German 260

 

Literature and Film on the Holocaust

 

German 260/History 229/JS 245

 

Spring 2004

 

Course goals:

·        to deepen our understanding of the historical and political context and the events that led to the Holocaust,

·        to reflect upon the processes of remembering and commemorating, forgetting and forgiving,

·        to approach the study of the Holocaust through scholarly works, and the narratives of victims and survivors, authors, filmmakers and artists,

·        to analyze literary works and films

·        to think about the legacy of the Holocaust

 

Format:

Classes meet twice a week; film screenings are scheduled outside the regular class time on Wednesday nights (7-9 pm) in Hoffberger 131.

Note: Part of the weekly assignments will be the analysis and discussion of a film. I would highly recommend that you take advantage of the scheduled screening time. We will discuss the films in class on Thursdays.

We will have occasional guest speakers in our classes and required evening events that will further contribute to our study of the Holocaust.

 

Please check my weekly postings for this course (reading questions, discussion topics, screening schedule, and new announcements) in Blackboard. You may also post your own questions, etc.

 

Requirements:

·        Regular attendance, punctuality and thorough preparations are crucial for the successful completion of the course. More than 3 absences will negatively affect the final grade.

·        Each student will give a short presentation on a film or a reading in class that will focus on pertinent issues for discussion. The typed preparation (e.g. power point) must be handed in and is part of your grade.

·        Papers have to be handed in on time. No excuses will be accepted. Late submission of assignments will result in a lower grade.

Please type your papers double-spaced and with a 12-point font.

·        Regular quizzes are part of the grade.

·        The mid-term and final will be given in the form of take-home exams/papers..

 

Attendance:

Attendance for this course is crucial for your own progress and the progress of the entire course. We will meet only twice per week and cannot afford any delay in our schedule. If you must miss class for unforeseen and serious reasons, please let me know before class. If you miss more than two classes, 3% will be deducted from your final grade for each additional absence.

 

Homework:

Assignments are due on the scheduled day. If you have to miss class, make sure you inform me before class by email and leave your assignment in my mailbox in Van Meter (not campus mail).

Homework is an integral part of the final grade. Late assignments will be subject to a 5% deduction per day of delay. I will not accept assignments later than 3 weekdays after the scheduled date.

 

Oral presentations:

 Each student will, at one point in the semester, lead a class discussion on a particular film or reading. I ask that you prepare a written version of the presentation and hand it in at the beginning of class. Both the oral presentation and your written preparation will be part of your grade.

 

Request:

Please turn off your mobile phones during classes and screenings.

 

Required Reading:

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

            Lawrence Langer. Admitting the Holocaust.

            Elie Wiesel. Night.

            Primo Levi. Survival in Auschwitz.

            Simon Wiesenthal. The Sunflower.

            Cynthia Ozick. The Shawl.

            Art Spiegelman. Maus.

L. Bretholz. Leap Into Darkness.

Imre Kertesz. Fateless.

 

On Reserve in the Library:

Excerpts from: Ida Fink. A Scrap of Time.

Excerpts from: Sara Nomberg-Przytyk. Auschwitz. True Tales from a Grotesque Land.             Excerpts from: Hanna Arendt. Eichmann in Jerusalem.

            Excerpts from: Images from the Holocaust. A Literature Anthology.

            Excerpts from: Mothers, Sisters, Resisters. (Ed. Brana Gurewitsch).

            Different Voices: Women and the Holocaust. (Ed. Carol Rittner and John Roth).

 

Grading:

            Attendance/Participation                                   25%

            Papers  (6)                                                        30%

            Mid-term                                                          10%

            Final                                                                 15%

            Quizzes                                                            10%

            In-class presentation                                        10%                            

 

NOTE: This is a tentative schedule. Minor changes are quite possible during the semester. The reading assignments will vary, additional material will be provided. You will receive further assignments during the semester.

 

Course Schedule

1/27                             Introduction.

                                    Course goals and expectations.

                                    Assignment for 1/29: Read essay by Adorno and selected poetry by                                                 Hilda Cohen.

 

1/28                             Screening Kinderland

 

1/29                             “We Won: In Memory of Hilda Cohen,” storytelling performance                                                 by Gail Rosen.

Assignment for 2/3: W&G, Ch.1 (p.1-28).

                                   

2/3                               Lecture and discussion: Preconditions to the Holocaust; Europe                                                 at the beginning of the 20th century. (W&G, Ch.1). 

                                    Assignment for 2/5: W&G, Ch. 2.

