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The Holocaust: The Destruction of European Jewry

University of California, Santa Cruz

About this Course

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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course, you will explore the Holocaust from the overlapping perspectives of literature and history—through memoirs, historical documents, poetry, documentary footage, filmic representations, and novels.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.

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Approx. 30 hours to complete

English

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Flexible deadlines

Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

100% online

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Approx. 30 hours to complete

English

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Instructors

Instructor rating

4.33/5 (15 Ratings)

Murray Baumgarten

Distinguished Professor of English & Comparative Literature

Literature

19,117 Learners

2 Courses

Peter Kenez

Offered by

University of California, Santa Cruz

UC Santa Cruz is an outstanding public research university with a deep commitment to undergraduate education. It’s a place that connects people and programs in unexpected ways while providing unparalleled opportunities for students to learn through hands-on experience.

Syllabus - What you will learn from this course

Content Rating98%(3,895 ratings)

Week

Week 1

4 hours to complete

Who were the Jews?

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.

4 hours to complete

13 videos (Total 161 min), 7 readings

13 videos

1.1.1 Introductions14m

1.1.2 Who were the Jews?7m

1.1.3 Why do we study the Holocaust?12m

1.1.4 Poetry and perspectives16m

1.2.1 Western European Jewry in the 19th century9m

1.2.2 Jewish success and European antisemitism14m

1.2.3 Jews in French society14m

1.2.4 Roots of modern antisemitism6m

1.2.5 Theodor Herzl11m

1.3.1 Expectations of reality13m

1.3.2 Hier ist kein warum11m

1.3.3 Yiddish culture13m

1.3.4 On Account of a Hat18m

7 readings

Description10m

Books and films10m

Writing assignments10m

Acknowledgements10m

1.0.1 Topics, readings, and films10m

1.1.5 Written in Pencil in the Sealed Railway-Car (English translation)10m

1.3.5 On Account of a Hat (English translation)10m

Week

Week 2

4 hours to complete

Prelude to the Holocaust

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.

4 hours to complete

19 videos (Total 231 min), 1 reading

19 videos

2.1.1 Eastern Europe in the 20th century9m

2.1.2 Poland, part 110m

2.1.3 Poland, part 27m

2.1.4 Hungary, part 110m

2.1.5 Hungary, part 212m

2.1.6 Fear and hatred5m

2.2.1 Liberal European culture9m

2.2.2 Night, part 111m

2.2.3 Night, part 214m

2.2.4 Life in the Arbeitslager14m

2.3.1 Jewry of the Russian Empire18m

2.3.2 The Russian state16m

2.3.3 Changing demographics9m

2.3.4 Pogroms in the Russian Empire and the USSR13m

2.3.5 Jewish identity7m

2.4.1 The Bildungsroman, part 17m

2.4.2 The Bildungsroman, part 218m

2.4.3 The Bildungsroman, part 320m

2.4.4 The Bildungsroman, part 412m

1 reading

2.0.1 Topics, readings, and films10m

Week

Week 3

4 hours to complete

Rise of the Nazis

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.

4 hours to complete

14 videos (Total 173 min), 7 readings

14 videos

3.1.1 Fascism12m

3.1.2 Hitler and the Jews14m

3.1.3 Germans and the Jews13m

3.1.4 The rise of the Nazis11m

3.1.5 Nazism in German culture5m

3.2.1 Poetry and evil, part 113m

3.2.2 Poetry and evil, part 215m

3.2.3 Poetry and evil, part 37m

3.2.4 Todesfugue (Death Fugue)16m

3.3.1 Intentionalism and functionalism20m

3.3.2 What do we do with the Jews?15m

3.3.3 Why didn't they leave?13m

3.3.4 The Anschluß and German pogroms5m

3.3.5 Passing and not passing8m

7 readings

3.0.1 Topics, readings, and films10m

3.2.5 Kaddish10m

3.2.6 Nightsong (English translation)10m

3.2.7 Death Fugue (English translation)10m

3.2.8 Todesfuge (German)10m

3.2.9 Memento Mori (English translation)10m

3.2.10 Memento Mori (Yiddish)10m

Week

Week 4

4 hours to complete

Beginnings of war

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.

4 hours to complete

15 videos (Total 188 min), 1 reading, 1 quiz

15 videos

4.1.1 Questions for the Jews14m

4.1.2 Direct acts of violence14m

4.1.3 Fight for what?13m

4.1.4 Eroticization of violence13m

4.1.5 Resistance and agency5m

4.2.1 Beginnings of war9m

4.2.2 German war aims10m

4.2.3 Ghettoes16m

4.2.4 Jewish leadership14m

4.2.5 What did the neighbors say?12m

4.3.1 Language of trauma15m

4.3.2 Banality of evil15m

4.3.3 Schindler's List, part 110m

4.3.4 Schindler's List, part 216m

4.3.5 Guilt and responsibility4m

1 reading

4.0.1 Topics, readings, and films10m

Week

Week 5

3 hours to complete

Witness to trauma

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.

