Undergraduate Course: The Holocaust (HIST10164)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This one-semester course will examine the murder of 6 million Jews and several million non-Jews by Nazi Germany and its accomplices. It will assess the progression from the stigmatisation, definition, expropriation and forced expulsion of Germany's Jews to the wartime policies of directed deportation and then murder of Jews and other 'racial enemies' across the European continent. It will also examine the responses of the victims and of the outside world to the genocide, and reflect on some of the historiographical and cultural legacies of the events. |
| Course description |
Students taking the course should be able to place the Holocaust in the contexts of European antisemitism and nationalism, modern Germany history, the particular development of the 'Hitler state', and the other Nazi wartime programmes of genocide and forced population movement. Students will developed the critical sensitivity necessary to evaluate a wide range of historical sources and a huge secondary literature, and will learn how to handle primary documents in a critical manner. Students should be able to participate both orally and in writing in historiographical debates. Students should build upon the skills they have acquired in their previous years to improve their awareness of the nature and use of various types of historical evidence; demonstrate the nature of history as argument by focusing on the debates between historians on key issues; increase their skills in research, writing and presentation of papers; increase their organisational, critical and communication skills.
Content note: The study of History inevitably involves the study of difficult topics that we encourage students to approach in a respectful, scholarly, and sensitive manner. Nevertheless, we remain conscious that some students may wish to prepare themselves for the discussion of difficult topics. In particular, the course organiser has outlined that the following topics may be discussed in this course, whether in class or through required or recommended primary and secondary sources: sexual violence, racial violence, physical violence, mass atrocity and genocide. While this list indicates sensitive topics students are likely to encounter, it is not exhaustive because course organisers cannot entirely predict the directions discussions may take in tutorials or seminars, or through the wider reading that students may conduct for the course.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
Students MUST have passed:
Introduction to Historiography (HIST08044)
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | Students MUST NOT also be taking
The Third Reich 1933-1945 (HIST10359)
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Other requirements | A pass or passes in 40 credits of first-level historical courses or equivalent and a pass or passes in 40 credits of second-level historical courses, including HIST08044 Introduction to Historiography, or equivalent.
Students should only be enrolled on this course with approval from the History Honours Programme Administrator.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students must have 3 History courses at grade B or above. We will only consider University/College level courses. Enrolments for this course are managed by the CAHSS Visiting Student Office, in line with the quotas allocated by the department. All enquiries to enrol must be made through the CAHSS Visiting Student Office. It is not appropriate for students to contact the department directly to request additional spaces. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2025/26, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
174 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Coursework:
2,000 word reflective essay (40%)
3,000 word final research essay (60%) |
| Feedback |
Students will receive written feedback on their coursework, and will have the opportunity to discuss that feedback further with the Course Organiser during their published office hours or by appointment. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Situate the Holocaust in a broader historical context;
- Identify the basic elements of the historiographical debates surrounding the Holocaust;
- Interpret and analyse primary sources which are linked to the development and implementation of the Final Solution.
- Understand the importance of survivor testimony in establishing a more comprehensive view of the Holocaust and its multidimensional nature;
- Critically consider the impact of the Holocaust and its relationship to how we understand mass violence in modern history.
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Reading List
Omer Bartov, Germany¿s War and the Holocaust: Disputed Histories. Cornell UP, 2003.
Doris Bergen, War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust. 2002 (latest edition 2016).
Donald Bloxham, The Final Solution: A Genocide. Oxford UP, 2009.
Saul Friedlander, Nazi Germany and the Jews, 2 vols, 1997 and 2007.
Jonathan Friedman, ed., The Routledge History of the Holocaust. Routledge, 2010.
Peter Hayes, Why? Explaining the Holocaust. W.W. Norton, 2017.
Tom Lawson, Debates on the Holocaust. Manchester University Press, 2011.
Peter Longerich, Holocaust: The Nazi Persecution and the Murder of the Jews. Oxford UP, 2010.
Dan Stone, Histories of the Holocaust. Oxford University Press, 2010.
Ulrich Herbert, ed., National Socialist Extermination Policies. Berghahn Books, 2000.
Robert Jan van Pelt and Deborah Dwork. The Holocaust: A History. W.W. Norton, 2003.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Holocaust |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Tereza Eva Valny
Tel: (0131 6)50 9110
Email: Tereza.Valny@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Katherine Perry
Tel:
Email: kperry2@ed.ac.uk |
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