Aims

By the late spring of 1940 a Nazi victory seemed both inevitable and imminent and the continent faced a future dominated by Nazism. Despite the multiplicity of ambitious proposals from all different quarters (politicians and intellectuals, SS and military, businessmen and bureaucrats), there was no master plan for the political and economic restructuring of Europe. This special subject explores both the ideology and propaganda and the political and economic realities of the short-lived Nazi new order in Europe. The module will be taught in twelve three-hour seminars, each comprising a session dealing with the subject for that week and a session looking at the documentary sources.

The aim is to locate the putative Nazi new order in the broader context of European history and politics, and specifically in relation to developments such as the rise of European fascism between the wars, resurgent critiques of liberalism in the wake of the Depression, and models of European integration. We shall be looking at a range of documents, including political pamphlets, press reports and propaganda; legislation, decrees and constitutional documents; diaries, eye-witness accounts and memoirs.

Outline Of Syllabus

Themes will include:

The concept of a new European order
Political structures in occupied Europe
Germany, Nazism and the European economy
Economic migration and slave labour
Fascist social ideologies and European society
The Nazis’ new racial order and the Holocaust in European perspective
Collaboration and resistance
The new cultural order
Propaganda and public opinion in Nazi Europe
Allied responses and alternatives to Nazi Europe

The module will be taught in twelve three-hour sessions, each of which will be divided between the historical context and historiography of the week’s theme in the first part and the analysis of documents in the second.

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Independent learning is essential to this module: students are expected to develop skills of source evaluation, critical reading and note-taking in an independent and effective manner. Seminar teaching complements these skills by allowing students the opportunity to share and debate information gathered independently. Oral skills of argument and presentation will be developed. Moreover, a significant part of seminar teaching will test the development of primary source analysis.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

Exams test acquisition of a clear general knowledge of the subject plus the ability to think and analyse a problem quickly, to select from and to apply both the general knowledge and detailed knowledge of aspects of the subject to new questions, problem-solving skills, adaptability, the ability to work unaided and to write clearly and concisely.

Documentary commentary exercises and examinations test knowledge and understanding of the texts set for the module. The ability to compare and contrast related source texts on a common subject. The ability to expound and criticize a textual extract lucidly, succinctly and with relevance in a relatively brief space, and, in an exam, under pressure of time.

Work submitted during the delivery of the module forms a means of determining student progress. Submitted work tests knowledge outcomes and develops skills in research, reading and writing.

Submitted work, tests, intended knowledge and skills outcomes develops key skills in research, reading and writing.

This module can be made available to Erasmus students only with the agreement of the Head of Subject and of the Module Leader. This option must be discussed in person at the beginning of your exchange period. No restrictions apply to study-abroad, exchange and Loyola students.
All Erasmus students at Newcastle University are expected to do the same assessment as students registered for a degree.
Study-abroad, non-Erasmus exchange and Loyola students spending semester 1 only are required to finish their assessment while in Newcastle. This will take the form of an alternative assessment, as outlined in the formats below:

Modules assessed by Coursework and Exam:
The normal alternative form of assessment for all semester 1 non-EU study abroad students will be one essay in addition to the other coursework assessment (the length of the essay should be adjusted in order to comply with the assessment tariff); to be submitted no later than 12pm Friday of week 12. The essays should be set so as to assure coverage of the course content to date.

Modules assessed by Exam only:
The normal alternative form of assessment for all semester 1 non-EU study abroad students will be two 2,000 word written exercises; to be submitted no later than 12pm Friday of week 12. The essays should be set so as to assure coverage of the course content to date.

Modules assessed by Coursework only:
All semester 1 non-EU study abroad students will be expected to complete the standard assessment for the module; to be submitted no later than 12pm Friday of week 12. The essays should be set so as to assure coverage of the course content to date.

Study-abroad, non-Erasmus exchange and Loyola students spending the whole academic year or semester 2 are required to complete the standard assessment as set out in the MOF under all circumstances.