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The Holocaust: The Destruction of European Jewry

Instructors: Murray Baumgarten

21,400 already enrolled

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8 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

192 reviews

Beginner level

No prior experience required

Flexible schedule

3 weeks at 10 hours a week

Learn at your own pace

98%

Most learners liked this course

8 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

192 reviews

Beginner level

No prior experience required

Flexible schedule

3 weeks at 10 hours a week

Learn at your own pace

98%

Most learners liked this course

What you'll learn

Describe the origins and development of antisemitism.
Explain the role of emancipation, acculturation, and assimilation on European Jewry.
Describe the political and social environment of 1930s Germany.

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Taught in English

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There are 8 modules in this course

The Holocaust: The Destruction of European Jewry is an adaptation of an on-campus course that has been co-taught by Murray Baumgarten, Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature (Literature Department), and Peter Kenez, Professor Emeritus (History Department), for over 20 years at UC Santa Cruz.

In this course, you will explore the Holocaust from the overlapping perspectives of literature and history—through memoirs, historical documents, poetry, documentary footage, filmic representations, and novels. You will expand your knowledge of the literature of the Holocaust, Eastern and Western European Jewish communities, the origins and development of antisemitism, the establishment of labor and extermination camps, resistance movements, and the Holocaust as a problem for world history. There is more than one way to take this course: You can complete all of the activities (and earn a Verified Certificate) or only the activities that are most interesting to you. Whatever you choose to do, we encourage you to find a havruta (a study partner) in your community or in the Coursera community so that you can experience the course in a more interactive and meaningful way.

Module details

This module is an introduction to the study of the Holocaust and a prehistory of the Holocaust. Profs. Baumgarten and Kenez discuss the roots of modern antisemitism, the culture of European Jews in the 19th century, Nehama Tec’s Dry Tears, and the various genres of Holocaust literature. The module also contains general information about the course.

What's included

13 videos7 readings

13 videosTotal 161 minutes

1.1.1 Introductions14 minutes
1.1.2 Who were the Jews?7 minutes
1.1.3 Why do we study the Holocaust?12 minutes
1.1.4 Poetry and perspectives16 minutes
1.2.1 Western European Jewry in the 19th century10 minutes
1.2.2 Jewish success and European antisemitism14 minutes
1.2.3 Jews in French society14 minutes
1.2.4 Roots of modern antisemitism7 minutes
1.2.5 Theodor Herzl11 minutes
1.3.1 Expectations of reality13 minutes
1.3.2 Hier ist kein warum11 minutes
1.3.3 Yiddish culture13 minutes
1.3.4 On Account of a Hat18 minutes

7 readingsTotal 70 minutes

Description10 minutes
Books and films10 minutes
Writing assignments10 minutes
Acknowledgements10 minutes
1.0.1 Topics, readings, and films10 minutes
1.1.5 Written in Pencil in the Sealed Railway-Car (English translation)10 minutes
1.3.5 On Account of a Hat (English translation)10 minutes

In this module Profs. Baumgarten and Kenez discuss the changing demographics and political landscape of early 20th century Eastern Europe, Jewish identity, the Bildungsroman, Silvano Arieti’s The Parnas, Primo Levi’s Survival in Auschwitz, Aharon Appelfeld’s Badenheim 1939, and Elie Wiesel’s Night.

What's included

19 videos1 reading

19 videosTotal 231 minutes

2.1.1 Eastern Europe in the 20th century9 minutes
2.1.2 Poland, part 110 minutes
2.1.3 Poland, part 28 minutes
2.1.4 Hungary, part 111 minutes
2.1.5 Hungary, part 212 minutes
2.1.6 Fear and hatred6 minutes
2.2.1 Liberal European culture10 minutes
2.2.2 Night, part 112 minutes
2.2.3 Night, part 215 minutes
2.2.4 Life in the Arbeitslager15 minutes
2.3.1 Jewry of the Russian Empire18 minutes
2.3.2 The Russian state16 minutes
2.3.3 Changing demographics9 minutes
2.3.4 Pogroms in the Russian Empire and the USSR14 minutes
2.3.5 Jewish identity7 minutes
2.4.1 The Bildungsroman, part 18 minutes
2.4.2 The Bildungsroman, part 219 minutes
2.4.3 The Bildungsroman, part 320 minutes
2.4.4 The Bildungsroman, part 412 minutes

1 readingTotal 10 minutes

2.0.1 Topics, readings, and films10 minutes

In this module Profs. Baumgarten and Kenez discuss the political and social environment of 1930s Germany, the Jewish question, and the treatment of evil in poetry.

