't operate in a geopolitical vacuum. Thinking about Nazi racism and genocide in both its particular specifics and in a larger global historical context is the main goal of this course.
Course number only
134
Cross listings
GRMN134402
Use local description
No