Week 11 - Totalitarianism: Fascism, Nazism and Stalinism

Monday, March 31 through Friday, April 4, 2014
Long periods: Independent Research; Final drafts are due on Thursday, April 17.
Quiz #5 on Friday, April 4; covers the legacies of the First World War from before break, and materials from Weeks 10 and 11.

Day 1, Monday, March 31: The Doctrine of Fascism.
In-class: Read primary source handouts from Benito Mussolini, "The Doctrine of Fascism," and discuss the characteristics and appeal of fascism.
Homework: Read the primary source excerpt from "Adolf Hitler, "Mein Kampf," and the secondary source handouts from Robert Wohl, "The Generation of Disillusionment," R. H. S. Crossman, "Government and the Governed: The Interwar Years," and James M. Laux, "The Great Depression in Europe," and answer the following two questions.
Homework question #1: What are the characteristics of fascism?
Homework question #2: Why did fascism appeal to certain groups?


Day 2: The Nazi Seizure of Power
In-class: Read primary source handouts from Victor Klemper, Goebbels, et al. and discuss the Nazi seizure of power.

Homework: Read primary and secondary source documents on Stalinism; annotate the primary sources, using the SOAPSTONE rubric, note the arguments and evidence of the secondary sources, and answer the following questions.
Primary source #1: Joseph Stalin, "Problems of Agrarian Policy in the U.S.S.R.: Soviet Collectivization".
Primary source #2: Joesph Stalin, "Report to the Congress of Soviets, 1936: Soviet Democracy".
Secondary source #1: Stephen J. Lee, "Dictatorship in Russia: Stalin's Purges".
Secondary source #2: Bernard Wasserstein, "Nazism and Communism".
Homework question #1: What was Stalinism?
Homework question #2: What were the reasons for Stalin's purges?

Day 3: Stalinism
In-class: Discuss the primary and secondary source handouts on Stalinism.
Homework: Prepare for quiz #5, which covers the legacies of the First World War from before break, and materials from Weeks 10 and 11.

Week 10 – Darkening Decades: Recovery, Dictators, and Depression, 1920-1939

Monday through Friday, March 24-28, 2014.

Long periods: independent research in the library.

Research presentations begin; check the calendar!

Quiz#5 TBA.

Day 1, Monday, 3/28: Darkening Decades.
In-class: Review the legacies of the First World War; discuss related primary and secondary source handouts; begin reading homework in class.
Homework for Day 2: Please read, “Darkening Decades: Recovery, Dictators, and Depression, 1920-1939,” in The West in the World, eds. Sherman/Salisbury, pp. 685-697(up until the section on Nazism), and answer the following question. Also check out the current events article links below.

Key Terms and Persons: Erich Maria Remarque, the Weimar Republic, Maginot Line, inflation, the Dawes Plan, the Roaring Twenties, the Bauhaus school, Dada, Admiral Miklos Horthy, fascism, Ataturk, and Mussolini.

Key Question: In what ways were the forces unleashed by the First World War responsible for the rise of authoritarian governments in Europe?
Current Events article links: 1. Ruth Maclennan, "The Crimea of Russia's Imagination," BBC News Online,  March 17, 2014.

Day 2: The Rise of Authoritarianism in Europe.
In-class: Discuss the homework and related primary and secondary source handouts.
Homework for Day 3: Please read, “Darkening Decades: Recovery, Dictators, and Depression, 1920-1939,” in The West in the World, eds. Sherman/Salisbury, pp. 697-707, and answer the following two questions.
Key Terms and Persons:  Adolf Hitler, Nazism, Lebensraum, SS, Nuremberg Laws, the Nazi Seizure of Power, concentration camps, New Economic Policy (NEP), Five-Year Plan, Stalin, collectivization, the Great Purges, and the Great Depression.
Key Question#1: How do you explain the rise of Nazism?
Key Question#2: How did Stalin transform the Soviet Union - what were the effects?

Day 3: Nazism and Stalinism.
In-class: Discuss the homework and related primary and secondary sources.
Homework for Day 4: Turn in homework from Day 3, “Darkening Decades: Recovery, Dictators, and Depression, 1920-1939,” in The West in the World, eds. Sherman/Salisbury, pp. 697-707. 

Oral History Interview Project Guidelines

This project is meant to connect students to modern world history through people they know, especially parents, other relatives, friends and acquaintances.

Students should first find an interview partner or partners, who would be willing to talk about how their lives relate to world history in some way, and who would be willing to share those stories in recorded interviews. Possible partners include, but are not limited to parents, relatives, neighbors and/or acquaintances.

Students should inform their interview partners of their rights beforehand, including the right to stop the interview at any time, ask that certain conversations not be recorded, and review and edit the interview transcript before final approval, and students should ask interview partners to read and sign release form (included in handout packet, shared online).

Students should then do some background research on the history that their interview partner(s) want to share in preparation for the interview, and plan on a 30 minute to one hour interview with potential questions ready to ask.

Initial questions about where the interview partner(s) grew up, what life was like at home, in their neighborhoods, schools, and communities, education, work and how things have changed are a good way to break the ice of the interview, learn more about the interview partners, and help set up additional questions that explore important events and experiences related to world history.  Make sure to allow the interview partner to

Open-ended questions (instead of YES/NO questions) usually allow the interview subject to offer more interesting answers. Interview subjects should also keep follow up questions in mind and note questions to come back to later if possible.

Students are encouraged to record the interviews, but should make sure that they have their interview partner(s)' permission recorded before proceeding, and interview partners maintain the right to review final recordings and transcripts and rescind their offer to share their stories.

Make sure to have the interview subject(s) read and sign the interview release form.

Final products MUST include a typed interview transcript that includes a title for the interview, the names of the interviewer and interview partners, and the date and place of the interview.

Final products are DUE Friday, May 16, 2014 by the end of the day. Please see instructor about extenuating circumstances. Email copies of the transcripts to the instructor and the student oral history collection editor for the oral history archival project.

For more information, please check out one or more of the following links below:

 

1. The Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide:

This is one of the standard and most comprehensive guides for conducting oral history interviews in the US.

2. UC Berkeley Regional Oral History Tips:

This is a good compact set of tips for conducting oral history interviews.

3. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Oral History Interview Guidelines: 

This is a good guide for those who might conduct interviews with Holocaust survivors, or the survivors of other forms of trauma.