Hist 97, Sec



HIST 1272, Spring 2013

Consent and Coercion:

The History of Nazi Germany

Meeting Time/Place: T&Th, 11- 12 am, Sever Hall 102

Instructor: Dr. Julia Timpe

Email: timpe@fas.harvard.edu, Phone: 617-495-4303 ext. 222

Office Hours: M/Th, 1.30-2.30pm @ CES, Room 411 (27 Kirkland)

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COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This lecture course explores the history of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. In the first part of the semester, we will discuss developments within the Third Reich before the Second World War, with a special emphasis on its social history and the conditions of everyday life under the Nazi dictatorship. The second part of the course will look at Nazi Germany during the war, particularly at the atrocities committed in the Holocaust. Overall, the course is concerned with practices of consent and coercion in the Nazi state and society, in both the peace and the war periods; in this regard, we will deal with perpetrators, supporters, beneficiaries and victims of the Nazi state and its crimes, and will explore the lives of youth, women, German workers and of those considered outsiders by the regime.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES:

This course aims to familiarize students with the complex historiography of Nazi Germany and introduce them to its major debates and trends. In addition, this course aims to teach students how to critically engage with this scholarly literature as well as how to craft well-supported arguments based on analyses of primary sources. Students will leave this class with a firm understanding of the political, social and cultural history of Nazi Germany and will be able to explain the regime’s reliance on the entangled practices that fostered consent and coercion. Upon completion of this course, students should be able to analyze historical documents and connect them to varied interpretations given by scholars on Nazi Germany. In their writing, students should demonstrate their ability to craft clear arguments based on the critical reading of primary and secondary sources.

Course Requirements and Grading:

Class Participation: 10%

Midterm: 20%

Primary Source Paper: 12.5% each

Book Review: 15%

Final Exam 30%

Readings, Discussions, Class Participation:

Students are expected to attend all lectures and sections and to complete the readings. Attendance in lectures and sections is mandatory and will be monitored. Furthermore, active participation in group assignments during class time and in section is an essential part of the course. Participation is worth 10% of each student’s final grade.

Written Assignments

[All page numbers refer to texts that are double-spaced, standard margins, 12-point font.]

Midterm

The Midterm will be on the material previously assigned and discussed in the course and will deal with historical dates, terms and persons discussed in these readings.

The goal of this midterm is to assess whether students are being provided with a firm understanding of the history of Nazi Germany as stated in the course’s objectives.

Primary Source Response paper

Twice during the semester, students will choose one primary source from those assigned in class and write a reading response paper (three to five pages) that critically engages with the source and highlights its problems and possibilities concerning the study of Nazi Germany. This paper is due on the day the source will be discussed in class. Students must have handed in their first primary source paper by week 7 (i.e before Spring Break.) Each primary source response paper is worth 10% of the student’s final grade.

The goal of this assignment is to develop and assess students’ ability to critically analyze historical primary sources. Students are asked to wait to begin their second paper until they have received feedback on their first response paper; this enables them to respond to any general recommendations for and critiques of their first paper.

c.) Book review paper

Students will select one text to review (from those marked with * in the list of readings). The review paper will be three to five pages long. Students should include a brief summary and, most importantly, a critique of the book’s content and argument. The review paper is due on April 30th (week 14), and is worth 15% of the student’s final grade.

The goal of this assignment is to develop and assess students’ ability to critically engage with scholarly literature or movies on Nazi Germany. Together with the primary response paper, this assignment will prepare students methodologically for the writing of a research paper.

Final Exam

This three-hour final will be based on the readings and other material previously assigned and discussed in the course and will deal with historical dates, terms and persons discussed in these readings. In addition, there will be a choice of essay questions that deal with the history and historiography of Nazi Germany.

The goal of this final exam is to assess whether students have been provided with a firm understanding of the history of Nazi Germany as stated in the course’s objectives. In addition, the exam aims to develop and assess students’ abilities to critically engage with topics about Nazi Germany, based on an analysis and critique of primary and secondary literature, and to discuss their findings in an argumentative manner.

Assigned Books [recommended for purchase/ on reserve in Lamont Library]:

*Götz Aly, Hitler’s Beneficiaries: Plunder, Racial War, and the Nazi Welfare State*

Jane Caplan, Nazi Germany

*Christopher Browning, Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland*

Doris Bergen, War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust

Mary Fulbrook, A History of German, 1918- 2008: The Divided Nation

*Claudia Koonz, The Nazi Conscience*

*Robert Gellately, Backing Hitler: Consent and Coercion in Nazi Germany*

Neil Gregor, ed., Nazism

Roderick Stackelberg/ Sally Anne Winkle, eds., The Nazi Germany Sourcebook: An Anthology of Texts

[in the following referred to as SB]

Further primary and secondary sources can be found on iSites.

