The atrocities of the Holocaust often disturb and repulse the
sensibilities of most people.
But if students had walked, or at least tried to walk, into
Tuesday’s German 59: Holocaust in Film and Literature
lecture, one would deduce the subject matter to be much more
alluring.
With students sitting, standing, leaning or crouching on
seemingly every step, chair and tile, the lecture hall was
packed.
By far the largest undergraduate German class at UCLA, the
course has 239 students officially enrolled. Last year, 74 students
enrolled.
Because of the large demand for spaces, the class will be moved
from Franz Hall to a larger classroom in Young Hall when it
reconvenes Thursday.
Given that so many students have gravitated to a class focusing
on one of the darkest moments of human history, Vic Fusilero, a
teaching assistant and German graduate student, said reasons for
the class’s popularity could lie in the lessons it has to
offer.
“It’s a time of genocide in the world, and
it’s something we can learn from,” Fusilero said.
“The Hutus and Tutsis in southern Africa, the Balkans,
Kurds ““ it still happens,” he said.
Some students drew parallels to the content of the class to the
modern-day prevalence of war.
Sandra Rodriguez, a first-year undeclared student, said the
course’s exploration of the Holocaust drew her to seek a
better understanding of why and how the Holocaust happened.
“Wars still exist and you’d think people
would’ve learned something,” Rodriguez said, adding
that the extent of death that took place was another aspect drawing
her to the class.
The lecture is taught by Todd Presner, an assistant professor in
Germanic languages and Jewish studies.
Using a computer and an overhead projector, Presner explained
the process of dehumanization the Nazis employed in their quest to
exterminate Jews and others considered by the Nazis as
“undesirables.”
Presner compared how some social aspects of concentration camps
radically differ from life in the United States.
“When you think of society, we have hospitals, libraries
and other institutions. Their goal is to promote life. They want
you to live. But in a concentration camp, everything is designed to
lead to your death,” he said.
Despite the course’s grim subject matter, Presner hopes
his students will make positive connections between the content of
the class and their daily lives.
“(I hope they acquire) a sense of being human. To
recognize other people’s dignity, worth, difference and the
fact we live in a world where people are different than us,”
Presner said.