Imagining Genocide in Post-1945 American Culture
The Holocaust, a single word used to describe one of the most horrific and complicated set of events in history, has by now become a byword for ultimate evil and a lens through which we view genocidal acts that have occurred all too frequently since the end of World War II in 1945. So shocking were accounts of Nazi actions that led to the murder of more than five million European Jews and close to one million Roma and Sinti, as well as newsreels and photographs taken at the liberations of various concentration camps, that only after a decade or more did historians and popular writers and filmmakers attempt to make sense of all that had happened.
Our course will track the development of Holocaust memory and interpretation in a unique manner, tracking two major themes from 1945 on directly related to American culture. First, in a more traditional manner, we will see the ways in which an American vision of the Holocaust emerged and the ways the ways in which it has been depicted in novels, the arts, feature film, documentaries, and television. In doing so, we will see the ways in which those representations challenged and reflected American cultural values.
As important, we will see the ways in which study of the Holocaust has shaped and been shaped by events in American history, e.g. the Civil Rights movement, the Vietnam War, the liberalization of book and film censorship, and questions of American policy during World War II. At the same time, more recently, we will track the ways knowledge of Holocaust history has raised questions about the relationship of pre-Holocaust events in America can be related to the development of Nazi racial doctrine, e.g. how the wars of decimation against Native Americans, the rise of Eugenics, and most of all the treatment of African-Americans, were seen as precedents and examples used in Nazi thinking.
Reading and Viewing Assignments:
Required Books:
Robert Abzug, Inside the Vicious Heart: Americans and the Liberation of Nazi Concentration Camps.
Robert Abzug, America Views the Holocaust: 1933-1945 (supplied for free as a pdf).
Philip Roth, The Ghostwriter
Other Required Readings: Various articles and creative works posted on Canvas or presented in class, including complete films or excerpts from films, dance, painting, and other visual arts.
Evaluation of Student Work:
Faithful attendance and participation in class discussions
Weekly short papers about the reading or viewings
Term paper on topic of choice (12-15 pages)