HSP 155H Spring 2009
Histories of Nazi Germany Dr. Cocks
Syllabus
Readings
Evans, The Third Reich in Power (2005 pb)
Cocks, “Professionalization”; “Devil/Detail”; “Politics/Memory” [library reserve]
Vassiltchikov, Berlin Diaries (1987 pb)—students: used, AbeBooks—GC email link
Levi, The Drowned and the Saved (1987 pb)
Browning, Ordinary Men (1993 pb)
Hamburg Institute for Social Research, The German Army and Genocide (1999 pb)
Grass, The Tin Drum (1990 pb)/“How I Spent the War” (2007) [library reserve]
Niven, “Introduction,” GDR/Dresden” [library reserve]
Class Discussion
Fifty percent of your grade will depend on regular participation in class discussion. All
reading assignments must be finished before the first day of class every week, since they
will form the basis for discussion; the assigned books and notes on the library reserve
readings should be brought to class for reference. (No laptops may be used during film
presentations.)
Papers
Fifty percent of your grade will be based on four seven-page papers. One or two of the
papers must compare and contrast two of the assigned readings (at least one of which
must be a book) in terms of their strengths and weaknesses as historical sources. One of
these two papers may compare and contrast one of the books assigned for the course and
one of the films assigned for the course or two of the course films in terms of their
strengths and weaknesses as historical sources. You must document your analysis in
each of these papers with specific examples from the sources. A third paper may be on a
subject and source(s) of your choice (e.g., an assigned reading or film or an outside
reading or film on the history of Nazi Germany). These papers, which you may do in any
order, are due at 10:10 a.m. on a Tuesday of your choice. Two of these papers must be
turned in before Spring Break and no more than of them may be turned in the week
before Spring Break. The third paper is due at the latest on April 7. The fourth paper
may be either: (1) a comparison and contrast of the novel and the film of The Tin Drum
as historical sources or (2) an analysis of the West German miniseries Dresden using the
assigned readings by Niven. This fourth paper is due at 10:10 a.m. on the last day of
class, Thursday, April 30.
1/20, 22 Evans, xv-xvii, 1-118
1/27, 29 Evans, 120-411
