In this section, you’ll find an overview of major conceptual issues for the study of Holocaust history.
In “Holocaust Historiography,” Michael Krasuski ’21 and Michael Callahan ’24 explain two of the biggest debates for Holocaust historians: Intentionalism vs. Functionalism and the Perpetrator, Bystander, Victim way of categorizing the Nazi encroachment in Europe.
In “Nazism in Global Context,” Laura Collins ’21 and Virginia French ’24 highlight global influences and larger contexts of racism that shaped the rise of Nazism: namely forms of racism and violence in the US and the colonial world.
In “Sources and Methodology,” Clare Gaffney ’21 and Elizabeth Brubaker ’23 provide insight into the challenges and benefits of materials that historians use to study Holocaust history.