Some Important General Policies

Academic Integrity:

Students in this course must adhere to the standards of academic integrity set forth by Harvard University. All of the written work submitted must be the student's own work and must contain citations of the sources consulted. Suspected violations of academic integrity will be referred to the appropriate Administrative Board for arbitration.

Policy on Collaboration:

Discussion and the exchange of ideas are essential to academic work. For assignments in this course, you are encouraged to consult with your classmates on the choice of paper topics and to share sources. You may find it useful to discuss your chosen topic with your peers, particularly if you are working on the same topic as a classmate. However, you should ensure that any written work you submit for evaluation is the result of your own research and writing and that it reflects your own approach to the topic. You must also adhere to standard citation practices in this discipline and properly cite any books, articles, websites, lectures, etc. that have helped you with your work. If you received any help with your writing (feedback on drafts, etc), you must also acknowledge this assistance.

LECTURE AND ASSIGNED READING SCHEDULE

Week #1 INTRODUCTION

Required Reading:

Fulbrook, 1-36.

Gregor, 59-80

Primary Source #1:

#1A Nazi Party Program (SB, 64f.)

Jan. 29: Introduction: Consent and Coercion in Nazi Germany

Jan. 31 “Prologue”: World War One and the Weimar Republic

Week #2 THE NAZI RISE POWER

Required Reading:

Caplan, 26-72.

Fulbrook, 36-55.

Gregor, 81-118.

Koonz, 17-45.

Primary Sources #2:

#2A Excerpts from Goebbels’ Diary (SB, 119f.)

#2B Hitler Speech from January 1933 (Handout)

#2C “Why I became a Nazi” (Handout)

Feb. 5: The End of Weimar and Hitler’s Coming to Power

Feb. 7 : The Nazi Party’s Ideology and Base of Support

Week #3 GLEICHSCHALTUNG/ SYNCHRONIZATION

Required Reading:

Fulbrook, 56-80.

Gellately, 9-33.

Gregor, 253-255.

Koonz, 69-102.

Primary Sources #3:

#3A Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of the People and State (SB, 133f.)

#3B Erich Ebermayer on “Day of Potsdam” (SB, 140f.)

#3C The Enabling Act (SB, 141f.)

Feb. 12: Consolidation of Power

Feb. 14: Synchronizing the Reich

Week #4 HITLER’S STATE

Required Reading:

Caplan, 73-98.

Gregor, 125-128, 158-165, 186-210, 216-219.

Ian Kershaw, Hitler Myth (ch. 3; PdF on iSites)

Detlev Peukert, “The Führer myth and consent in everyday life” (PdF on iSites)

Primary Sources #4:

#4A William L. Shirer, Berlin Diary (SB, 177f.)

#4B Joseph Goebbels, “The Führer is very happy” (Handout)

#4C Adolf Hitler, “The best type of Democracy (Handout)

Feb. 19: “Working towards the Führer”

Feb. 21: Hitler Myth/ Nazi Propaganda (Screening of clips from movie “Triumph of Will”)

Week #5 NAZI POLITICS ON YOUTH, WOMEN, AND THE FAMILY

Required Reading:

Caplan, 99-107.

Gregor, Nazism, 255-258; 302-305.

Koonz, 131-161.

Adelheid von Saldern, “Victims or Perpetrators? Controversies about the Role of Women in the Nazi State” (PdF on iSites)

Primary Sources # 7:

#5A Adolf Hitler, Speech to the National Socialist Women’s Organization (SB, 182 f.)

#5B Emilie Müller-Zadow, “Mothers who give us the future,” (SB, 184f.)

#5C Documents on “Selective Breeding” (SB, 200-202)

#5D Excerpts from Alison Owings's book Frauen:German Women Recall the

Third Reich (GHDI, link on iSites)

#5E: Guidelines on Teaching History (GHDI, link on iSites)

#5F: Sources on Education in Nazi Germany (Handout

#5G: SD Report on the Attitude of Young People towards the Nazi Party,

August 12, 1943 (GHDI, link on iSites)

Feb.26 Being Young in the Third Reich

Feb. 28 Mothers in the Fatherland

Week #6 THE RACIAL STATE

Required Reading:

Bergen, 73-75, 86-99.

Koonz, 221-252.

Gellately, 34-69, 121-141.

Primary Sources #6:

#6A Victor Klemperer, I will Bear Witness: A Diary of the Nazi Years, 1933-

1941 [excerpts] (PdF on iSites)

#6B Documents on Nuremberg Laws (SB, 187-190.)

#6C Documents on 1938 November Pogrom (SB, 222-229.)

