HIST 262: History of the Holocaust

Course Description

Welcome to HIST 262, History of the Holocaust. By the nature of this course, we will have to investigate examples of the most horrifying and depraved human behavior; yet we will also find, even in this dark chapter of history, examples of nobility and moral courage. In the course of fourteen lessons, we will confront various facets of this event, which has come to play a crucial role in the political and cultural life of the United States.

This upper-level course examines the origins and implementation of the Nazi genocide during World War II, as well as reactions of and realities for European Jews. We will explore the actions and motivations of perpetrators, victims, and bystanders in various European countries. The course also relates the Holocaust to the Nazis' genocide of other ethnic and social groups as well as acts of genocide outside of Europe, locating them in twentieth-century world history.

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Course Goals

The goals of this course are to

• deepen your knowledge of the events of the Holocaust
• introduce you to the major debates among historians of the Holocaust
• sharpen your reading, writing, and basic analytical skills with primary and secondary historical sources
• acquaint you with critical techniques to evaluate Web sites on the Holocaust, including sites of Holocaust denial
• hone your writing skills to produce carefully crafted and well-argued academic essays.

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Readings and Material

The required texts can be purchased from the Higher Grounds bookstore at the Friday Center for Continuing Education. You can obtain the books online by following the instructions on the Higher Grounds Web site. If you live in the area, you can also buy these books in person at Higher Grounds (Mon-Fri, 9 am-5 pm). In addition, you can print out the book order form and fax or mail it with your payment to the indicated address.

Required Texts

• Doris L. Bergen, War & Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust
• Donald L. Niewyk, The Holocaust: Problems and Perspectives of Interpretation, 3rd edition
• Marion Kaplan, Between Dignity and Despair: Jewish Life in Nazi Germany
• Michal Glowinski, The Black Seasons

Additional Required Readings

(available from the UNC Undergraduate Library's Electronic Reserves)

• Hans Braun, “A Sinto Survivor Speaks”
• Gerald Fleming, “It is the Führer's Wish”
• Ruth Gay, "Return to the World" from Safe Among the Germans
• Raul Hilberg, “The Final Solution” from Documents of Destruction
• Claudia Koonz, Preface from Mothers in the Fatherland: Women, the Family and Nazi Politics
• René Lemarchand, “The Rwanda Genocide”
• Primo Levi, selections from If This is a Man
• Deborah Lipstadt, “Canaries in the Mine: Holocaust Denial and the Limited Power of Reason” from Denying the Holocaust
• Mahmood Mamdani, “The Civil War and the Genocide” from When Victims Become Killers
• Sybil Milton, “Holocaust: The Gypsies”
• Hans Mommsen, “There Was No Führer Order”
• Peter Novick, “To Bigotry No Sanction” from The Holocaust in American Life

Important: If you are working with an off-campus computer, you will need your PID to access these e-reserve readings. For more information about library services, see Course Mechanics below.

Web Links

Each lesson includes links to additional online material. Unless noted otherwise, the use of this material is optional. The maps, photographs, and texts available through the links deepen your grasp and understanding of the events we study during a particular week. Web links include:

• Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Memorial
• German Propaganda Archive
• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

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Approaches and Assignments

Readings: You are expected to read an average of eighty to one hundred pages of assigned articles and book sections per week, with some weeks somewhat higher than that. You should read the material before the beginning of the week-long session.

Online Discussion Forums: These forums are the key component of the course. On the basis of the course readings, you are initially asked to respond to discussion starter questions to develop your own perspectives while conversing with your classmates and instructor. I have prepared these questions for each week's lesson. The link to the discussion question is located in the gray area of the navigation bar at the top of each lesson page. Please note that these questions are only meant to guide the initial phase of the discussions. You are not only free, but required, to widen the discussions in the course of each week.

You must actively and substantially participate in the discussions. Compose a minimum of three contributions during each lesson and post on at least two different days. Please also read the messages from your classmates and from me. In your first contribution, you may want to center on answering a discussion starter question. At least one of your postings has to start a new substantial discussion thread. You can do so by posting a question, offering a thesis and asking for feed- back or introducing a new source and inviting others to comment on how it modifies or confirms an argument of the assigned texts.

