Course for international guest/part time students

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Organization

BTK Institute of Historical Studies

Code

MA-ERA-IHS-S-7

Title

Jewish History and Culture in Central Europe

Usual semester

Spring

ECTS

8

Language

en

Learning outcomes

The course offers a comprehensive survey of Jewish history and culture in Central Europe, concentrating primarily on the modern and contemporary periods and making comparisons among countries of the region. The classes are going to cover key issues such as segregation, assimilation, Jewish spaces and tradition, splits among various strands of Judaism, linguistic traits, the changing forms of anti-Semitism, Zionism, right-wing ideologies, the Holocaust and its consequences, migration, the impact of Communist regimes, and post-1980 revival;  classroom discussions are intended to offer explanations and encourage students to form their own views about the problems and phenomena addressed in class. Readings and sources will range from comprehensive overviews to individual accounts such as memoirs; methods of analysis will combine the diverse methodologies offered by political, social ad cultural history.

Course content

1. Orientation and introduction 2.  An overview: Jewish presence and Jewish-non-Jewish relations in Central Europe to the modern period 3. Out of the ghetto (or not): Jewish emancipation and integration vs.  traditionalist separatism in countries of Central Europe in the 19th and early 20th century 4. The emergence and development of modern anti-Semitism 5. (March 13): Memoirs and novels as sources 6. Jewish urban environments and the transformation of traditional Jewish quarters 7. The interwar period. The expansion of Nazi Germany and the unfolding of the Holocaust. Emigration and flight 8. Hungary as a case study. Class visit to the Holocaust Museum in Budapest: guided tour of the permanent exhibition 9. A Holocaust memoir. Interpretation and source criticism 10. The Aftermath of World War II and the postwar decades 11. Memory and remembrance 12. Presentation of student projects: case studies

Assessment method

End-term assessment and grading are based on classroom participation (20%) and the final group project, to be carried out at the end of the semester (80%). Instructions for the group projects are provided in individual semesters’ syllabi.  Students are expected to read the compulsory literature assigned for the classes and participate actively in classroom discussions. Project presentations are due on the last day of the course.

Bibliography

(Weekly readings and assignments with exact page numbers can be found in the syllabus for each semester.) A) Compulsory (required)  literature Karády, Victor. The Jews of Europe in the Modern Era: A Socio-Historical Outline. Budapest: CEU Press, 2004. Polonsky, Anthony. Historical Overview, https://encyclopedia.yivo.org/article/23  (as part of the article ”Relations between Jews and Non-Jews”, The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe, https://encyclopedia.yivo.org/article/167 McCagg, William O.  A History of Habsburg Jews, 1670-1918. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, c1989. (assigned chapters) Bacon, Gershon. Poland from 1795 to 1939. The YIVO Encyclopedia, https://encyclopedia.yivo.org/article/16 Silber, Michael K. Hungary before 1918. The YIVO Encyclopedia,  https://encyclopedia.yivo.org/article/13 Zweig, Stefan. The World of Yesterday: An Autobiography, Cassell and Company: London, Toronto, Melbourne and Sydney, c1943. https://ia601404.us.archive.org/27/items/in.ernet.dli.2015.176552/2015.176552.The-World-Of-Yesterday_text.pdf Frojimovics, Kinga, Géza Komoróczy, Viktória Pusztai, and Andrea Strbik. Jewish Budapest: Monuments, Rites, History. Edited by Géza Komoróczy. Budapest: CEU Press, 1999. (assigned chapters) Pařík, Arno. “The Struggle to Protect the Monuments of Prague’s Jewish Town.” In Reclaiming Memory: Urban Regeneration in the Historic Jewish Quarters in Central Europe, edited by Monika Murzyn-Kupisz and Jacek Purchla. Cracow: International Cultural Centre, 2009.  pp. 181–214. Haraszti, György. Hungary from 1918 to 1945. The YIVO Encyclopedia, https://encyclopedia.yivo.org/article/1680 Bauman, Janina. Winter in the Morning. A Young Girl's Life in the Warsaw Ghetto and Beyond, 1939-1945. Free Press Association, 1986. Engel, David: Poland since 1939. The YIVO Encyclopedia, https://encyclopedia.yivo.org/article/18 Kovács, András. Hungary since 1945.  The YIVO Encyclopedia, https://encyclopedia.yivo.org/article/1679 Purchla, Jacek. Introduction: “A World after a Catastrophe: In Search of Lost Memory.” In Reclaiming Memory: Urban Regeneration in the Historic Jewish Quarters in Central Europe. Edited by Murzyn-Kupisz, Monika and Jacek Purchla.Cracow: International Cultural Centre, 2009. pp. 7-10. B) Recommended literature: Szívós, Erika. „Introduction: Historic Jewish Spaces in Central and Eastern European Cities. East Central Europe 42 (2015) 139-162. Rosman, Moshe. Poland before 1795 https://encyclopedia.yivo.org/article/17 Katz, Jacob. Out of the Ghetto: The Social Background of Jewish Emancipation, 1770–1870. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 1973. Rozenblit, Marsha L. The Jews of Vienna, 1867–1914: Assimilation and Identity. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1983. Kovács M., Mária. Liberal Professions and Illiberal Politics: Hungary from the Habsburgs to the Holocaust. Oxford UP – Woodrow Wilson Unviersity Press, 1995. Korbel, Susanne. „Understudied Patterns of Jewish Migration between the Habsburg Central Europe and the United States.” Quest. Issues in Contemporary Jewish History, 20 (2021). https://www.quest-cdecjournal.it/understudied-patterns-of-jewish-migration-between-the-habsburg-central-europe-and-the-united-states/ Hamann, Brigitte. Hitler’s Vienna: A Dictator’s Apprenticeship. Transl. by Thomas Thornton. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. Szeps, Berta [Bertha Szeps-Zuckerkandl]. My Life and History. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1939. Zuckerkandl, Bertha: Österreich intim: Erinnerungen 1892-1942. Wien: Amalthea, 1986. Murzyn, Monika A. Kazimierz: The Central European Experience in Urban Regeneration. Cracow: International Cultural Centre, 2006. Kozińska-Witt, Hanna. ”Jüdische Viertel als Tourismus-Magneten? Warschau and Krakau in der Zweiten Polnischen Republik. Documenta Pragensia XXX (2020), 301-322. https://www.academia.edu/50154268/_J%C3%BCdische_Viertel_als_Tourismus_magneten_Warschau_und_Krakau_in_der_ZweitenPolnischen_Republik_Jewish_Quarters_as_Tourist_Magnets_Warsaw_and_Krakow_during_the_Second_Polish_Republic_ Silverman, Lisa. Leopoldstadt, Judenplatz, and Beyond. Rethinking Vienna's Jewish Spaces. East Central Europe Vorl 42 (2015) 2-3. 249–267. https://brill.com/view/journals/eceu/42/2-3/eceu.42.issue-2-3.xml Marton, Kati. The Great Escape: Nine Jews Who Fled Hitler and Changed the World. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2006.

