HIST 3700/JWST 3700
2:55-4:10, Tu/Th
Fall 2011
Prof. Vicki Caron
Office: 100 McGraw Hall
Office Hours: Tu, 4:30-5:30 PM,
& by appt.
e-mail: <vc21@cornell.edu>
History of the Holocaust
This course will analyze the meaning of the Holocaust from three vantage points: that of
European history; that of Jewish history, and finally, that of those states and religious
institutions which shared responsibility by having stood by in silence. Topics include:
the evolution of modern antisemitism; the role of antisemitism in the Nazi ideology and
program; the bureaucratization of death; Jewish life in ghettoes and concentration
camps; the fate of Jews in occupied Europe and the question of collaboration; Jewish
political behavior under duress; the responses of the Western allies and the Church;
contemporary interpretations of the Holocaust and the meaning of evil.
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HIST 3700/JWST 3700
T, Th. 2:55-4:10
V. Caron
Fall, 2011
History of the Holocaust
I. Introduction: Emancipation and Counter-Emancipation
Th. Aug. 25:
1. Introduction
Tu. Aug. 30:
2. The Holocaust in Historical Perspective and the Rise of
Modern Antisemitism (I)
*George Mosse, The Crisis of German Ideology, pp. 1-87
Paul Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz, eds., The Jew in the Modern World,
2nd edition, 1995, Docs. 14, 16, 24, pp. 331-33, 334-36, 356-59
(handout/also avail. on electronic blackboard).
Recommended: Michael Marrus, "History of the Holocaust,"
Journal of Modern History, 59, March 1987, pp. 114-160
(avail. on electronic blackboard)
Th. Sept. 1:
3. The Rise of European and German Antisemitism (II)
*George Mosse, The Crisis of German Ideology, pp. 89-145
or Paul Massing, Rehearsal for Destruction, pp. 1-109, 277-310.
Paul Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz, eds., The Jew in the Modern World,
2nd edition, Docs. 15, 18, 19, 22, pp. 333-34, 339-42, 350, 356-59
(handout/ also avail. on electronic blackboard).
Tu., Sept. 6:
4. The Rise of European and German Antisemitism (III)
*George Mosse, The Crisis of German Ideology, pp. 149-217, 312-317.
Paul Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz, eds., The Jew in the Modern World,
2nd edition, Docs. 20-21, pp. 343-50 (handout/ also avail. on electronic
blackboard).
Th., Sept. 8:
5. Nazi Ideology and the Jews
*Karl Schleunes, The Twisted Road to Auschwitz, ch. 2, pp. 36-61.
*Lucy Dawidowicz, The War against the Jews, introduction and ch. 1.
Paul Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz, eds., The Jew in the Modern World,
2nd edition, p. 636-39 (handout; also avail. on electronic blackboard).
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Tu., Sept. 13:
6. Prelude to the Final Solution: The Implementation
of Nazi Antisemitism in the 1930s (1)
Ian Kershaw, "The Persecution of the Jews and German Popular
Opinion in the Third Reich," Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook
(1981), pp. 261-289 [avail. on electronic blackboard]
Paul Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz, eds., The Jew in the Modern World,
2nd edition, pp. 648, 652-54 (handout/avail. on electronic blackboard).
*Karl Schleunes, The Twisted Road to Auschwitz, pp. 62-168.
Recommended: *Lucy Dawidowicz, The War against the Jews, chs. 3-5.
Th., Sept. 15:
7. The Implementation of Nazi Antisemitism in the 1930's (2)
*Karl Schleunes, The Twisted Road to Auschwitz, pp. 169-262
*Lucy Dawidowicz, ed., A Holocaust Reader, pp. 35-53
Tu,. Sept. 20:
8. German Jewish Responses
*Lucy Dawidowicz, The War against the Jews, ch. 9.
*Lucy Dawidowicz, ed., A Holocaust Reader, pp. 143-170.
Paul Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz, eds., The Jew in the Modern World,
2nd edition, pp. 640-41 (handout/ avail. on electronic blackboard)
Recommended: Arnold Paucker, "The Jewish Defense against Antisemitism in
Germany," in Jehuda Reinharz, ed., Living with Antisemitism, pp.
104-132 (avail. on electronic blackboard)
Th., Sept. 22:
9. Antisemitism in Everyday Life
*Marion Kaplan, Between Dignity and Despair: Jewish Life in Nazi Germany,
intro. & chs. 1-3, pp. 3-93.
Recommended: Victor Klemperer, I Will Bear Witness, pp. 3-145
Please come to class prepared to discuss Kaplan
Tu., Sept. 27:
10. Antisemitism in Everyday Life
*Marion Kaplan, Between Dignity and Despair: Jewish Life in Nazi Germany,
chs. 4-5, pp. 94-144.
