This module is not currently running in 2024 to 2025.
What were the experiences of 'outsiders' who did not conform to Nazi ideals? What was it like to live in an occupied country during the Second World War? This course, which is structured in two parts, examines both Germany during the Third Reich and Vichy France under German occupation. Themes to be addressed include: the persecution of Jews, Roma and Sinti, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals and those with impairments; pro- and anti-natalist policies; the concentration camp system; German resistance; the fall of France; Vichy collusion; popular collaboration; French resistance; and the Liberation.
This module will be taught through one 1-hour lecture and one 2-hour seminar each week, with the exception of Enhancement Week and one week that will be dedicated to coursework feedback.
This module will be assessed by:
- Essay 1 (3,000 words) – 20%
- Essay 2 (3,000 words) – 20%
- Examination (2 hrs) – 60%
Germany
• Dan Stone (ed.) The Historiography of the Holocaust
• Judith Tydor Baumel, Double Jeopardy: Gender and the Holocaust
• Michael Burleigh and W. Wipperman, The Racial State: Germany 1933– 1945
• Donald Kendrick & Grattan Puxon, Gypsies Under the Swastika
• M. James Penton, Jehovah's Witnesses and the Third Reich: Sectarian Politics Under Persecution
• Richard Plant, The Pink Triangle: The Nazi War Against Homosexuals
• Jill Stephenson, Women in Nazi Germany
France
• Peter Davis, France and the Second World War: Occupation, Collaboration and Resistance
• Richard Vinen, The Unfree French: Life under the Occupation
• Robert Gildea, Marianne in Chains: In Search of the German Occupation, 1940-1945
• Julian Jackson, France: The Dark Years, 1940-1944
• Gerhard Hirschfeld & Patrick Marsh, (eds.), Collaboration in France: Politics and Culture During the Nazi Occupation, 1940-1944
• Matthew Cobb, The Resistance: The French Fight Against the Nazis
• Henry Rousso, The Vichy Syndrome: History and Memory in France Since 1944
• Hanna Diamond, Women and the Second World War in France, 1939-1948: Choices and Constraints
See the library reading list for this module (Canterbury)
The intended subject specific learning outcomes
Through exposure to case studies from Nazi Germany and Vichy France, students who have completed this class will have:
- gained an in-depth knowledge of the themes of persecution, repression and resistance;
- obtained a broad knowledge of some of the historiographical debates surrounding the subject and be well positioned to judge between competing interpretations of this era;
- formulated their own opinions on a variety of historiographical approaches, developed their oral and written communication skills and presented a clear historical argument supported with relevant evidence;
- engaged with selected representations, drawn from a range of primary source materials including official documents, filmic representations, posters, autobiographies, diaries and oral histories;
- engaged with a range of secondary source materials including articles and monographs and have practiced selecting and deploying historical information.
- critically engaged with a broad range of primary sources;
- critically engaged with a range of secondary sources, having obtained a deep knowledge of the latest research;
- demonstrated independent learning skills by being able to make use of a wide range of resources, including up-to-date research in peer-reviewed journals, information technology, relevant subject bibliographies and other primary and secondary sources.
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The intended generic learning outcomes
Through the study of this module, all students should have acquired:
- enhanced communication, presentational skills and information technology skills;
- enhanced their ability to express complex ideas and arguments orally and in writing, skills which can be transferred to other areas of study and employment.
- demonstrated the acquisition of an independent learning style when engaging with the course content, for example in the preparation and presentation of course work, in carrying out independent research, in compiling bibliographies and other lists of research materials, by showing the ability to reflect on their own learning and by mediating complex arguments in both oral and written form;
- analysed and demonstrated a cogent understanding of central texts and, subsequently, presented arguments based on this analysis.
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