Entry requirements

General entry requirements

Aims

The Holocaust is a vast complex of events, places and personalities which occurred some sixty years ago. This radical eruption of genocidal violence in recent European history challenges some of our basic ideas fundamental to Western civilisation, and what human progress had been thought to imply. The Holocaust is an event with unprecedented political, social, economic, cultural, theological and moral consequences which have significantly shaped contemporary Europe. By examining the intentions, motivations and actions of the perpetrators, victims and bystanders, an attempt will be made to understand what many still feel is ultimately incomprehensible. This course will examine the Holocaust from empirical, theoretical and analytical perspectives.

The primary objective of the course is for the student to obtain a basic understanding of the chronological, political, geographic and physical details of the Holocaust as well as an understanding of how the murder of millions of innocent men, women and children could occur in modern Europe. We will study who committed this crime, who suffered and who observed the events as they happened. Sweden's response to the genocide will also be examined in detail.

Content

Contents and themes (a selection)

Intentionalism vs. Functionalism

Racial Biology and Eugenics

Persecution and Deprivation of Civil Rights

The Bureaucrat as Desk Top Killer

Ghettoisation Policy and Formation

Mass Murder and the Individual Motivation

Jewish Response and Resistance

Europe's Collaborators and Killers

Industrialised Extermination

The Response of the Bystander

Sweden's Response to Genocide

What the Holocaust means Today

Instruction

Lectures and seminars.

Assessment

Written mid-course and final examinations, both "take home". Participants will also be required to present short written essays in conjunction with seminars. Attendance at lectures is strongly encouraged and attendance at seminars is obligatory. The course meets approximately 25 times over a 10 week period. Grades: Fail, pass, pass with distinction/ECTS grades.