Principal Module Aims

This course aims to introduce the students into the field of Jewish history, explore Jewish experience across Europe from the middle ages ("out of the ghetto") to the manifold Jewish responses to the modernity, nationalism, and mass violence. This course offers a contextualization of the Holocaust (for students interested in taking HI31Z) as a part, but not the necessary outcome of the Jewish history. By studying Jewish history, we will also explore the development of manifold Jewish identities between religion, race, culture, and social belonging.
This module does not assume prior knowledge of the topic, and encourages students to engage with both the existing secondary literature and the wide range of sources available.