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Readings for Wed., July 23, 2003

Norman M. Naimark, Fires of Hatred: Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth-Century
Europe (Harvard University Press, 2001), pp. 57-138 :

• Ch. 2, "The Nazi Attack on the Jews," pp. 57-84
• Ch. 3, "Soviet Deportations of the Chechens-Ingush and the Crimean Tatars," pp. 85-107
• Ch. 4, "The Expulsion of Germans from Poland and Czechoslovakia," pp. 108-38

Recommended: Terry Martin, "The Origins of Soviet Ethnic Cleansing,"
Journal of Modern History 70:4 (December 1998): 813-861

• Click here to access this article electronically via JSTOR (www.jstor.org),
  an archive of scholarly journals available to Stanford students.

Study Questions:

How -- and why -- does Nazi policy toward "the Jewish question" change over time?

What are the differences and similarities between the Young Turk actions against Armenians and those of the Nazis against Jews?

Article 13, Potsdam Treaty, July 1945: "The three Governments [UK, US, USSR], having considered the question in all its aspects, recognize that the transfer to Germany of German populations, or elements thereof, remaining in Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary, will have to be undertaken. They agree that any transfers that take place should be effected in an orderly and humane manner."

• What explains this policy?
• What were the different ways and circumstances in which the mass movements of Germans took place during and after WWII?
• Was this episode of ethnic cleansing more "understandable" than others, more "justifiable"? How does the benefit of hindsight affect one's assessment?

How do the motivations and practices of Soviet deportations compare to other ethnic cleansings we've studied?