Spring Semester 2008 Professor Geoffrey J. Giles

Phone: 392-0271 Ext. 245 Webpage: www.clas.ufl.edu/users/ggiles

Office: Keene-Flint 208

Office hours: T 2.30-4.30 p.m. & Th 10.30-11.30 a.m.

EUH 4464 Section 2373

Hitler and the Manipulation of Germany

Class times:

Tuesday 5^th-6^th periods (11.45 a.m.-1.40 p.m.)

Thursday 6^th period (12.50-1.40 p.m.)

Keene-Flint 111

This class is a seminar version of my general course on Twentieth-Century Germany. Instead of trying to cover the whole century, we will concentrate on the period 1918-1945, from the end of the First World War to the end of the Second World War. The aim will be to investigate through a close examination of primary source documents (available in English translation) how Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party were able to take over the German nation and hold it under its control for twelve years, even while unleashing a devastating world war and an unparalleled act of genocide through the Holocaust. The focus will rest not so much on Hitler personally as on his followers and the ordinary Germans who ensured support for the regime and its murderous policies.

The UF library has probably the best source collection in the Southeast for the history of 20^th-century Germany, and a research paper will form the main assignment for the class. Various research exercises in small groups will help trains students in how to go about historical research. Regular class discussions will supplement the Powerpoint lectures intended to give guidance on the main points that need to be understood in assessing this historical era.

Required Readings (all are in paperback):

Joseph Bendersky, A Concise History of Nazi Germany. 3^rd edition. 2003. ISBN 0742553639

Benjamin Sax & Dieter Kunz, Inside Hitler’s Germany: A Documentary History of Life in the Third Reich. ISBN 0669250007

Robert Gellately & Nathan Stoltzfus, Social Outsiders in Nazi Germany. ISBN 0691086842

Jurgen Herbst, Requiem for a German Past. ISBN 0299164144

Michael Wieck, A Childhood under Hitler and Stalin. ISBN 0299185443

Mary Rampolla, A Pocket Guide to Writing in History. Fifth Edition, 2007. ISBN 031244673X

Assignments and grades

The following will count toward the final grade:

· A 3,600-word research paper (roughly 12 pages) on a topic chosen in consultation with your professor [40%]

· Two two-page reviews of course books, to be assigned [20%]

· A mid-term essay examination [30%]

· Participation [10%]

· There will be no final examination

More detailed advice on the presentation of these assignments will be provided in class, and at my website [www.clas.ufl.edu/users/ggiles].

• Please note that attendance at every class and discussion session is mandatory. Non-attendance will lower your final grade. If you are unable to attend on medical grounds, you must provide documentation.
• A make-up examination is only ever granted by prior agreement with me before the exam takes place.
• Cell-phone policy: If I hear a cell phone ringing during class, I will immediately suspend our activity and give a pop quiz on the readings for that week to the entire class, the grade for which will be figured into everyone’s final grade! You can imagine how unpopular this will make you with the rest of the students in this class. Every semester I have to give some of these in my classes, and many students do very badly at these. So please learn to respect your peers, in order to avoid this drastic solution. Make sure that your cell phone is turned off before entering the classroom!
• In writing papers, be certain to give proper credit whenever you use words, phrases, ideas, arguments, and conclusions drawn from someone else’s work.  Failure to give credit by quoting and/or footnoting is PLAGIARISM and is unacceptable. Please review the University’s honesty policy at http://www.dso.ufl.edu/judicial/academic.php.
• Please do not hesitate to contact your professor during the semester if you have any individual concerns or issues that need to be discussed. Students requesting classroom accommodation must first register with the Dean of Students Office (http://www.dso.ufl.edu).  The Dean of Students Office will provide documentation to the student who must then provide this documentation to the instructor when requesting accommodation.

Course Outline

January

8 Introduction and background

10 The German Revolution 1918-19 and the Stab-in-the-Back legend

15 The fragile Weimar Republic                                                     S/K I

17 Politics and economics: the hyper-inflation of 1923

22 The origins of the Nazi Party                                                     B 1-4

24 The Beer Hall Putsch

29 The period of struggle                                                                 S/K 2  B 5

31 The first electoral successes

February

5 The devious “legal” path to power                                             S/K 3  B 6

7 Nazi propaganda

                        CHOOSE RESEARCH PAPER TOPIC BY THIS DATE

12 The Nazi seizure of power                                                          S/K 4  B 7

14 The Gleichschaltung

19 The structure of the dictatorship                                              S/K 5  B 8

21 The growth of the police state

                        SUBMIT BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR RESEARCH PAPER

26 The Hitler Youth and education                                  S/K 6 & 10  Herbst

28 The Aryan norms

                        BOOK REVIEW ON HERBST

March

4 The social outsiders                                                      S/K 8-9   G/S 1-6

6 Nazi culture                                                                    S/K 7  B 9

10-14 Spring Break Week

18                    MID-TERM EXAMINATION
                        Anti-Semitism pushes forward                                                  B 10

20 Euthanasia

25 Preparation for war                                                       S/K 11  B 11

27 The Second World War                                                              B 12-13
                        BOOK REVIEW GELLATELY/STOLTZFUS

April

1 The Holocaust against the Jews                                                B 14

3 Other victims

8 The death camps                                                            S/K 12-14   G/S 7.14

10 The SS empire

15 Resistance                                                                       S/K 15  Wieck

17 The collapse of the Third Reich: Götterdämmerung

22 After the War: Forgetting the Nazis