history 327w-000 the soviet world war, 1939-1945 327w-000 the soviet world war, 1939-1945 ... the...

History 327W-000

The Soviet World War, 1939-1945

1:00-1:50

Bowden Hall, TBA

Fall 2016

Prof. Matt Payne

119 Bowden

Office Hours: Wednesday, 2:00-3:30

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Overview

This course will examine the Soviet role in World War II. The USSR suffered far more causalities

than any other belligerent nation as Soviet troops stopped the Nazi war machine in epic battles such as

Barbarossa, Moscow, Stalingrad, the Siege of Leningrad, Kursk, Operation Bagration and the Battle of

Berlin. But the story of the Great Patriotic War, as it is known by the Russians, is so much broader

than the clash of arms. From the establishment of two violently opposed totalitarian dictatorships to

the diplomatic maneuverings of a too crafty Stalin to the shock of invasion and total mobilization of

Soviet people, even under a brutal German occupation, this is a story of people. The course will

follow the war through the eyes of simple Soviet soldiers ("Ivan the Terrible" to their fascist foes),

brilliant writers and brutalized Gulag prisoners, victims of the holocaust and Red partisans, women

pilots and the Generalissimo himself, Iosif Stalin. The course will focus on the Soviet experience, but

of course the Nazi's motivations and actions will be studied, as will be the suspicious and competitive

alliance with the Western allies. The Soviet victory on the Eastern Front was as unexpected as it was

earth-shaking and came at an almost incalculable cost in human suffering and a brutally traumatized

society. Three generations after the guns fell silent, Russians and other Soviet peoples are still

recovering from the demographic catastrophe and the political legitimation of communism that came

as a consequence of this, not only Russia's, but the world's largest war every fought.

Requirements and Grading

Participation: Students are expected to attend all class lectures and discussions. Everyone will

do all the required readings and assignments each week and students will be expected to discuss

the weekly themes and topics cogently. Attendance will be taken and unexcused absences will

affect a student’s participation grade. 15%

Discussion Responses: One-to-two page post to Blackboard "safe-assign" to one of several

specific questions (listed on syllabus) dealing with assigned readings. Proper grammar and

style are required as well as historical analysis—not simply summation. The posted responses

should be read by all students prior to discussion class. All responses should be posted by 9:00

pm on the evening prior to discussion (normally Thursday night unless otherwise noted in the

syllabus). Failure to post on time will lead to a failing grade on the assignment. A one-to-two

page short review of the weekly movie may be substituted up to three times. 20%

Final Exam: A fifteen-minute oral examination on the readings, lectures, and class

discussions at a pre-arranged time during finals week (December 8-9th, 12th-14th). Key words

and concepts will be written on cards which the student will draw; she will be expected to

identify and discuss them readily and coherently. This is the classical Russian examination and

is very efficient at determining knowledge in a given subject (i.e., to do well in this test you

must have done the work required for this course). 25%

Final Research Paper: A twelve-to-fifteen page term paper on a topic of the student's choice

within the chronological and topical limits of this class. Each week I will require students to

complete a weekly research assignment—very simple research-oriented tasks that aid the

student in discovering an exciting topic. I will give weekly feedback on how the research is

progressing. Mid-way into the semester, each student will submit a short paper proposal

consisting of a thesis statement and bibliography. I will in turn consult personally with each

student on the feasibility of their topic. Draft papers will be read and returned with feedback.

Completed papers will be turned by our final exam date (December 13th). 40%

Course Policies

Attendance: Class attendance is mandatory and unexcused absences will be detrimental to the class

participation grade (five unexcused absences will lead to automatic failure in the classroom

participation grade). The lectures, in particular, represent a synthesis of material from a broad array

of historical approaches and treat many issues in a very different manner than the texts.

Classroom Participation: Discussion is also important, and your willingness to contribute to

discussion class will be reflected in your participation grade.

Extensions: Students must complete course work on time or arrange, before the assignment is due,

an extension with the instructor. Late assignments will be marked down.

