Why did so many Germans support Nazism and why did so few resist it? Conventional academic history has told us in great detail about the momentous events and the leading actors in the Third Reich. This course takes a different approach. We shall examine the biographies, diaries, and memoirs of relatively unknown individuals in an attempt to answer the following question: how was it possible, in such a highly educated and cultured country, that millions of its citizens supported the extremist Nazi doctrines full of conspiracy theories, especially anti-Semitism, laced with hatred and murder. Note: Suggested reading: S.Haffner, Defying Hitler, A Memoir 2000, R. Gellately, Hitler's True Believers, How Ordinary People Became Nazis 2020
