Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

·Articulate an understanding of key events in the history of the Holocaust and use critical thinking in order to evaluate historical changes and their impact
· Identify the influence of culturally-based practices, values, and beliefs to assess how historically defined meanings of difference affect human behavior
· Recognize the interaction of various groups and institutions in order to evaluate their impact on the Holocaust
· Communicate effectively using historical analysis
· Connect the past with the present to enhance contemporary understanding and encourage civic engagement

The SAC assumes that faculty will assess student learning using some combination of the following assessment strategies:

• Exams consisting of essay or other method that integrates and requires application of concepts, themes and issues in the course.
• Written assignments such as papers, reviews, journals and other writing assignments that demonstrate understanding of content knowledge and appropriate application by students of historical materials.
• Oral presentations, discussions, debates, or role-playing that articulate a comprehensive knowledge of appropriate historical concepts and issues.
• Projects where students can identify historical resources and utilize these resources to evaluate their validity.
• Use standard research techniques and acceptable formats in written work and oral presentations.

Course Content:

1.  Competencies and skills:

• Analyze and evaluate historical interpretations on the origins and implementation of the Holocaust
  • Identify an historian’s thesis and supporting evidence in Holocaust-related articles and books
• Analyze and evaluate primary sources related to the Holocaust
  • Connect evidence to the relevant historical context of the Holocaust
  • Recognize and evaluate the creator of historical sources
• Recognize prejudicial acts that occurred in Germany and in Europe prior to and during the Holocaust era
  • Analyze the role of nationalism in Germany
  • Recognize cultural diversity and the rights and responsibilities of individuals and groups to exercise their cultural traditions
  • Analyze the substance of Nazi laws
  • Evaluate the use of various forms of internment including prisons, camps and ghettos
• Listen, appreciate and respectfully respond to fellow classmates during discussions of various aspects of the Holocaust
  • Work collaboratively with fellow students in discussing aspects of the Holocaust
• Respond to case studies illustrating present-day examples of intolerance
  • Demonstrate an awareness of acts based upon prejudice
  • Identify possible reactions to such situations
  • Identify the various roles of victims, perpetrators, bystanders and rescuers
  • Recognize the connection between individual actions and larger outcomes

2.  Themes, Concepts, Issues

• Cultural diversity
• Prejudice and racism
• Anti-Semitism
• Post World War I Germany
• The rise of the Nazis
• Social, economic and political isolation of German Jews prior to 1939
• Evolution of the Final Solution
• Life in the ghettos and camps
• Other groups targeted by the Nazis
• Perpetrators
• Bystanders
• Resistance
• Aftermath of the Holocaust