Our history of wars often focus solely on men (as leaders, generals, and the bulk of the army).  World War 2 saw a significant role for women in many different roles--on the front line, in key support roles, in sabotage, and in production.  And due to the nature of the war, women's experience as victims (from the Holocaust to the Comfort Women) were profound and dissimilar at times from what males experienced.  This class will look at the experiences, contributions, and service of women from Russia, America, Britain, Germany, Japan, and other nations.  We'll look at the code breakers of Bletchley Park, the women parachuting in to France like Violet Szabo, frontline fighters like Lyudmila Pavlichenko or the Night Witches, and service units like the WAACs and Wrens.  We'll also look at how women were particularly victimized in WW2 (like the Comfort Women in the Pacific and the Holocaust).

This course will focus primarily on countries.  So it's useful for learners to already have a basic understanding of WW2 (what it was, when it was, who it involved) because we're not going to go year by year and big event to big event.

My classes are always very visual--lots of photos and maps.  I ask lots of questions and encourage conversation and dialog.  I give research assignments to learners to report back on in the last session.

Session 1--Russia:  the Red Army sniper program and women, the Night Witches, partisans, integration in to the military, and Russian women in industry.
Session 2--Britain:  WRNS, WAS, ATS, spies and the Special Operations Executive, Bletchley Park and the code breakers, and the Women's Land Army.
Session 3--America:  WACs and WAVES, Rosie the Riveter, Nurses as POWs, and Japanese-American internment camps.
Session 4--Germany:  the Nazi New Woman, firefighters and FlakKorps, resettlement of conquered territory, Sophie Scholl and resistance, Russian invasion and rape.
Session 5--Japan, France, and other Nations:  Allied bombing, the Holocaust and women, the Resistance, collaborators, preparing for American invasion, the Holocaust and women, and war brides.