At the time when the Holocaust recedes into history, the imperative to “never forget” acquires new urgency. In this course, we focus on various modes of representing this traumatic historical period. Why did the Holocaust happen “in the middle of civilized Europe”? Who were the perpetrators? Does the word “Holocaust” refer only to the Nazi attempt to exterminate the Jewish people or should we also consider the experiences of different victim groups? Did men and women experience extreme events differently? Can horror be accommodated in language or represented by any other means? Is the Holocaust unique or should it be considered in comparison with other genocides? These and other questions will arise in this class based on the examination of eye-witness accounts from the killing fields in the East, Holocaust diaries written in the ghettoes, memoirs written by survivors of the Nazi camps, and perpetrators’ diaries, as well as works by historians and literary works written by the participants of the events.