GVPT Undergraduate Newsletter

Governor O’Malley’s Communications Office is currently accepting intern applications for the FALL of 2008. Hardworking, organized and self-motivated college students and graduate students interested in working in State politics are encouraged to apply. We are looking for interns who have a superb writing ability, who learn quickly, can articulate ideas, and are enthusiastic about learning about State government. Some duties of the internship include writing press releases, writing talking points, writing briefings, doing research, coordinating press events and other administrative tasks as assigned. Full-time preferred, but willing to work with schedule. Must be able to do at least 3 full days. This internship is unpaid. Please submit a cover letter and resume to Christine Hansen at mdgovernorsoffice@gmail.com. No phone calls, faxes or drop-ins please.

2. Returning Student Scholarships

Two scholarships for returning students are available through the Returning Students Program of the Counseling Center - the Gerald G. Portney Memorial Scholarship (for men and women) and the Charlotte W. Newcombe Scholarship (for women).

Undergraduate students pursuing a Bachelor's degree who are 25 years of age and older, part-time or full-time, and admitted to the University by July 16, 2008 are eligible. The application deadline is Monday, July 16, 2008.

For more information and an application, contact:
Learning Assistance Service
301-314-7693
las-cc@umd.edu

3. History Course Fall 2008

Still looking for a course to register for fall 2008? Need another upper level elective? Consider Dr.Herf's 400/600 seminar on Nazi Germany

This combined graduate/undergraduate seminar entails readings, discussions and written work drawing on the large and distinguished body of historical scholarship about the history of Nazi Germany. It will be divided into four sections: origins and the path to power (1919-1933); the consolidation of power at home and in Europe (1933-1939); World War II and the Holocaust (1939-1945); facing and avoiding the Nazi past after 1945 in Germany and Europe. The readings will focus on political and ideological aspects in both domestic and international affairs in peace and war, including the relationship between policy and propaganda. We will also examine issues posed by social historians regarding the relationship between Nazism and German society, by economic historians concerning as well. We will also read work by cultural historians who examine Nazism’s place in German and European history and who have addressed questions of the appeals of Nazism to men and women.

The history of World War II and the Holocaust and the interaction between those two events will be an important theme of the seminar. Could the war have been prevented? Why was Hitler able to launch it when he did? What changed in the nature of anti-Semitism from the “era of persecution” of the 1930s to the “era of extermination” between 1941 and 1945? How did Hitler’s contemporaries understand and misunderstand him? When did he decide to start World War II and the Final Solution of the Jewish Question in Europe? Why did Nazi Germany do well in the early years of the war? Why and how did the Allies win the war and why did Nazi Germany lose? We will examine the Nuremberg Trials and other efforts to “come to terms with” the crimes of the Nazi era as well as debates in West and East German public life and their respective judicial reckoning with the past.

This is an upper level course. Participants should have a basic knowledge of modern European history. If you do not have such knowledge now, it is advisable that you read the relevant sections of one of several general texts on twentieth century.Standard works include: Felix Gilbert and David Clay Large, The End of the European Era: 1890 to the Present; H. Stuart Hughes and James Wilkinson, Contemporary Europe; Robert Paxton’s Twentieth Century Europe; or the relevant chapters in Joel Colton and R.R. Palmer’s History of the Modern World.

The seminar will meet once a week. It will require between 100 and 250 pages of reading a week. Participants will present 10-15 minute discussions or required readings. There will be two short (3-5 page) papers that examine a required text or texts. The final paper will be about 15 pages in length. It will examine an issue posed by the required reading but draw on other books and scholarly articles. Those students who read German (or other relevant languages) are strongly encouraged to read foreign language sources. Students will be required to submit a paper proposal of several paragraphs by mid-term which presents the key issues and indicates some sources that will be used.

Benjamin Sax/Dieter Kuntz, Inside Hitler’s Germany: A Documentary History of Life in the Third Reich

Jeffrey Herf, Reactionary Modernism: Technology, Culture and Politics in Weimar and the Third Reich

Jeffrey Herf, The Jewish Enemy: Nazi Propaganda during World War II and the Holocaust

Saul Friedlander, Nazi Germany and the Jews, Vol. II: The Years of Extermination

Only information relevant to academic and extra-curricular opportunities for these students will be sent through the newsletter. The government advising office reserves the right to edit and review all submissions to the GVPT newsletter and deny any submissions at their sole discretion.

If you would like to submit information or announcements, please email ADVISING@gvpt.umd.edu. Only those submissions which are denied or delayed will be contacted further.