Prof. Marion Kaplan
V78.0720 and V57.0720
Spring 2008
Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:30-10:45
Place: Waverly 569
Office hours: Tuesdays, 11 to 12:30 in King Juan Carlos Center, rm. 110
Email: marionkaplan@yahoo.com
Graduate assistant: Ms. Daniella Doron
Office hours: Thursdays, 4 to 5 in King Juan Carlos Center, rm. 206
Email: ddoron@gmail.com
Jews and Other Minorities in Nazi Germany
The destruction of European Jewry has been a central focus in studying Nazi
extermination policies. This course will look at Nazi policies towards the Jewish people
and will also examine how the “racial state” (or racist state) dealt with those it deemed
“racially unfit” to belong to the German Volk. This course will examine the ways in
which the Nazis sought to create a nation based on blood and race. It will study policies
towards the so-called “enemies” of the Third Reich, including Jews, Sinti and Roma
(Gypsies), the physically and mentally disabled, homosexuals, Afro-Germans, “asocials,”
etc. as well as how these policies interacted with each other. It will examine measures
that the government enacted to delegitimize, isolate, rob, incarcerate, sterilize, and/or
murder many of these minorities as well as measures intended to increase the “Aryan”
population.
BOOKS TO PURCHASE:
Michael Burleigh and Wolfgang Wippermann, The Racial State: Germany 1933-1945
Henry Friedlander, The Origins of Nazi Genocide: From Euthanasia to the Final
Solution
(Chapel Hill, 1995)
Robert Gellately and Nathan Stoltzfus, Social Outsiders in Nazi Germany
Marion Kaplan, Between Dignity and Despair: Jewish Life in Nazi Germany (NY 1998)
These books are available at the NYU Bookstore, at Book Culture (112th St. near Broadway)
and online. Half price books available at Abebooks.com as well as Amazon and B&N.
Course Requirements: serious and consistent class participation (including regular oral
introductions of the homework readings; 2 page typed response papers when assigned (at
least once a week); regular surprise quizzes (not really a surprise -- usually once a week);
two papers, midterm, and a final exam. Late papers will be docked a grade a week.
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1. (Jan. 22) INTRODUCTION
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
2. (Jan. 24) Robert Gellately and Nathan Stoltzfus, “Social Outsiders and the
Construction of the Community of the People,” in Gellately and Stoltzfus, Social
Outsiders in Nazi Germany (pp. 3-19)
and
Richard Evans, “Social Outsiders in German History: From the Sixteenth Century to
1933,” in Gellately and Stoltzfus, pp. 20-44
3. (Jan. 29) Excerpts from Race and Membership in American History: the Eugenics
Movement [blackboard]
Recommended: Stefan Kühl, The Nazi Connection: Eugenics, American Racism,
and German National Socialism
George Fredrickson, Racism: A Short History
4. (Jan. 31) Michael Burleigh and Wolfgang Wippermann, The Racial State, pp. 1-4, 2374
THEORIES OF “WHY?”: PART I
5. (Feb. 5) “When good people do evil: the Milgram experiments revisited,” Yale Alumni
Magazine, Jan/Feb. 2007 [blackboard--see Milgram]
and
“Finding Hope in Knowing the Universal Capacity for Evil,” New York Times, April 3,
2007 [blackboard--see Zimbardo]
and
Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, chaps. 2 and 3 “Modernity, Racism,
Extermination” [blackboard]
JEWS AND “MIXED MARRIAGES”
6. (Feb. 7) Burleigh, chap. 4, “The persecution of the Jews,” pp. 75-112
7. (Feb. 12) Marion Kaplan, Between Dignity and Despair: Jewish Life in Nazi Germany
Intro. and chap. 1-2 (pp. 3-73)
Students with last names A-L meet with Ms. Doron in King Juan Carlos
Building lobby (51 Wash. Sq. S. next to Judson Church)
8. (Feb. 14) Kaplan, chaps. 3 - 5 (pp. 74-144)
9. (Feb. 19) Kaplan, chaps. 6, 7, 8, and Conc. (pp. 145-237)
Recommended: Saul Friedlander, Nazi Germany and the Jews
SINTI AND ROMA (GYPSIES)
10. (Feb. 21) Burleigh, 113-128
and