Grading: The principles of grading in this class are succinct and clear.

o In those assignments that are brief (discussion responses, research assignments, pop quizzes

[should that become necessary due to a lack of reading the texts!]), grades will be a check (√)

or a check minus (√-). The final mark on this particular portion of your grade will simply be

a cumulating of all checks versus all possible checks (so, if you get a check on 12 of 13

discussion responses, you would receive a 92% on your discussion grade).

o On more substantial assignments such as exams or the final paper, there are various criteria

which are examined. I will pass out a separate grading matrix to detail how I grade on long,

written assignments.

General Email policy: Prof. Payne reviews email daily during the work week but not necessarily more

than once daily. Please be patient, especially with learn-link communications. I’m not Google!

Other Resources: The Writing Center provides individualized mentoring on exposition provided

by a gifted cadre of mentors. Their sessions are rewarding and beneficial even to accomplished

writers. For more information and to schedule an appointment see:

http://www.emory.edu/ENGLISH/WC/

Note on College Writing Requirements: This course does not fulfill the College post-freshman writing

requirement.

Honor Code: As in all Emory classes, the strictures of the honor code apply. Infractions of the

honor code, especially cheating and plagiarism, will be handled with the greatest possible

severity.

http://www.emory.edu/ENGLISH/WC/

Books

Text:

1. Chris Bellamy, Absolute War: Soviet Russia in the Second World War. (Knopf

Doubleday). ISBN-10: 0375724710

Readings:

2. Vasily Grossman, A Writer at War: A Soviet Journalist with the Red Army, 1941-1945

(Vintage). ISBN-10: 0307275337

3. Alexander Hill. The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union, 1941-1945: A

Documentary Reader (Routledge). ISBN-10: 0415604249

4. Catherine Merridale, Ivan’s War: Life and Death in the Red Army (Picador). ISBN-10:

03124265526.

5. Nina Tumarkin, The Living and the Dead: The Rise and Fall of the Cult of World War II

in Russia (Basic Books). ISBN-10: 0465041442

Class Schedule

Week 1: Introduction

Weds. 8/24: Introduction to Class

Fri. 8/26: LECTURE: Why Everything You Think You Know About World War II is Wrong

READINGS:

Secondary:

Merridale, Ivan's War, "Introduction; True War Stories," pp. 1-22.

Bellamy, Absolute War, ch. 1, "Flight of the Rabid Wolf," and ch. 2, "Absolute

and Total War," pp. 1-38.

Ronald Smelser and Edward Davies, The Myth of the Eastern Front: The Nazi-

Soviet War in American Popular Culture, ch. 7, "War Games, the

Internet and the Popular Culture of the Romancers," pp. 187-223.

https://ereserves.library.emory.edu/reservesViewer.php?reserve=506409


Week 2: Here Be Monsters: The Rise of the Totalitarian Dictatorships

FILM: Burnt by the Sun (Nikita Mikhailkov, 1994)

Mon. 8/29: LECTURE: “Communism and Nazism: Fratricidal Brothers?"

Weds. 8/31: READINGS:

Secondary:

Richard Overy, Russia's War, ch. 1, "The Darknesss Descend: 1917-1937," pp. 1-33.

Merridale, Ivan's War, ch. 1, "Marching with Revolutionary Step," pp. 23-48.

Sources:

Ronald Grigor Suny, The Structure of Soviet History; Essays and Documents:

"For the Fatherland!" Editorial in Pravda, June 9, 1934, pp. 229-31

Stalin, “On the Tasks of Workers in the Economy,” excerpts from his speech to

the First All-Union Conference of Workers of Socialist Industry, February

4, 1931, pp. 294-295.

Fri. 9/2: READINGS:

Secondary:

Richard Overy, The Dictators: Hitler's

Germany, Stalin's Russia, ch. 3, "Cults

of Personalities," pp. 98-131.

Sources:

Ronald Grigor Suny, The Structure of

Soviet History; Essays and

Documents:

"Stalin on the Arrests and

Executions of

Tukhachevskii, Iakir,

Uborovich, and others, June

11, 1937," pp. 240;

Discussion Question (Due Thurs., 9/1, 9:00 pm):

How was the Soviet form of a government built

around total mobilization of society, even before the

outbreak of war? How was this revolutionary state built

around terror, the party and the command economy?

How did Stalin, just like Hitler, dominate Soviet politics

through a cult of personality? How did this absolute

dictatorship and reliance on terror undermine Soviet

military preparedness during the purges?

