Abstract
More than 75 years after the liberation of the last concentration camp, the historical legacy of the Holocaust has lost none of its power to fascinate and horrify. Indeed, the question of who shares “ultimate responsibility” for the atrocities committed during the Third Reich is still a matter of scholarly debate. Nevertheless, shortly after the war, the state of Israel was established. In its development, the effects of the Holocaust were registered in virtually all aspects of the new Israeli society and its culture: fierce political debates about taking reparations money from Germany; Hebrew short stories, poems, plays and novel about Holocaust survivors and their children; controversial public trials of Nazis;
films about the psychological and ethical implications of the war.
This course, as a freshman seminar, focus on two areas. First, we will examine the destruction of European Jews by Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. [Please note that we will also explore the persecution of other groups like the Roma, asocials, and homosexuals.] During this part of the course, students will explore the shifting historical conditions from which the Holocaust emerged by examining personal memoirs, historical documents, poetry, art, documentary and feature film, novels, and other media that help to illustrate the human experience during this important historical episode. We will then shift our attention to 1948 and the creation of the state of Israel. During the second part of the course, will examine the effects of the Holocaust on Israeli society and culture, analyzing changing perspectives on the war and its survivors and the texts, films and art that wrestled with its legacies. While this later focus on Israeli society and culture will be our primary focus, we will also reflect on larger questions about global genocide, trauma, memory and commemoration.