Neighbors: Intimate Relationships and Everyday Life in Hitler's Europe

This course explores how different groups of people experienced Nazi rule in Germany and German-occupied Europe. While we will cover the general history of Hitler's rise to power, the prewar years of his rule, and the Second World War, our focus will be on the effects of fascism on everyday life and relationships between neighbors, family members, partners, friends, and coworkers. How did class, race, gender, religion, and sexual orientation interact with Nazi rule and occupation? The course pays special attention to the fate of European Jews and the Holocaust. On a theoretical level, we will discuss the opportunities and challenges of "Alltagsgeschichte," or the history of everyday life, as an approach to studying Nazi rule. The course provides tools to manage efficiently a fairly high reading load, a skill that will greatly help students to succeed in future academic endeavors.