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Unit Summary

Unit type

UG Coursework Unit

Credit points

12

AQF level

7

Level of learning

Intermediate

Former School/College

Former School of Law and Justice

Pre-requisites

Any 8 Units at Tertiary level

Unit aim

Examines the Holocaust in its context by analysing: (1) the legal system of Nazi Germany; (2) the legal responses to the horrors of the Holocaust, including the establishment of international and national tribunals to try the major German war criminals, and the enactment of laws at the national level in various countries with the aim to prevent the resurgence of fascism; (3) contemporary issues such as Holocaust denial, the Holocaust and the Internet, and Holocaust restitution; and (4) the current legal legacy of the Holocaust exemplified in the ongoing trials of the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and Rwanda (ICTR), the International Criminal Court (ICC), and the trial of Saddam Hussein.

Unit content

Topic 1:The legal system of Nazi Germany and the possible lessons of Germany's wartime 'legal barbarism' to present restraints of civil liberties in the post 9/11 world 
Topic 2: Prosecution of Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg and the later zonal trials in occupied Germany and the Eichmann trial in Israel 
Topic 3: Holocaust denial, including the Irving v Lipstadt case in England 
Topic 4: Holocaust and the internet, including the Yahoo decisions in France and the United States, and laws in various European nations dealing with hate speech and glorification of the Nazi era 
Topic 5: Holocaust restitution litigation in the United States to recover stolen wartime assets, looted art, pre-war bank accounts and insurance policies, and legacy of such litigation 
Topic 6: Legal legacy of the Holocaust, including the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and Rwanda (ICTR), the International Criminal Court (ICC), the trial of Saddam Hussein and hybrid Courts.

Learning outcomes

Unit Learning Outcomes express learning achievement in terms of what a student should know, understand and be able to do on completion of a unit. These outcomes are aligned with the graduate attributes. The unit learning outcomes and graduate attributes are also the basis of evaluating prior learning.

GA1: , GA2: , GA3: , GA4: , GA5: , GA6: , GA7:
On completion of this unit, students should be able to: GA1 GA2 GA3 GA4 GA5 GA6 GA7
1 identify the legal lessons learned from the Holocaust, including the disparate sets of rules created in the aftermath of World War II at both: a) the international law level and b) the level of domestic law of nations, all with the aim of using law as a means of preventing the repeat of the horrors committed during World War II
2 recognise how a sophisticated and enlightened legal system can be corrupted by a dictatorial regime, so that the law can become an instrument of repression, and understand what lessons for lawyers can be learned from the Nazi experience
3 assess the capabilities of the law and its legal actors - lawyers, judges, prosecutors - to become instruments either for vindication of individual human rights or for repression of such rights
4 analyse contemporary issues such as Holocaust denial, Holocaust and the internet, and Holocaust restitution
5 evaluate the utility of the formation by the international community of ad hoc international criminal tribunals, and the permanent International Criminal Court as a means for: a) punishing wrongdoers of international crimes and b) deterring potential perpetrators from committing similar crimes, and
6 demonstrate their skills in conducting research in the field of Holocaust, Genocide and the Law and in the written presentation of research and argument.

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

  1. identify the legal lessons learned from the Holocaust, including the disparate sets of rules created in the aftermath of World War II at both: a) the international law level and b) the level of domestic law of nations, all with the aim of using law as a means of preventing the repeat of the horrors committed during World War II
    • GA4:
  2. recognise how a sophisticated and enlightened legal system can be corrupted by a dictatorial regime, so that the law can become an instrument of repression, and understand what lessons for lawyers can be learned from the Nazi experience
    • GA4:
  3. assess the capabilities of the law and its legal actors - lawyers, judges, prosecutors - to become instruments either for vindication of individual human rights or for repression of such rights
    • GA1:
    • GA4:
  4. analyse contemporary issues such as Holocaust denial, Holocaust and the internet, and Holocaust restitution
    • GA1:
    • GA4:
  5. evaluate the utility of the formation by the international community of ad hoc international criminal tribunals, and the permanent International Criminal Court as a means for: a) punishing wrongdoers of international crimes and b) deterring potential perpetrators from committing similar crimes, and
    • GA4:
  6. demonstrate their skills in conducting research in the field of Holocaust, Genocide and the Law and in the written presentation of research and argument.
    • GA4:
    • GA6: