This course will run parallel to the undergraduate course (182) on Nazi Germany. Like the undergraduates, graduate students will study the rise and decline of Hitler's Third Reich, concentrating especially on the historiographical debates concerning Nazism which have raged over the last 30 years. Readings will focus on the origins of radical nationalism in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, the strengths and weaknesses of the Weimar state, the rise of Hitler and National Socialism, the Nazi state, the origins of the Holocaust, and the Second World War. Graduate students will be encouraged to attend the undergraduate lectures to help them focus their readings, and will be required to write précis and a review essay on a subject of their own choosing.

 
 

Week 1  9/4	Introduction No Reading
Week 2 9/11	The German Problem Spielvogel, Jackson, Hitler and Nazi Germany, Ch. 1 Kershaw, Ian, The Nazi Dictatorship, Ch 1 Eley, Geoff, The Peculiarities of German History. Other reading: Dahrendorff, Ralf, Society and Democracy in Germany. Wehler, Hans-Ulrich, The German Empire Evans, Richard (ed.), Society and Politics in Wilhelmine Germany, 1978.
Week 3 9/18	"Intellectual" Origins of Nazism George Mosse, The Crisis of German Ideology Other reading: Stern, Fritz, The Politics of Cultural Despair Hitler, Adolf, Mein Kampf, Ch 11, "Nation and Race," p.284-329 Goebbels, Joseph, My Part in Germany’s Fight, NY, 1979.
Week 4 9/25	Electoral Politics in Weimar Spielvogel, Jackson, Hitler and Nazi Germany, Ch. 2 Childers, The Nazi Voter Other reading: Richard Hamilton, Who Voted for Hitler?
Week 5 10/2	Problems of Weimar Democracy  Spielvogel, Jackson, Hitler and Nazi Germany, Ch. 3 Peukert, The Weimar Republic Other reading: Herf, Jeffrey, Reactionary Modernism Kolb, Eberhard, The Weimar Republic Jones, Larry E., Liberalism and the Dissolution of Weimar
Week 6 10/9	Appeal of National Socialism Abel, Why Hitler Came into Power Other reading: Mayer, Arno, They Thought They Were Free Allen, William S., The Nazi Seizure of Power
Week 7 10/16	Nature of the National Socialist State Spielvogel, Jackson, Hitler and Nazi Germany, Ch. 4 Arendt, Hannah, Totalitarianism  Kershaw, Ian, The Nazi Dictatorship, Ch on 2 (Fascism) Other reading: Broszat, Martin, The Hitler State Hughes and Kolinski, "’Paradigmatic Fascism’ and modernization: A Critique," in Political Studies, 24:4, pp. 371-396
Week 8 10/23	The Role of Adolf Hitler Spielvogel, Jackson, Hitler and Nazi Germany, Ch. 5 Kershaw, Hitler Myth Kershaw, Ian, The Nazi Dictatorship, Ch 4. Other reading: Jäckel, Eberhard, Hitler’s World View Fest, Joachim, Hitler: A Biography
Week 9 10/30	Dissent, Control, and Everyday Life Spielvogel, Jackson, Hitler and Nazi Germany, Ch. 6 Peukert, Detlev, Inside Nazi Germany Other reading: Kershaw, Popular Opinion and Political Dissent Mason, Timothy, Social Policy in the Third Reich Bridenthal, Grossman, Kaplan, When Biology Became Destiny Kele, Max, Nazis and Workers: 1919-1933, 1972.
Week 10 11/6	Nazi Foreign Policy Spielvogel, Jackson, Hitler and Nazi Germany, Ch. 7 Kershaw, Ian, The Nazi Dictatorship, Ch on 6 Weinberg, The Foreign Policy of Hitler’s Germany: Diplomatic Revolution in Europe, 1933-36, Chicago, 1970. Other reading: Weinberg, Gerhard, The Foreign Policy of Hitler’s Germany: Starting World War II, 1937-1939, Chicago, 1980. Jaeckel, Eberhard, Hitler's World View, Ch 2 "The Outlines of Foreign Policy," p. 26-46
Week 11 11/13	War Spielvogel, Jackson, Hitler and Nazi Germany, Ch 8 Bartov, Hitler’s Army Other reading: Messerschmidt, Manfred, Die Wehrmacht im NS-Zeit
Week 12 11/20	Holocaust Spielvogel, Jackson, Hitler and Nazi Germany, Ch. 9. Kershaw, Ian, The Nazi Dictatorship, Chapters 5 and 9 Browning, Ordinary Men Other reading: Goldhagen, Daniel, Hitler’s Willing Executioners  Fleming, Gerald, Hitler and the Final Solution, 1984. Friedländer, Saul, "From Anti-Semitism to Extermination," in F. Furet (ed.), Unanswered Questions, 1989. Lucy Davidowicz, The War Against the Jews
Week 13 11/25	History and the Third Reich on Film We meet TUESDAY this week! (Thanksgiving Break adjustment) Film: I will take suggestions regarding the best film to show this week.
Week 14 12/4	Conclusions Kershaw, Ian, The Nazi Dictatorship, Chapter 10 We’ll have the opportunity to recap the semester and discuss the film from Week 13 (as well as any others you want to bring up) Précis folders are due in class today.

 

READING:

Texts (Purchase required)

Ian Kershaw, The Nazi Dictatorship, Arnold/St. Martin,

Jackson Spielvogel, Hitler and Nazi Germany: A History, Prentice Hall, 1988.

Other Reading (Reading required, purchase recommended)

ASSIGNMENTS:

1. Discussion: As a graduate-level readings course, class discussions will be the focus throughout the semester. Coming to class prepared and participating actively in discussions is essential if you want a satisfactory grade.
1. Précis: For each book you read (excluding the two textbooks) you must complete a one-page précis outlining the following five elements of the work: Thesis, Method, Sources, Strengths, and Weaknesses. I will explain a bit more about this in class. Restrict yourself to one page and one page only. You can fool with fonts and margins as much as you would like, however. You will turn the 11 précis in to me all at once on the last day of class (12/4), however, to make sure you are all on the right track, you must also turn in précis on weeks one and two. After that, assuming the first two are satisfactory, you can just assemble them in a folder to hand in at the end of the semester.
1. Review Essay: The final assignment for the course will be to write a 5-7 page review essay on a single theme that you were able to trace throughout the course. This assignment tests your ability to concisely and insightfully identify a major issue within a given historiography and then discuss the ways in which important authors have addressed that issue. It is not quite as involved as an historiographical essay, which would require you to develop a more original thesis of your own. No extra reading is required, though of course you are welcome to incorporate other works. These essays will be due on Tuesday, December 9 at noon in my mailbox in Gladfelter Hall

GRADING:

Grading will be based on the following percentages:

Discussion: 50%

Précis: 20%

Review Essay: 30%

You’ll find that what that means, however, is that reading the books is two-thirds of your grade, since the précis will write themselves and your contributions to discussion will invariably be more thoughtful as a result. So the most important thing you can do for this course is keep up with the reading!