{"id":20123,"date":"2021-06-15T12:50:12","date_gmt":"2021-06-15T16:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/history\/?post_type=profile&#038;p=20123"},"modified":"2026-02-25T12:10:59","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T17:10:59","slug":"hi-271-the-nazis","status":"publish","type":"profile","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/history\/profile\/hi-271-the-nazis\/","title":{"rendered":"HI 271: The Nazis"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Fall 2026 \u2013<span>\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/history\/profile\/jonathan-r-zatlin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jonathan Zatlin<\/a><\/h3>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Days<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Start<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>End<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Type<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Bldg<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Room<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>TR<\/td>\n<td>12:30 AM<\/td>\n<td>1:45 PM<\/td>\n<td>LEC<\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/history\/files\/2019\/03\/BU_Hub_wordmark_RGB-700-636x153.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"48\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-15636\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/history\/files\/2019\/03\/BU_Hub_wordmark_RGB-700-636x153.jpg 636w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/history\/files\/2019\/03\/BU_Hub_wordmark_RGB-700-768x185.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/history\/files\/2019\/03\/BU_Hub_wordmark_RGB-700-1024x247.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/history\/files\/2019\/03\/BU_Hub_wordmark_RGB-700.jpg 1459w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span>Explores the rise and fall of Europe\u2019s most notorious mass movement through film, diaries, party documents, and other sources. Considers the impact of Nazi rule on art, finance, politics, and family life. Analyzes the mass murder and destruction caused by Nazi rule. <\/span><strong>Hub Areas (Effective Fall 2020): Ethical Reasoning, Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Additional Course Materials:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"\/history\/files\/2021\/06\/CAS-HI-271-The-Nazis-fall-2021-final-syllabus.pdf\">Syllabus, Professor Jonathan Zatlin,\u00a0 Spring 2021<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Description<\/strong>: Why have the Nazis become synonymous with the most efficient yet brutal form of political rule? Why have they become the epitome of evil? This course explores origins, ascendancy, and downfall of the Nazis. Because National Socialism was a movement, rather than a political party, the course will treat Nazism as a response to the crises of liberal democracy after the Great War rather than simply a vehicle for seizing power. Because National Socialism was not a monolithic movement, moreover, the course places special emphasis on identifying the different and competing strands of thought, policy, and action associated with the movement before and after 1933. Our major themes will include the racial ideology at the heart of National Socialism and the attempt to recast German society along those lines, including the production of \u201cNazi\u201d culture, the creation of \u201cAryan\u201d family structures, and the construction of the Volksgemeinschaft (racial community) as well as the prohibition of \u201cnon-German\u201d forms of science, art, finance, politics, and eventually people. Although we will devote some time to Nazi diplomacy and the advent of World War II, our focus will be on the regime\u2019s demographic and political reconfiguration of Europe, and especially the turn to mass murder and genocide. We will conclude by examining the incomplete \u201cdenazification\u201d of Germany after 1945.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Key themes<\/strong>: Throughout the course, we\u2019ll focus on two constants of the Nazi imagination: violence and racism. The Nazi assault on German democracy began by promoting alternative cultures, parallel institutions, and an uninhibited approach to violence. After 1933, the Nazis sought to ensure the stability of the dictatorship by popularizing racism and hypermasculinity, institutionalizing police repression, and murdering real and perceived enemies \u2013 culminating in the wholesale slaughter of entire peoples.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Selected readings<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Theodore Abel, <em>Why Hitler Came to Power<\/em> (Harvard University Press, 1966)<\/li>\n<li>W.S. Allen, <em>The Nazi Seizure of Power<\/em> (Franklin Watts, 1984)<\/li>\n<li>Christopher Browning, <em>Ordinary Men<\/em> (Harper Trade, 1998)<\/li>\n<li>Inge Deutschkron, <em>Outcast<\/em> (Fromm International, 1990)<\/li>\n<li>Marion Kaplan, <em>Between Dignity and Despair<\/em> (OUP, 1999)<\/li>\n<li>Melita Maschmann, <em>Account Rendered<\/em> (Abelard-Schuman, 1965)<\/li>\n<li>Mark Roseman, <em>The Wannsee Conference and the Final Solution<\/em> (Picador, 2003)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Instructor:<\/h3>\n<p><span>\n\t<ul class=\"profile-listing profile-format-basic\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n<li class=\"profile-item profile-item-basic post-5074 profile type-profile status-publish hentry\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/history\/profile\/jonathan-r-zatlin\/\" class=\"profile-link profile-link-basic\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"profile-photo profile-photo-basic\">\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"\/history\/files\/2013\/02\/Unknown-150x150.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/history\/files\/2013\/02\/Unknown-150x150.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/history\/files\/2013\/02\/Unknown-300x300.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/history\/files\/2013\/02\/Unknown-100x100.jpeg 100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/>\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"profile-details profile-details-basic\">\n\t\t\t<h6 class=\"profile-name profile-name-basic\">Jonathan R. Zatlin<\/h6>\n\n\t\t\t<p class=\"profile-title profile-title-basic\">Associate Professor of History<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/a>\n\n\t\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t<\/ul>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/history\/fall-2024-courses\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/history\/files\/2021\/06\/Return-to_Fall-1-636x161.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"237\" height=\"60\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-23625\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/history\/files\/2021\/06\/Return-to_Fall-1-636x161.png 636w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/history\/files\/2021\/06\/Return-to_Fall-1-1024x260.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/history\/files\/2021\/06\/Return-to_Fall-1-768x195.png 768w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/history\/files\/2021\/06\/Return-to_Fall-1-800x203.png 800w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/history\/files\/2021\/06\/Return-to_Fall-1.png 1250w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 237px) 100vw, 237px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11661,"template":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/20123"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/profile"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11661"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/20123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26970,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/20123\/revisions\/26970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}