Content

This unit combines intensive study with an immersive cultural experience. Students will visit the main sites associated with the Sho'ah (Holocaust) in eastern Germany and Poland , and will explore - through conversations with the lecturer-in-charge and an experienced guide - the social, political, and theological conditions of early-20th century Europe that enabled the Nazis' genocide of the Jews to be carried out. The role of the Protestant and Catholic Churches - in both complicity and protest - will be given articular attention. The unit can be taken as either a stand-alone and non-assessable study tour for no credit, or as a fully assessable unit for credit.

Unit code: CH9999T

Unit status: Approved (New unit)

Points: 24.0

Unit level: Postgraduate Elective

Unit discipline: Church History

Delivery Mode: Intensive

Proposing College: Trinity College Theological School

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Learning outcomes

1.

Articulate a critical awareness of the key events in the development and implementation of the Nazis' 'Final Solution'

2.

Evaluate the role play by the Churches and their theologies in enabling the Holocaust

3.

Articulate a sound understanding of the evolution and forms of European antisemitism

4.

Reflect critically on the lessons of the Holocaust for contemporary politics and theology

5.

Critically analyse the effectiveness and limitations of literary and artistic representations of the Holocaust

Unit sequence

An introductory unit in CT or CH

Pedagogy

Students will travel to Poland together. Preparation for the tour will include reading and outlining an investigative project for the tour, as well as information about the sites to be visited. During the tour there will be engagement at particular sites with experts in the field and seminars with participants.

Indicative Bibliography

  • R. Benigni (director), Life is Beautiful, (1997).
  • T. Blatt, From the Ashes of Sobibor: A Story of Survival, (Northwestern University Press, 1997).
  • C.R. Browning, Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland, (New York: Harper, 1992).
  • D. Cymet, History vs Apologetics: The Holocaust, the Third Reich, and the Catholic Church, (Lexington Books, 2010).
  • D.J. Goldhagen, Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust, (London: Little, Brown & Co, 1996).
  • C. Lanzmann (director), Sho'ah, (1985)
  • A. Kuznetsov, Babi Yar, (Vintage, 2023).
  • S. Spielberg (director), Schindler's List, (1993).
  • R. Steigmann-Gall, The Holy Reich: Nazi Conceptions of Christianity, 1919-1945, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003; repr. 2005).
  • E. Wiesel, Night, (Hill and Wang, 2006).

Assessment

Type Description Word count Weight (%)
Essay

Research essay

4000 40.0
Source Analysis

Critical analysis of a literary or artistic representation of the Sho'ah

2000 20.0
Journal

Reflective journal based on the experiences of the study tour

2000 40.0
Approvals

Unit approved for the University of Divinity by Prof Albert Haddad on 1 Sep, 2023

Unit record last updated: 2023-09-01 10:30:41 +1000