Try to be concise and keep your postings relevant to the lesson's topic. Also consider citing specific passages of the assigned texts to support your point. If you wish to include related material such as particular Web sites you encounter in your research, please share it with the class and provide us with the complete address of these sites. I've found that this point should be emphasized right from the start: You will be graded on the quality as well as the quantity of your posts. In other words, I hope to see posts that are thoughtful, intelligent, and well-written, and that reflect your engagement with the readings.

Be respectful. In the course of the term, we will be dealing with a series of sensitive topics and questions. It is, therefore, even more important that you are cordial and respect the diversity of opinions in your postings to the discussion forums. Please always focus on the issue and not on the person (or classmate).

Finally, we will be reading some texts that are not too pleasant—when not reading shocking depictions of horrible crimes (and there really aren't too many of these readings), we will be dwelling upon the cold-blooded calculations and racist fantasies of the criminal leadership of Nazi Germany. It is entirely appropriate to be repulsed and indignant when contemplating these matters. Yet this course requires that we maintain a level of dispassion and seriousness. By offering and by enrolling in HIST 262, we are expressing a belief that the Holocaust, like other historical events, can be studied in an academic setting. Thus, it is not appropriate, at least in this class, for us to simply wring our hands or denounce the murderers in emotional prose. I say this because it is very easy for us to slip into this mode, which will get us nowhere.

Leading Dicussion: Each week, one or two students will be responsible for leading, guiding, and summing up our discussion. This will involve two main tasks: 1) posing one additional question about the readings in addition to those posted at the end of each chapter; and 2) summarizing the discussion and posting the summary on Blackboard at the end of the week (the summary should be about three paragraphs, or about one single-spaced page). Leading discussion will form five percent of your participation grade.

Response Papers: You are required to write two response papers to the readings. Each paper must deal directly with the lesson readings and the authors' ideas, concepts, and arguments. Your papers must not exceed one page or 300 words.

Research Paper: You are required to compose a one-paragraph research proposal and write a 10-12 page (2,500 words, twelve-point type, times new roman, double-spaced) research paper on a topic of your own choosing. This topic must be directly related to the course. The research proposal should make a convincing case for its relevance and spell out a clear research question. A short bibliography listing key primary and secondary sources must accompany the proposal. If you are in need of ideas or inspiration, please refer to this list of potential topics and sources. For further guidance on how to compose your paper, please see this style guide.

Exams: The course includes a midterm and a final exam. The midterm covers the first half of the course (Lessons 1 through 7) and consists of one essay question. The final exam deals exclusively with the second half of the course (Lessons 8 through 14) and consists of two essay questions. Since you will have plenty of time to complete the essay exams, I will be expecting responses that are polished and well-written. Your response should not exceed three doubled-spaced pages in 12-point, Times New Roman font.

Writing Load: Please realize that this course, because it is taught on-line and is upper-level, involves a heavy amount of writing. Students must be prepared to devote the necessary time to craft papers of high quality that are well-written, clearly organized, and carefully researched. Writing takes time; you simply cannot produce good, clear, coherent prose in a hurry. You need to draft it, revise it, and then revise it more. I expect that students enrolled in this course agree to spend considerable time honing their writing skills. By the end of the semester, students will have written about twenty pages of papers and exams combined.

Submitting Assignments: Please compose your papers and exams with the help of a word processor. Submit all assignments by the due date in two formats: (a) copy and paste your document into the main body of your e-mail message to me and (b) attach it to the same message as a MS Word or .rtf file. Please put your name at the top of all assignments. I will send you an e-mail to acknowledge the receipt of any paper or exam within twenty-four hours. If you do not receive an e-mail from me, assume that I have not received the assignment and resubmit it.

Late Assignments: Try not to wait until the last minute to submit your work. You may encounter technical difficulties, such as a server being down, that will cause you to miss the deadline. I will accept late assignments, but out of fairness to the other students who meet the deadlines, your paper will be graded down by half a letter grade (for example from an 85 to an 80) for every twenty-four-hour period for which it is late. Computer failure or limited access to a computer are not legitimate excuses for late assignments.