What's included

14 videos7 readings

14 videosTotal 173 minutes

3.1.1 Fascism13 minutes
3.1.2 Hitler and the Jews15 minutes
3.1.3 Germans and the Jews13 minutes
3.1.4 The rise of the Nazis12 minutes
3.1.5 Nazism in German culture5 minutes
3.2.1 Poetry and evil, part 114 minutes
3.2.2 Poetry and evil, part 216 minutes
3.2.3 Poetry and evil, part 37 minutes
3.2.4 Todesfugue (Death Fugue)17 minutes
3.3.1 Intentionalism and functionalism20 minutes
3.3.2 What do we do with the Jews?15 minutes
3.3.3 Why didn't they leave?13 minutes
3.3.4 The Anschluß and German pogroms6 minutes
3.3.5 Passing and not passing8 minutes

7 readingsTotal 70 minutes

3.0.1 Topics, readings, and films10 minutes
3.2.5 Kaddish10 minutes
3.2.6 Nightsong (English translation)10 minutes
3.2.7 Death Fugue (English translation)10 minutes
3.2.8 Todesfuge (German)10 minutes
3.2.9 Memento Mori (English translation)10 minutes
3.2.10 Memento Mori (Yiddish)10 minutes

In this module Profs. Baumgarten and Kenez discuss the conditions that were necessary for the Holocaust to occur, the early events of World War II, Thomas Kenneally’s Schindlers List, Andres Schwartz-Bart’s The Last of the Just, and questions of guilt and responsibility.

What's included

15 videos1 reading1 peer review

15 videosTotal 188 minutes

4.1.1 Questions for the Jews14 minutes
4.1.2 Direct acts of violence15 minutes
4.1.3 Fight for what?13 minutes
4.1.4 Eroticization of violence13 minutes
4.1.5 Resistance and agency5 minutes
4.2.1 Beginnings of war10 minutes
4.2.2 German war aims11 minutes
4.2.3 Ghettoes16 minutes
4.2.4 Jewish leadership14 minutes
4.2.5 What did the neighbors say?12 minutes
4.3.1 Language of trauma15 minutes
4.3.2 Banality of evil16 minutes
4.3.3 Schindler's List, part 110 minutes
4.3.4 Schindler's List, part 217 minutes
4.3.5 Guilt and responsibility5 minutes

1 readingTotal 10 minutes

4.0.1 Topics, readings, and films10 minutes

1 peer reviewTotal 120 minutes

The Holocaust is still with us120 minutes

In this module Profs. Baumgarten and Kenez discuss the invasion of the Soviet Union, Thomas Kenneally’s Schindler’s List, and questions of witnessing. Guest speaker Dora Sorell shares her own experience of the Holocaust.

What's included

16 videos1 reading

16 videosTotal 185 minutes

5.1.1 Wartime lunacy7 minutes
5.1.2 Einsatzgruppen, part 114 minutes
5.1.3 Einsatzgruppen, part 215 minutes
5.1.4 Pogroms in the east7 minutes
5.1.5 Forms of resistance18 minutes
5.2.1 Witness to trauma, part 113 minutes
5.2.2 Witness to trauma, part 215 minutes
5.2.3 Witness to trauma, part 318 minutes
5.2.4 Witness to trauma, part 412 minutes
5.3.1 Dora Sorell, part 19 minutes
5.3.2 Dora Sorell, part 27 minutes
5.3.3 Dora Sorell, part 38 minutes
5.3.4 Dora Sorell, part 49 minutes
5.3.5 Dora Sorell, part 59 minutes
5.3.6 Dora Sorell, part 613 minutes
5.3.7 Dora Sorell, part 711 minutes

1 readingTotal 10 minutes

5.0.1 Topics, readings, and films10 minutes

In this module Profs. Baumgarten and Kenez discuss the establishment of labor and extermination camps, memorialization, Tadeusz Borowski’s This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen, and Christopher Browning’s Ordinary Men.

