Course Description
The Holocaust (1933-45) seen from victims' perspectives as represented through diaries, letters, testimonies, memoirs, fiction, and films. Interdisciplinary methods of studying modes of personal narratives and fiction. Materials by French, German, Hungarian, Yiddish, Polish, and other writers in English translation. Holocaust history, its memorialization, and its documentation.
Athena Title
Holocaust Narratives
Semester Course Offered
Offered spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
Course Objectives: 1. To study the Holocaust from the victims’ rather than the perpetrators’ perspectives, incorporating recent publications and approaches to this interdisciplinary field of study. 2. To familiarize students with the various documentary forms chosen by victims to relate their experiences. These include both concurrent documentation in diaries and letters, as well as reflective testimonies (including ones recorded on video and audio) and autobiographical texts. 3. To examine controversies and issues in the fictionalization of the Holocaust in autobiographical novels, fictional prose, and films. 4. To engage students in considering the theoretical issues that arise from the various forms of personal narratives and fiction when seen from historical, artistic, and literary standpoints. 5. To address contemporary problems of museum and website memorialization as they intersect with individual experiences. To address Holocaust denial. Learning Outcomes: Upon completion of the course, students will have attained the following: 1. A general historical knowledge of the Holocaust. 2. Familiarity with a variety of texts and films, focusing on individuals from different parts of occupied Europe. 3. Knowledge of theories pertaining to autobiography and representations of the Holocaust. 4. Knowledge of the interdisciplinary nature of Holocaust Studies; perspectives and approaches of various disciplines. 5. Critical thinking and writing skills attained through writing and other assignments.
Topical Outline
Topical Outline Includes possible/likely readings and films; this is not a weekly syllabus. I. Introduction: History of the Holocaust Bergen, War and Genocide: A Concise History, Chapters 1-4 News film clips II. Life in Germany 1933-38 Kaplan, Between Dignity and Despair: Jewish Life in Nazi Germany (contains extensive quotations from eyewitnesses) Excerpts from Matthäus and Roseman: Jewish Responses to the Holocaust: 1933-38 Excerpts from Victor Klemperer’s diaries III. Kristallnacht–November Pogrom Survivor testimonies on video News clips IV. War Years Bergen, Chapters 5-8 News clips V. Concurrent Accounts The Journal of Hélène Berr Excerpts from Kassow, Who Will Write Our History? (Documents of the Warsaw Ghetto) Excerpts from Roskies, The Literature of Destruction VI. Immediate Responses: Memoir Levi, Survival in Auschwitz Selected readings in memoir and diary theory VII. Later Memoirs Klüger, Still Alive VIII. Recorded and Live Testimonies Student projects using online resources from the “Spielberg” (USC Shoah Foundation) and other digitized resources. Excerpt from Lanzmann, Shoah (film) Visit and talk by a survivor IX. [Auto]Biographical “Fiction” Kertész, Fatelessness Schindler’s List (film) X. “Fictionalizations” in Literature and Film Spiegelman, Maus Defiance (film) XI. Humor, Fiction, and the Holocaust Inglorious Basterds (film) Selected theoretical readings XII. Commemoration and Museums Student projects XIV. Denial and the Reception of the Holocaust Today Lipstadt, History on Trial (possible guest lecture) XV. Review Theoretical and supportive readings and materials to be taken from books and articles by Felman, Friedlander, Horenstein and Jacobowitz, James, LaCapra, Lang, Langer, and Young.
Syllabus