STANTON SHARP TEACHING SYMPOSIUM

Saturday, February 9, 2008

8:30 a.m. – 3:15 p.m.

Sponsored by the Clements Dept. of History

Southern Methodist University

11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.      SESSION II

"Approaches to Teaching Nazi Germany and the Holocaust"

  Professor Donald Niewyk

  102 Dallas Hall

The Nazis have become emblematic of political evil in the modern world.  Educators have the task of helping students penetrate the surface of horror in order to understand how “ordinary Germans” (and others, too) could allow themselves to be swept up in dictatorship, racism, and genocide.  We will explore the attractions of Nazism, the balancing of terror and consensus under Hitler, and the key role of racism at every level of the Third Reich, including debates in the burgeoning field of Holocaust studies.  Among these are conflicting opinions regarding Holocaust definition, perpetrator motivations, Jewish resistance, and rescue.

Donald Niewyk teaches courses in modern European history and writes about the Jews and antisemitism in Germany.  He is the author of four books, most recently “Fresh Wounds: Early Narratives of Holocaust Survival” and “The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust.”  He is currently studying the role of the Jews in the German economy.