The Century of Ethnic Cleansing: Expulsions and Genocide in Comparative Perspective
Junior Seminar
Fall 2000
Professor E. Glassheim
Email: eglasshe@princeton.edu
Phone: 258-6701
Office: G-26 Dickinson Office Hours: Mon. 4-5, Thurs. 9-10, and by appointment.
Classroom: Dickinson 210 Time: Wed. 7:30-10:20pm
Course Description:
The twentieth century was not only a century of world war and ideological extremism; it was also a century of ethnic cleansing. Tens of millions of people around the world were expelled from their homelands on the basis of nationality. If one considers genocide as an extreme case of ethnic cleansing, the tally of dead reaches into the millions. This course seeks the roots of this deadly phenomenon in modern nationalist and racialist drives to create homogeneous nation-states. In analyzing the relationship between war, revolution, and ethnic cleansing, we will seek to establish certain patterns in the methods and ideology of perpetrators, as well as the conditions under which expulsions and genocide have taken place. Case studies will include the Armenian genocide of 1915, the Holocaust, the expulsion of Germans from East Central Europe after World War II, ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, and the Rwanda genocide. Throughout the course, we will attempt to think comparatively about ethnic cleansing, while also keeping in mind the drawbacks and limitations of such comparisons.
In addition to exploring a thematic topic in depth, the junior seminar aims to develop three related skills: thinking critically about a body of historical literature (historiography); analyzing primary sources; and writing a source-based research paper.
Ordered Books:
Christopher Browning, The Path to Genocide (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1992).
Philip Gourevitch, We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our
Families: Stories From Rwanda (New York: Picador, 1998).
Roy Gutman, A Witness to Genocide (New York: Macmillan, 1993).
Raul Hilberg, The Destruction of the European Jews: Student Edition (New York:
Holmes & Meier, 1985).
Robert Melson, Revolution and Genocide: On the Origins of the Armenian Genocide and the
Holocaust (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1992).
Norman Naimark, Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth Century Europe, vol. 19 Donald
Treadgold Papers (Seattle: The Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, 1998).
Alan Rosenbaum, ed., Is the Holocaust Unique? (Boulder: Westview Press, 1996).
Many of the shorter readings below (marked with an asterisk) will be available in a course pack available for purchase at Print-It, 15 Witherspoon St. All readings will be available on reserve in Firestone Library.
Course Mechanics and Assignments:
Each student must sign up to introduce at least two discussions (and hand in a corresponding discussion brief of 2-3 pages). This entails a precis of the week's readings, a summary of major issues, and a few questions to get us started. Many weeks will have two or three presenters—when that's the case, I encourage you to cooperate in preparing presentations, which should not be more than 10 minutes total.
Assignment # 1: 2-3 page discussion brief on the readings for any one class from weeks 2-5.
Assignment # 2: 2-3 page discussion brief on the readings for any one class from weeks 6 & 8-11 [note: if you presented on the Holocaust on week 5, you can’t present on the Holocaust on week 6].
We will have a library consultation on week 3. By class on week 4 you need to have a general idea of your paper topic and related secondary sources. Be ready to tell the class on week 4 what you’ve found in your library excursions. Please schedule a meeting with me no later than week 5 (but the earlier the better) to finalize your paper topics. Papers should be either comparative or single case studies with an eye to the broader phenomenon of ethnic cleansing and/or genocide. All papers must use some form of primary source. For some tips on formulating a topic, see "Writing a JP: The Handbook".
On week 7, all students (and the professor) will give a short presentation of work in progress. To facilitate discussion, you should distribute a preview of your paper by email in advance. Presentations should be no more than 5 minutes, with 10 minutes for discussion. All students should be ready to discuss each other’s work.
Assignment # 3: 2 page preview of your research paper, due by e-mail to the class by the Sunday before week 7. What is the main question or hypothesis that will drive your research? How will your paper relate to the historiography on your topic? Make sure to include an annotated list of the primary and secondary sources you will use. You may also add an outline, if you have one at this point.
Final presentations will take place during the final week of class. Each presenter will have 25 minutes for the presentation and questions—I will try to group related topics together in the hopes of sparking some stimulating comparisons. All students should distribute by email an introduction and an outline of their paper at least 3 days before their presentation.
Assignment #4: 2-3 page introduction plus outline of paper. This should be a standard term paper introduction, with a statement of your thesis or problem, a summary of the historiographical context, and something concrete that draws the reader’s attention. After reading this introduction, we should have a sense of what your topic is, why it’s important, and what you will argue.
Your research paper should be 20-25 pages and will be due by January 9. Exceptions can only be granted by the dean of students, so please don’t ask me. I will be glad to read drafts of your paper in advance, though December 20 is the last day I will accept drafts. The grade you receive will be separate from that of the junior seminar. For footnote and bibliography style, see the MLA guide, Chicago Manual of Style, or a similar guide to style.
Grading:
Course grade:
Discussion briefs & presentations 30%
Paper preview and presentation 15%
Paper introduction and presentation 30%
General participation 25%
Research paper: An "A" paper requires an insightful use of primary and secondary sources, good organization and style, sound argumentation, and clean writing (no typos or nonsense). Lower grades will reflect weaknesses in one or more of these areas.
