POHI 339 The Holocaust
The word Holocaust, Greek in origin, means "sacrifice by fire" (USHMM 2013). We have come to understand this term as specific to the genocide of the European Jewry, along with other stigmatized groups, during WWII. This course examines how the "systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators" came to be (ibid.). The course explores many facets of the Holocaust: Jewish life in Germany before WWII, a historical understanding of racism and anti-Semitism, the rise and expansion of the Nazi empire, the construction of the "Final Solution," establishment of ghettos and the concentration camp system, and the varied experiences of victims, rescuers, and perpetrators. European field. Seminar. Prerequisites: WRIT 313, Advanced Academic Writing; LSCI 105, Information Theory and Practice or LSCI 106, Information Sources for Architecture and Interior Design, or LSCI 205, Information in the Disciplines; MDST 120, Public Speaking