HIST269

Italy and France: Fascism and Resistance

Fall 2004

Prof. Theresa McBride

(508) 793-2770 O'Kane 363 e-mail: tmcbride@holycross.edu

Office hours: Mon/Wed 1-2:45; Thurs 11-12AM; other times by appointment.

Texts:

Carlo Levi, Christ Stopped at Eboli (Putnam), ISBN0374503168

Ignazio Silone, Bread and Wine (New American Library), ISBN04515000

Albert Camus, The Plague (Vintage), ISBN0679720219

Iris Origo, War in Val D'Orcia (David Godine), ISBN 0879234768

Claire Chevrillon, Code Name Christiane Clouet (Texas A&M University Press), ISBN 089096628X

Marguerite Duras, The War: A Memoir (New Press), ISBN1565842219

Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz (Simon and Schuster) , ISBN0684826801

Julian Jackson, France: The Dark Years (Oxford University Press), ISBN0199254575

Susan Zuccotti, Italians and the Holocaust (U. of Nebraska Press), ISBN08032999117

Films:

Il Duce; History in Action (documentary, video 270)

Au revoir, les enfants (Louis Malle, 1987, video 88)

The Sorrow and the Pity (Marcel Orphuls, 1971)

Garden of the Finzi-Continis (Vittorio de Sica, 1971, video 236)

DeGaulle and France (documentary in three parts, video 1280)

E-Res: search for HIST269: duce

Study questions for each week are available on E-Res and excerpts from Italians and the Holocaust

Format:

Reading for this course is essential to good class discussions; the assignments must be done every week according to the schedule listed on this syllabus. Please bring whatever texts we are reading to every class meeting and come prepared with comments or questions on the assigned material.

Brief critical reflections of 4-5 pages each are required as noted. (A detailed description will be handed out.) Papers will be graded for depth, accuracy, insight, and use of evidence. Grading will be based on the following point scale:

60 - reflection papers

20 - class participation

20 - final essay exam

Calendar:

Sep 1 Introduction

Sep 6 Defining Fascism

film - Il Duce: History in Action

Denis Mack Smith, Mussolini, A Biography [E-Res]

Sep 8 Fascism in the Mezzogiorno

Carlo Levi, Christ Stopped at Eboli, chap. 1-11

Sep 13 Fascism and Resistance in Italy

Levi, Christ Stopped at Eboli, chap. 12-14, 22-25

Sep 15 Communism, Christianity and Antifascism

Silone, Bread and Wine, chap. 1-9

Sep 20 Choices in Fascist Italy

Silone, Bread and Wine, chap. 10-19

Sep 22 Totalitarianism and the Peasantry

Silone, Bread and Wine, chap. 20 – end

Sep 27 The Strange Defeat and the "National Revolution" in France

Jackson, France: The Dark Years, pp. 113-165

Chevrillon, Code Name: Christiane Clouet, chap. 1, 2

Film: DeGaulle and France

Sep 29 German Occupation and Vichy France

Jackson, France: The Dark Years, pp.174-189, 272-299

Chevrillon, Code Name: Christiane Clouet, chap 3-6

Film: DeGaulle and France

Oct 4 Resistance and Collaboration in Vichy France

Jackson, France: The Dark Years, pp.327-341

Chevrillon, Code Name: Christiane Clouet, chap. 7-22

Film: The Sorrow and the Pity

Oct 6 War and Dislocation in Italy

Origo, War in Val D’Orcia, Introduction, Preface, and pp. 19-96

Oct 13 Civil War and the Fall of Mussolini

Origo, War in Val D’Orcia, 96-end [see study sheet for important sections]

Oct 18 Moral Contagion

Camus, The Plague, parts I and II

Oct 20 Motives for Resistance

Camus, The Plague, parts III, IV, and V

Oct 25 Italians and the Holocaust

Film: The Garden of the Finzi-Continis

Zuccotti, Italians and the Holocaust, 2-3

Oct 27 The Holocaust and the Resistance

Zuccotti, Italians and the Holocaust, chap. 4-6, 13

Nov 1 France and the Holocaust

France: The Dark Years, pp. 217-219 and 354-381

Nov 3 France and the Holocaust

Film: Au revoir, les enfants

Nov 8 Resistance

France: The Dark Years, pp. 529-543, 554-569

Duras, “Monsieur X”, pp. 71-112

Code Name: Christiane Clouet, chap. 23-26 and Epilogue

Nov 15 Survival

Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz, pp. 1-86

Nov 17 Survival

Levi, Survival in Auschwitz, pp. 87-end

Nov 22 Politics of Resistance

Film: DeGaulle and France

Nov 29 Dissenting Memories

Marguerite Duras, The War: A Memoir - part 1

Dec 1 Postwar Effects: Italy

Paul Ginsborg, A History of Contemporary Italy, “Resistance and Liberation” [E-Res]

Dec 6 Postwar Effects: France

France: The Dark Years, pp. 601-632

Tyler Stovall, France since the Second World War [E-Res]