HIST 2375 - War, Genocide & the Holocaust

Credit Hours: 4.00

Prerequisites: None

(formerly HIST 2913)

The purpose of this course is to better understand the origins, development, conduct, and legacy of the Holocaust and other genocides that have occurred in the 20th century. It explores the historical, religious, political, cultural, and ideological roots of the systematic and state-sponsored mass murder by the Nazi’s of millions of Jews, Gypsies, the physically and mentally disabled, homosexuals, political and religious dissidents and the Slavic peoples of Poland and Russia who were portrayed in Nazi propaganda as racially inferior. Although the Holocaust seems far removed from our contemporary experience, it is a defining moment in world history and the archetype of more recent genocides.

Contact Hours: 4
Billable Contact Hours: 4

OUTCOMES AND OBJECTIVES
Outcome 1: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to identify the major political, social, economic, cultural, and intellectual developments that contributed to the causes for the Holocaust.

Objectives:

Identify the origins and development of anti-Semitism and “scientific racism”.
Analyze the causes for the rise and broad acceptance of fascism in Nazi Germany
Explain how racism became institutionalized in Nazi Germany.

Outcome 2: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to analyze critically why those major political, social, economic, cultural, and intellectual developments contributed to the Holocaust.

Objectives:

Evaluate the motivations of the perpetrators of the Holocaust.
Identify the psychological and cultural roots of prejudice, racism and hatred in Nazi Germany.
Analyze what enabled individuals collectively and individually to perpetrate mass murder.
Explain why some showed altruism through resistance and others were passive bystanders.
Explain how the use of mass propaganda by the Nazis to influence the German public.

Outcome 3: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to explain the political, social, economic, cultural, and intellectual impact of the Holocaust and the “lessons” that have been drawn by policymakers, politicians, journalists, novelists, commentators, academics, political interest groups, filmmakers, and citizens about the Holocaust.

Objectives:

Evaluate how the world did or didn’t respond to the Holocaust.
Examine the moral, ethical and legal implications of the Holocaust.
Explain the impact of the Holocaust on collective memory as expressed in literature and film.
Analyze the significance and the importance of the Holocaust for our contemporary world.

COMMON DEGREE OUTCOMES
(Bulleted outcomes apply to the course)

1. The graduate can integrate the knowledge and technological skills necessary to be a successful learner.

2. The graduate can demonstrate how to think competently.

The graduate can demonstrate how to employ mathematical knowledge.

4. The graduate can demonstrate how to communicate competently.

5. The graduate is sensitive to issues relating to a diverse, global society.

COURSE CONTENT OUTLINE

Anti-Judaism in Europe before 1800
Anti-Semitism and “Scientific Racism” in Europe in the 1800s and early 1900s
War and Technology in the 20th century: The Emergence of Total War
Genocide in History, 1492-1914
World War I and the Armenian Genocide
Anti-Semitism in the Weimar Republic
The Rise of Fascism and Nazi Germany, 1919-1933
Racial persecution in Nazi Germany, 1933-1939
Nazi Persecution of the Jews in Germany, 1939-1941
Mass Executions of Jews in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, 1941
Genesis of the European-wide “Final Solution”, 1941
The Extermination of European Jews, 1942-1945
International Justice and the Holocaust: The Nuremberg Trials, 1945-1949
Outlawing Genocide: The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
Genocide in the Era of Ethnic Cleansing, 1990 - Present

Primary Faculty
Meyrowitz, Elliott
Secondary Faculty

Associate Dean
Williams-Chehmani, Angie
Dean
Pritchett, Marie

Official Course Syllabus - Macomb Community College, 14500 E 12 Mile Road, Warren, MI 48088