Learning from German History: From Frederick the Great to the Holocaust and Beyond

Three Mondays: Nov. 30, Dec. 7, Dec. 14 | 1:00 – 3:30 p.m.
Bethany Congregational Church | 556 N. Hope Avenue, Santa Barbara
VISTAS member price: $40; non-member price: $60

Presented by Harold Marcuse
Choosing “Learning” instead of “Lessons” in the title indicates a focus on the process of making meaning from historical events. In the first session we will look at macrohistorical trajectories of Germany from Napoleon’s conquest through unification and industrialization to World War I. What were the crucial causes of the various turning points where Germany’s history “failed to turn”? In the second session we will examine how some events of 20th century German history crystallized into canonical “lessons,” and how those lessons have evolved over time. In the third session we will trace the trajectories of post–World War II memories of the Nazi genocide. How did the first recollections of concentration camps emerge, and how have they evolved over time?