HIST 318: Holocaust: History and Meaning

HIST 318-002: Holocaust: History and Meaning
(Fall 2025)

10:30 AM to 11:45 AM TR

Angel Cabrera Global Center 1302A

Section Information for Fall 2025

In this course, we will examine the Holocaust in relation to questions of moral responsibility, justice, guilt, and human suffering — but also questions of resistance, recognition, and dilemmas of ethical leadership. We will explore religious responses to the Holocaust and the aftermaths of the Holocaust, looking specifically at Christian, Muslim, and Jewish responses. But our main goal in the course is to encourage students, through the study of the Holocaust, to think more broadly about questions of justice, peace, and ethical responsibility in the context of other genocides and in the context of everyday conflicts in their own communities. 

Course Information from the University Catalog

Credits: 3

Students examine the Holocaust – the term commonly used to denote the destruction of European Jewry during World War II – within the contexts of twentieth-century European, Jewish, and global history. The first part of the course, “History,” analyzes the steps leading to the genocide of the Jews in Europe as well as the factors that enabled its implementation, focusing on the on the interaction of victims, perpetrators, and witnesses/bystanders. The second half of the course, “Meaning,” deals thematically with contemporary interpretations and literary and visual representations of the Holocaust and its meaning, looking at issues of testimony and how the tension between history and memory affects how we can learn about the violence and mass murder. Offered by History & Art History. Limited to three attempts.
Mason Core: Mason Core, Global Contexts
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.

The University Catalog is the authoritative source for information on courses. The Schedule of Classes is the authoritative source for information on classes scheduled for this semester. See the Schedule for the most up-to-date information and see Patriot web to register for classes.