Announcements (old announcements move to bottom, where there are also visitor statistics)

• Oct. 28, 2009: In case students registered for the Winter 2010 offering of this course come to this site, I want to emphasize that we will be using a different textbook (namely Ronnie Landau, The Nazi Holocaust; $17 at amazon), and have different secondary readings (although I again want to use Maus).
• Sept. 26, 2009: Some links that I might use if I make pages for lecture topics:
  • Der Spiegel Sept. 2009 series "The Road to World War II"
  • Yad Vashem has online courses, e.g. Germany 1918-1943
• Nov. 11, 2008: October announcement removed. I mistakenly thought that I would be teaching this course in Winter 2009. Actually, I will be teaching Hist 133b (Germany 1900-1945). I will be teaching this course again in Winter 2010.
• March 31, 2008: Here is the distribution of grades for my 2008 Hist 133d course according to the total point scores (see note on grading, below; also my Grading page):

  # students	86-87pts=B+   2	C+   0	D   0
  93-108pts=A  23	84pts     =B      2	69-70pts=C     1	F    0
  89+-92pts=A-  6	81-82pts=B-    3	C-    0	incomplete:     0	total:  37

• March 24, 2008: I've finished uploading all of the book essays. Please find your paper in the grid on the Book Essay index page, and check the text and all of the links, and report errors or confirm their absence in an e-mail to me. (If you've confirmed already, you're fine.)
  I'll be posting the grade distribution soon.

Course Description and Goals (back to top)

There are many reasons to study the Holocaust, which I understand to be the systematic, state-run mass murder of entire groups of people. In this course we will not only study what happened, but also investigate why those events happened. My courses also emphasize historical skills: assessing and interpreting historical sources, and presenting the results of research.

Some useful sites and interesting links (back to top)

• Nazi propaganda documents (originals with English translations), at an excellent site created in 1999 by Randall Bytwerk at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, author of Bending Spines: The Propagandas of Nazi Germany and the German Democratic Republic (2004; $17 at amazon). There is also a section on pre-1933 Nazi propaganda.
• German History in Documents site: The German Historical Institute in Washington has specially prepared translated documents, maps and images about Nazi Germany online.
• The US Embassy in Germany has History of German-American Relations, 1901-39 and 1939-45 pages with excellent and easily navigable collections of documents.
• ThirdReichRuins.com compares photographs of many historical sites "then" and "now." It was made by Geoff Walden, with many of the "then" photos stemming from his father, who was stationed in Germany in 1945-46.
• ScrapbookPages.com is another private initiative that gives excellent photographs and information about many Holocaust sites, with some then-and-now perspectives as well.

Materials from Prof. Marcuse's previous Hist 133D & 33D courses (back to top)

• Fall      1996:                  syllabus
• Fall      1998: homepage; syllabus
• Fall      1999: homepage; syllabus
• Winter 2000: homepage; syllabus
• Fall      2001: homepage; syllabus
• Fall      2002: homepage; syllabus (33D)
• Fall      2003: homepage; syllabus (33D)
• Fall      2005: homepage; syllabus (33D)
• Winter 2008: homepage; syllabus
• Winter 2009: homepage; syllabus

Grading policies (back to top)

Grading can serve many purposes. Among them are: motivating students to engage with the material (by providing feedback and rewarding effort), assessing how well students have done the assigned work, and ranking students relative to each other.
I personally dislike assigning grades. I'm interested in what you have to say, and want you to put in the effort to develop interesting thoughts and express them well. I hope you will be motivated to learn enough factual material to have a solid basis from which you can develop your thoughts. If you need the prospect of a better grade to do the learning and thinking, fine. For various reasons, I have to grade to assess your work anyway (if I write letters of recommendation, for instance, I need some data on relative strengths and weaknesses, and effort expended). The grade distributions I give my courses are also monitored by the department and the University. (see grade distributions for some of my other lecture courses on my Grading Data & Policies page)
My bottom line: I want the grades I give to be a FAIR reflection of the effort (attendance, doing assignments, meeting deadlines) and learning (content of submitted work) you show, and to give a rough indication of where you stand on those factors relative to others in the class.
To give you an idea of typical grade distributions for my upper division lecture courses, I include two examples here (more are on my Grading Data page)

• March 31, 2008: Here is the distribution of grades for my 2008 Hist 133d course according to the total point scores (see note on grading, below; also my Grading page):

  # students	86-87pts=B+   2	C+   0	D   0
  93-108pts=A  23	84pts     =B      2	69-70pts=C     1	F    0
  89+-92pts=A-  6	81-82pts=B-    3	C-    0	incomplete:     0	total:  37

• Mar. 29, 2006: Here is the distribution of grades for my 2006 Hist 133c course according to the raw point scores (see note on grading, below):