3 hours to complete

16 videos (Total 185 min), 1 reading

16 videos

5.1.1 Wartime lunacy6m

5.1.2 Einsatzgruppen, part 113m

5.1.3 Einsatzgruppen, part 214m

5.1.4 Pogroms in the east7m

5.1.5 Forms of resistance17m

5.2.1 Witness to trauma, part 113m

5.2.2 Witness to trauma, part 214m

5.2.3 Witness to trauma, part 317m

5.2.4 Witness to trauma, part 411m

5.3.1 Dora Sorell, part 19m

5.3.2 Dora Sorell, part 27m

5.3.3 Dora Sorell, part 38m

5.3.4 Dora Sorell, part 48m

5.3.5 Dora Sorell, part 59m

5.3.6 Dora Sorell, part 613m

5.3.7 Dora Sorell, part 711m

1 reading

5.0.1 Topics, readings, and films10m

Week

Week 6

3 hours to complete

Establishment of the camps

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.

3 hours to complete

11 videos (Total 121 min), 1 reading, 1 quiz

11 videos

6.1.1 The heart of the matter10m

6.1.2 From labor to extermination13m

6.1.3 Bełżec, Sobibór and Treblinka11m

6.1.4 The task of killing6m

6.1.5 Auschwitz11m

6.1.6 Who knew about the murders?8m

6.2.1 This Way for the Gas, part 112m

6.2.2 This Way for the Gas, part 26m

6.2.3 This Way for the Gas, part 320m

6.2.4 This Way for the Gas, part 411m

6.2.5 Memorials and understanding7m

1 reading

6.0.1 Topics, readings, and films10m

Week

Week 7

4 hours to complete

Deportation and extermination

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.

4 hours to complete

20 videos (Total 233 min), 3 readings

20 videos

7.1.1 The Wansee Conference15m

7.1.2 Denmark and Norway17m

7.1.3 Belgium and Holland8m

7.1.4 France and Italy16m

7.1.5 Nazi looting8m

7.2.1 Fatelessness, part 17m

7.2.2 Fatelessness, part 26m

7.2.3 Fatelessness, part 313m

7.2.4 Fatelessness, part 413m

7.2.5 Fatelessness, part 56m

7.3.1 Deportation and extermination16m

7.3.2 Antisemitic laws7m

7.3.3 Germany and Hungary19m

7.3.4 Separate peace11m

7.3.5 Ambiguities7m

7.4.1 A Scrap of Time, part 18m

7.4.2 A Scrap of Time, part 215m

7.4.3 A Scrap of Time, part 310m

7.4.4 A Scrap of Time, part 410m

7.4.5 A Scrap of Time, part 510m

3 readings

7.0.1 Topics, readings, and films10m

7.2.6 Never Say/Partisan Song (English translation)10m

7.2.7 Zog Nit Keyn Mol/Partizaner Lid (Yiddish)10m

Week

Week 8

3 hours to complete

The perpetrators, the neighbors, and the outside world

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.

3 hours to complete

11 videos (Total 107 min), 2 readings, 1 quiz

Reviews

4.5

53 reviews

5 stars
75.14%
4 stars
16.76%
3 stars
1.15%
2 stars
1.73%
1 star
5.20%

TOP REVIEWS FROM THE HOLOCAUST: THE DESTRUCTION OF EUROPEAN JEWRY

by LRJul 19, 2017

Absolutely adored this class and the instructors!! So much valuable information and first-hand experience, delightfully delivered in these special lectures.

by WMAug 3, 2020

A very informative course. I like it very much and learn a lot in the course. Thank you very much !

by RKNov 8, 2015

I want to say how much I especially enjoyed Dr Kenez and his very clear and concise lectures on the historical aspects of the subject matter. Thank you very much. Richard Kilgore

by RKSep 22, 2015

This was an excellent historical account of the Holocaust. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and personal accounts of this event.

View all reviews

Frequently Asked Questions

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Access to lectures and assignments depends on your type of enrollment. If you take a course in audit mode, you will be able to see most course materials for free. To access graded assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience, during or after your audit. If you don't see the audit option:
The course may not offer an audit option. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid.
The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.
What will I get if I purchase the Certificate?
When you purchase a Certificate you get access to all course materials, including graded assignments. Upon completing the course, your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.
Is financial aid available?
Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.

More questions? Visit the Learner Help Center.

The Holocaust: The Destruction of European Jewry

The Holocaust: The Destruction of European Jewry

About this Course

Instructors

Murray Baumgarten

Peter Kenez

Offered by

University of California, Santa Cruz

Syllabus - What you will learn from this course

Week 1

Who were the Jews?

Week 2

Prelude to the Holocaust

Week 3

Rise of the Nazis

Week 4

Beginnings of war

Week 5

Witness to trauma

Week 6

Establishment of the camps

Week 7

Deportation and extermination

Week 8

The perpetrators, the neighbors, and the outside world

Reviews

TOP REVIEWS FROM THE HOLOCAUST: THE DESTRUCTION OF EUROPEAN JEWRY

Frequently Asked Questions

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The Holocaust: The Destruction of European Jewry

The Holocaust: The Destruction of European Jewry

About this Course

Instructors

Murray Baumgarten

Peter Kenez

Offered by

University of California, Santa Cruz

Syllabus - What you will learn from this course

Week 1

Who were the Jews?

Week 2

Prelude to the Holocaust

Week 3

Rise of the Nazis

Week 4

Beginnings of war

Week 5

Witness to trauma

Week 6

Establishment of the camps

Week 7

Deportation and extermination

Week 8

The perpetrators, the neighbors, and the outside world

Reviews

TOP REVIEWS FROM THE HOLOCAUST: THE DESTRUCTION OF EUROPEAN JEWRY

Frequently Asked Questions

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Start or advance your career

Browse popular topics

Popular courses and articles

Earn a degree or certificate online

Coursera

Community

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