Amos Elon, "The Jew Who Fought to Stay German: Victor Klemperer,"
New York Times Magazine, March 24, 1996
(avail. on electronic blackboard; also avail. at
http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/11/22/specials/elon-klemperer.html
(continued)
Recommended: Victor Klemperer, I Will Bear Witness, pp. 149-324
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Please come to class prepared for discussion
Th. Sept. 29:
11. No Class: Rosh HaShana
Tu., Oct. 4:
12. The Refugee Crisis and the East European Jewish Question
in the 1930's
V. Caron, "Prelude to Vichy," Journal of Contemporary History,
vol. 20, #l (Jan. 1985), pp. 157-176 (avail. on electronic blackboard)
Ezra Mendelsohn, "Relations between Jews and Non-Jews in Eastern Europe
Between the Two World Wars," in François Furet, Unanswered
Questions, pp. 71-83 (avail. on electronic blackboard).
"Dear Cousin Julius," New York Times Magazine, April 27, 1997 (avail. on
electronic blackboard; also avail. at
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/25/magazine/l-dear-cousin-julius236381.html [if you print this you can elim. the ads]
Recommended: *Michael Marrus, The Unwanted, pp. 122-207.
Recommended: Ezra Mendelsohn, The Jews of East Central Europe
between the Two World Wars, pp. 11-83.
II. The Holocaust
Th., Oct. 6:
13. The Bureaucratization of Death (1)
*Lucy Dawidowicz, The War Against the Jews, chs. 6-7
*Lucy Dawidowicz, ed., A Holocaust Reader, pp. 55-140
Recommended: Christopher Browning, "The Decision Concerning the Final
Solution," in François Furet, Unanswered Questions, pp. 96-118
Tu., Oct. 11:
14. No Class/Fall Break
Th. Oct. 13:
15. The Bureaucratization of Death (2)
*Christopher Browning, Ordinary Men, entire.
Please come to class prepared to discuss this text.
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Tu., Oct. 18:
16. Ghettoization
*Lucy Dawidowicz, The War Against the Jews, chs. 10-12
*Lucy Dawidowicz, ed., A Holocaust Reader, pp. 171-233
*Lucjan Dobroszycki, The Chronicle of the Lodz Ghetto, 1941-1944,
pp. 110-116, 124-125, 128-145, 148-157, 160-187, 194-195, 199-201
Th., Oct. 20:
17. Jewish Life in the Ghettos
*Lucjan Dobroszycki, The Chronicle of the Lodz Ghetto, 1941-1944,
pp. 214-218, 225-216, 230-233, 242-255, 261-267, 271-273,
277-279, 303
Recommended: Yisrael Gutman, The Jews of Warsaw, 1939-1943,
pp. 48-116
Please come to class prepared to discuss Dobroszycki, The Chronicle, and
the Film: The Story of Chaim Rumkowski and the Jews of Lodz
Tu., Oct. 25:
18. The Jewish Councils
*Lucy Dawidowicz, The War Against the Jews, chs. 14, 16
*Lucy Dawidowicz, A Holocaust Reader, pp. 235-287
*Lucjan Dobroszycki, The Chronicle of the Lodz Ghetto, 1941-1944, pp. 32324 (March l3, 1943); 328-330 (March 25, 1943); 379 (Sept. 7, 1943);
397-400 (October 12, 1943); pp. 415-417 (December 14, l943);
449-452 (Feb. 13, l944)
Recommended: Randolph Braham, "The Jewish Councils," in
François Furet, Unanswered Questions, pp. 252-274
Recommended: Isaiah Trunk, Judenrat, pp. 14-35, 53-60, 388-450, 475-527
Th., Oct. 27:
19. Jewish Resistance
*Lucy Dawidowicz, The War Against the Jews, chs. 13, 15
*Lucy Dawidowicz, A Holocaust Reader, pp. 329-380
Recommended: Yehuda Bauer, "Jewish Resistance and Passivity in the Face of
the Holocaust," in François Furet, Unanswered Questions,
pp. 235-251.
Recommended: Y. Gutman, The Jews of Warsaw, 1939-l943,
pp. 283-430.
Tu., Nov. 1:
20. Jewish Resistance
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*Lucy Dawidowicz, The War Against the Jews, chs. 13, 15
*Lucy Dawidowicz, A Holocaust Reader, pp. 329-380
Recommended: Yehuda Bauer, "Jewish Resistance and Passivity in the Face of
the Holocaust," in François Furet, Unanswered Questions,
pp. 235-251.
Recommended: Y. Gutman, The Jews of Warsaw, 1939-l943,
pp. 283-430.
Th., Nov. 3:
21. The Death Camps (I)
Uwe Dietrich Adam, "The Gas Chambers," in François Furet, Unanswered
Questions, pp. 134-154 (avail. on electronic blackboard)
Tu., Nov. 8:
22. The Death Camps (II)
*Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz, entire (Pls. come to class prepared
to discuss this text).
