Course for international guest/part time students
- Faculty
- Faculty of Humanities
- Organization
- BTK Department of Economic and Social History
- Code
- BMI-KET-327
- Title
- Jewish History and Culture in Central Europe
- Usual semester
- Spring
- Published semester
- 2025/26/2
- ECTS
- 3
- Language
- en
- Learning outcomes
- Knowledge: The lectures and readings provide an introduction into the history of Central European Jews. We try to understand the challenges Jewish inhabitants of the region had faced and the ways they tried to integrate into various societies. We interpret the process of Jewish emancipation and exclusion. In addition, the readings cover the broader issues of nationalism, modernization, and historical memory as well. During the course we analyse the political, legal, cultural and social origins of Anti-Semitic views and attitudes in Central Europe. We analyse specific cases, e.g. the histories of pogroms and blood libels; by doing so, we benefit from the findings of modern historical writing, the views and methods of microhistory among them. In addition to traditional historical sources, we read memoirs, literary works, and watch films during the semester. Skills: Students learn about the history of the Jewish minority, and generally about the nature of Central European minority existence. This makes them more capable of fulfilling roles connected to minorities and nationalities in the region. Attitude: The course enhances students’ intercultural openness, tolerance, cultural sensitivity, and their empathy toward religious, ethnic and sociocultural minorities. After getting familiar with Jewish history, one of the significant components of the region’s cultural heritage, students will appreciate that heritage and protect its values. Autonomy and responsibility: Students will develop and openness toward the multiethnic, multiconfessional and multilingual cultural landscape of the Central European region. Diversity and the coexistence of various cultures and traditions will be perceived as values in their way of thinking. They will be able to cooperate efficiently with the diverse cultural communities of Central Europe.
- Course content
- Introduction Key concepts of social psychology: from categorization to prejudice Jews and Christians: mechanisms of exclusion Coexistence, conflict – integration, emancipation: West and East Modern political Anti-Semitism Tiszaeszlár and the Jewish question Vienna, Budapest, turn of the century Russia and the Jews: on a separate path Total state, enemy image, final solution Nazi propaganda: the faces of Joseph Süss and other prejudicies On the Hungarian Holocaust Memories of Auschwitz Politics of Memory
- Assessment method
- A számonkérés és értékelés rendszere angolul: Written exam at the end of the semester.
- Bibliography
- Karády, Victor: The Jews of Europe in the Modern Era: A Socio-Historical Outline. Budapest: CEU Press, 2004. Hamann, Brigitte: Hitler’s Vienna: A Dictator’s Apprenticeship. Translated by Thomas Thornton. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. 5 Minute History Lesson, Episode 3: Robbers Cave. Experiment of Muzafer Sherif and Carolyn Sherif. A Short Film from the Archives of the History of American Pschology. Edited and narrated by Jon Endres. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PRuxMprSDQ) Nicholls, William, Popular Paranoia. In Christian Antisemitism. A History of Hate. Northvale, N.J. & London: Jason Aronson Inc., 1993. 225–311.