2019-2020 Academic Catalog 
    
    Mar 28, 2024  
2019-2020 Academic Catalog [Archived Catalog]

HIST 335 - Jews and Christians in Nazi Germany


Credits: Three (3)
“This course deals with the reactions of German Protestants and Catholics to the Nazi regime’s oppression of Germany’s Jewish population and its attempt to annihilate European Jewry as well as the experiences and reflections of German Jews living in such desperate times. To what degree did German Protestants and Catholics, who together represented nearly ninety-five percent of the German populace, support Nazi policies? Did German Protestants and Catholics living in the Third Reich seek “a world without Jews,” as did the Nazi regime, and many fellow Germans? How did their identity as Germans inform their views of Jews? Were German Protestant perspectives on Jews and Judaism uniform, or did shades of antisemitic and anti-Judaic thought co-exist along with pockets of philosemitism or disinterest about the plight of German and European Jews? How did German Jews view their Christian neighbors and Christianity during such grim times? Culture and religion will form the dual points of focus for the course. We will pay significant attention to the ways in which religion and ideology appreciably shaped the lives of people living in Germany during the Third Reich.
General Education Area: Social Science