Mar. 5: Pre-War Persecution of German Jews

Mar. 7: “Purifying” the Volkskörper

Week #7 WORK AND LEISURE IN THE THIRD REICH [and midterm!]

Required Reading:

Gregor, 219- 232, 273-275, 282 -291.

Timothy Mason, “The Workers’ Opposition in Nazi Germany,” History Workshop 11 (1981): 120-37. (on Jstor/ link on iSites)

Alf Lüdtke, “The Appeal of Exterminating ‘Others’: German Workers and the Limits of Resistance,” The Journal of Modern History 64 (December 1, 1992): 46-67. (on Jstor/ link on iSites)

David Welch, “Nazi Propaganda and the Volksgemeinschaft: Constructing a

People’s Community,” Journal of Contemporary History 39, no. 2 (April 2004): 213-238. (on Jstor/ link on iSites)

Primary Sources #7:

#7A: Sopade Report on the Mood among Workers , September 1938 (GHDI, link on iSites)

#7B: Newspaper article on “Strength through Joy” (iSites)

#7C: Paul Stemmer, “The Organization of Leisure Time of German Workers through the National-Socialist Fellowship Kraft durch Freude”(iSites)

Mar. 12: Nazi Politics on Workers and the Nazi Leisure Organization “Strength through Joy”

⎝ LAST DATE TO TURN IN FIRST PRIMARY RESPONSE PAPER!

Mar. 14: MIDTERM!

Week #8 SPRING RECESS – NO CLASS

Week # 9 ROAD TO WAR

Required Reading:

Caplan, 168-218.

Bergen, 81-86; 99-130.

Primary Sources #9:

#9A Documents on “The Road to War, 1936-1939” (SB 191-193, 213-221, 231- 235, 246-248.)

Mar. 26: Foreign Policy 1933-1939

Mar. 28: The Hitler-Stalin Pact and the Invasion of Poland

Week #10 WORLD WAR II AND THE “FINAL SOLUTION”

Required Reading:

Bergen, 131-174.

Aly, Hitler’s Beneficiaries, 76-179.

Omer Bartov, “Operation Barbarossa and the Origins of the Final Solution”(PdF on iSites)

Primary Sources #10:

#10A Directive for Operation Barbarossa, 18 December 1940 (SB, 274f)

#10B The Commissar Decree (SB, 277ff.)

#10C Affidavit of SS Gruppenführer Ohlendorf (SB, 342)

#10D Nazi melodies and songs to boost morale (Handout)

#10E Minutes of the Wannsee Conference (SB, 346 ff.)

Apr. 2: The German Occupation of Europe

Apr. 4: Operation Barbarossa / Plans and Decision for a “Final Solution”

Week #11 THE HOLOCAUST: VICTIMS AND PERPRETATORS

Required Reading:

Bergen, 174-195.

Browning, Ordinary Men.

Primary Sources #11:

#11A Himmler Speech at Posen (SB, 369f.)

#11B Testimony of Rudolf Höss (SB, 371f.)

#11C Lucie Begov, “A Ghost Emerges...” (SB 375f.)

#11D Excerpts from Herman Kruk, The Second Winter (PdF on iSites)

#11E Excerpt from Night by Elie Wiesel (PdF on iSites)

Apr. 9: Life and Death in Nazi Ghettos and Concentration Camps

Apr. 11: The Perpetrators of the Holocaust

Week #12 HOMEFRONT

Required Reading:

Koonz, 253-274.

Gellately, 141-224.

Gregor, 310-314

Primary Sources #12:

#12A Goebbels' speech in the Berlin Sportpalast (SB, 299f.)

#12B “The Women's Front and the Woman in the Party” (SB, 308ff.)

Apr. 16: Forced Labor

Apr. 18: “Total War”

Week #13 RESISTANCE/DOWNFALL

Required Reading:

Bergen, 193-228.

Gregor, 238-252.

Gellately, 225-255.

Hans Mommsen, “German Society and the Resistance against Hitler” (PdF on Isites)

Primary Sources #13:

#13A Student resistance: students of the White Rose (SB, 303-307)

#13B Sources on Military Resistance (SB, 311-313.9)

#13C Hitler's Testament (SB 318f.)

Apr..23: Opposing Hitler

⎝ LAST DATE TO TURN IN SECOND PRIMARY RESPONSE PAPER!

Apr. 25: Breakdown of the Third Reich

Week #14 CONCLUSION

Required Reading:

Caplan, 246-266.

Gregor, 334 -352.

Primary Sources #14:

#14A Sources on the aftermath on Hitler and the Historians' Debate (SB,386-390; 401-410, 414-424)

⎝ BOOK REVIEW DUE!

Apr. 30 Coming to Terms

FINAL EXAM SCHEDULED FOR FRIDAY, MAY 17 (PLACE/TIME TBA)

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