220120 Histories and Memories of the Holocaust in Germany, Europe and Africa (S) (SoSe 2026)

The course will introduce students to the multinational as well as transnational history of the systematic persecution and murder of the European Jews between 1933 and 1945 as well as memories and representations of this historic mass crime in Germany, Europe and Africa from 1945 to the present. It will be jointly taught by two historians with distinct expertise in the history and aftermath of the Holocaust in Germany/Europe (Morina) and the Africa (Back), respectively. The course will examine its causes, dynamics and consequences, particularly for Jews living in Nazi Germany, across Europe and the Middle East. The aim is to explore the relevance of prewar political conditions, social/interpersonal relations and crucial cultural forces such as antisemitism, racism and imperialism. Based on the relevant current historiography, conceptual work and interdisciplinary research on these subjects, the course will probe the involvement of local governments as well as the responses of non-Jewish contemporaries within the wider populations. The goal is to systematically, comparatively and transnationally address issues of agency, complicity and solidarity during the Holocaust as a historic German, European and even global mass crime. Finally, the course will deal with the aftermath of the Nazi war and genocide in Germany, Europe, and Africa – in terms of the political, legal, cultural and social ramifications and including the ways in which the Holocaust is being remembered, taught and increasingly contested in educational and memorial-political contexts.

Course goals:
- comprehensive overview of the origins, course and consequences of the Holocaust in context of 20th century German, European and African history
- ability to critically engage with issues of history, memory and memory politics in past and present
- depending on career aspirations of students, exemplary insights into the practical work of professional/public historians, including via guest speakers

Methods:
- class and group discussions based on secondary readings, mini inputs by instructors, and work with primary source materials (textual & visual)
- group tasks relating to primary source analyses
- film and cultural analysis
- field trips (archive, museum, memorial, including virtual visits)
- smaller, analytical and creative writing assignments

Learning Outcomes:
By the successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
- understand the major historiographical works, analytical approaches and controversies currently shaping the field of Holocaust Studies, including issues of narration and rep-
resentation
- productively engage with the various concepts, methods, and sources relevant to the study of the Holocaust and its aftermath, with a focus on aspects such as (mass) violence, antisemitism and genocide(s) as social process(es)
- critically evaluate theoretical issues and the gains of interdisciplinary work in the study of mass violence in the 20th century
- develop, discuss and write about their own analytical questions and approaches to the history of the Holocaust and its relevance to present and future ways of historical learning, cultural representation and societal engagement

Bibliography

Norman J. W. Goda, The Holocaust. Europe, the World, and the Jews, 1918-1945, New York, 2022.
Jacob Eder et al., eds., Holocaust Memory in a Globalizing World Göttingen, 2017.
Christina Morina, Krijn Thijs (eds.), Probing the Limits of Categorization: The Bystander in Holocaust History, New York, 2019.
Rachel O’Sullivan, Michelle Gordon (eds.), Colonial Paradigms of Violence: Comparative Analysis of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Mass killing, Göttingen, 2022.
Michael Rothberg, Multidirectional Memory: Remembering the Holocaust in the Age of Decolonialization (Stanford University Press, 2009)