The Century of Ethnic Cleansing: Expulsions and Genocide in Comparative Perspective

Junior Seminar

Fall 2003

Professor E. Glassheim Email:hone:258-6701

Office:G-26 DickinsonOffice Hours: Thurs. 10-12 and by appointment.

Classroom: Dickinson 230Time: Tues. 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 primary source-based research paper.

Ordered Books:

Christopher Browning, The Path to Genocide (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992).

Raul Hilberg, The Destruction of the European Jews: Student Edition (New York: Holmes & Meier, 1985).

Norman Naimark, The Fires of Hatred: Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth-Century Europe (New York: HarvardUniversity Press, 2001).

Gerard Prunier, The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997).

Alan Rosenbaum, ed., Is the Holocaust Unique?2nd edition (Boulder: Westview Press, 2000).

The following is out of print, so you may want to look for a used copy on-line:

Roy Gutman, A Witness to Genocide (New York: Macmillan, 1993).

Many of the shorter readings below (marked with an asterisk) will be available in a course pack available for purchase at Pequod in the U-Store. 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 3-4 pages). Introductions entail an overview 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. Short papers should focus on one important aspect of the reading, and all should advance some kind of argument (including a thesis statement). Please see handout for more details.

Assignment # 1: 3-4 page discussion brief on the readings for any one class from weeks 2-5.

Assignment # 2: 3-4 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 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: 2-3 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 append 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 two weeks of class. Each presenter will have 25 minutes for the presentation and questions—we 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. You will be graded on your oral presentation according to a set criteria (clarity, organization, etc.), which I’ll hand out in advance.

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.

Paper Draft: all students are REQUIRED to hand in a draft of their JP by noon on Monday, December 15. I will email comments by late December.

Your final junior paper should be 20-25 pages and will be due by January 6. Exceptions can only be granted by the dean of students, so please don’t ask me. 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 & presentations30%

Paper preview and presentation15%

Paper introduction and oral presentation30%

General participation25%

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. See departmental grading standards for more details.

Course Outline:

  1. Introduction

September 16

  1. Varieties of Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide

September 23

  • Norman Naimark, Fires of Hatred, introduction.
  • *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.
  • *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, 2000)—make sure it is 2nd edition. [forward, introductions, chpts 1, 4, 13]
  • *Jared Diamond, The third chimpanzee : the evolution and future of the human animal, 1st ed. (New York: HarperCollins, 1992), 276-297.
  1. The Armenian Genocide/Library Session

September 30

  • Norman Naimark, Fires of Hatred, 17-42.
  • *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, 2000), 2nd edition. [chpts 7-8]

  1. The Greco-Turkish Population Exchange: A European Precedent

October 7

  • Norman Naimark, Fires of Hatred, 42-56.
  • *Stephen Ladas, The Exchange of Minorities: Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey (New York: Macmillan, 1932), 335-352, 377-381, 420-442, 720-736.
  • *Arnold Toynbee, The Western Question in Greece and Turkey (New York: Howard Fertig, 1970 [1922]), 259-319.
  1. The Machinery of the Holocaust

October 14

  • 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 <
  • *Minutes of the Wannsee Conference, in Lucy Dawidowicz, ed., A Holocaust Reader (West Orange, NJ: Behrman House, Inc., 1976), 70-82.

Trip to the HolocaustMuseum, WashingtonDC

Departure on Thursday, October 16, 4pm

TourMuseum on Friday, October 17

Return to Princeton on Friday Night

We will tour the museum and meet with a specialist to discuss the museum’s document and documentary collection. Be ready to ask questions.

  1. The Holocaust: Perpetrators, Ends, and Means

October 21

  • Norman Naimark, Fires of Hatred, 57-84.
  • *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), 3-24.

**Fall Break**

  1. Discussion of Essay Topics

November 4

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.

  1. The Expulsion of Germans from the East after World War II

November 11

  • *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.
  • *Eagle Glassheim, “National Mythologies and Ethnic Cleansing: The Expulsion of Czechoslovak Germans in 1945,” Central European History 33, no. 4 (November, 2000): 463-486.
  • Norman Naimark, Fires of Hatred, 108-138.
  • *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]
  1. Ethnic Cleansing in Yugoslavia: Bosnia

November 18

  • Norman Naimark, Fires of Hatred, 139-199.
  • Roy Gutman, A Witness to Genocide (New York: Macmillan, 1993).
  1. Genocide in Rwanda

November 25

  • Gerard Prunier, The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997) [selections].
  1. & 12. Student Presentations

December 2 and 9

Glassheim—Ethnic Cleansing1