- Department: History
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: H
- Academic year of delivery: 2024-25
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.
Students taking this module must also take the second part in Semester 2.
Occurrence | Teaching period |
---|---|
A | Semester 1 2024-25 |
The aims of this module are:
Students who complete this module successfully will:
Students will attend a 1-hour briefing in week 1 and a 3-hour seminar in weeks 2-4, 6-8 and 10-11 of semester 1. Weeks 5 & 9 are Reading and Writing Weeks (RAW). Students prepare for and participate in eight three-hour seminars in all.
Seminar topics are subject to variation, but are likely to include the following:
Task | % of module mark |
---|---|
Essay/coursework | 100 |
None
For formative work, students will produce a text commentary.
The summative assessment will consist of two parts, to be submitted together:
a) Two text commentaries of 500-750 words; and
b) One 1,500-word essay.
The commentaries comprise 50% and the essay 50% of the overall mark for this module. Summative assessments will be due in the assessment period.
Task | % of module mark |
---|---|
Essay/coursework | 100 |
Following their formative task, students will typically receive written feedback that will include comments and a mark within 10 working days of submission.
Work will be returned to students in their seminars and may be supplemented by the tutor giving some oral feedback to the whole group. All students are encouraged, if they wish, to discuss the feedback on their formative work during 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. The tutor will then be available during student hours for follow-up guidance if required. For more information, see the Statement of Assessment.
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: