Table of Contents
Study Materials
Readings
 Help support MIT OpenCourseWare by shopping at Amazon.com! MIT OpenCourseWare offers direct links to Amazon.com to purchase the books cited in this course. Click on the Amazon logo to the left of any citation and purchase the book from Amazon.com, and MIT OpenCourseWare will receive up to 10% of all purchases you make. Your support will enable MIT to continue offering open access to MIT courses. |
View readings by class session
Note: Wherever possible, the book citations below reflect the specific editions used in the course.
Fallada, Hans. Little Man, What Now? Chicago, IL: Academy Chicago Publishers, 2009. ISBN: 9781933633640. (Kleiner Mann, was nun?)
Allen, William S. The Nazi Seizure of Power. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1989. ISBN: 0140228780.
Levi, Primo. Survival in Auschwitz. New York, NY: Summit Books, 1986. ISBN: 9780671605414.
Browning, Christopher. Ordinary Men. Reinbek bei Hamburg, Germany: Rowohlt, 1993. ISBN: 3498005693.
Fabri, Friedrich. "Bedarf Deutschland des Colonien?/Does Germany Need Colonies?" In Studies in German Thought and History. Edited and translated by E. C. M. Breuning, and M. E. Chamberlain. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1998, pp. 2-177, 179, and 181. ISBN: 9780773483712.
Jünger, Ernst. Storms of Steel. Translated by B. Creighton. New York, NY: Howard Fertig, 1975, pp. 300-319. ISBN: 0865273103. (excerpt)
Remarque, Erich Maria. Chapter 4 in All Quiet on the Western Front. New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 1987. ISBN: 9780449213940. (excerpt)
Fest, Joachim. The Face of the Third Reicht. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 1999. ISBN: 9780306809156. (excerpt)
Nenno, Nancy. "Femininity, the Primitive, and Modern Urban Space: Josephine Baker in Berlin." In Women in the Metropolis. Gender and Modernity in Weimar Culture. Edited by Katharina Van Ankum. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1997, pp. 145-161. ISBN: 9780520204652.
Kershaw, Ian. The "Hitler Myth". New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780192802064.
Koonz, Claudia. Mothers in the Fatherlandt. New York, NY: St. Martin's Griffin, 1988. ISBN: 9780312022563. (excerpt)
Peukert, Detlev. "The Genesis of the Final Solution from the Spirit of Science." In Nazism and German Society. Edited by David Crew. New York, NY: Routledge, 1994. ISBN: 9780415082402.
Spielvogel, Jackson J. Hitler and Nazi Germany: a History. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2000. ISBN: 9780139759963.
| LEC # | TOPICS | READINGS |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | ||
| 1 | Introduction to Class and Requirements: What is "Fascism"?, What is "Nazism"? | |
| Week 2 | ||
| 2 |
| |
| 3 | Total War and Total (?) Defeat | |
| Week 3 | ||
| 4 |
| |
| 5 |
| |
| Week 4 | ||
| 6 | Recovery, and Weimar Culture I: Art and the Avant-Garde (Visual Presentation) |
|
| 7 |
| |
| Week 5 | ||
| 8 | Film: The Blue Angel (Die Blaue Engel) (1930, 107 min.) | |
| 9 | Countercurrents: Anti-Semitism, Völkisch nationalism (and the Origins of the Nazi Party) | Fest. The Face of the Third Reich. pp. 15-26. (Hitler) |
| Week 6 | ||
| 10 | Discussion Fallada, Hans. Little Man, What Now?1933. | |
| Week 7 | ||
| 11 | The Great Depression and the Polarization of Politics | |
| 12 | Discussion Allen, William S. The Nazi Seizure of Power. | |
| Week 8 | ||
| 13 | The Nazi Seizure of Power and Gleichschaltung | Fest. The Face of the Third Reich. pp. 27-38. (Hitler) |
| 14 |
| |
| Week 9 | ||
| 15 | Discussion Allen. Nazi Seizure of Power. | |
| 16 | The Racial State |
|
| Week 10 | ||
| 17 | The Rise of the SS State, and Everyday Life under Nazism | |
| 18 | Outbreak of the Second World War | Fest. pp. 62-67. (Hitler) |
| Week 11 | ||
| 19 | The Course of the War, and the Eastern Front | Begin reading Browning. Ordinary Men. |
| 20 |
| |
| Week 12 | ||
| 21 |
| |
| 22 | Meeting with Instructor: Review of "Der Brand" (Strategic Bombing) | Read Primo Levi. Survival in Auschwitz. |
| Week 13 | ||
| 23 |
| |
| 24 | "Zero Hour" and Denazification | |
| Week 14 | ||
| 25 |
| |
| 26 |
| |
| Week 15 | ||
| Final Exam | ||