Ethical Considerations and the Holocaust

The number of active perpetrators in the Holocaust was relatively small compared to the millions of civilians living in occupied Europe during the Second World War. What about these millions of others? Where do they fall on the spectrum of responsibility that ranges from perpetrator, to collaborator, to bystander, to rescuer? Is the woman who photographs a deportation of Jews outside her home a bystander, or does her decision to document the event make her something more? How complicit is the man who buys the household goods of deported Jews sold at auction? What about villagers that supply wagons and shovels to Einsatzgruppen actions?

This five-week course will discuss these difficult issues that confronted ordinary people during the Holocaust and apply those lessons to our world today.