About this course: 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. This free online course was produced jointly by Tel Aviv University and Yad Vashem – the World Holocaust Remembrance Center. This course is the second of the two courses and covers three themes in its three weeks: Week 1: The Final Solution We’ll look at the cultural and mental processes that paved the way to the comprehensive and systematic mass murder of Jews in Europe – that is, the Final Solution. As part of this hard lesson we will discuss the various characteristics of the murder sites and death camps, and reveal selected aspects of the horror that occurred in them. Week 2: Jewish and Non-Jewish Responses to the Holocaust We will try to explore questions regarding knowledge about the application of the Final Solution, as well as a variety of responses and annihilation of victims, local populations and perpetrators. Week 3: The End of the War We will dedicate this lesson to the events that occurred in the last years of the Holocaust, as well as questions of memory, commemoration and future research. We strongly recommend that you register for "The Holocaust - An Introduction (I): Nazi Germany: Ideology, The Jews and the World" as well (https://www.coursera.org/learn/holocaust-introduction-1/home/welcome). Taking both parts of the course would enable you to obtain a fuller and more comprehensive knowledge about The Holocaust. This online course is offered in an innovative, multi-level format, comprising: Comprehensive lectures by leading researchers from Tel Aviv University and Yad Vashem. A wealth of voices and viewpoints presented by guest lecturers Numerous documents, photos, testimonies and works of art from the time of the Holocaust. Novel learning experience: Crowdsourcing – involving the learners themselves in the act of collecting and shaping information, via unique, exciting online assignments.
Taught by: Professor Havi Dreifuss, PhD, Professor
Havi Dreifuss is a historian of the Holocaust in Eastern Europe; senior lecturer in the Department of Jewish History at TAU; heads the Center for Research of Holocaust History in Poland, Yad Vashem.Taught by: Dr Na'ama Bela Shik, PhD, Director, Educational Technology Department, The International School for Holocaust Studies, Yad Vashem
The International School for Holocaust Studies, Yad Vashem
| Commitment | 3 weeks of study, 1-2 hours/week |
| Language | English, Subtitles: Hebrew, Spanish |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
| User Ratings |
- Reading: Before we begin
- Ungraded Plugin: Opening survey
- Video: Introduction
- Reading: Ian Kershaw, “Hitler’s Role in the ‘Final Solution’”
- Video: Early “solutions” of the Jewish problem
- Video: The final solution: who decided, when and how?
- Reading: Christopher Browning, "Initiating the Final Solution: The Fateful Months of September-October 1941"
- Video: Killing Sites
- Video: Camp Universe
- Video: Last Unit
- Discussion Prompt: Dehumanization
- Video: Jewish Reactions in the face of death - Leadership
- Video: Jewish Reactions in the face of death - Resistance
- Reading: Nechama Tec, "Jewish Resistance: Facts, Omissions and Distortions"
- Video: Jewish Reactions in the face of death - Rescue
- Discussion Prompt: Caught in the Nazi Trap
- Video: Reactions of non Jews to the Holocaust
- Reading: Jan Grabowski, “Rural Society and the Jews in Hiding: Elders, Night Watches, Firefighters, Hostages and Manhunts”
- Reading: Jan Grabowski, "Rescue for Money: Paid Helpers in Poland, 1939-1945"
- Reading: Alina Skibińska and Jakub Petelewicz, “The Participation of Poles in Crimes against Jews in the Świętokrzyskie Region”
- Video: How was it humanly possible?
- Discussion Prompt: The Humanity of Human Reactions
- Discussion Prompt: Could the World Have Done More?
- Reading: David Silberklang, " The Allies and the Holocaust: A Reappraisal"
- Video: The End: Year 1944
- Video: The Anguish of Liberation
- Discussion Prompt: Where was the Basic Urge for Revenge?
- Reading: David Bankier, "The Germans and The Holocaust: What Did They Know?"
- Video: Memory, commemoration and long term effects
- Discussion Prompt: The Holocaust in our Daily Lives
- Video: Holocaust research - what is still unknown + facing the future
- Video: The Holocaust - An Introduction
- Discussion Prompt: End of Course Discussion
- Ungraded Plugin: Post Course Survey
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Two amazing, devastating and heartbreaking courses (Part I and Part II). The Holocaust is the most horrific event in the History of Humankind. The Holocaust was a crime against humanity. The biggest ever. Everybody should denounce it. I wish everybody would do this course. I have read a lot about the Holocaust and I still wonder: how is possible that the Holocaust happened? My view about both the humankind and "God" (between brackets because I do not believe in God -God died in Auschwitz) is absolutely pessimistic. Why? Because of the Holocaust. Thank you so much for this amazign and interesting course. Let's never forget the millions of innocent men, women and children who died in the gas chambers, the ghettos and in the bloody hands of the Einsatzgruppen / Antonia Tejeda Barros
Excellent! Incredibly enriching.
Equally amazing as the first part . The best part is that it has managed to keep Holocaust so real by adding so many memoirs and extra readings . Thanks to TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY and YAD VASHEM for this great course . Love and gratitude from India .