 

2/4                               Screening Blind Spot: Hitler’s Secretary

 

2/5                               Lecture and discussion: The Rise of the Nazi Party and Adolf                                                                         Hitler (W&G, Ch. 2).

                                    Assignment: Brecht, B.The Private Lives of the Master                                                  Race (The Jewish Wife; The Informer).

 

2/10                             Lecture: Nazi Germany 1933-1938.

                                    Assignment: W&G, Ch. 3.

 

2/11                   7:30 Lecture by Holocaust survivor Eva Gossmann (Buchner Hall)

                                    “Good Beyond Evil: Ordinary People in Extraordinary Times,”                                     based on her like-titled memoir.                       

 

2/12                             Discussion W&G, Ch. 3. Race and Space.

                                    Assignment: W&G, Ch. 4.

 

2/17 and 2/19               Lecture and discussion: The Outbreak of WWII; Ghettoization                                                        of Jews. (W&G, Ch.4).

                                    Assignment: W&G, Ch. 5 (p. 101-117).

                                                            Langer, L. Admitting the Holocaust, p. 31-50.

 

2/18                             Screening Jacob the Liar

 

2/24 and 2/26               Lecture and discussion: Experiments in Brutality 1939-140.

                                    Assignment: W&G, Ch. 5 (p. 118-129).

 

2/25                             Screening Night and Fog

                                   

3/2-3/11                       Lecture and discussion: Widening of WW II and the Expansion                                                 of the Nazi concentration camp system.

                                    Assignment: W&G, Ch. 6.

                                    Langer, L. Admitting the Holocaust. p. 75-107; p. 139-144.

 

3/3                               Screening Shoah (3rd tape)                 

 

                                    Wiesel, E. Night.

                                    Levi, P. Survival in Auschwitz.

                                    Nomberg-Przytyk. Auschwitz. True Tales from a Grotesque Land.

                                    Ozick, C. The Shawl.

 

3/10                             Screening Pawnbroker

 

                                    SPRING BREAK

 

3/23                             Mid-term take home exam due

 

3/23                             Lecture and discussion: Concentration camps and killing                                                       centers.

                                    Assignment: W&G, Ch. 7 (p. 161-193).

 

3/24                             Screening Life is Beautiful

 

3/25                             Lecture and discussion: Gender and the Holocaust.

                                    Assignment: W&G, Ch. 7 (p. 183-185).

                                    Different Voices: Women and the Holocaust.

 

3/30-4/1                       Lecture and discussion: The Resistance.

                                    Assignment: W&G, Ch. 7 (p.193-203).

                                    Images from the Holocaust. A Literature Anthology. Ch. 6

 

3/31                             Screening White Rose

 

4/6-4/8                         Lecture and discussion: Victims and Bystanders.

Literature: Fink, I. Scrap of Time.

 

4/7                               Screening Shop on Main Street

 

4/13                             Lecture and discussion: Surviving in Hiding, and Passing; Hidden Jews             and their Rescuers.

                                    Literature: Fink, I. A Scrap of Time.

 

4/14                             Screening Au Revoir, les enfants

 

4/15                             Lecture and discussion: Collapse and Liberation.

                                    Assignment: W&G, Ch. 8.

 

4/20                             Guest speaker: Leo Bretholz (author and Holocaust survivor from                                                 Vienna/Austria).

                                    Reading: Leo Bretholz. Leap into Darkness.

 

4/21                             Screening Wannsee Conference

 

4/22                             Lecture and Discussion: The Perpetrators

                                    Wiesenthal, S. The Sunflower.

                                    Arendt, H. Eichmann in Jerusalem.

                                    Langer, L. Admitting the Holocaust, p. 65-73.

 

4/27-5/4                       Contemporary responses to the Holocaust

                                    Spiegelman, Art. Maus. Part 1.

                                    Langer, L. Admitting the Holocaust, p. 157-184.

                                   

                                    Storytelling performance by students from Oral History course.

                                               

4/28                             Screening One Day Crossing

 

5/6                               Conclusion: The Legacy of the Holocaust

                                    Final papers due last day of classes

           

 

A word about plagiarism:

 

Please refer to the student handbook or ask me if you have any questions regarding this issue. The common understanding of plagiarism can briefly be described as the use of somebody else’s ideas, words, and images without proper documentation, citation and listing of sources. This is particularly important when using the Internet. There will be serious consequences for any incidents of plagiarism.

           

A word of caution:

 

Be very careful when using the Internet. Many non-scholarly sources, Holocaust deniers, historical revisionists, etc. have swamped the Internet with their websites. We will address this issue in class.

 

 

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-Copyright 2004, Uta Larkey-