Honors Composition (110)

The Holocaust: Never Again? Genocide in the 20th Century

Course Description & Objectives

Carved into the memorial wall at Dachau, the words "Never Again" (Nie Wieder) were an imperative both to remember the most well-known mass killing in history and to prevent one from ever occurring again. Sadly, however, the Holocaust was neither the first nor the last genocide of the last one hundred years.

Through a variety of materials, we shall attempt to understand why genocide has been such a prevalent feature of our "civilization" in the past century. In the hope that in some small way we can perhaps prevent future genocides, we, as members of the human community, are obligated to try to provide answers to questions like the following:

• How do apparently normal people become mass murderers, often subjecting their former neighbors to torture before killing them?
• How can the societies of the perpetrators implicitly or explicitly condone and support such acts?
• What elements contribute to the development of a genocidal ideology (e.g., myth, literature, religion, media)?
• What roles have outside countries or the international community played, or not played, in these massacres?
• What, if anything, can be done to prevent genocide in the future?

Although our examination will, of course, be grounded in political history, we will focus primarily on the beliefs, values, institutions, and ideologies that either led to genocide or were developed to support it. We will focus on three major areas, Nazi Germany, Bosnia, and Rwanda, though reference will also be made to many other similar situations: Armenia, the Cambodian genocide of the 1970s, the Iraqi genocide of the Kurds, various instances of cultural genocide, the current crisis in the Sudan, and so on.

Over the course of the semester, students should expect to do the following:

• Learn to appreciate the diversity of cultures on our planet and see how the hatred of other groups of people can sow the seeds of mass murder;
• Dramatically increase historical awareness;
• Have a much greater understanding of important world events and issues;
• Be able to use Polk Library with ease and success;
• Be able to use technology productively and efficiently for coursework;
• Know how to write clearly and intelligently in a variety of situations, with an awareness of purpose, audience, and context;
• Acquire the ability to engage one of the most important human concerns in a substantive way;
• Promote the values associated with a liberal education (see the Liberal Education page).

The above desiderata converge with the program goals for all WBISs. Although our course is offered within the Honors Program, this 110 has been designed and will be taught, essentially, as an intensified, accelerated WBIS.