Syllabus for German Culture and Civilization course to be offered in the Department of Modern Languages at Carroll College in Waukesha, Wisconsin. The Holocaust Seminar will be offered in the Fall of 2000.

Peter R. Erspamer (Carroll College)

e-mail: Perspamer@yahoo.com

Eyewitnesses to the Holocaust: Encountering Traumatic Remembrances

Course description: Although many excellent academic and popular histories of the Holocaust have been written, they often fail to convey the emotional and subjective dimensions of this catastrophic manifestation of a state terrorizing its people. These emotional and subjective dimensions are best conveyed through the autobiographies and novels of Holocaust survivors and other victims of Nazi persecution. We will examine both the book and film versions of some of this testimony with the goal of gaining a better appreciation for the need to develop and maintain a society which respects ethnic and religious diversity and fundamental human rights.

Readings:

Introductory Readings: Leon Poliakov, Harvest of Hate: The Nazi Program for the Destruction of the Jews in Europe (1958) and Peter J. Haas, Morality after Auschwitz: The Radical Challenge of the Nazi Ethic (1988)

Core Readings:

Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl (Definitive Edition)

Elie Wiesel, Night

Solomon Perel, Europa, Europa

Film Version of "Europa, Europa"

Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz

Jurek Becker, Jakob the Liar

Film Version of "Jakob the Liar" (DECCA, East Germany)

Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

Jean Amery, At the Mind's Limits

Charlotte Delbo, None of Us Will Return

Jona Oberski, Childhood

Etty Hillesium, An Interrupted Life