The Holocaust and Its Cultural Meaning I

Prerequisites: Intermediate or higher level of English fluency

There is no question that the Holocaust is the definitive event of the twentieth century for the West. Yet only after over half a century do we find that all the world can finally and freely speak of the Holocaust and the effect it has had on European and Western culture. The Shoah needs to be understood as something more than a historical or political event.

The introductory classes will build a foundation based on analysis of the changing terminology and definitions, as well as situate the Holocaust against the historical backdrop and social context of modern Europe. Presented and analyzed next will be the fundamental questions provoked by the Holocaust (e.g., how did it happen, what did political leaders do or not do, how did ordinary people react,, etc.). The perpetrator, victim, and bystander roles will be discussed in detail; means of resistance and rescue will also be examined. As the course is being taught in Central Europe, attention will be paid to pre- and postcommunist memory of the Holocaust.

Each meeting will center on a specific theme and questions. The primary aim is to enable the student to examine the many facets of Holocaust history and memory. Another goal is to arrive at a more critical, analytical, and nuanced understanding of the Shoah. Students will be able to demythologize the Holocaust and critique the presentations and representations (or lack thereof), in private and public discourse, in their own and other nation-states, under totalitarian and democratic systems.

Topics:

• Defining the Holocaust & genocide (who, what, to whom, when, different perspectives, UN genocide convention, etc.)

• European anti-Semitism in the 19th and 20th centuries

• Perspectives and approaches in researching the Holocaust

• Ghettos

• Focusing on Perpetrators

• Focusing on Victims

• Focusing on Bystanders/Rescuers

• Resistance

• War crimes trials

• Outing or denying horrible history

• Remembering the Holocaust: monuments and memorials

• Films:

Fotoamator (dir. Dariusz Jabłoński)

Conspiracy (dir. Frank Pierson)

Shoah (dir. Claude Lanzmann)

• Tracing the remains of ghettos and camps: Walking Lecture of Podgorze & Plaszow

• Websites, especially:

http://www.ushmm.org/

http://www.auschwitz.org/

http://www.yadvashem.org/

http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/

http://www.hdot.org/

• Books and articles in languages known by student and available in Poland or online

• Materials prepared by instructor and handed out in class

• Class attendance

• Participation in class discussions

• Original research paper on topic pre-approved by the instructor (on the basis of outline submitted by student)