This is a course in Holocaust historiography. Historiography (from Greek: historia: narrative, story, and graphia: writing) is the discipline of how history is written. In the context of the Holocaust, historiography analyzes trends that have dominated historical writing about this event since the beginning of the field, when the Holocaust was still happening during the war. While it was only in time that the event became more widely discussed in academia, and became a separate subject studied in university curricula, it is now a vast field of research, with an ever-growing bibliography. During this course, we will focus on significant turning points of Holocaust historiography, as well as on several major controversies of Holocaust research and commemoration. A close reading of writings by scholars from diverse disciplines concerning the Holocaust will allow us to approximate the challenges and possibilities of discussing, in a scholarly forum, the arguably greatest Jewish catastrophe in history.

NOTE: This is a required doctoral course. Master's students can register for HGS 537 with advisor approval, if there is room in the class.