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Grading

Your final grade will be determined as follows:

• Midterm Exam: 15 percent
• Response Papers: 5 percent
• Discussion Forum Participation: 30 percent
• Research Paper: 30 percent
• Final Exam: 20 percent

UNC's Honor Code applies to all of your work in HIST 262. You are responsible for being familiar with the Honor Code. Any form of plagiarism is prohibited. Unfortunately, with the advent of the Internet, there is more confusion than ever about what constitutes plagiarism. This handout, from UNC's Writing Center, explains clearly and concisely how to avoid plagiarism. The most depressing duty a professor must carry out is the filing of charges with the Honor Court—yet this happens every semester, and it is far more distressing for the student who has ruined his/her academic career and has “Honor Code violation” on their transcripts. So read these materials closely and help UNC maintain its high standards.

In evaluating your response papers, I will take the following points into consideration:

• response to one or more of the discussion questions
• clear analytical focus (while not requiring a fully developed argument and essay as in the exams or research paper)
• specific example(s) from the assigned texts (including references) to further demonstrate that you read and engaged with the material.

I will grade your exam essay and paper by six main criteria:

• overall quality of writing: Is the paper well-written and clearly organized? Does the prose flow smoothly? Is the paper free of grammatical and spelling errors? Do all of the paragraphs of the paper come together to form a cohesive whole?
• clear thesis statement in the introduction that captures your answer to the exam or your research question in a nutshell. Do not just rephrase the question without answering it! This handout from the UNC Writing center regarding Thesis Statements will help you immensely.
• good information on the historical context. In a paper on Dachau, for example, do not just identify it as a Nazi concentration camp, but also include some statements on the concentration camp system and its significance for the Nazi regime and the Holocaust.
• coherent and lucid arguments in the main body of your essay. This is especially important in the research paper! If you use any ideas from other scholars in your paper, you must give them credit and cite them.
• specific examples and evidence from your research and our readings that supports your arguments and answer to the exam or research question. In your research paper, do not forget to fully cite your references by using footnotes or parentheses such as (Bergen, p. 101). Consistently use one of the standard citation methods. If you are unclear about how to cite, please consult a style manual such as Kate L. Turabian, ed., A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 6th edition (1996) or the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition (2003). There is no need to give page numbers in your exam essay.
• strong writing skills are essential for success in this course, as they are in life, regardless of your eventual career. We are fortunate at Carolina to have not only a great basketball program, but a wonderful resource called the Writing Center. Any student can make an appointment at the center, and a qualified person will review a writing sample and offer tips on how to strengthen grammatical skills, style, vocabulary and word choice, syntax, and so on. From my experience, virtually everyone, including graduate students and professors, could benefit from this service. The Writing Center's Web page also includes numerous handouts that are extremely useful. Please visit their Web site and consider dropping by.

Your research proposal and response papers will be graded based on the following scale:

• check plus (100 percent)
• check (80 percent)
• check minus (60 percent)
• 0 (0 percent).

Your evaluated exams and research paper will display both a numerical and letter grade.

Grade Conversion Scale:

Asking about a Grade: I will grade all assignments in accordance with the stated criteria. However, if you think that a particular grade does not accurately reflect the quality of your work, contact me. After you have carefully reread my comments on your assignment, the grading criteria, and the assignment itself, please clearly state your concerns. Note that I will re-evaluate your assignment from scratch; that is, your grade might go up, but it can also go down.

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Recommendations for Success

Time Commitment: Individual work styles and reading habits are often very different. Even if you are a fast reader and writer, you should plan to devote at least nine hours a week to this class. Taking notes on your readings will help you with exams, discussion forum contributions, and papers, and will also add to your work time. Also, do not underestimate the extra time it takes to reread and revise your papers before submitting them.

Back-up: Since we do not meet in a classroom, the computer is our key tool for communication and exchange. Please make sure that you regularly back up your papers and exams and always have access to a back-up computer in case of technical problems with your primary unit.

Viruses: Given the frequent problems with computer viruses, please keep your anti-virus software up-to-date and run a virus check once a week!

Help with Assignments: I am happy to answer all your inquiries concerning assignments and requirements. If you ask me to, I will also go over your rough drafts of your research paper. In addition, I highly recommend visiting the UNC Writing Center's Web site for online expert help on all aspects of composing, writing, and revising your paper.

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Course Mechanics

Blackboard

Some of your class components (discussion forums and exams) are accessed through a software package called Blackboard, and you will need to login to Blackboard using a unique identifier known as your UNC Onyen (Only Name You'll Ever Need) and Onyen password.

