Short courses

Summary

‘Never again’ is the oft repeated warning concerning the Holocaust, the murder of approximately 6 million Jews and other persecuted groups perpetrated by Nazi Germany and its collaborators. That this atrocity proved possible raises many complex and important questions that we have a duty to face even if we struggle to fully answer them. How was Nazi hatred of these groups nurtured, normalised and then finally realised in the systemic brutality of the ‘final solution’? How much did the local population know, and resist or assist? How did the Allies find out and react? How did the post-war reckoning with these events impact Germany and the wider world? As survivor Primo Levi warns, ‘If understanding [the holocaust] is impossible, knowing is imperative, because what happened could happen again.’ 

Join this course to enrich and deepen your awareness of the history of the Holocaust, its origins, development and aftermath, from the founding of the Nazi state to the collapse of the Third Reich in 1945.  

Over a series of talks, our expert tutor will explain: 

• the origins, course and aftermath of the Nazi Holocaust, including key figures and events 
• The changing dynamics of war, racial policy and economics shaping the direction of Nazi persecution of minority groups 
• the key archives, sources, and first-hand accounts available 
• the main historical and scholarly debates concerning these events and times 

You will also have the chance to discuss and reflect on what you learn with other students and the tutor in seminars 

Choose this course if you want to learn: 

• more about events leading up to the Holocaust, its impact and aftermath 
• The main sources and experts that can help us understand this complex and important history