Nazi Germany and the Holocaust
MIT OpenCourseWare offers this history course examining the rise and fall of National Socialism in Germany, moving past the popular image of Hitler as a singular evil genius and of ordinary Germans as either helpless victims or inherent Nazis at heart. The course traces how the Nazi state actually built and maintained power, how German society responded to and participated in the regime, and how the Holocaust unfolded within that system. Materials include a full syllabus, lecture topics, readings drawn from historians of Weimar and Nazi Germany, and assignments that ask students to weigh competing historical interpretations rather than accept a simplified narrative. The course also situates German fascism against currents in other Western nations, questioning the idea that Nazism was a uniquely German phenomenon. No enrollment fee; materials are published under a Creative Commons license for self-study.