Subject Area: History
This course can also be studied in the following specialisations: European Studies, German Studies

The horrors of the Third Reich are well known even to those who have never seriously studied German history but the causes are still a mystery to many and the object of ongoing controversies among specialist scholars. This course focuses on the main issues of historical debate and aims to familiarise students with the key arguments and their broader significance. Topics include the question of a German Sonderweg to modernity, the collapse of the Weimar Republic, the concepts of fascism and totalitarianism, the functioning of the state apparatus in the Third Reich, the role of the Fuehrer, aspects of Nazi ideology and cultural policy, forms of anti-Nazi resistance, the role of the Wehrmacht, and the origins of the Holocaust. The course encourages students to critically examine popular but oversimplified representations of Nazi Germany and to think about the usefulness, and the limitations, of various theoretical approaches to the understanding of of a complex historical phenomenon.