If you do not already have a UNC Onyen, go to the Onyen Web site and follow the instructions for creating an Onyen. If you have an Onyen but have forgotten it (or the password), you will find help on the Onyen Web site.

Use your Onyen to login to Blackboard, then click on the "HIST 262 CCO" link. You will see navigation buttons on the left taking you to the Discussion Forums, Gradebook, and so on.

If you experience problems accessing Blackboard, this is what you should do:

• If you do not already have a UNC Onyen, go to the Onyen Web site and follow the instructions for creating an Onyen.
• If you have an Onyen but have forgotten it (or the password), you will find help on go to the Onyen Web site.
• If you have your Onyen but can't log in to Blackboard, contact Janice Durham at the Friday Center.
• If you can log in to Blackboard but can't find this course listed, contact Janice Durham at the Friday Center.
• If you can't locate an exam or discussion forum in Blackboard, contact the Instructional Designer.
• If you have other technical problems while using Blackboard, contact Blackboard Help (use the Help button in Blackboard, or call 919-962-HELP).

Library Services and E-reserves

Students enrolled in Carolina Courses Online can access online library resources from the UNC Library System by linking to Library Services for Distance Education Students. This site includes information on using general online reference works as well as accessing e-reserves. If you are using an off-campus computer, you will need to consult this page for instructions on how to access the resources. The UNC library staff is available to assist any students who have difficulties accessing online library resources.

E-mail and E-mail Etiquette

All communication from your instructor will go to your UNC Onyen e-mail address (the one that appears when you post to the discussion forum). Off-campus users can access their UNC e-mail using Webmail. You can have your e-mail forwarded to a different e-mail address by clicking “Forward e-mail” at the Onyen Web site.

E-mail is an efficient, reliable, and useful form of communication, but it is also a highly impersonal way of getting in touch with someone. For professional correspondences, it is important that you personalize an e-mail message as much as you can in order for it to come across as polite, courteous, and professional. One of the best ways is to make sure that you address an e-mail like you would a normal letter; use “Dear Prof. Meng,” or “Hello Prof. Meng,” before you begin the rest of your e-mail. End it by saying “Thanks, Steven” or “Best regards, Mary.” These little touches, so easy to do but so often forgotten in the rush to press send, go a long way to making your e-mails much more pleasant, personal, and courteous.

If you use a filter on your e-mail account, you are responsible for ensuring that it does not prevent you from receiving messages from me, the course listserv, or Friday Center staff. Hotmail users should be aware that Hotmail will block messages sent from within Blackboard because Blackboard uses “blind carbon copy” to protect privacy. We recommend that you use your UNC Onyen e-mail account rather than forwarding to Hotmail for this course.

Submitting Assignments

It is extremely important for you to save copies of any work you send to me via e-mail. If I don't receive your work, you must have a duplicate copy, indicating the date sent, to prove that you submitted the assignment on time. It is your responsibility to maintain copies of your sent e-mails, as there is no way to guarantee that any e-mail message will be delivered.

Please check your e-mail software to see how it manages sent and saved messages. Some software automatically deletes messages one month after they have been sent; others only save messages if they are filed in folders; others save messages received but not those sent. You may need to send yourself a copy of your e-mailed assignment at the same time you send it to your instructor, or you may need to print a copy of the e-mail message and any attachments to keep in your paper files. No matter how your system works, make sure you know how to save a copy of all work that you submit to your instructor and that you save the copy for several months beyond the end of the course.

Other Questions

Feel free to send me an e-mail with any questions, feedback, or ideas related to the course. Except for rare occasions, I will respond within twenty-four hours. Please include "History 262 " and your name in the subject line.

If a question is of interest to the entire class, I will send a general answer to the entire list. I will also make regular use of the class listserv to e-mail you updates, reminders, and additional material of interest for your successful completion of the class.

Contact the Instructional Designer at the Friday Center about problems with this Web site, including bad links.

If you have any questions about enrollment, Onyen, credits, withdrawal, and so on, contact the Student Services staff at the Friday Center for Continuing Education (phone 919-962-1134 or 800-862-5669).

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Course Schedule

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Lesson 1

Course Author: Thomas Pegelow, Ph.D.

Course Instructor: Michael Meng

© University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Last updated: January 22, 2008
Send comments and questions to fridaycenter@unc.edu