Time Schedule:
James R Felak
HIST 498
Seattle Campus
Each seminar examines a different subject or problem. A quarterly list of the seminars and their instructors is available in the Department of History undergraduate advising office.
Class description
Between 1933 and 1945, the regimes of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union murdered 14 million people, not counting soldiers killed in battle, in the area between central Poland and western Russia. These include the millions starved to death in the famine in the Soviet Ukraine, the hundreds of thousands killed during Stalin’s Great Terror or shot during the Soviet-Nazi joint occupation of Poland, the millions of Jews who perished in the Holocaust and millions of Soviet citizens starved to death by the Nazis during World War II. In this course, students will read and discuss Timothy Snyder’s new book, "Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin," and choose an aspect of these grim events to investigate in a 15 to 20 page research paper.
Student learning goals
An expanded and deeper knowledge of the history of East Central Europe in the 1930s and 1940s under Nazi and Soviet occupation.
The ability to formulate a research question, access pertinent primary and secondary sources, and develop a middle-length research paper.
The ability to incorporate feedback from a draft paper into the final product.
The ability to meet deadlines.
General method of instruction
Weekly reading and discussions. Presentation/discussion of research during the final three weeks of the quarter.
Recommended preparation
Some familiarity with European history of the 1930s and 1940s.
Class assignments and grading
Weekly readings, classroom discussions, a short paper, a short essay, and a 15 to 20 page research paper.
Class discussions--40% Research paper--40% analysis of a primary source--10% capstone essay--10%
