This interdisciplinary Holocaust studies module explores Auschwitz in history and memory.
Topics covered relating to KL Auschwitz include the evolution and multi-functionality of the site; the experience of non-Jews; gendered experiences; the nature of survival and resistance in KL Auschwitz; the Auschwitz Sonderkommando; perpetrators and perpetrator texts.
Study of Auschwitz in memory will focus on the ‘afterlife’ of the site, both as a physical location/memorial and as a symbol: visual representations of Auschwitz; memorialization of the site; the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum; Auschwitz as a site of mass/dark/Holocaust tourism, and a site of pilgrimage and (contested) sacred space.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module students should be able to:
Analyse specific examples and/or case studies drawing on relevant theoretical and methodological debates surrounding the history, representation of Auschwitz and/or the politics of memory;
Identify and critically engage with a representative spectrum of scholarly views on both KL Auschwitz and the memorial site today;
Work with an appropriate degree of learner independence to explain and analyse the material under scrutiny.
Assessment
28668-01 : 3000 word Essay : Coursework (50%)
28668-02 : 24hr Take Home Paper : Exam (Centrally Timetabled) - Written Unseen (50%)
Assessment Methods & Exceptions
Assessment: 1 x 3000 word essay (50%) +24-hour take-home exam paper (50%)
Reassessment: Resubmit failed component, if this results in failure of the module as a whole.