Recommended: *Tadeusz Borowski, This Way for the Gas, Ladies and
Gentlemen, pp. 29-49, 82-97, 143-146, 161-164, 177-180
Recommended: Elie Wiesel, Night
Th., Nov. 10:
23: European Jews under Nazi Occupation: Collaboration and Rescue
Michael Marrus and Robert Paxton, "The Nazis and the Jews in
Occupied Western Europe, 1940-1944, Journal of Modern History,
vol. 54, Dec. 1982, pp. 687-714) (avail. on electronic blackboard)
---also in François Furet, Unanswered Questions, pp. 172-198
Recommended: Bela Vago, "The Reaction to the Nazi Anti-Jewish Policy in
East-Central Europe and in the Balkans," in François Furet,
Unanswered Questions, pp. 199-234.
Recommended: Michael Marrus and Robert Paxton, Vichy France
and the Jews
III. The Bystanders
Tu., Nov. 15:
24. Rescue and the Churches
Guenter Lewy, The Catholic Church and Nazi Germany, pp. 268-308
(avail. on electronic blackboard)
Recommended: Richard Gutteridge, "German Protestantism and the Jews in the
Third Reich," in Otto Dov Kulka and Paul Mendes-Flohr,
eds., Judaism and Christianity under the Impact of National
Socialism, 1919-1945, pp. 227-250
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Recommended: Richard Gutteridge, The German Evangelical
Church and the Jews, pp. 69-226.
Recommended: Ernest Christian Helmreich, The German Churches
under Hitler
Th., Nov. 17:
25. The Allied Powers and the Holocaust
*David Wyman, The Abandonment of the Jews, pp. xii-xvi, 3-123,
178-206, 288-340.
Tu., Nov. 22:
26: World Jewry's Response
*David Wyman, The Abandonment of the Jews, chs. 8-9, pp. 143-177
IV. Interpreting the Holocaust
Th., Nov. 24:
Thanksgiving/No Class
Tu. Nov. 29:
27. The Holocaust and the Problem of Evil
Raul Hilberg, "The Bureaucracy of Annihilation," in François Furet,
Unanswered Questions, pp. 199-133 (avail. on electronic blackboard)
Jeffrey Herf, "The "Jewish War": Goebbels and the Antisemitic Campaigns
of the Nazi Propaganda Ministry, in Holocaust and Genocide Studies,
vol. 19, no. 1 (spring 2005), pp. 51-80 (avail. on electronic blackboard)
Th., Dec. 1:
28. Reflections on the Holocaust Today
Judith Miller, "Erasing the Past," New York Times Magazine,
Nov. 16, 1986 (avail. on electronic blackboard)
Charles Maier, "Immoral Equivalence," The New Republic,
December 1, 1986, pp. 36 ff. (avail. on electronic blackboard)
Frank Stern, "Jews in the Minds of Germans in the Postwar Period" (avail. on
electronic blackboard)
Peter Schneider, "The Sins of the Grandfathers," New York Times Magazine,
Dec. 3, 1995 (avail. on electronic blackboard)
Recommended: Judith Miller, One By One
Recommended: Charles Maier, The Unmasterable Past, pp. 1-33,
66-99, 160-172.
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*Available in paperback at the University Bookstore and at Kraftees Bookstore
Course Requirements:
l. Reading: Books marked with an asterisk (*) are available at the University
Bookstore and at Kraftees Bookstore; you are not required to purchase anything. All
books are also on reserve in Uris Library circulation desk. With respect to reserve books,
please check the book/article under both author or title. Assigned articles/chapters of
books are available on electronic blackboard. These can be accessed by going to
http://atc.cit.cornell.edu/ . Then click on "Blackboard," and look for the course number
Hist 3700 Fall 2011 [You'll need to log in and you need to be registered in the course
to have access. Click on "Course Reserves". If that doesn't work, click on
"Tools"]. That should open up the complete list. Pls. check these items by both the
author/title of the individual chp/article, or of the book or journal in which it appears,
since these items may be listed slightly differently than I have them on the syllabus.
2. Exams: One take-home mid-term (to be distributed on Tu., Oct. 4, and
due on Tu. Oct. 18) and one final exam to be given during the exam period on
Thurs., Dec. 8, 7-9:30PM.
3. Papers: One essay (approximately 8 pages in length) comparing two works of
different genres (literary works, memoirs, films, historical works, etc.) dealing with some
aspect of the Holocaust. At least one work should preferably be a secondary historical
text. A bibliography of possible sources will be made available by early October, but you
are welcome to choose a source not on the list. If you do so, however, your selections
will have to be cleared with the Professor. All students will be required to turn in a list of
their two sources by Th., Nov. 3 and a brief outline (1-1.5 pages) will be due by Tu.,
Nov. 15. These papers will be due on Friday, Dec. 2, at 4 PM.
4. Class Preparation: Students are required to come to class prepared to discuss
the readings for that day.
5. Film Series: There will be a required film series held in conjunction with this
course. The films will be shown on Tuesday evenings at 7:30 PM in the Uris Media
Center. The film schedule is attached to the syllabus.
If you are unable to attend these viewings, the videos are generally available on
reserve in Uris Library and they can be viewed either individually or in small groups in
the media center at Uris Library.