20803242History Nazi Germany-1919-1945
Course Information
Description
This course chronicles the rise and fall of the Third Reich. To accomplish this, the course will analyze National Socialism's historical roots, investigate Nazism's links with World War 1, chart Nazi Party growth in the 1920s and 1930s, explore the creation of the Nazi state, assess Germany's role in World War II, examine the Holocaust, and consider Nazism's legacy.
Total Credits
3

Course Competencies
  1. Assess primary and secondary historical sources
    Assessment Strategies
    Written Product
    Criteria
    explain how historical actors represented their role in major events in Nazi Germany
    assess the strengths and weaknesses of scholarly, historical analyses of Nazi Germany
    present historically informed analysis of primary and secondary sources
    provide interpretations of historical events and developments based on analysis of primary and  secondary sources

  2. Examine the changing borders and boundaries of Germany from 1815 to the present
    Assessment Strategies
    Map Test
    Criteria
    identify Germany’s significant physical geographical features on a map
    identify significant German cities and sites on a map
    identify European nation-states on map
    explore how Germany’s position in the heart of Europe affected its relationship with neighboring countries from 1871 to 1945
    describe how the Adolf Hitler’s view of physical geography and natural resources molded Nazi Germany’s colonial and expansionist foreign policy

  3. Conduct historical research using Madison College libraries
    Assessment Strategies
    Skill Demonstration
    Criteria
    identify appropriate topics for journal article critiques/book reviews
    work with Madison College librarians to effectively use scholarly databases and other sources
    create a bibliography modeled on the seventeenth edition of The Chicago Manual of Style
    supply a word processing file that follows formatting instructions and utilizes automated features supplied by word processing programs

  4. Collaborate with peers and instructor
    Assessment Strategies
    Individual and/or group project in online and/or in-person settings
    Criteria
    generate historically informed responses to course content (assigned books and films)
    connect course content to the present and current events
    respond to the analyses and interpretations offered by peers and instructor
    engage in constructive, collegial debate with peers and instructor

  5. Create analytically oriented and historically informed essays about Nazi Germany
    Assessment Strategies
    Journal, Essay
    Criteria
    use a writing process (multiple drafts)
    essay includes primary and secondary sources
    follow the conventions of standard written English
    essay presents information that engages directly with historical issues and topics
    essay is organized logically and coherently
    essay includes a bibliography
    essay includes a thesis supported with sufficient evidence
    sources are cited using standard academic documentation

  6. Identify significant cultural, intellectual, political, and social origins of Nazism
    Assessment Strategies
    Written Product
    Criteria
    use a writing process (multiple drafts)
    explore how the era of German unification affected the development of Nazism
    explain how Social Darwinism influenced Nazi ideology
    describe how Marxism influenced Nazi ideology
    study the relationship between antisemitism, Marxism, and Nazism
    compare Nazism to other anti-democratic, anti-parliamentary European political movements
    examine the connections between World War I and Nazism

  7. Analyze the origins, growth, and fall of the Nazi Party
    Assessment Strategies
    Essay, review, and/or article critique
    Criteria
    explore what socioeconomic groups were attracted to Nazism
    examine the role violence played in Nazi political campaigns before Nazi seizure of power
    investigate the role propaganda played building popular support before the Nazi seizure of power
    analyze the interplay between political crises and Nazi electoral performance before the Nazi seizure of power
    assess and analyze popular views of the Nazi Party and its members from 1920 to 1945

  8. Analyze the Nazis’ belief in and conception of the National People’s Community (Volksgemeinschaft)
    Assessment Strategies
    Essays, article critique and/or book review
    Criteria
    examine how the German concept of the people (das Volk) reflected Romantic rather than Enlightenment thought
    analyze how unification affected the definition of the German People
    investigate how the World War I helped create a “people’s community at the front and at home
    explore how the Nazis informally and then legally defined those inside and out of the national people’s community

  9. Develop historical empathy for the tens of millions of people affected, harmed by National Socialism from 1919 the present
    Assessment Strategies
    Essays, review, and/or critique
    Criteria
    analyze Nazi persecution of political opponents from 1933 to 1945
    investigate the origins, implementation, consequences, and legacy of the Nazi Genocide of European Jews
    examine the origins, implementation, consequences, and legacy of the Nazi genocide of those considered “sub-human
    explore the experience of Nazi occupation policies in the Soviet Union and other parts of Nazi-controlled Europe
    examine how the Third Reich fundamentally reshaped German and European demography, politics, and political boundaries

  10. Analyze how Germany has dealt with the legacy and memory of the Third Reich
    Assessment Strategies
    Essay, Review, and/or Critique
    Criteria
    examine the post-war tendency to view anti-Nazi resistors as traitors
    describe how the horrors experienced by Germans during World War II developed a sense of victimization
    explore the development of extremist movements in the German military and police forces
    investigate how Germany has grappled with the legacy and public memory of the Holocaust