History of the Holocaust
Course Location: Auschwitz and various cities in Germany and Poland.
Course Dates: July 20, 2009 – August 9, 2009
Academic Credits: 3 credits in History (HIST 220), 3 credits in Service-Learning (SRVL 493) through West Virginia University
Academic Instructor: Christopher Kopper now teaches modern German history at Bielefeld University in Germany. He has taught at both University of Pittsburgh and University of Minnesota.
Course Description
This course challenges students to better understand the events leading up to and surrounding the Holocaust while fully appreciating its implications for the present and future.
The course begins in Berlin, Germany. Through a series of readings, discussions, seminars, and visits to museums, monuments, and historic sites, students will the examine the historical events and context which led to the rise of Hitler and fascism, the ideology of Nazism, and the political structures of National Socialist rule in Germany. Some of the sites visited will include the Holocaust Memorial, Jewish History Museum, and Reichstag. We will also visit the large Turkish community of Berlin to learn about and compare their integration into German society with that of the Jews of the last century and today.
As students travel with their course leaders across Germany and into bordering Poland, the focus of the course shifts to the infamous Nazi concentration camps and killing centers. Moving beyond the typical understanding of camps as the site of mass atrocities and genocide, students will gain insight into the use of the concentration camp system as a structure of unlimited terror employed to prevent political resistance and persecute any and all minorities.
The most profound aspect of the course is the service-learning component which allows students to be directly involved at Auschwitz-Birkenau Historic Site and Museum. Auschwitz is the site of the largest atrocities committed by the Nazis during World War II where over 1.1 million Jews, Poles, Gypsies, Jehovah Witnesses, homosexuals and others were systematically tortured and murdered. The government of Poland finds it a challenge to maintain their parks, museums, and historic sites including Auschwitz. With more than one million visitors a year, the Auschwitz Museum and Historic Site is having a difficult time maintaining the facilities and archives.
The main service project involves much needed landscaping, building/fixing fences, building wheel chair ramps and paths, painting, and repairing signs. In the Museum's attempt to document every single person and event that occurred at the camp, volunteers will also assist with the archives. The second location of service will take us to the adjacent town of Oswiecim and its Jewish Cemetery, the last vestige of the vibrant Jewish community that once existed throughout Poland. Here, within sight of the killing center, we will participate in the sacred act of weeding and repairing the graves of Polish Jews who preceded the total destruction of their community. For many it is here that the meaning of the Holocaust, the Shoah, and the formation of the modern Jewish State of Israel is truly understood and made real.
During their service at Auschwitz and Oswiecim, students will learn about the process by which the concentration camp system grew from persecuting anti-Nazi resisters and denying prisoners basic justice and humane treatment to a killing center designed to help murder every Jew in Europe and to systematically terrorize other victims.
In comparison, students will also learn about the countless "Righteous Gentiles," the brave people who risked their lives to protect others.
The final portion of the course focuses on remembrance and its implications for the present and future. As the last generation of Holocaust survivors passes, students will focus on the challenge currently facing historians and human rights activists.
Other activities will include visits to nearby Krakow, probably one of the most beautiful, culturally alive and historically significant cities of Poland. On our way home we will make a final visit to Berlin, exciting capital of the unified Germany of the 21st Century, with its rapidly growing Jewish community, openly gay mayor and a woman who serves as Chancellor of the nation.
Program Fee: $4697 (before 12/31)* $4947 (before 2/15)** $5197 (after 2/15) Apply Now
The Program Fee includes room and board, local programming, staffing, and transportation, university credits, international health insurance, a contribution to the local community organization, and recreational and cultural activities.
Students are responsible for international airfare, passports and/or visas, immunizations and any books or required course materials.
* Students who are accepted and hold their place with a non-refundable $500 deposit by December 31, 2008 receive a $500 tuition discount.
** Students who are accepted and hold their place with a non-refundable $500 deposit by February 15, 2009 receive a $250 tuition discount.