Tag(s)
WP, PA
Admission Requirements
Similarly-tagged 200/300-level courses or permission from the instructor.
Description
This course looks at the twins of 20th century totalitarianism as experienced in Europe: under Hitler and Stalin. Two works by Hannah Arendt, the Origins of Totalitarianism and Eichmann in Jerusalem, form the fundaments of the course. All the other books are novels or memoirs written by those who experienced the effects of totalitarianism – the Holocaust and the Gulag.
Course Objectives
To give a clear understanding of the origins, policies and effects of totalitarianism as practiced in Nazi Germany under Hitler and the Soviet Union under Stalin.
To give students an insight into the actual experience of those that were incarcerated in the Nazi concentration camps and the Soviet Gulag
To introduce students to some of the strongest, most evocative (and painful) literature to have been written by camp survivors
Mode of Instruction
Apart from during the first week, when there will be two lectures, the course will be divided by student-led discussions on Tuesdays and a lecture by the instructor on Thursdays. The discussions will follow the students reading and writing about a particular book; the lectures will be an introduction to the work of each writer and the political and historical background of that writer and his or her experience. The students will be expected to write an essay of around 800 words every week in reaction to each of the different books.
Assessment
Assessment: In-class participation
Percentage: 10%
Deadline: Ongoing Weeks 1-7
Assessment: Leading class discussion
Percentage: 10%
Deadline: Weeks 1-7
Assessment: Weekly essays
Percentage: 10% each
Deadline: Week 2-7
Assessment: Final research essay (1200 words)
Percentage: 20%
Deadline: Week 8
Literature
Eichmann In Jerusalem – Hannah Arendt
Christ stopped at Eboli – Carlo Levi
Diary of a Man in Despair – Friederich Reck
This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen – Tadeusz Borowski
The Drowned and the Saved – Primo Levi
Darkness at Noon – Arthur Koestler
Kolyma Tales – Varlam Shalamov
Under a Cruel Star (also published as: Prague Farewell) – Heda Margolis Kovaly
Under two dictators – Margarete Buber-Neumann
Recommended further reading:
The Origins of Totalitarianism – Hannah Arendt
Gulag – Anne Applebaum
Into that Darkness – Gitta Sereny
Weekly Overview
Week 1: Lectures on totalitarianism and the work of Hannah Arendt
Week 2: Discussion and lecture on the rise of fascism, Mussolini and Carlo Levi
Week 3: Discussion and lecture on National-Socialism and Friederich Reck
Week 4: Discussion and lecture on the holocaust and on Primo Levi/Tadeusz Borowski
Week 5: Discussion and lecture on Stalinist purges and Arthur Koestler
Week 6: Discussion and lecture on the Gulag and Shalymov
Week 7: Discussion and lecture on Soviet control of Eastern Europe, Kovaly/Buber-Neumann
Preparation for first session
It would be helpful if all students have read Arendt’s Origins of Totalitarianism.