  # students	87-89pts=B+   6	77-78pts=C+   2	62-67pts=D   2
  93-100pts=A    6	83-86pts=B     2	71-76pts=C     3	F    1
  90-91pts=A-    2	79-82pts=B-    5	68-70pts=C-   1	incomplete:     1	total:  31

• Mar. 23, 2004: Here is the distribution of grades for my 2004 Hist 133C course according to the raw point score without the participation grade (95 possible points [well 101, if you count the double extra credit for the outside events]):

  # students	86-85pts=B+     2	75-71pts=C+   4	D   0
  94-90pts=A    5	84-80pts=B      10	70-62pts=C     2	D-  0	graduate student: 1
  89-87pts=A-   5	79-76pts=B-      4	pts=C-   0	F    0	total:   33

If you are think your grade does not reflect your work and effort:

• First, please note that I grade YOUR WORK, not you.
• If you feel that the grade you received on your paper or exam does not correspond to the quality of work that you submitted, or the effort you put into it, you have two options:
  1. Print out, complete, and submit the following Grade Change Application Form ;-),
     OR:
  2. Write a page (or paragraph, whatever it takes) explaining WHY you think your work is better than the grade assigned to it. Please refer to the appropriate assignment sheet (for book essays and web projects), and make sure you did the assignment.
     • Then resubmit the work in question with your explanation, and I will regrade it and get back to you.
     • Be sure to put some contact address on your explanation sheet, so that I can be in touch with you.
     • Note that I reserve the right to lower your grade, if I feel that is warranted by closer examination

Picking up your work

I keep all student work for at least one quarter after the course is over. If you would like to pick up your work, please come to my office. During my office hours is usually best for me, but if you would like your work left in an envelope in the envelope outside my door, or to arrange a different pick-up time, send me an e-mail or leave a note.

Old Announcements (back to top)

