HIST 105-05, Topics in History: Why Hitler?, Fall 2010

Abstract

I. For each student to develop and write an original essay of historical interpretation that deals with the main issues of the question "Why Hitler?" (1) How and why was Hitler appointed to the office of Chancellor on 30 January 1933? (2) By what means was Hitler’s constitutional position as Chancellor transformed into a position of dictatorial power as Führer? Why was this done? Why did the German people come to accept, even embrace, this transformation? (3) Why was the power of the German state used for the purposes of expansion, domination, and extermination? On what basis, if at all, may the historian assign to Hitler responsibility for the Second World War and the Holocaust? II. For each student to develop further the skills necessary to accomplish the main objective: A. in the critical assessment of a wide variety of secondary sources B. in interpreting selected primary sources C. in writing effectively, in employing proper forms of documentation, and in writing persuasively, crafting sound arguments for his/her interpretations