Understanding the Holocaust leads to understanding hate. Studying the rise of the Nazis and their extermination of the Jews and other social undesirables is an exploration into how ordinary people can, through mass persuasion and social structural constraints, be led into committing genocide, the ultimate horror in human behavior.

This course is underwritten by the San Francisco Jewish Federation Endowment Fund and the Holocaust Education Foundation.
 

Course Description:

Through lessons sent out over the net, readings, email discussions, visiting www sites (including the archives at Virtual Jerusalem , Shamash, the Cybrary of the Holocaust -one of our past students work- the US Holocaust Museum, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and other web sources), and video, we will explore the roles of the perpetrators, victims, bystanders and rescuers during this horrific period in the 20th century. Special emphasis will be placed on:

• the Nazi rise to power
• how the Nazis came to exterminate many peoples, including the bulk of the Jewish population of Europe
• world wide complicity in that extermination
• resistance and rescue
• Jewish cultural responses to the Nazis in the form of poetry, drama, diaries, journalism, religious expression and scientific inquiry
• the aftermath of the war including the war crimes trials, the UN Genocide Convention, and the creation of the State of Israel
• a host of other topics

We will see the extreme results of inter-ethnic and inter-cultural conflict represented in the course. This case study of genocide also provides examples of the use of modern technology without moral or ethical bounds. We will be forced to closely examine our own moral understandings in light of the realities of genocide in the 20th century. Our understanding of genocide leads us to an appreciation of the necessity for maintaining tolerance of cultural diversity and a refusal to let hate-based policies of small groups become the policy of a nation. It is crucial that, through the examination of the extreme results of prejudice and ethnocentrism, we begin to understand our individual and corporate responsibilities for moral and ethical acceptance of diverse peoples and perspectives.

This is a course via the Internet. While Internet courses are for the most part new and experimental, this course is not. You are getting two experienced professors who were pioneers in Internet teaching. So not only will you be getting high quality content, but you will be working with tried professionals. Having said that we want to also point out to you that the reality of Internet courses is that they are self-motivated. You get out of the course what you put in. If you put in a very little the chances are good that you will get little back. Because of the intense reading level and the demand on your own self discipline in reading, writing and thinking about the topics you will need to put in effort in independent research to get the full benefit of the course. We will act as your guides and helpers. We see ourselves as entering this endeavor as co-learners. We are partners in this activity. Another way to look at an Internet course is as if it is a tutorial. Tutorials work best when students are given reading lists and told to go read then come back and write and we as professors respond and critique your words. Many students feel that the tutorial form is one of the best forms of instruction available. So you get to sit at home in comfort, with your cup of refreshment, and get to write and think about a subject that is both dramatic and captivating, covering the whole spectrum of human values and moral ethical behavior. What could be better?

This course can be taken for university credit or it can be audited.

Course Format:

The course will involve reading several acclaimed books on the Holocaust and reading the lessons sent out by the instructors via email. All students will be able to ask questions of the professors and the others in the class via email. We will periodically send selected questions and comments to Holocaust survivors and noted scholars for response. The required books can be purchased through the university bookstore if you wish to do so.

With each lesson, we will be suggesting a short list of optional books and/or articles that you might want to read if you want to explore the topic of that lesson further. We also list titles of video documentaries and films that are worth viewing because of the important insights they provide.

Grading:

Those who take this course for credit will be required to submit written work for grading. All of this will be conducted via email.

Twice during the course, you will write an essay in response to questions emailed to you by the instructors. In your essays, you will be expected to make use of the information in the lessons and the readings. These essays will make up half of your grade.

The other half of your grade will be based on short comments or questions that you submit to the instructors throughout the course. You will be expected to respond to every lesson and each required reading with short questions or comments. Some of your questions and comments may be shared with the other students taking the class. That way, your questions and comments will not only help us make sure that you are understanding the material, they will also get some interesting discussions going that will make this class even more exciting.

We will follow the grading policy at the California State University Chico. Letter grades will be based on the total points earned on your written essays and responses. To get an "A," you must earn at least 90% of the total possible points in the course. To get a "B," you must earn between 80% and 89% of the total possible points in the course, etc. (plus and minus grades will be given as well). To pass the class at all, you must earn a minimum of 60% of the total possible points in the course.

In accordance with university policy, withdrawal from the course after the deadline may be due to personal or family illness, work conflict, or other serious problem. Unsatisfactory work in the course is not an acceptable reason for withdrawal.

Writing Policy:

All assignments must be clearly and logically written as well as grammatically correct. Correct grammar and spelling are required and your grades will suffer for deficiencies in these. Papers that are not well written or that have excessive errors may be returned ungraded for correction.

One important warning: whenever you use someone else's ideas or facts, you must cite them in the appropriate form. This applies whether you rephrase their work in your own words or use their words exactly. Failure to use citations is plagiarism; in essence, by not using a citation, you are passing off their work as your own. Plagiarism will be dealt with severely in this class so be sure to cite your sources in the body of the paper and include a bibliography.
 

Required Reading:

The World Must Know by Michael Berenbaum. 1993, Little Brown and Co.

ISBN 0-316-09134-0

Ordinary Men by Christopher Browning. 1992, Harper Collins Publishers.

ISBN 0-06-019013-2

Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi. 1958, Macmillian Publishing Company.

ISBN 0-02034300-0

Trap With A Green Fence: Survival in Treblinka by Richard Glazar. 1992, Northwestern University Press. ISBN 0-8101-1169-1

The Abandonment Of the Jews by David Wyman. 1984, Random House.

ISBN 0-394-74077-7

The Altruistic Personality by Samuel Oliner and Pearl Oliner. 1990 New York, Free Press.

ISBN 0-02-923829-3

Lessons:

The general topics that will be discussed in the course are:

Lesson 1 Introduction: History of Hate in Europe.

Lesson 2 Hitler and the Nazi Party's Rise to Power.

Lesson 3 Planning and Implementing the Final Solution.

Lesson 4 Implementing the Final Solution -continued.

Lesson 5 Implementing the Final Solution-continued.

Lesson 6 Nations & Religions Within & Outside the Reich Controlled Area React.

First Essay to be completed by those taking the course for credit.

Lesson 7 Armed Resistance in Response to Persecution.

Lesson 8 Additional Victim Responses to their Persecution.

Lesson 9 Additional Victim Responses-continued.

Lesson 10 The Rescuers: Individuals and Groups.

Lesson 11 The War Ends: Nazi Hunting After W.W.II, the War Crimes Trials, the United Nations Genocide Convention, and the Creation of Israel.

Lesson 12 Anti-Semitism and Hate in the 1980's and 90's. The Holocaust Deniers

Second Essay to be completed by those taking the course for credit.