My teaching is based on the conviction that history is not simply a set of facts, but a way of seeing the world. I design my courses to foster foundational skills of historical thinking—interpreting sources, analyzing contexts, evaluating causation and contingency—and to help students recognize the relevance of history in their own lives. My teaching fields include Europe since the French Revolution; the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany, and the Holocaust; racism and antisemitism in modern Europe; and twentieth-century genocides and crimes against humanity.
Below are syllabi for a selection of the courses I have offered at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (since Fall ’20) and Harvard University (Fall ’18-Spring ’20). I’ve also included some additional materials that I use in my classes. These materials are posted as resources for other educators, and I am always eager to collaborate with teachers in related fields.
Syllabi
“Europe and the Modern World, 1815 to the Present” (Fall 2023)
“The Weimar Republic and the Rise of Nazism” [seminar] (Fall 2023)
“Genocide, War Crimes Trials, and Human Rights in the 20th Century” (Spring 2023)
“The Weimar Republic and the Rise of Nazism” [lecture] (Fall 2022)
“Empire and Nation in Modern Central Europe” (Fall 2022)
“History of Modern Germany, 1870 to the Present” (Spring 2021)
“Nazi Germany and the Holocaust” (Spring 2020)
“After Catastrophe: Europe since 1945” (Spring 2019)
“Europe and its Others: From the Enlightenment to the EU” (Spring 2019)
Teaching Resources
Public History Assignment: Sites of Nazi Persecution and Genocide (Examples of my students’ work are available here.)
Essay Assignment: Contemporary Issue in Historical Perspective
Research Guide: The Weimar Republic and the Rise of Nazism (prepared in collaboration with Julianne Haahr, Western European Studies Librarian at UW-Madison)
Bibliography: Genocide, War Crimes Tribunals, and Human Rights in the Twentieth Century
Brandon Bloch 