The “Third Reich” (Seminar)

Analysis of the 12 years of national-socialist dictatorship in Germany from 1933 to 1945 as well as of the events that led to the rise of the Third Reich and the consequences for the time that followed. The following topics will be explored: The conditions that caused the transfer of power to Hitler; the establishment of the dictatorship 1933/34; the economy and society in the Third Reich; everyday life; anti-Semitism; the SS-state: persecution and annihilation - the system of concentration camps; resistance; the unleashing of WW II; German occupation policies; der totale Krieg and the end of the Third Reich; the handling of the national-socialist past after 1945.

Required text: Wolfgang Benz, Geschichte des Dritten Reiches (dtv)