The Holocaust
Religion 218/Judaic Studies 218/ History 206
Spring 2001
Hubbell Auditorium, TR 12:30-1:45 p.m.
|
William Scott Green
wmsg@mail.rochester.edu Lattimore 317; x.3-5001 Office hours by appointment or by appt. |
This is a course in the history and interpretation of the Holocaust.
We understand the term "Holocaust" to refer to the systematic, bureaucratic,
state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by
the Nazi regime and its collaborators. During the era of the Holocaust, the
Nazis also targeted other groups because of their perceived "racial inferiority":
Roma (Gypsies), the handicapped, and some of the Slavic peoples (Poles, Russians,
and others). Other groups were persecuted on political and behavioral grounds,
among them Communists, Socialists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and homosexuals. The
Jews were nevertheless the primary targets of the Nazi regime. Thus, the history
of this event includes not only the origins of the orders to murder the Jews
and the carrying out of those orders, but the whole evolution of relations between
Jews and non-Jews in Europe as well as the distinctive history of Germany within
Europe. The interpretation of the Holocaust will involve us in fundamental issues
of memory, morality, responsibility, and religious values, in each case both
on an individual and a collective level.
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