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Margalit, Germany and its Gypsies, pp. 25-55 [blackboard]
Recommended: Gilad Margalit, Germany and its Gypsies: A Post-Auschwitz
Ordeal
Guenther Lewy, The Nazi Persecution of the Gypsies
Donald Kenrick and Grattan Puxon, The Destiny of Europe’s Gypsies
11. (Feb. 26) Sybil Milton, “Gypsies as Social Outsiders in Nazi Germany,” in Gellately
and Stoltzfus, pp. 212-232
and
Wolfgang Wippermann, “Christine Lehmann and Mazurka Rose: Two ‘Gypsies’ in the
Grip of German Bureaucracy, 1933-1960,” in Michael Burleigh, ed., Confronting the
Nazi Past: New Debates on Modern German History, pp. 112- 123 [on blackboard]
Students with last names M-Z meet with Ms. Doron in KJCC
HOMOSEXUALS
12. (Feb. 28) Burleigh, pp. 183-197
Geoffrey Giles, “The Institutionalization of Homosexual Panic in the Third Reich,” in
Gellately and Stoltzfus, pp. 233-255
and
Stefan Micheler, “Homophobic Propaganda and the Denunciation of Same-Sex-Desiring
Men under National Socialism, “The Journal of the History of Sexuality vol. 11, nos. 1-2
(Jan/April 2002) [available online: Project Muse -- go to NYU home, then to “research”]
Recommended: Gad Beck, An Underground Life: Memoirs of a Gay Jew in Nazi
Berlin
John Fout, ed., Homosexuals and Homosexuality in Germany from the
Kaiserreich through the Third Reich
Claudia Schoppmann, Days of Masquerade: life stories of lesbians during the
Third Reich (trans. Allison Brown) (NY, 1996)
13. (March 4) First Reports on Jews, Sinti/Roma, or homosexuals due: be prepared to
talk about your report in class (see end of syllabus for requirements)
THE PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY DISABLED
14. (March 6) Henry Friedlander, The Origins of Nazi Genocide, chap. 1, “The Setting”
Burleigh, pp.148-167
Students with last names A-L meet with Ms. Doron in KJCC
15. (March 11) Friedlander, chaps. 2-5
16. (March 13) Friedlander, chaps. 6-9
Students with last names M-Z meet with Ms. Doron in KJCC
(March 17-22, Spring break)
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17. (March 25) Midterm
18. (March 27) Friedlander, chaps. 10-14
AFRO-GERMANS
19. (April 1) May Opitz, Katharina Oguntoye and Dagmar Schultz, African and AfroGerman Women in the Weimar Republic and under National Socialism,” in Showing our
Colors: Afro-German Women Speak Out,” pp 41-76 [blackboard]
and
Raffael Scheck, “The Executions of Black Soldiers from the French Army by the
Wehrmacht in 1940: The Question of Authorization” [available on blackboard, courtesy
of Prof. Scheck]
Recommended:
Hans Massaquoi, Destined to Witness: Growing up Black in Nazi Germany
Clarence Lusane, Hitler’s Black Victims: The Historical Experience of AfroGermans, European Blacks, Africans, and African Americans in the Nazi Era
(New York/London, 2003)
THE “ASOCIAL” AND “HABITUAL CRIMINAL”
20. (April 3) Burleigh, pp. 48-49, 167-182
Nikolaus Wachsmann, “From Indefinite Confinement to Extermination: “Habitual
Criminals” in the Third Reich, “in Gellately and Stoltzfus, pp. 165-191
Students with last names A-L meet with Ms. Doron in KJCC
21. (Apr. 8) Annette Timm, “The Ambivalent Outsider: Prostitution, Promiscuity, and
VD Control in Nazi Berlin,” in Gellately and Stoltzfus, pp. 192-211
and
Annette Timm, “Sex with a Purpose: Prostitution, Venereal Disease, and Militarized
Masculinity in the Third Reich,” The Journal of the History of Sexuality, vol. 11, nos. ½
(Jan/April 2002) [available online: Project Muse]
FOREIGN WORKERS
22. (Apr. 10) Burleigh, pp. 295-303
Robert Gellately, “Police Justice, Popular Justice, and Social Outsiders in Nazi Germany:
The Example of Polish Foreign Workers,” in Gellately and Stoltzfus, pp. 256-272
and
Birthe Kundrus, “Forbidden Company: Romantic Relationships between Germans and
Foreigners, 1939-1945,” in Journal of the History of Sexuality - Volume 11, Number 1
and 2, January/April 2002, pp. 201-222 [available online: Project Muse]
23. (Apr. 15) Second Reports due.
