Holocaust and Genocide Studies Concentration

Undergraduate Concentration

The Holocaust and other genocides are studied to enhance our understanding of the society from which we came, the society in which we live, and the society to which we currently are giving shape. By studying the Holocaust and genocide, we learn about collusion and resistance; about the hot violence of mass murder and the cold violence of the modern, bureaucratic machinery of death; and about suffering and adaptation to suffering. We learn how societies disintegrated, step by step, and how ordinary men, women, and children both participated in and were affected by this disintegration. We learn, in short, a tremendous amount about what we need to know now to help us make the world a better place, wherever we might be.

The undergraduate concentration in Holocaust and Genocide Studies provides students with solid grounding in the history of the Holocaust and other genocides. Students also take a series of courses in a variety of disciplines to ensure a critical and sophisticated understanding of the various facets of these atrocities. The undergraduate program of study encompasses history, sociology, political science, geography, international development, psychology and literature.

For more information, please visit the Holocaust and Genocide Studies Department’s website.

Two from the following core options:

• SOC 130 Genocide  or HIST 130 Introduction to History of Genocide 
• HIST 165 Nazi Germany and the Holocaust  or HIST 175 Holocaust: Agency and Action 
• PSCI 214 Mass Murder and Genocide Under Communism 

Section A

Two from this list are required.

• CLAS 262 - Jews and Christians in the Ancient World
• GERM 250 - German Film and the Frankfurt School
• HIST 115 - Authority and Democracy: The History of Modern Central Europe
• HIST 135 - History of Armenia
• HIST 142 - Central Europe in the Long 19th century (1756-1914)
• HIST 143 - War and Peace: Central Europe, 1914-2003
• HIST 153 - Europe in the Age of Extremes: the 20th Century
• HIST 162 - The History of the Modern Middle East
• HIST 185 - The Russian Revolution, 1890-1938
• HIST 234 - Racial Thought and Body Politics in Modern Europe (1500-2000)
• HIST 255 - History of the Jews in Eastern Europe
• HIST 283 - Eastern European Jewish Diaspora: Culture and Community in Twentieth Century US, USSR and Israel
• HIST 292 - Yiddish Literature and the History of Jewish Secular Culture
• JS 130 - Suffering and Evil in Jewish Tradition
• JS 174 - The Jewish Experience
• PSCI 136 - Sub-Saharan Africa: Issues and Problems

Section B

One from this list is required.

* Can fulfill Section B requirements only if not taken as one of the three core courses.

• HIST 165 - Nazi Germany and the Holocaust *
• HIST 175 - Holocaust: Agency and Action *
• HIST 237 - The Holocaust Perpetrators
• HIST 261 - Jewish Children in Nazi-Occupied Europe
• HIST 265 - Life and Death in the City: Occupied Europe, 1939-1945
• HIST 273 - Life Under Occupation
• HIST 352 - The Holocaust Through Letters and Diaries
• HIST 360 - Rescue and Resistance During the Holocaust
• HIST 366 - Refugees

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Section C

One from this list is required.

** Can fulfill Section C requirements only if not taken as one of the three core courses.

• CMLT 109 - Human Rights and Literature
• GEOG 197 - Native Americans, Land and Natural Resources
• HIST 106 - Modern Europe, 19th & 20th Centuries: Ethnicity, War, and Genocide
• HIST 130 - Introduction to History of Genocide **
• HIST 230 - History of the Armenian Genocide
• HIST 236 - Gender, War and Genocide in 20th Century Europe
• HIST 262 - Genocide, Denial, Facing History and Reconciliation
• HIST 276 - Collective Memory and Mass Violence
• ID 252 - Conflict in Sudan and the Horn of Africa
• ID 285 - States of Violence: Culture, Trauma, and Identity in Asia
• ID 291 - Displacement and Development in the Contemporary World.
• PSCI 146 - The United Nations and International Politics
• PSCI 214 - Mass Murder and Genocide Under Communism **
• PSCI 240 - Human Rights and International Politics
• PSYC 264 - Social and Cultural Psychology of Genocides
• PSCI 270 - Gender, War and Peace
• PSCI 289 - Advanced Topics in International Relations - Capstone Seminar : International Law and Human Rights : Nationalism, Ethnic Conflict, and International Security
• SOC 130 - Genocide **

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Capstone Courses

The capstone requirement may be fulfilled through a directed-research project or seminar. Students must receive permission from the instructor to count a seminar as the capstone experience. Examples of seminars that fulfill the capstone requirement are:

• HIST 230 - History of the Armenian Genocide
• HIST 234 - Racial Thought and Body Politics in Modern Europe (1500-2000)
• HIST 236 - Gender, War and Genocide in 20th Century Europe
• HIST 261 - Jewish Children in Nazi-Occupied Europe
• HIST 262 - Genocide, Denial, Facing History and Reconciliation
• HIST 265 - Life and Death in the City: Occupied Europe, 1939-1945
• HIST 273 - Life Under Occupation
• HIST 276 - Collective Memory and Mass Violence
• HIST 352 - The Holocaust Through Letters and Diaries
• HIST 360 - Rescue and Resistance During the Holocaust
• HIST 366 - Refugees
• ID 252 - Conflict in Sudan and the Horn of Africa
• ID 285 - States of Violence: Culture, Trauma, and Identity in Asia
• ID 291 - Displacement and Development in the Contemporary World.
• PSYC 264 - Social and Cultural Psychology of Genocides