Memory of the Holocaust

Admission requirements

This course is part of the (Res)MA History Programme. It is not accessible for BA students.

Description

No single historical event has left a deeper impression on the western world than the Holocaust.
It has become an inescapable moral and polical benchmark. That was not always the case. Until the early sixties the Holocaust was almost absent in the memory of World War II. Nowadays it dominates, almost replaces this memory.

In this course we will pose, and hopefully answer the question how and why this came about. Our research will focus on the Dutch case; the literature, mainly on Germany and the US, will provide an international perspective.

The course will commence with an entrance examination on:
Peter Novick, The Holocaust in American life (Boston 1999) also known as The Holocaust and collective memory (Londen 2000).

Course objectives

General learning objectives

The student has acquired:

1. The ability to independently identify and select literature, using traditional and modern techniques;
2. The ability to independently identify and select sources, using traditional and modern techniques;
3. The ability to analyse and evaluate a corpus of sources with a view to addressing a particular historical problem;
4. The ability to analyse and evaluate literature with a view to addressing a particular historical problem;
5. The ability to independently formulate a clear and well-argued research question, taking into account the theory and method of the field and to reduce this question to accessible and manageable sub-questions;
6. The ability to independently set up and carry out an original research project that can make a contribution to existing scholarly debates;
7. The ability to give a clear and well-founded oral and written report on research results in correct English, when required, or Dutch, meeting the criteria of the discipline;
8. The ability to participate in current debates in the specialisation;
9. The ability to provide constructive feedback to and formulate criticism of the work of others and the ability to evaluate the value of such criticism and feedback on one’s own work and incorporate it;
10. (ResMA only): The ability to participate in a discussion of the theoretical foundations of the discipline.

Learning objectives, pertaining to the specialisation

11. Thorough knowledge and comprehension of one of the specialisations or subspecialisations as well as of the historiography of the specialisation, focusing particularly on the following;
    • in the specialisation Political Culture and National Identities: political practices, symbols and perceptions, nationalism, and national identities in a cultural and societal context from 1800.
12. Thorough knowledge and comprehension of the theoretical, conceptual and methodological aspects of the specialisation or subspecialisation in question, with a particular focus on the following:
    • in the specialisation Political Culture and National Identities: international comparison and transfer; the analysis of the specific perspectives of secondary studies; a cultural-historical approach of politics and a political-historical approach of culture.

Learning objectives, pertaining to this Research Seminar

The student:

13. Will learn about the development of international collective memory of the Holocaust;
14. Will do in depth research on a specific Dutch case study of Holocaust memory;
15. Will gain insight in the problematic relationship between history and memory;
16. (ResMA only): Will reflect in writing and in a presentation on the problematic relationship between history and memory and suggest strategies for historians to solve, or at least ameliorate this tension.

Timetable

The timetable is available on the MA History website.

Mode of instruction

• Seminar

Course Load

Total course load 10 EC x 28 hours= 280 hours

• Lectures: 28 hours

• Writing brief essays: 20 hours

• Presentation: 4 hours

• Study of compulsory literature: 40 hours

• Preparing, researching and writing paper: 188 hours

Assessment method

• Written paper (ca. 7500 words, based on research in primary sources, including footnotes and bibliography)
  Measured learning objectives: 1-9, 14-15

• Entry test
  Measured learning objectives: 8, 11-13, 15

• Oral presentation
  Measured learning objectives: 3-7, 14-15

• Assignments (short essays on reading)
  Measured learning objectives: 4, 8, 11-13, 15

• Assignment for Research MA-students (essay and presentation on specified problem)
  Measured learning objectives: 10, 16

Weighing

Written paper: 70%
Entry test: 10%
Oral presentation: 10%
Assignments: 10%

The final grade for the course is established by determining the weighted average with the additional requirement that the written paper must always be sufficient.

Resit

Should the overall mark be unsatisfactory, the paper is to be revised after consultation with the instructor.

Blackboard

Blackboard will be used for:

• Distributing readings

• Course information

Reading list

• Peter Novick, The Holocaust in American life (Boston 1999) also known as The Holocaust and collective memory (Londen 2000). The course will commence with an entry exam on this book.

Registration

Enrolment through uSis is mandatory.
General information about uSis is available in English and Dutch

Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs

Not applicable.

Contact

Dr. B.E. van der Boom

Remarks

None