JWC2425 - On the Edge of Destruction: Polish Jewry Between the Two World Wars

Leader(s): Paul Forgasz

Offered

Not offered in 2009

Synopsis

Students will study the major centres of interwar Jewish life in Europe before the Holocaust and explore the diverse heritage of Jewish life in each country. The unit will investigate issues central to the history of this period: tradition and modernisation in the twentieth century; political movements; religious and secular values; ethnic divisions; persecutions; urban and shtetl lifestyles; the development, destruction, and revival of Yiddish; and the individuals who shaped their times. The course will ask what remains of the past, by looking at the ways in which the lost world of European Jews is being memorialised and renewed through tourism and return.

Objectives

Upon successful completion of this unit students will have:

1. an understanding of the institutions and individuals that shaped the interwar European Jewish communities.
2. the capacity to describe and analyse the diversity of Jewish communal life and cultural expression in interwar Europe.
3. an understanding of gender and class issues within the framework of the interwar European Jewish communities.
4. an understanding of the significance of Yiddish as a literary and cultural phenomenon.
5. In addition, students at third year will be able to locate the development of modern Jewish life in the context of modern Europe.

Assessment

Research essay 2000 words: 40%
An historiographical exercise 1000 words: 20%
Examination: 90 minutes (1500 words equivalent): 30%
Seminar preparation and participation: 10%

Contact hours

One 2-hour seminar per week

Prohibitions

HSY3165, HSY4165, HYM4165