Research Assignment (Due Friday, 9/2, 5:30 pm):

Please identify three articles in the Modern Encyclopedia of Russian, Soviet and Eurasian

History [DK14 .M6 ref] that discuss topics of interest to you (Soviet women in war, the Holocaust in

the USSR, the Battle of Kursk). Submit a short summary of whether you believe this is a workable

topic for you. The form of your submission should be the citation and then one or two sentences on

the topics feasibility. In other words, “Battle of Stalingrad: The subject is fascinating to me but seeing

the vast amount of scholarly literature on the topic, I think I need to narrow down the topic a bit. I

think I would like to focus on the street-by-street fighting in the city itself, rather than Zhukov's

counter-offensive..”











Week 3: Collective Security?: Soviet Diplomacy in a "Low, Dishonest Decade"

FILM: If There is War Tomorrow (Efim Dzigan, 1938)

Mon. 9/5: Labor Day—NO CLASS

Weds. 9/7: LECTURE, “Defending the Homeland of Socialism”

Fri. 9/9: READINGS:

Secondary:

Merridale, Ivan's War, ch. 2 "A Fire Through All the World," pp. 49-81.

Sources:

Alexander Dallin and Fridrikh Firsov, eds., Dimitrov and Stalin, 1934-1943 Letters

From the Soviet Archives, ch. 2, "The United Front, 1934-1939," 7-44.

Sources:

Hill, The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union, ch.1, "Lenin, Stalin and the West

1917-39," pp. 5-21.


Was Soviet diplomacy oriented towards pursuing world revolution or "defending the socialist

fatherland?" How did Stalin manipulate Communist parties around the world to serve the interests of

the Soviet Union? What were Stalin’s diplomatic goals in the run-up to the world war?

Research Assignment (Due Friday., 9/9, 5:30 pm):

Using Euclid, identify three historical monographs that represent a good, scholarly resource for

studying your topic of interest. A monograph is a scholarly, peer-reviewed book (usually put out by a

major university press) that focuses on one subject rather than trying to create a syncretic overview of

a subject, such as a textbook. Thus, Chris Bellamy, Soviet Russia in the Second World War would not

be appropriate (it’s a textbook) but Roger R. Reese, Why Stalin's Soldiers Fought: The Red Army's

Military Effectiveness in World War II would be an excellent choice. Memoirs, letters, etc., as primary

sources, would also not apply. Please physically examine the monograph by going to Woodruff stacks

and write up you observations of each based on a quick skim. For example, “Anthony Beevor,

Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege: 1942-1943: A very detailed account of the Battle of Stalingrad which

focuses on high-level decision making and personal experience. A bit popular but far easier to work

with than Glantz's Armageddon in Stalingrad, which almost a blow-by-blow military account." Or,

"Mar Mazower, Hitler's Empire: How the Nazis Ruled Europe: This is really an interesting book but

it is not focused only on the occupation in the East. I need to look into some accounts of the Soviet

experience of occupation to supplement his account."


Week 4: Breathing Space: The Molotov-Ribbentropp Pact and the "Winter War"

Mon. 9/12 LECTURE, Stalin and Hitler as Allies—Bloodlands


Secondary:

Bellamy, Absolute War, ch. 3, "A

Cruel Romance: The

Nazi Soviet Alliance and

Expansion, August to

November 1939," pp. 39-

68.

Sources:

Vladimir Voinovich, The Life and

Extraordinary Adventures of

Private Ivan Chonkin, chs. 1-

4, pp. 3-31.

Fri. 9/16: READINGS:

Secondary:

Bellamy, Absolute War, ch. 3, "A

Cruel Romance: The Nazi Soviet Alliance and Expansion, August to November

1939," and ch. 4, "Further Soviet Expansion and Cooperation with Germany,

November to June 1941," pp. 69-98 and ch. 5, "Who Planned to Attack Whom,

and How?" pp. 99-135

Sources:

Hill, The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union, ch. 2, "The Icebreaker Controversy

and Soviet Intentions in 1941," pp. 22-39.