(HETERO)SEXUALITY AND RACISM
24. (Apr. 17) Nazi Policies towards Women
Burleigh, pp. 242-266
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and
Jill Stephenson, “Women, Motherhood and the Family in the Third Reich” in Michael
Burleigh, ed., Confronting the Nazi Past: New Debates on Modern German History, pp.
167-182 [on blackboard]
25. (Apr. 22) Nathan Stoltzfus, “The Limits of Policy: Social Protection of Intermarried
German Jews in Nazi Germany,” in Gellately and Stoltzfus, pp. 117- 144
and
Patricia Szobar, “Telling Sexual Stories in the Nazi Courts of Law: Race Defilement in
Germany, 1933-1945,”Journal of the History of Sexuality - Volume 11, Number 1 and 2,
January/April 2002, pp. 131-163 [available online: Project Muse]
Recommended:
Gisela Bock, “Racism and Sexism in Nazi Germany,” in Renate Bridenthal, Atina
Grossmann, Marion Kaplan, eds., When Biology became Destiny: Women in
Weimar and Nazi Germany (New York, 1984)
Czarnowski, Gabriele, “The Value of Marriage for the Volksgemeinschaft:
Policies towards Women and Marriage under National Socialism,” in Bessel, ed.
Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany (1996)
26. (Apr. 24) “ARYAN” YOUTH (Nazis and Outsiders)
Burleigh, 199-241
RACE WAR AGAINST THE SOVIET UNION AND EASTERN PEOPLE
27. (Apr. 29) Christian Streit, “Soviet Prisoners of War in the Hands of the Wehrmacht”
in Hannes Heer and Klaus Naumann, eds., War of Extermination: The German Military
in World War II (New York/Oxford, 2004) chap. 4 (pp. 80-89) [on blackboard]
and
Doris Bergen, “Sex, Blood, and Vulnerability: Women Outsiders in German-Occupied
Europe,” in Gellately and Stoltzfus, pp. 273-88
Recommended: Omer Bartov, Hitler’s Army: Soldiers, Nazis and War in the
Third Reich
Bernd Boll and Hans Safrian, “On the Way to Stalingrad: The 6th Army in 194142,” in Heer and Naumann, War of Extermination, chap. 10 (pp. 237-264) [on
blackboard]
G. Hirschfeld, ed., The Policies of Genocide: Jews and Soviet Prisoners of War in
Nazi Germany
T. Schulte, The German Army and Nazi Policies in Occupied Russia
28. (May 1) THEORIES OF “WHY?”: PART II
Hannes Heer, “How Amorality became Normality: Reflections on the Mentality of
German Soldiers on the Eastern Front,” from Heer and Naumann, War of Extermination ,
chap. 13 (pp. 329-341) [on blackboard]
and
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Christopher Browning, “Holocaust Perpetrators: Ideologues, Managers, Ordinary Men,”
(March 6, 2002 lecture at US Holocaust Memorial Museum [available online
http://www.ushmm.org/conscience/analysis/details/2002-03-06/browning.pdf ]
and
Claudia Koonz, The Nazi Conscience, “Racial War at Home” (chap. 10, pp. 253-274) [on
blackboard]
and
review your notes from class # 5
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WRITING GUIDELINES:
Please learn the definition of plagiarism, one of the most serious forms of academic
misconduct: “Presenting another’s words or ideas as your own.” Always cite your sources
(including books, articles, and web sites) and use quotation marks whenever you use a
phrase of more than 3 words in succession from another person’s work. Paraphrasing an
idea does not make it your idea. You may use it, but give credit where credit is due.
