HST 322: Final Solution and Genocide

Examines the deliberate, systematic and mechanized murder of six million Jews of Europe by Nazi Germany during World War II. The course will consider the history of anti-Semitism, the rise of the Nazis, anti-Jewish legislation like the Nuremberg Laws, efforts of Jews to adapt or flee, and the crisis of the Night of the Broken Glass. After 1939, we will look at the implementation of the Holocaust, the German plan to eliminate all the Jews of Europe. In addition, we will evaluate the perpetrators, victims, and bystanders. Students will look at other examples of genocide in the 20th Century, like the Turkish murder of Armenians, the German killings of the Herero and Nama in Southwest Africa, the Soviet Man-Made Famine in Ukraine, and the Genocides in Cambodia, Bosnia, Iraq, Rwanda, and Sudan. Discussing the Holocaust is a challenge to students. In this course students, will examine their values systems as applied to an effort to understand the Nazi Holocaust as well as other examples of genocide and ethnic cleansing in the 20th Century.

Students who complete this course, may not also take HIS 234 for credit due to content overlap.