The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact is one of the most controversial aspects of the Soviet Union's

wartime diplomacy. One argument has been that it gave "breathing space" for the Soviet Union to

reform its military and build up a buffer zone against a Nazi aggressor clearly pointed in its direction

by Munich. A far less charitable explanation is that this was a bloody and imperial partition of Eastern

Europe between two dictators intent on double-crossing each other. What is your interpretation of the

pact (you might want to make reference to the Icebreaker controversy and Voinovich's savage satire of

the pre-war Red Army)? Why did Hitler go to war and why didn’t Stalin attempt a preemptive attack?

Research Assignment (Due Friday., 9/16, 5:30 pm):

Using the database function of Euclid, use three data bases to search for scholarly articles

appropriate for your topic. The three should be the American Bibliography of Slavic and East

European Studies (ABSEES), JSTOR, and Historical Abstracts. Cull three good articles from each and

examine them. For each data base give me a sentence or two on its advantages and disadvantages for

your research agenda. A fourth database should be identified by you on your own. (HINT: Google

would be a bad choice. On the other hand Google Scholar would be quite appropriate). Example: "I

found JSTOR really convenient for my topic on the GULag during the War, but it's coverage was not

as good as ABSEES. Google Scholar was a bit hard to use but surprisingly robust."



Week 5: Drang nach Osten: Barbarossa and the Annihilation of the Soviet Army

FILM: The Brest Fortress (Alexander Kott, 2010) or The Cranes are Flying (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1957)

or The Living and the Dead (Stolper, 1963)

Mon. 9/19: LECTURE, “The Catastrophic Invasion of 1941”


Secondary:

Bellamy, Absolute War, ch. 6, "The War's Worst-Kept Secret," pp. 136-163; ch. 7, "Iron

Road East: The Country, the Forces?" pp. 164-178

Sources:

Hill, The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union, ch. 3, "Barbarossa," pp. 40-67.

Nikita Khrushchev, The Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev; Vol. 1, Commissar, 1918-1945,

“The Great Patriotic War; People and Events of Summer and Fall 1941,” pp 324-

358.


Secondary:

Bellamy, Absolute War, ch. 8, "Barbarossa Unleashed and the Battle of the Frontiers,"

pp. 179-206, and ch. 9, "Kremlin at War," pp. 207-238.

Merridale, Ivan's War, ch. 3, "Disaster Beats its Wings," 82-115.

Sources:

Grossman, A Writer at War, chs. 1-5, pp. 3-44.


Was Stalin really fooled by Barbarossa and, if not, why was Barbarossa so incredibly

successful at destroying the Soviet army? Despite its success, Bellamy argues the operation was

fatally flawed. Why? What was the experience of common Soviet soldiers and observers such as

Grossman in the face of such utter destruction and demoralizing defeat? How did the first months

seem from the perspective of top Politbiuro leaders, such as Khrushchev? The myth is that the Soviet

army completely collapsed during Operation Barbarossa, but is this really accurate? The ferocious

fighting at Smolensk and on the outskirts of Moscow might indicate another interpretation.

Research Assignment (Due Fri., 9/23, 5:30 pm):

Identify three primary sources and/or memoirs. This could be a government order, such as the

infamous "Not One Step Back!" order, a work of contemporaneous fiction such as Ilya Ehrenburg's

poem, "Kill!" or a memoir such as Kozhina's Through the Burning Steppe.


Week 6: The Barbarization of the War and Fascist Occupation

FILM: Our Own (Dmitry Meshkiyev, 2004)

Mon. 9/26: LECTURE, “The Barbarization of Warfare: German Occupation Policies and the

Partisan Resistance.”


Secondary:

Uwe Gartenschlager, "Living and Surviving in Occupied Minsk," The People's War

Responses to World War II in the Soviet Union, Robert W. Thurston and Bernd

Bonwetsch, eds., pp. 13-28.

Wendy Lower, Nazi Empire Building and the Holocaust in Ukraine, ch. 1, "Nazi

Colonialism and Ukraine," pp. 18-29.

Sources:

Extract from the Commissar's Order for "Operation Barbarossa," June 6, 1941.


Secondary:

Kenneth Slepyan, Stalin's Guerillas; Soviet Partisans in World War II, ch. 1, "Putting

the People into "All People's War," 1941-1942," pp. 15-60, 300-318.

Sources:

Hill, The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union, ch. 9, "The Soviet Partisan

Movement," pp. 193-220.


