Gregor Spuhler: Catalogue data in Autumn Semester 2019

Name Dr. Gregor Spuhler
Address
Archiv für Zeitgeschichte (AfZ)
ETH Zürich, HRG G 5
Hirschengraben 62
8092 Zürich
SWITZERLAND
Telephone+41 44 632 36 44
E-mailgregor.spuhler@history.gess.ethz.ch
DepartmentHumanities, Social and Political Sciences
RelationshipLecturer

NumberTitleECTSHoursLecturers
851-0101-88LNational Socialist Persecution, International Politics on Refugees and Science 1933-1945 Restricted registration - show details
Number of participants limited to 30
3 credits2GG. Spuhler
AbstractThe course discusses the development of National Socialist persecution policy, the reactions of democratic states to the persecution of the Jews and the role of science in the Nazi regime.
ObjectiveThe students are able to distinguish the phases of persecution and know various models to explain how the Holocaust came about. They can situate Swiss refugee policy in an international context. In their engagement with science under National Socialism, they develop an awareness of the socio-political responsibility of science.
ContentThe "Nazis" and the "Holocaust" are omnipresent in politics and entertainment industry - often combined with a lack of historical knowledge. The students learn about the logic of radicalization from exclusion to expulsion to extermination. The reaction of selected states to the persecution of Jews will enable them to recognise the challenge the Nazi regime posed to Western democracies and to place Swiss refugee policy in an international context.

The fact that "the Germans," whose achievements in art and science made them one of the world's leading nations, murdered millions of people on an industrial scale, caused widespread horror. This is based on the assumption that education and culture stand in contrast to the "barbarism" of the "Nazis". Therefore, the course pays special attention to the role of science and the academically educated people.