Annotation
Europe between Hitler and Stalin
Instructor: Pavel Barša
Course Description
Like many other concepts of political science the concept of totalitarianism has blurred boundaries and can be subject to contradictory interpretations and doubtful ideological uses. This course wants to alleviate this predicament by narrowing the focus to a comparative historical analysis of two regimes whose belonging to this category is beyond any dispute even among the most divergent of its interpretations - Stalinist Russia and Nazi Germany. They will be put side by side in the following aspects: the role of the supreme leader and specific mechanisms of transmission of his power, the forms of terror and state violence, the ways of handling and "solving" ethnic question(s), the changes in the functioning of the two regimes once they found themselves at war with one another, and the behavior of subdued populations between acceptance and resistance. All those questions and many others are present in a book by an American historian Timothy Snyder Bloodlands. Europe between Hitler and Stalin to the reading of which the course will be devoted.
Requirements
One oral presentation of a weekly reading and participation in the discussions in class. Students will pass a written examination at the end of the course.
International Exchange students may gain an ECTS grade in this course.
Course Schedule 1. Introduction 2. T. Snyder, Introduction: Hitler and Stalin, Bloodlands. Europe between Hitler and Stalin, Basic Books, N.Y. 2010, 1-20 3. T. Snyder, The Soviet Famines, 21-58. 4. T. Snyder, Class Terror, ibid., p. 59-88. 5. T. Snyder, National Terror, ibid., p. 89-118. 6. T. Snyder, Molotov-Ribbentrop Europe, ibid., p. 119-154. 7. T. Snyder, The Economics of Apocalypse, ibid., p. 155-186. 8. T. Snyder, Final Solution, ibid., p. 187-224. 9. T. Snyder, Holocaust and Revenge, ibid., p. 225-252. 10. T. Snyder, The Nazi Death Factories, ibid., p. 253-276. 11. T. Snyder, Resistance and Incineration, ibid, p. 277-312. 12. T. Snyder, Ethnic Cleansings, ibid., 313-338. 13. T. Snyder, Stalinist Anti-Semitism, ibid., 339-378 14. T. Snyder, Conclusion: Humanity, ibid., 379-408