GERMAN 160F
Holocaust and Memory
This seminar introduces self narratives of Holocaust survivors as historical sources. The course will start with central events between 1933 and 1945 and historical narratives of the Holocaust. We will interpret and discuss secondary and primary sources including diaries, letters, memoirs, autobiographies and images. The course will in particular take age and gender into account and will also focus on the intergenerational transmission of memory. Three field trips (two virtual field trips, one in-person field trip in Berkeley) will introduce students to central archival resources.
Topics
- What are special features of self narratives as historical sources? How do we interpret and analyze texts and images which are so profoundly shaped by experience, subjectivity, memory and trauma? How do we grapple with faked autobiographies and respond to Holocaust denial? Today a minority of first generation survivors is still alive: how can their voices be preserved? What is the impact of the intergenerational transmission of memory? What features representations of the second and third generation?
- This course will enable students to… • read and view digital and analog sources attentively, analytically, and critically, • reflect on features, limits and possibilities of self narratives as historical sources, • operate in a multimedia environment (texts, graphic novels, photos, videos and short films), • Identify different kinds of historical evidence and understand their role in the production of historical knowledge, • conduct research, situate texts in context, read in constellations, and considering the bigger picture of social and cultural change after 1945, • develop an argument in writing, based on evidence and reasoning,
Official catalogue course objectives and student learning outcomes
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026-2027