History, Memory & Representation of the Holocaust

A First-Year Ampersand Program

The Holocaust: A European Experience

The Diary of Anne Frank, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Schindler’s List—these well-known books and films about the Holocaust are part of nearly every teenager’s education. But as powerfully affective as they are, such popular treatments of the Holocaust represent (and often even misrepresent) just a narrow piece of its complex history. This year-long rigorous program goes deeper into the subject of the Holocaust by engaging intensively with the history and memory of the Nazi genocide of the European Jews and other groups between 1933 and 1945. In addition, it examines representations of this experience in literature and film and at memorial sites and museums.

Students gain a more thorough understanding of better-known histories and narratives of the Holocaust and explore aspects of the Holocaust that are underrepresented in contemporary American culture or that have otherwise been marginalized. They additionally learn about some of the important scholarly methodologies for approaching the study of the Holocaust and its legacy.  The highlight of the program is an educational trip in late May and early June to locations in Germany and Poland. Students visit sites important to the history and memory of the Holocaust, such as the Warsaw Ghetto, the Auschwitz and Treblinka death camps, and museums, memorials and historical sites in Berlin and environs.

How to Sign Up

The sign-up process with priority review for first-year programs and seminars begins on Thursday, May 16, 2024, at 4 p.m. (CT). To participate in priority review, please submit your application in the first 24 hours after applications open or by Friday, May 17, 2024, at 4 p.m. (CT). The link to the application form will be available on the First-Year Programs homepage during that time. You will need your WUSTL Key to apply. For each of the Ampersand Programs you wish to rank in your top four choices, you will need to complete a separate statement of interest (no more than 500 words) answering a program specific question. For History, Memory & Representation of the Holocaust the 2024 application question is: In 250-500 words, please address both: what has been your experience learning about the Holocaust? What would you like to get out of your academic study of the Holocaust?

First-Year Programs Homepage

Meet the Faculty

Erin McGlothlin

Vice Dean of Undergraduate Affairs, College of Arts & Sciences


314-935-7747

Erin McGlothlin is responsible for the university’s liberal arts curriculum as well as every phase of student life, from admission through graduation and onward to postgraduate success. She is passionate about the value of a liberal arts education and seeks to create challenging, enriching educational experiences for undergraduates across all areas of study.

Anika Walke


314-935-9435

​Anika Walke’s current research looks at the long aftermath of the Nazi genocide in Belarus. In particular, she is interested in how people remember and live with the effects and repercussions of systematic violence. She has recently taught courses on the Holocaust and the history of the Soviet Union. 

Student Voices

Many students enter Washington University thinking they know what they want to study and how they want to spend their four years here. However, few students are fully aware of the breadth and depth of intellectual and academic experiences available to them here. This program aims to make the challenges and rewards of humanistic thinking more visible to first-year students by demonstrating to them the ways in which the disciplines of history and literary criticism approach a topic that continues to be of fundamental importance.

Deep Dive into the Study of the Holocaust

Reflections from first-year students enrolled in the 2015-2016 Ampersand program "The History, Memory, and Representation of the Holocaust."

FAQ

What courses are offered as part of this program?

The fall semester course, “The Holocaust: A European Experience,” will give students a necessary overview of the complex historical breadth and geographic reach of the pan-European events of the Nazi genocide, an event that affected women and men, children and the elderly, Jews, Roma, Slavs, and social groups that the Nazis considered unworthy of life.

In the spring semester course, “Representations of the Holocaust in Literature and Film,” students will use their understanding of the development and implementation of the Holocaust to examine important literary and filmic representations of the Holocaust with a critical eye, focusing in particular on depictions of the Holocaust that fall outside standard narratives and examining theoretical frameworks for analyzing such texts.

Will there be activities outside of the classroom?

Classroom engagements will be supplemented by visits to the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum and Learning Center and other projects.

The highlight of this program is an educational trip in May to locations in Germany and Poland. The trip will include visits to sites important to the history and memory of the Holocaust, such as the Warsaw Ghetto, the Auschwitz and Treblinka death camps, and museums, memorials, and important historical sites in Berlin and environs.

 

What is different about this program from other opportunities in this major/field?  

The Ampersand Program on the Holocaust is a unique opportunity for students to study the complex dynamics and legacy of one of the most well-known transnational historical events from an interdisciplinary perspective. Students are trained in different disciplinary approaches to fundamental questions of humanistic scholarship: What role does ideology play in how humans make decisions and act? Why does violence against particular groups occur? How do individuals and communities live with the aftermath of systematic violence? How do artists and survivors try to make legible to others concrete experiences of violence, whether from the perspective of the victim or from that of the perpetrator?  How do people make sense of their own and other people’s pasts? Why do literature, film, and historical scholarship continue to turn to the events of the Holocaust in order to explain the dangers of propaganda and ideological indoctrination, or the dynamics of violence? 

Is there any additional cost for this program?

Yes. The travel component of this course, a trip to Germany and Poland, costs approximately $5,500. Need based financial support available.

Will this program's travel component be affected by COVID-19? 

This Ampersand Program typically has an international travel component, which could be affected by federal and local guidelines related to health, safety, and security considerations. This program's main academic component will not be affected.