Remember that professors can find websites as easily as students. Plagiarism will result in
an F for the course and notification of the deans.
WRITING: Write your papers as if you were writing for an English class!
Be sure to go over this quick checklist of common writing mistakes before you hand in your
papers. Mistakes on your papers will be circled and the numbers below written next to
them.
1. Have you paginated?
2. Have you underlined all foreign words and book titles?
3. Does EVERY sentence have a subject and verb? Have you read each sentence aloud to
see if it makes sense?
4. Quotations: A short quotation – of fewer than 5 lines—should be enclosed in quotation
marks and combined smoothly as part of your own sentence. A longer quotation should be
single spaced, indented, have no quotation marks, and be introduced by you. Quotations
cannot stand by themselves.
5. Quotations marks: "Quotation marks enclose punctuation."
6. Citations: simple in-text citations come at the end of the sentence, followed by a period
(Author, page __).
7. Paragraphs start with a topic sentence, support its ideas, and end with a concluding
thought that rounds up the paragraph. Watch out for extraneous ideas that don’t help you
build your paragraph.
8. You need "transition" thoughts between paragraphs. They have to follow each other
in some logical order. This will be easy if you have outlined your paper logically.
9. Watch how you use tenses! You should refer to historical issues and events in the past
tense. Try to keep your writing in the past tense.
10. Do not use contractions (I’m, he’s, we’re).
11. Do not use colloquialisms.
12. Avoid the passive voice. Use it very sparingly. Reread your paper and rewrite 80% of
the sentences that use some form of the verb to be (including were or was).
Passive verbs can exist in any tense. They may or may not employ an auxiliary verb.
Here are some examples:
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Active
Linda expressed anger.
Linda drives the car.
Passive
Linda was angry.
The car is driven by Linda.
Linda drove the car.
The car was driven by Linda.
Linda was driving the car. The car was being driven by Linda.
Linda has driven the car. The car has been driven by Linda.
First BOOK/FILM
ASSIGNMENT:
Choose a book and film
about Jews, Sinti/Roma, or homosexuals (male and/or female) and write a report
comparing and contrasting the book and film you have chosen. Your report should:
1) Refer to your class readings where appropriate, situating your book in the context of
your readings and our class discussions. Specifically, how did the group in the book
you have chosen experience the Nazi years? What did you see as the main points in
your book and film? Did they challenge or confirm your other readings? In what
ways?
2) Contrast the book and the film. How did the book portray your group’s experiences
as compared to the film?
You may choose from the recommended readings and films on the syllabus, or on the
bibliography on blackboard, or from your own research. Please check with me if you
have done the latter.
8 pages, typed and carefully edited keeping all 12 points on the above checklist in mind.
Second ASSIGNMENT:
You will be given an identity by lottery (Sinti/Roma, Jewish, handicapped, German soldier,
etc.) and will be expected to explain how this person fared starting slightly before 1933 but
concentrating on Nazi Germany until 1945. You will be asked to read a book, some articles
and some life histories about this person or group.
10 pages typed and carefully edited keeping all 12 points on the above checklist in mind.
FILMS AT BOBST (AVERY FISHER)
JEWS: David, VCA12992; Jacob the Liar, VCA9545; Europa, Europa, VCA5082;
Genocide, VCA3718
HOMOSEXUALS: Aimee and Jaguar, VCA12069, DVD 756; Desire, VCA6010;
Paragraph 175
FOREIGN WORKERS: A Love in Germany (# in processing)
SINTI/ROMA: Porraimos
“ARYANS”: Triumph of the Will, VCA264
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There are other films at Bobst as well. Check the website. If you would like to rent films
not available at Bobst, there are also many. Try to find, for example, “Bent” (1997),
about homosexuals in Nazi Germany, or “Ehe im Schatten,” about intermarriage with a
Jewish spouse (if you can understand German), or “Persecuted and Forgotten: The
Gypsies of Auschwitz.”
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