As part of Operation Barbarossa the Nazis unleashed a brutal occupation regime which

involved, among other things, regular army troops as well as the specially-designated einsatzgruppen

murder squads massacring civilians. How was the occupation regime deeply animated by Nazi racist

ideology of anti-Semitism and untermenschen? What were the plans for the areas occupied? How did

the occupation not simply attract collaborators but evoke violent opposition? What role did the

partisan movement play in disrupting the Axis war machine, but also unleashing a civil war behind the

lines?

Research Assignment (Due Fri., 9/30, 5:30 pm):

Prepare a working bibliography of primary sources, monographs and scholarly articles (as well

as other resources) you have identified as critical for your research project. Please use Turabian’s

Manual of Style format for this bibliography, NOT social science citation. Please be comprehensive.




http://www1.yadvashem.org/about_holocaust/documents/part3/doc170.html



Week 7: The Miracle at Moscow

FILM: Za nami Moskva (Frontline Moscow) (Mazhit Begalin, 1968)

Mon. 10/3: LECTURE, “The Battle of Moscow and The First Soviet Winter Offensive”


Secondary:

Bellamy, Absolute War, ch. 10, "Winning

Oneself to Death," pp. 239-279.

Merridale, Ivan's War, ch. 4, "Black Ways

of War," pp. 116-152.

Sources:

Hill, The Great Patriotic War of the

Soviet Union, ch.4, "The Battle of

Moscow," pp. 68-90.


Secondary:

Bellamy, Absolute War, ch. 11, "Midnight

in Moscow," pp. 280-312 and ch.

11, "Black Snow," pp. 313-350.

Merridale, Ivan's War, ch. 5, "Stone by

Stone," pp. 116-152, 153-187.

Sources:

Joseph Stalin, "Speech On Red Square,"

November 7, 1941 (Youtube.com).

Grossman, A Writer at War, chs. 6-8, pp.

45-78.


How was the Wehrmacht stopped at Moscow? How did the people of Moscow, as well as the

army, rally to the defense of the capital and deliver an unexpected counter-strike to the Axis? What

role do you think natural conditions played versus the military plan of Zhukov? How were the Soviets

able to negate the Axis advantages of air power, armored mobility and firepower and deal the first

major setback to the German military in the course of the war?

Research Assignment (No due date):

No assignment this week—work on your proposals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IGbjPqFFvA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IGbjPqFFvA

Week 8: Leningrad Besieged, the GULag at War and the Culture of Hate

FILM: Ballad of a Soldier (George Chukrai, 1959)

Mon. 10/10: FALL BREAK—NO CLASS

Weds. 10/12: LECTURE, “The Home Front is Everywhere!”

READINGS:

Secondary:

Bellamy, Absolute War, ch. 13, "White Night:

Leningrad, September 1941 to Februrary

1944," pp. 351-408.

Sources:

Hill, The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union,

ch. 7, "The Siege of Leningrad," pp. 141-162.

Cynthia Simmons, Writing the Siege of Leningrad:

Women's Diaries, Memoires and Documentary

Prose, "Introduction," pp. 1-18, "Diary and

Letters of Evgeniia Shavrova," pp. 39-46, "Oral

History of Natal'ia Vladimirova Stroganova,"

127-140.


Secondary:

Merridale, Ivan's War, "May Brotherhood be Blessed," pp. 226-262.

Rebecca Manley, "The Perils of Displacement: The Soviet Evacuee between Refugee

and Deportee," Contemporary History (2007) 16: 495-509.

Steven Barnes, "All for the Front, All for Victory! The Mobilization of Forced Labor

during World War Two," International Labor and Working-Class History 58

(2000): 239-260.

Sources:

Hill, The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union, ch. 8, "Lend-Lease Aid, the Soviet

Economy and the Soviet Union at War," pp. 163-192.

Konstantin Simonov, "Wait for Me," (1941) (Song Version).

James von Geldern and Richard Stites, eds., Mass Culture in Soviet Russia, Ilya

Ehrenburg, "The Justification of Hate" (1942), p. 401-405.