Course Outline:
Introduction
September 20
Varieties of Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide
September 27 Norman Naimark, Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth Century Europe, vol.
19 Donald Treadgold Papers (Seattle: The Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies,
1998).
UN definition of ethnic cleansing: "Final Report of the Commission of Experts
Established Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 780 (1992)," 27 May
1994, paragraph 129. Download a copy from gopher://gopher.igc.apc.org:7030/11/annexes
*Robert Hayden, "Schindler’s Fate: Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing, and Population
Transfers," Slavic Review 55, no. 4 (1996): 727-748. (And response, 749-754)
Alan Rosenbaum, ed., Is the Holocaust Unique? (Boulder: Westview Press, 1996).
[forward, introduction, chpts 1-2, 8]
Robert Melson, Revolution and Genocide: On the Origins of the Armenian Genocide and the
Holocaust (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1992) [preface, introduction].
*Jared Diamond, The third chimpanzee : the evolution and future of the human animal,
1st ed. (New York: HarperCollins, 1992), 276-297.
The Armenian Genocide
October 4
Robert Melson, Revolution and Genocide: On the Origins of the Armenian Genocide and
the Holocaust (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1992) [chpts. 2, 5, 8-9].
*Ronald Grigor Suny, "Toward an Understanding of the Armenian Genocide," in Looking
Toward Ararat: Armenia in Modern History (Bloomington: Indiana University Press,
1993), 94-115.
Alan Rosenbaum, ed., Is the Holocaust Unique? (Boulder: Westview Press, 1996).
[chpts 5-6] Verdict of Turkish Military Tribunal, 1919
[http://www.armenian-genocide.org/affirmation/court-martial2.htm] Map of Armenian
Deportations [http://www.armenian-genocide.org/map-full.htm]
The Greco-Turkish Population Exchange: A European Precedent
October 11
Stephen Ladas, The Exchange of Minorities: Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey (New York: Macmillan, 1932). [selections]
The Machinery of the Holocaust
October 18
Raul Hilberg, The Destruction of the European Jews: Student Edition (New York:
Holmes & Meier, 1985), 27-305.
*Lucy Davidowicz, "On Studying Holocaust Documents," in Lucy Dawidowicz, ed., A
Holocaust Reader (West Orange, NJ: Behrman House, Inc., 1976), 1-21.
Gassing Devices, letter from October 25, 1941 http://www.holocaust-history.org/19411025-wetzel-no365/
*Minutes of the Wannsee Conference, in Lucy Dawidowicz, ed., A Holocaust Reader
(West Orange, NJ: Behrman House, Inc., 1976), 70-82.
The Holocaust: Perpetrators, Ends, and Means
October 25
Michael Marrus, The Holocaust in History (New York: Meridian, 1987), 1-54.
Christopher Browning, The Path to Genocide (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1992) [preface, chpts 1-2, 5-8].
Daniel Goldhagen, Hitler’s Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the
Holocaust (New York: Vintage Books, 1997). [short selection] Robert Melson, Revolution
and Genocide: On the Origins of the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust (Chicago: The
University of Chicago Press, 1992) [chpts 6-7].
*Alan Beyerchen, "Rational Means and Irrational Ends: Thoughts on the Technology of
Racism in the Third Reich," Central European History, vol. 30, no. 3 (1997),
386-402.
**No Class on November 1**
Discussion of Essay Topics
November 8
Presentations: Each student will give a 5 minute summary of his or her project, followed by up to 10 minutes of discussion. The goal is to help each other think critically about sources, historiography, and methodology. Come to class with questions prepared for your fellow students.
The Expulsion of Germans from the East after World War II
November 15
*Paul Magocsi, Historical Atlas of East Central Europe (Toronto: University of
Toronto Press, 1993), 164-8.
*Joseph Schechtman, "Postwar Population Transfers in Europe: A Survey," Review
of Politics 15 (1953): 151-178. *Alfred de Zayas, Nemesis at Potsdam: The Expulsion
of the Germans from the East (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1989). [xi-130]
*Eagle Glassheim, "National Mythologies and Ethnic Cleansing: The Expulsion of
Czechoslovak Germans in 1945," Central European History, forthcoming, 2000.
*Czech-German Joint Commission of Historians, A Conflictual Community, Catastrophe,
Detente (Prague: Institute for International Relations, 1996). [in particular, pp.
20-33]
*Theodor Schieder, The Expulsion of the German Population from Czechoslovakia (Bonn:
Federal Ministry for Expellees Refugees and War Victims, 1960). [228-9, 410-14, 440-7,
469-88, 501-6]
**No Class on November 22**
Ethnic Cleansing in Yugoslavia: Bosnia
November 29
Roy Gutman, A Witness to Genocide (New York: Macmillan, 1993). "Final Report of the Commission of Experts Established Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 780 (1992)," 27 May 1994. Download a copy from <gopher://gopher.igc.apc.org:7030/11/annexes>
Genocide in Rwanda
December 6
Philip Gourevitch, We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Stories From Rwanda (New York: Picador, 1998). Internet sources.
Student Presentations
December 13 and TBA