The destruction of the Jews of Europe was largely unknown to Americans in 1945. Today it is difficult to escape being aware of what happened. Histories, memoirs, diaries, and novels continue to flow into bookstores, while feature and documentary films remain popular. If we add memorials and museums as sources of knowledge, as well as the many college and high school courses dealing with the subject, we can begin to understand why in America the Holocaust is so well known. This course will examine the process by which Americans came to know what happened to European Jewry between 1940 and 1945. In doing so, we will also consider the purposes and value of the sources available.
Course Requirements:
There will be a midterm exam, a paper, and a final
Class Format:
Discussion with occasional lectures, and perhaps a visitor