5:45 – 7:45 pm
This course provides an introduction to the genocide of the Jews (and homosexuals, Roma, the physically and mentally disabled, and Jehovah’s Witnesses) of Europe. We will begin with the Weimar Republic and Hitler’s rise to power in 1932, then examine the development of anti-Jewish policies in Nazi Germany and why the majority of Germans became so-called bystanders. We will discuss the aftermath of the Holocaust and World War II including the ways in which the Holocaust is remembered (or denied) in contemporary America.
Laura Weinstein holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is a freelance writer. She has taught courses at UW and the Newberry Library.
Course packet, to be purchased in class
Browning, Christopher. Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland. Harper Perennial, 1993. ISBN: 0060995068
Kaplan, Marion. Between Dignity and Despair: Jewish Life in Nazi Germany. Oxford University Press, 1999. ISBN: 0195130928
Bergan, Doris. War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust. Rowman and Littlefield, 2003. ISBN: 0742557154
CPDU credit is available for Illinois teachers seeking recertification.
This class is part of the Newberry’s Adult Education Seminars Program.
Eight sessions, $190