What's included

11 videos1 reading1 peer review

11 videosTotal 121 minutes

6.1.1 The heart of the matter11 minutes
6.1.2 From labor to extermination13 minutes
6.1.3 Bełżec, Sobibór and Treblinka11 minutes
6.1.4 The task of killing6 minutes
6.1.5 Auschwitz11 minutes
6.1.6 Who knew about the murders?9 minutes
6.2.1 This Way for the Gas, part 113 minutes
6.2.2 This Way for the Gas, part 27 minutes
6.2.3 This Way for the Gas, part 321 minutes
6.2.4 This Way for the Gas, part 411 minutes
6.2.5 Memorials and understanding8 minutes

1 readingTotal 10 minutes

6.0.1 Topics, readings, and films10 minutes

1 peer reviewTotal 120 minutes

Analysis of a Holocaust text or film120 minutes

In this module Profs. Baumgarten and Kenez discuss the Holocaust in Western Europe, the complex history of Hungary, Imre Kertész’s Fatelessness, and Ida Fink’s A Scrap of Time.

What's included

20 videos3 readings

20 videosTotal 233 minutes

7.1.1 The Wansee Conference16 minutes
7.1.2 Denmark and Norway18 minutes
7.1.3 Belgium and Holland8 minutes
7.1.4 France and Italy17 minutes
7.1.5 Nazi looting8 minutes
7.2.1 Fatelessness, part 18 minutes
7.2.2 Fatelessness, part 27 minutes
7.2.3 Fatelessness, part 313 minutes
7.2.4 Fatelessness, part 413 minutes
7.2.5 Fatelessness, part 57 minutes
7.3.1 Deportation and extermination17 minutes
7.3.2 Antisemitic laws7 minutes
7.3.3 Germany and Hungary19 minutes
7.3.4 Separate peace11 minutes
7.3.5 Ambiguities8 minutes
7.4.1 A Scrap of Time, part 19 minutes
7.4.2 A Scrap of Time, part 215 minutes
7.4.3 A Scrap of Time, part 311 minutes
7.4.4 A Scrap of Time, part 410 minutes
7.4.5 A Scrap of Time, part 511 minutes

3 readingsTotal 30 minutes

7.0.1 Topics, readings, and films10 minutes
7.2.6 Never Say/Partisan Song (English translation)10 minutes
7.2.7 Zog Nit Keyn Mol/Partizaner Lid (Yiddish)10 minutes

In this module Profs. Baumgarten and Kenez discuss the unique case of Romania, the culpability of the outside world, and the end of World War II. The text of Adolf Hitler’s last testament is provided.

What's included

11 videos2 readings1 peer review

11 videosTotal 107 minutes

8.1.1 Romania, part 115 minutes
8.1.2 Romania, part 28 minutes
8.1.3 Romania, part 311 minutes
8.1.4 Romania, part 413 minutes
8.1.5 A gigantic biological and social experiment8 minutes
8.2.1 The perpetrators8 minutes
8.2.2 Other types of madness8 minutes
8.2.3 The surrounding population8 minutes
8.2.4 The outside world5 minutes
8.2.5 Isolation13 minutes
8.2.6 Last testament11 minutes

2 readingsTotal 20 minutes

8.0.1 Topics, readings, and films10 minutes
8.2.7 My Political Testament10 minutes

1 peer reviewTotal 120 minutes

Explore your ideas from the discussion forum120 minutes

Instructors

Instructor ratings

(27 ratings)

Murray Baumgarten

University of California, Santa Cruz

2 Courses22,709 learners

Peter Kenez

University of California, Santa Cruz

3 Courses78,156 learners

Offered by

University of California, Santa Cruz

Learner reviews

5 stars
76.04%
4 stars
16.66%
3 stars
1.04%
2 stars
1.56%
1 star
4.68%

Showing 3 of 192

Reviewed on Aug 5, 2021

If I did not cite when rating this course, THANK YOU to both professors, Coursera, and all involved in making this valuable course available!! Rick

Reviewed on Aug 27, 2019

Lots of work, only 3 short papers, but lots of reading. Very interesting and enjoyable. Really went into depth with lots of history and literature discussed. Informative lectures.

Reviewed on Nov 5, 2015

The presentations raise vital questions , dis-aggregates historical experience and has generated interest in me to study the issues further . Many thanks to the Professors.

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