Studying at York
Germany and the East: Volk, Race and Empire, 1933-1949 - Semester 2 - HIS00160H
- Department: History
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: H
- Academic year of delivery: 2024-25
Module summary
When Hitler and the Nazis seized power in Germany in 1933, they carried with them a vision of how they wished to transform not only this country, but Europe as a whole – and above all the eastern half of the continent. At the very centre of this were the interrelated concepts of Volk, race and empire. As they set about applying this vision over the next 12 years, these concepts remained central to their destructive and transformative policies and actions. This module will be far from a simple study of Nazi Germany; rather, the Third Reich will be studied through the lenses of an imperialist and racialist worldview which from the outset faced, above all, eastwards. Geographically, therefore, the focus will be on Germany itself, but also on the central obsession of Nazi imperialist plans, Eastern Europe. But we will also explore how Germany’s outlook on Eastern Europe developed before the Nazis took power. And we will finish by studying the aftermath of the Third Reich, both in Eastern Europe and in Germany.
So our seminars will start by examining Germany’s relationship with Eastern Europe before 1933. We will then turn to the pre-war years of Nazi power, studying how ideas of Volk, race and empire played out in the handling of Jewish people, matters of gender, neighbouring countries and Eastern Europe. We will then turn to the war years, when this vision was taken to its extremes in ‘the East’, examining invasion, occupation and wartime expansion in the final seminars of Special Subject 1. In Special Subject 2 we will then explore wartime colonisation, collaboration, ‘cleansing’, genocide, forced labour and resistance. In the final seminars we will study how the vision was effectively reversed, through the mass expulsion of Germans, Communist takeovers in Eastern Europe and the Allied occupation of Germany. By utilising evidence such as official documents, speeches and images, we will examine perspectives and projections of, and about, decision makers and official organs. By studying more personal evidence such as testimony and diaries, we will explore the subjective experiences of ordinary people and of victims.
Related modules
Students taking this module must also take the first part in Semester 1.
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Semester 2 2024-25 |
Module aims
The aims of this module are:
- To introduce students to in depth study of a specific historical topic using primary and secondary material;
- To enable students to explore the topic through discussion and writing; and
- To enable students to evaluate and analyse primary sources.
Module learning outcomes
Students who complete this module successfully will:
- Grasp key themes, issues and debates relevant to the topic being studied;
- Have acquired knowledge and understanding about that topic;
- Be able to comment on and analyse original sources;
- Be able to relate the primary and secondary material to one another; and
- Have acquired skills and confidence in close reading and discussion of texts and debates.
Module content
Students will attend a 3-hour seminar in weeks 2-4, 6-8 and 10-11 of semester 2. Weeks 5 & 9 are Reading and Writing Weeks (RAW). Students prepare for and participate in eight three-hour seminars in all. A one-to-one meeting between tutor and students will also be held to discuss assessments.
Seminar topics are subject to variation, but are likely to include the following:
- Colonising and cleansing the East
- Genocide
- Forced labour
- Collaboration and Resistance
- Gender, war and genocide
- Defeat and the Allied Occupation of Germany
- Survivors and displaced persons
- Communist takeovers and ethnic cleansing
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Special assessment rules
None
Additional assessment information
For formative assessment, students submit an essay draft of 2000-words.
For summative assessment, students complete a 4000-word essay relating to the themes and issues of the module. This comprises 100% of the overall module mark. Summative assessments will be due in the assessment period.
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Module feedback
Following their formative assessment task, students will receive a one-to-one meeting with the tutor to discuss the essay and their plans for the assessed essay.
Work will be returned to students with written comments in their tutorial and may be supplemented by the tutor giving some oral feedback to the whole group. All students are encouraged, if they wish, to make use of their tutor’s student hours. For more information, see the Statement on Feedback.
For summative assessment tasks, students will receive their provisional mark and written feedback within 25 working days of the submission deadline. For more information, see the Statement of Assessment.
Indicative reading
For semester time reading, please refer to the module VLE site. Before the course starts, we encourage you to look at the following items of preliminary reading:
- Richard J. Evans, Third Reich, 3 vols. (London: Penguin, 2004-9).
- Elizabeth Harvey, “We Forgot All Jews and Poles: German Women and the Ethnic Struggle in Nazi-occupied Poland,” Contemporary European History (2001) 10: 3, pp. 447-461
- Hugo Service, Germans to Poles: Communism, Nationalism and Ethnic Cleansing after the Second World War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013).