The Soviet world war is unique in that the home front was very much a war front. Whether we

consider evacuees or GULag prisoners, the total mobilization of Soviet society meant extraordinary

hardships for civilians. These methods created a wartime economic miracle, as Barber and Harrison

show, that allowed the USSR to outpace the Axis powers in arms production and logistical support

remarkably quickly despite losing much of the country's industrial and agricultural bases in 1941.

Now city suffered worst than the besieged Leningrad from the war, and yet, despite rampant starvation,

its factories still produced arms for the war. What kept Soviet citizens pushing past their last reserves?

Was it fear? Was it a desire to be reunited with loved ones, as Simonov's poem indicates? Or was it

the cultivation of a culture of hatred towards the enemy, as exemplified by Ehrenberg's work?


Hand in your paper proposals. Each proposal should include a topic, a working thesis and a

discussion of the methodology you plan to use and its appropriateness. For instance, a proposal on

“Operation Barbarossa” might have a working thesis such as “Hitler's Invasion of the USSR was wildly

successful, not only due to Nazi planning but also Stalin's extraordinary incompetence. Even so, it was

overly ambitious as the Soviets rallied." Include a detailed bibliography.








http://www.simonov.co.uk/waitforme.htm

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Simonov+Wait+for+Me+song&mid=BE35915CBF28E5219D30BE35915CBF28E5219D30&view=detail&FORM=VIRE3


Week 9: Stalingrad—Nemesis on the Volga

FILM: They Fought for their Country (Sergei Bondarchuk, 1975) or Enemy at the Gate

(Annaud,2003)

Mon. 10/17: LECTURE, “The Military Turning Point—Stalingrad.”


Secondary:

Bellamy, Absolute War, ch. 14, "The Grand Alliance," pp. 409-447.

Sources:

Hill, The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union, ch. 5, "The Tide Turns: The Battle

for Stalingrad," pp. 91-117.


Secondary:

Merridale, Ivan's War, ch. 6, "A Land Laid Waste," pp. 187-225.

Bellamy, Absolute War, ch. 15, "To the Edge of the Abyss: The Worst Year, 1942," pp.

447-496, ch. 16, "From Defense to Attack: The Caucasus, Stalingrad and

Mars," pp. 497-555.

Sources:



1942 was another year of disaster for the Soviet armed forces. Despite draconian orders such

the "Not One Step Backward" order, the Kremlin could not stem the tide of Axis advances in the

south—advances which ground to pieces Soviet armies while threatening to cut off the crucial oil

fields to the South. And yet in the savage fighting at Stalingrad the Soviets not only stemmed the

Wehrmacht's attack but decisively defeated it. Why? What allowed the Soviets to turn the tide of the

war and maintain their offensive edge throughout the rest of the war? How, in particular, was the

arrival of General Chuikov and a change of tactics to embrace street fighting crucial for victory. What

role did Zhukov and Stavka play? Grossman provides some of the best unfiltered observations of the

battle we have. Who does he credit for the victory?

Research Assignment (To be scheduled):

Meet with me one-on-one to discuss your proposal.

Week 10: Minorities, Ostarbeiter, Collaborators and POWs; Soviet Renegades?

FILM: Trial on the Road (Aleksei German, 1971) or Destiny of a Man (Sergei Bondarchuk, 1959)

Mon. 10/24: LECTURE, “The Experience of Occupation and the Purging "Collaborators."


Secondary:

Jeffrey Jones, ""Every Family Has its Freaks": Perceptions of Collaboration in

Occupied Soviet Russia, 1943-1948," Slavic Review, 64/4 (2005): 747-770.

Overy, Russia's War, ch. 5, "The Fight from Within: Collaboration, Terror and

Resistance," pp. 125-153. (on reserve)

Sources:

Elena Kozhina, Through the Burning Steppe; A Wartime Memoir, pp. 1-18, 32-44.


Secondary:

Norman Naimark, Stalin's Genocides, ch. 5, "Removing Nations," pp. 80-99.

Michaela Pohl. "" It Cannot Be that Our Graves Will Be Here": The Survival of

Chechen and Ingush Deportees in Kazakhstan, 1944-1957." Journal of Genocide

Research 4/3 (2002): 401-430.


