Description
The destruction of six million Jews in the midst of the 20th century still causes puzzlement and anxiety as humanity has struggled to answer Why? and How? Was it simply the aberration, the horrifying and hellish vision of a disturbed mind, was there something singularly evil that created the space for ordinary men and women to participate in the murder of millions of fellow human beings? Was it the tendrils of anti-Semitism twisting through European history, singling out an “Other” in the anxiety of groups seeking the security of homogeneity? How do we understand the Holocaust and therefore better comprehend its legacy in Europe and the Middle East? Examining the Holocaust and its legacy from a variety of perspectives (perpetrators, victims, bystanders, witnesses, prosecutors, accused, deniers, and survivors) the course will also consider the diaspora that scattered Jews across Europe, particularly in the 19th century and the aftermath of the Holocaust that called for the moment of