HIST 499: RS: Senior Seminar in History

HIST 499-002: Senior Seminar: Germany after Nazism
(Spring 2026)

04:30 PM to 07:10 PM T

Music Theater Building 1008

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Section Information for Spring 2026

In the years following the end of World War Two, Germany underwent a series of radical changes. It was occupied by the four Allied Powers—the United States, Soviet Union, UK, and France—and divided into four individually governed occupation zones. Prominent Nazis were put on trial at Nuremberg, while thousands of ordinary Germans were tried, imprisoned, or removed from their jobs on suspicion of Nazi sympathies. Other Germans, many of them women whose husbands, fathers, brothers, and sons the war had claimed, took it upon themselves to rebuild a country that Allied firebombing had reduced to rubble. The newly-formed United Nations labored to help millions of displaced persons across Europe, in particular survivors of the Holocaust and those brought to Nazi Germany as forced laborers. The United States and the Soviet Union worked with German leaders who had resisted Nazism to found two competing political systems in what would become West and East Germany, respectively. These years saw the beginning of the Cold War, including the dramatic Berlin blockade and airlift. In this seminar, you will research and write a substantial paper on some aspect of German politics, society, or culture during the occupation, and present your findings at the end of the semester.

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Course Information from the University Catalog

Credits: 3

Research on specialized historical topic culminating in seminar paper and oral presentation. Synthesis course; students expected to integrate knowledge and skills acquired in Mason Core courses. Notes: Subject determined by instructor. Student may present no more than 3 credits for graduation credit. Must receive passing grade to graduate with BA in history. Offered by History & Art History. Limited to three attempts.
Mason Core: Mason Core, Mason Apex, Writing Intensive in Major
Specialized Designation: Research/Scholarship Intensive, Topic Varies
Recommended Prerequisite: History majors with 90 credits
Registration Restrictions:

Required Prerequisites: (HIST 300C or 300XS) and (ENGH 302C, ENGL 302C, ENGH 302XS, HNRS 110C, 110XS, 210C, 302C or 302XS).
C Requires minimum grade of C.
XS Requires minimum grade of XS.

Enrollment is limited to students with a major in History.

Schedule Type: Seminar
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.

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