Millions upon millions of Soviet citizens found themselves on the wrong side of enemy lines,

whether occupied, conscripted for slave labor or captured as POWs. All these people were under

suspicion once Soviet forces retook occupied territory, including whole large categories of people such

as particular ethnicities (Khrushchev would later quip that Stalin would have deported the Ukrainians

but there were too many of them). With special reference to Kozhina's memoir of the agonizing and

life-threatening decisions average Soviets faced in occupation, do you think Stalin really needed to fear

about the loyalty of these people? What of alleged ethnic collaborators, such as the Chechens? How

was the Soviet occupation a sort of "lesser terror" to those who had lived under Nazi terror?

Research Assignment (To be scheduled):

Meet with me one-on-one to discuss your proposal.





Week 11: The Soviet Phoenix; The Battle of Kursk and Soviet Amazons

FILM: The Dawns are Quiet Here (Stanislav Rostotsky, 1972)

Mon. 10/31: LECTURE, “All for the Front!”


Secondary:

Bellamy, Absolute War, ch. 17, "Kursk and the New Professionalism," pp. 554-595.

Sources:

Hill, The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union, ch. 6, "The Battle of Kursk and the

Race for the Dnepr," pp. 117-140.


Secondary:

Mark Harrison, The Economics of World War II, Six Great Powers in International

Comparison, ch. 7, "The Soviet Union: The Defeated Victor," pp. 368-300.

Anna Krylova, Soviet Women in Combat: A History of Violence on the Eastern Front,

ch. 5, "Partners in Violence," pp. 173-203.

Sources:

Grossman, A Writer at War, chs. 19-20, 213-246.

Anna Timofeeva-Egorova, Red Sky, Black Death: A Soviet Women Pilot's Memoir of

the Eastern Front, Chapters 33-40, pp. 113-136.


The Battle of Kursk was a titanic struggle in which the Soviets laid a trap for the Wehrmacht

and defeated it head to head in mechanized battle. The resurrection of the Soviet air force and the

superiority of Soviet mechanized infantry made a fundamental difference to the battle—but at what

cost was this militarization achieved? Why does Harrison called the USSR the "defeated victor"? Part

of this mobilization was the extraordinary recruitment of women into the military—including elite

positions such as fighter pilot. How did this mobilization create, as Krylova calls it, a partnership in

violence?

Research Assignment: (None this week)

Work on detailed outline of research paper.




Week 12: The Bones of Berdichev; The Soviet Holocaust

FILM: The Ascent (Larissa Shepitko, 1977)

Mon. 11/7: LECTURE, “The War of Annihilation—Nazi Genocide and Atrocities.”


Secondary:

Hans-Heinrich Nolte, "Destruction and Resistance: The Jewish Shtetl of Slonim, 1941-

1944," The People's War Responses to World War II in the Soviet Union, Robert W.

Thurston and Bernd Bonwetsch, eds., pp. 29-53.

Timothy Snyder, Bloodlands, ch. 6, "Final Solution," pp. 187-224.

Sources:

Ilya Altman and Joshua Rubenstein, The Unknown Black Book: The Holocaust in

German Occupied Soviet Territories:

Lev Roshetsky, “My Life in a Fascist Prison,” pp. 121-132

“Avenge Us!” pp. 154-157


Secondary:

Merridale, Ivan's War, ch. 8, "Exulting, Grieving, and Sweating Blood," pp. 263-299.

Sources:

Grossman, A Writer at War, chs. 21 and 24, pp. 247-262, 280-308.


Some of the most grotesque crimes against humanity ever committed occurred on the Eastern

Front during World War II, particularly the destruction of European Jewry in the Shoah. The

Holocaust is too often associated with the grotesque murder factories such as Treblinka and Birkenau

(and it was Soviet war correspondents, such as Grossman, who first alerted the world to these horrors),

but vast masses of Jews (and not only Jews) were murdered by roving murder squads and crammed

into hellholes now known as ghettos. Explain how this more brutal, less mechanized form of genocide

played out during the War in the East. Describe how individuals tried to cope, resist, and ultimately

grieve this shocking campaign of racial murder. How did Grossman react to finding the bones of

Berdichev?


Please hand in a fairly detailed outline of your planned research paper. Remember to include an

introduction and conclusion—as well as citations of all quotes and important arguments and data.





