The Holocaust was an inconceivable historical event, which forever robbed Western culture of its innocence. As civilized human beings, we fail to understand how events of such horror could have taken place, and how an idea so inhumanly warped could have spread like wildfire through an entire continent, instigating the systematic annihilation of millions of Jews.
The Holocaust - An Introduction (I): Nazi Germany: Ideology, The Jews and the World
The Holocaust - An Introduction (I): Nazi Germany: Ideology, The Jews and the World
Instructors: Professor Havi Dreifuss, PhD
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There are 3 modules in this course
We will try to delve into Nazi ideology and the special place of Jews and Judaism in it. We will ask ourselves what, if anything, it renewed regarding traditional hatred of Israel and modern anti-Semitism and analyze Nazi documents to see how it reflects in them. Also, in this lesson we will discuss how the National Socialist Party succeeded in converting the German Democracy of the Weimar Republic into a totalitarian regime within a short period of time, and the significance of this process for its citizens - Jews and non-Jews alike.
What's included
8 videos2 readings3 discussion prompts1 plugin
We will try to examine the broader contexts of the Holocaust and to position it as a part of a various global conflicts that took place during world war 2. In this context, we will focus in a number of unique realities that were formed and created in Occupied Poland and France using them to identify key practices of Nazi Germany, European companies and the Jews who lived among them. We’ll look at the different fates of Jews in various European countries before and during World War 2, through the lens of the enormous changes which the Jewish world underwent in modern times: emancipation, secularization, urbanization and emigration.
What's included
6 videos2 readings1 assignment2 discussion prompts
Instead of policy, state and society at large, we’ll focus on the individual, the family and the Jewish communities across Europe, using a broad range of wartime accounts: official documents, diaries, letters, artwork and more. In this context, we will try to reveal different aspects of Jewish life in the face of shame, ghettos and segregation, as well as the formation of individual, societies and leaders reactions in the face of consistent policy of dispossession and discrimination. A variety of sources will help us create a complex puzzle consists of Jewish life in those dark days. In this context, we will try to reveal different aspects of Jewish life in the face of shame, ghettos and segregation, as well as the formation of individual, societies and leaders reactions in the face of consistent policy of dispossession and discrimination. A variety of sources will help us create a complex puzzle consists of Jewish life in those dark days.
What's included
7 videos4 readings1 assignment2 discussion prompts1 plugin
Instructors
Instructor ratings
4.8 (276 ratings)
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4.8
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PB
5
Reviewed on Feb 6, 2020
I always week when I read or study about the Holocaust but I am happy it got over once for all. Learned so much about how the world shunned them away into darkness. Thank you.
GM
5
Reviewed on Apr 13, 2021
The course was very informative and interesting. I am disappointed that I am now locked out of the course and cannot go back and finish reading Nazi Germany and the Jews.
DS
4
Reviewed on Apr 13, 2020
A very well organized and well conceptualised course. Readings and other study materials are great and easily accessible through this course. Applaud to all the course organizers and resource person.
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