UCSB Hist 133D, Fall 2001
The Holocaust in German History
Phelps 1508, T-Th 11:00-12:15
http://marcuse.faculty.history.ucsb.edu/133d

Prof. Marcuse
HSSB 4221, 893-2635
marcuse@history.ucsb.edu
Office hours: Tues. 12:30-1:30, Wed. 11-12

There are many reasons to study the Holocaust, which I understand to be the development and systematic implementation, in a country very similar to our own, of a program to eradicate entire groups of people. In this course, in addition to learning about the historical events, we will probe questions of motivation (why did people behave as they did?), and causation (why particular events happened?). I also emphasize practicing historical skills: interpreting historical sources, assessing the meaning of events, and presenting the results of research.

1. I expect you to attend all classes and outside film screenings. Why take a course if you don't make the effort to learn what it teaches? Lectures include slides, videos, discussion and information not available elsewhere in the course. I will call roll in order to learn your names. Each student has one unexcused absence.
2. There will not be a midterm examination. Instead, you will be asked to write a short paragraph on a simple question about the assigned readings or films, roughly once every two weeks. These five questions will be announced one lecture in advance. Entries will be graded on a scale of 1-4.
3. You must keep a journal with 1-2 entries per week, for a total of 6 entries. Each entry, averaging 450 words, will be based on your thoughts about newspaper or magazine articles that you relate to the course, or about my lectures, the course readings or films.
   (For further details, see the blue "Journal and Term Paper Assignment" handout.)
   These journals will be collected three times during the quarter (weeks 3, 5, and 8).
   They are due at the beginning of class (as are all assignments).
4. A book analysis paper (1500 words, 5-6 pages) with a proposal, reviews, summary, and draft. The proposal is due October 18; the summary Nov. 1, the draft Nov. 20, and the final paper Nov. 29, always at the beginning of class. Together they count for 50% of your final grade.
   I’m thinking 34% for the final version, and 4 points each for the four preliminary assignments.
   Note: This course fulfills the General Education writing requirement. If you do not submit this journal and the book analysis paper, you will not receive credit for this course (i.e., you will fail).
5. A short final examination interview (5-10 minutes during exam week; 8 points).

Grading is on a point system. You can accumulate up to 100 points, distributed as follows:
questions: 5x4=20%; journal: 6x4=24%; term paper+proposal etc.: 50%; final exam: 6%.
Late work will be graded down one point or 1/3 grade per day (B+ to B) etc.

• Textbook: Stephen J. Lee, Hitler and Nazi Germany (Routledge, 1998) $13.
• Reader with 20 articles and documents, 122pp.
• Hans Jürgen Massaquoi, Destined to Witness: Growing up Black in Nazi Germany (HarperCollins, 1999) $14.
• Art Spiegelman, Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began (Pantheon, 1991) $14.