• 10/9/08: most of them removed; still available on the 2008 133d website
• Jan 16, 2008: Q1 due Thursday, 1/17. In a blue book, on the first right-hand page:
  5-7 bullet points on the causes of (just one of a, b, or c):
1. Vladek's survival, OR
2. Why "people" (which?) hunted & murdered Jews, OR
3. Why "people" (which?) helped Jews.
• Be sure to cite specific panels, giving volume & page numbers, for example (I, 16).
• The questions on the Maus handout are available online as well (see questions section).
• Jan. 21, 2008:
  • I've started the Books for Essay page.
  • This Thursday (1/24) Sobibor survivor Thomas Blatt will be speaking to our class. As preparation, please read this student review of Escape from Sobibor, a book by Richard Rashke upon which the 1987 film Escape from Sobibor is based.
• (1/21/08) Feb. 20, 2008, 6-9pm: The required film Uprising (about the Warsaw ghetto uprising), will be shown in 1930 Buchanan on Wed. evening, 2/20. If you can't make that showing, see the professor to make alternate arrangements (borrow his or rent a VHS/DVD copy).
  • note 1/21/08: as I announced in class last Thursday when I handed out the blue Book Essay assignment sheet, having the essay due the day after the film showing is NOT a good idea. Thus the book essay due date will be Tuesday, 2/19/08, 12:30pm.
• Jan. 24-Feb. 2, 2008: Santa Barbara International Film Festival. There are four films being screened that have Holocaust themes (thanks to Mackenzie for the reminder):
  • THE COUNTERFEITERS is the true story of historys largest counterfeiting operation. Set up by the Nazis in 1936 under the name Operation Bernhard, the plan was to counterfeit the currency of enemy nations in an attempt to weaken their economies while filling the empty war coffers. (98 mins; link; 25th-7:30, 26th-11am, 27th-7:30)
  • A Jewish Federation of Greater Santa Barbara Film by Louise Palanker and Jennifer A. Reinish, WE PLAYED MARBLES features eleven local Holocaust survivors who recount memories of their childhoods in Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary and Poland. Their stories illuminate the rich European Jewish culture that was systematically destroyed by Nazi tyranny. These Santa Barbara residents - now in their 70s and 80s - share memories of how their lives were abruptly and forever changed by dramatic historic events. (75 mins; link; 26th-7pm)
  • Narrated by Angelica Aragon, this is a thoughtful, sensitive and moving story of two women whose disparate paths cross. In the process, they reconstruct what has been lost in order to understand their future. Award-winning director, Guita Schyfter, returns to documentary film for a personal exploration of memory, origins, and the intersections of conflicting identities in LABYRINTHS OF MEMORY. The film interweaves Schyfters story—a journey to Russia and Costa Rica to comprehend the lives of her parents, orphaned Jews displaced by the Holocaust—and that of Maité Guiteras, the twice-adopted daughter of famous Cuban anthropologist Calixta Guiteras, as she returns to Chiapas, Mexico to find her birth mother. (95 mins.; link; 30th-12:30, 1st-7pm)
  • Nominated for four Israeli film awards, THE DEBT is a cat-and-mouse espionage thriller set in Israel in the mid-1990s. Rachel is a comfortably retired Mossad agent, having recently penned her memoirs. Thirty years earlier, she and her fellow agents, Zvi and Ehud, were honored for hunting, capturing and killing a malevolent Nazi war criminal, the "Surgeon of Birkenau." During the book launch party, Zvi re-emerges, telling Rachel that a frail, perhaps delusional, man in a nursing home in Kiev is now claiming to be the surgeon. (93 mins; link; 31st-4:30, 1st-7:45, 2nd-4:30)
• Feb. 16, 2008: There are a number of announcements:
  • The book essays are due Tuesday, Feb. 19, at the start of class.
  • The film Uprising will be shown Wed., 2/20, 6-9pm in Buchanan 1930.
    Q5, based on the film, will be due in class on Thursday.
  • The midterm survey is now available--*please* take it (only 10 short questions).
  • Here are links to web pages I made for a previous course's lectures on Kristallnacht and Eugenics. They cover material similar to what I presented in this course.
• Feb. 17, 2008: Some late-breaking tips on the book essay:
  • Just to clarify, since several students have asked: the 1-2 page summary is part of the book essay; the whole thing is due Tuesday. It is worth 20% of your course grade.
  • The Web Option Handout is now available on the web (I'll pass it out in class next week). However, if you look at sections IV and V you'll get some tips on avoiding my pet peeves and my formatting preferences. You don't have to do these now, but I appreciate them nonetheless. In any case, §5 and §6 on the blue book essay assignment handout are more important. (Be sure to number the pages, by hand if necessary, and turn in your prospectus as well.)
• Feb. 28, 2008: so far only 24 students have taken the midterm survey. Please take it if you haven't already! (It should now accept responses until next Tuesday--please let me know if it doesn't.)
• Feb. 28, 2008: Thesis statements were the biggest problem on the papers. If you're unclear on the concept (as I noted in my comments on your paper), please refer to this 1-page printable handout from my favorite guide to writing in history, Mary Lynn Rampolla, A Pocket Guide to Writing in History (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 5th ed. 2007), 47-49. hi-res print version (tip: set your browser's file > print options to landscape before printing)
• Mar. 3, 2008: A student pointed out a discrepancy on the Web Option handout, and I'd like to take the opportunity to clarify what tomorrow's submissions should include.
  • In I.2. I say name your file AuthorslastnameYourlastnameYear_083.doc, then give the example MarcuseFrankl2006_083.doc. What I really want is:
  • AuthorslastnameYearofPubYourlastname083.doc
    if you want (and your name is short) you can also include your first initial or whole first name. Thus the example should be:
    Frankl2006HMarcuse083.doc
    or, to use an actual example:
    MullerHill1997TMitchell083.doc
  • Also, I do NOT want your electronic version e-mailed yet, but rather the printout of the new stuff, AND the old version and reviews that I returned to you.
    In class I said that if you had marked clearly on the old printout what you were changing, and it wasn't that much beyond what I had marked, you do not have to print out the paper itself a second time, just the new items II. 1-5,7 (but not the text of the essay with the tracked changes, 6.
    What's important is that I can see somehow what you've changed.
• Mar. 5, 2008: I've udpated the schedule in the online syllabus to reflect the changes in the lecture topics and readings announced Feb. 26 (see announcement of that date). For this Thursday (tomorrow), read chapter 14.
• Mar. 6, 2008 [Mar 11]: Midterm Survey Results, conducted Feb. 18-Mar. 3. The original questionnaire was on surveymonkey.com; 29/37 students had taken it when I downloaded the results on Monday, March 3.
  1. Attendance: 47% always attend, 53% missed one or two classes
  2. Readings: 28% did all, 56% most, 12% some, 3% little/none
     22% did them on time, 28% on time if Q, 3% random (=53%--did I miss an option?)
  3. Textbook: 41% found it excellent, 56% good, 19% ok (=116%, what's going on?)
  4. Anticipated grade: 72% A/A-, 28% B+/B
  5. Compared to other lecture classes, I learn: more 55%, same 39%, less 6%
  6. What would improve lectures? slower 6%, more images 24%,
     more in-depth stories 33%, more broad context 33% (is that the opposite?)
     more videos 22%, more class discussion 18%
  7. I found my book for essay: 44% great, 41% satisfied, 16% ok
     I picked it from: 52% prof's list, 24% amazon, 12% library, 12% prof's suggestion
  • comments: please put in e-mail when you send e-mail your web option
  8. Biggest gripe? (27 responses):
     • classroom: 7 (Why, specifically? What can we change?)
       arrange tables facing front; use chairs with desks around walls
     • too much analysis and theory: 5
     • e-mailing of Questions: 3
     • too little discussion: 2; too much discussion: 2
     • more focus on readings: 2
  9. Best Features:
     • Qs/no midterm: 6 (1: Qs detract from enjoying reading)
     • guest speakers/outside events, images/video, readings, lecture style