Recommended bibliography

B) Recommended literature: Szívós, Erika. „Introduction: Historic Jewish Spaces in Central and Eastern European Cities. East Central Europe 42 (2015) 139-162. Rosman, Moshe. Poland before 1795 https://encyclopedia.yivo.org/article/17 Katz, Jacob. Out of the Ghetto: The Social Background of Jewish Emancipation, 1770–1870. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 1973. Rozenblit, Marsha L. The Jews of Vienna, 1867–1914: Assimilation and Identity. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1983. Kovács M., Mária. Liberal Professions and Illiberal Politics: Hungary from the Habsburgs to the Holocaust. Oxford UP – Woodrow Wilson Unviersity Press, 1995. Korbel, Susanne. „Understudied Patterns of Jewish Migration between the Habsburg Central Europe and the United States.” Quest. Issues in Contemporary Jewish History, 20 (2021). https://www.quest-cdecjournal.it/understudied-patterns-of-jewish-migration-between-the-habsburg-central-europe-and-the-united-states/ Hamann, Brigitte. Hitler’s Vienna: A Dictator’s Apprenticeship. Transl. by Thomas Thornton. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. Szeps, Berta [Bertha Szeps-Zuckerkandl]. My Life and History. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1939. Zuckerkandl, Bertha: Österreich intim: Erinnerungen 1892-1942. Wien: Amalthea, 1986. Murzyn, Monika A. Kazimierz: The Central European Experience in Urban Regeneration. Cracow: International Cultural Centre, 2006. Kozińska-Witt, Hanna. ”Jüdische Viertel als Tourismus-Magneten? Warschau and Krakau in der Zweiten Polnischen Republik. Documenta Pragensia XXX (2020), 301-322. https://www.academia.edu/50154268/_J%C3%BCdische_Viertel_als_Tourismus_magneten_Warschau_und_Krakau_in_der_ZweitenPolnischen_Republik_Jewish_Quarters_as_Tourist_Magnets_Warsaw_and_Krakow_during_the_Second_Polish_Republic_ Silverman, Lisa. Leopoldstadt, Judenplatz, and Beyond. Rethinking Vienna's Jewish Spaces. East Central Europe Vorl 42 (2015) 2-3. 249–267. https://brill.com/view/journals/eceu/42/2-3/eceu.42.issue-2-3.xml Marton, Kati. The Great Escape: Nine Jews Who Fled Hitler and Changed the World. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2006.

Programmes of the course