Week 13: The Soviet Juggernaut; From the Dniepr to the Oder

FILM: Come and See (Elim Klimov, 1985)

Mon. 11/14: LECTURE, “1944 and Stalin’s Ten Crushing Blows.”


Secondary:

Bellamy, Absolute War, ch. 18, "Destroying the Wehrmacht. Ukraine and the Baltic,

Reasserting Soviet Control," pp. 596-629.

Sources:

Hill, The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union, ch. 10, "The Ten "Stalinist" Crushing

Blows of 1944," pp. 220-246.

Grossman, A Writer at War, ch. 23, pp. 270-279.

Discussion Question (Due Tues., 11/15, 9:00 pm):

The Nazi blitzkrieg is infamous as a military tactic, but the Soviet offensives of 1944 have

gotten short shrift in the popular imagination due to developments in other theaters. Some of the most

smashing victories of the war, however, were dealt by the Soviet army in 1944 (which, not

incidentally, knocked a number of Hitler's allies out of the war). How did the Soviets achieve these

spectacular military victories (and no, it was not due to a bedraggled Wehrmacht—Army Group Center

was a powerful force)? What was the role played by an increasingly brilliant stable of generals,

tactical superiority, better weaponry and a highly disciplined military? 1944 was the year that saw the

lowest Soviet casualties of the war. Why do you think this was so?

Research Assignment (None due):

Work on draft paper.

Week 14: Gotterdammerung: The Battle of Berlin and the Occupation of Eastern Europe

Fri. 11/18: LECTURE, “The Soviet Conquest of Eastern and Central Europe—Trouble with Allies.”

Mon. 11/21:

Secondary:

Bellamy, Absolute War, ch. 19, "Victory," pp. 630-669.

Merridale, Ivan's War, ch. 9, "Despoil the Corpse," pp. 299-336.

Geoffrey Roberts, Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939-1953, ch. 9,

"Liberation, Conquest, Revolution: Stalin's Aims in Germany and Eastern Europe,"

pp. 228-253.

Sources:


Weds. 11/23: THANKSGIVING RECESS

Fri. 11/15: THANKSGIVING RECESS

Discussion Question (Due Sun., 11/20, 9:00 pm):

The Soviets long argued that they came to Germany as liberators but the savagery of the German

resistance, as well as the establishment of a new Soviet sphere of influence in Eastern Europe has long

led historians to be skeptical of this claim. Certainly, the savagery of the Soviet treatment of German

civilians ranks as one of the great war crimes of the conflict. That said, do you think Stalin was

interested in vengeance in his storming of Berlin or influence? What did the common Soviet soldiers

want on reaching Berlin? Was there anything that surprised them about life in the West and should

Stalin have been concerned about what they saw in Germany?

Research Assignment (None due):

Work on draft paper.


Week 16: Post-War; The Politics of Grief

Mon. 11/28: LECTURE, “The Long Shadow of the War.”


Secondary:

Bellamy, Absolute War, ch. 20, "New World Order," pp. 670-689.

Merridale, Ivan's War, ch. 10, "Sheathe the Old Sword," pp. 336-371.


Secondary:

Tumarkin, The Living and the Dead, chs. 1-2, 6-9, pp. 1-27, 125-229.

Sources:

Grossman, A Writer at War, "Afterword: The Lies of Victory," pp. 344-350.


Why did the ghosts of war haunt the Soviet and post-Soviet generations? Tumarkin argues that

the Soviets, in particular the Russians, had their grief hijacked by a state interested in legitimation not

personal sorrow. Do you agree with her assessment?


Hand in draft paper on Friday, 12/2.

Week 15: Summing Up—Apocalypse Then

Mon. 12/5: READINGS:

Secondary:

Richard Overy, Russia's War, "Epilogue: Russia's War: Myth and Reality," pp. 323-

331.

Merridale, Ivan's War, ch. 11, "And We Remember All," pp. 372-389.

Discussion Question (for Class Discussion Only):

What are the myths about World War II that have changed for you in studying the Soviet War?

Where does Russian society go in the future with the heavy demographic and historical legacy of the

war? Why is the war still one of the only unifying themes in modern Russian politics and society.

Weds. 12/7: Optional Review Session

TUES 12/13: FINAL PAPERS DUE (11:00 a.m.)

12/8-9, 12/12-14: ORAL EXAMS
