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This course, which will link global and regional history, follows the principles of the Educational Philosophy of Yad Vashem and is based on the “Ten stages of Genocide” by Gregory H Stanton. Terms like “crimes against humanity,” “war crimes’” and “genocide” are explained and the categories of victims, bystanders and perpetrators are discussed. The historical perspective will include the time before, during and after the Holocaust. An emphasis is placed on personal stories of Jewish victims from Austria and especially Tyrol, their lives before, during and after the Holocaust. Students will explore sites in Innsbruck related to the 1938 November pogroms and Jewish life of the city. Differences between the fate of Jewish and other victims of Nazi persecution will be discussed and, finally, Liberation and Displaced Persons will be topics of this course.

How did the Austrians and Germans react to National Socialism, exclusion of Jews and other people and war crimes they saw? Students will learn about aspects of complicity but also resistance. For example the personal stories of Franz Weber and Blessed Jakob Gapp will be presented. Franz Weber came from a village near Innsbruck. As a member of the Wehrmacht he became a witness of Nazi atrocities in Poland, but later deserted in Italy and became an agent of the American Office of Strategic Services. Jakob Gapp was a young Catholic priest and son of a worker’s family from another village near Innsbruck. Already before the Anschluss in 1938, he was an opponent to National Socialism and criticized Anti-Semitism and Racism. Students will visit sites of the lives of Franz Weber and Jakob Gapp.

Finally, the perpetrators are discussed, and students will study the roots of Nazi ideology, the rise of the Nazi Party, and a short chronology of the Holocaust. A link to the regional history are the perpetrators of the 1938 November pogroms in Innsbruck and the first commander of the Treblinka extermination camp Irmfried Eberl, a graduate of the University of Innsbruck.

Throughout this course, students will work with different materials and sources (photos, documents, pictures and scientific texts) and will visit sites of memorialization of the Holocaust and Nazi persecution in Innsbruck and surroundings. The field trip to the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site is required for students in this course.

The University of New Orleans International Summer School program has a mandatory class attendance policy. All students are required to attend class for all morning classes and any required afternoon and/or weekend fields trips and lectures. No unexcused absences are allowed. However, LFU students who have to miss a UNO class due to LFU examinations in the first two weeks of our program, can receive one excused absence for this. Any further unexcused absences will result in an academic penalty. Each faculty member determines the penalty for missed classes. Most professors deduct a letter grade for each additional missed class day. For details, please refer to your course syllabi, which will be distributed on the first day of class. The listed ECTS credits are a recommendation by the University of New Orleans Innsbruck Summer School, based on contact hours, anticipated out-of-classroom requirements such as field trips, and projected workload for readings, assignments, and exam preparation. Mail: Center-New-Orleans@uibk.ac.at