SWARTHMORE COLLEGE
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
FALL 2006
History 35 Bob Weinberg (rweinbe1)
Trotter 218 8133
Office Hours: Monday 1-3
Wednesday 1-3
And By Appointment
From Emancipation
to Extermination:
Why did the hopes and promises shared by so many West and East European Jews at the beginning of the nineteenth century literally turn into ashes in the death camps of Nazi Germany? This course focuses on the fate of West and East European Jewry from the beginning of Jewish emancipation in the eighteenth century to the Holocaust. Major themes include the process of emancipation, the transformation of Jewish self-identity, and collective responses to modern antisemitism. Special attention is paid to situating the history of European Jewry in the context of general social, political, intellectual, and economic trends and developments.
Course Requirements:
Three five-page papers
Eight-page research paper
In-class final exam
Class participation and attendance
Class sessions will be a mix of lecture and discussion of readings. It is imperative that you keep up with the assignments and come to each class prepared to discuss them.
All students are expected to read the CollegeÕs policy on academic honesty and integrity that appears in the Swarthmore College Bulletin. The work you submit must be your own, and plagiarism will be penalized. Any work containing plagiarized material will be granted the grade of Òno creditÓ and may subject you to prosecution by the College Judiciary Council. When in doubt, check with me.
In addition, I will not accept late papers and will assign a failing grade for the assignment unless you notify me and receive permission to submit the paper after the due date. Students are required to attend all classes, and unexcused absences will result in a lower grade.
The following books are available for purchase and are also on reserve in McCabe:
Rachel Calof, Rachel CalofÕs Story: Jewish Homesteader on
the Northern Plains
Lloyd Gartner, A History of the Jews in Modern Times
Paul Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz, eds., The Jew in the Modern World, 2nd edition
Joseph Roth, The Wandering Jews
Helmut Walser Smith, The ButcherÕs Tale: Murder and
Antisemitism in a German Town
The following reference works may also be useful:
Blackwell
Companion to Jewish Culture: From the Eighteenth Century to
the Present (In Reference)
Norman Roth, ed., Medieval Jewish Civilization (In Reference)
The Blackwell Dictionary of Judaica (In Reference)
Encyclopedia Judaica (In Reference)
Evyatar Friesel, Atlas of Modern Jewish History (In Reference)
Geoffrey
Wigoder, Dictionary of Jewish Biography
Martin
Goodman, ed., The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies
The following websites provide links to dozens of websites devoted to Jewish Studies:
Web Sites for Jewish Studies: http://www.princeton.edu/~pressman/jewebs.html
Center for Jewish History: http://www.cjh.org/ Go to the ÒSites of InterestÓ link
Educational Program on Yiddish Culture: http://epyc.yivo.org
Bibliography of Websites: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/bibliowf.html
Beyond the Pale: The History of the Jews in Russia: http://www.friends-partners.org/partners/beyond-the-pale/
September 7: European Jewry on the Eve of Emancipation
Salon Baron, ÒGhetto and EmancipationÓ and ÒNewer Approaches to EmancipationÓ BB
September 12: European Jewry on the Eve of Emancipation
Gartner, chapters 1 and 2
Mendes-Flohr and Reinharz, pp. 18-20
Watch the film Jud Suss (90 minutes) before class. On reserve in McCabe
September 14: Emancipation in England: The Social Variant
Mendes-Flohr and Reinharz, pp. 8-17, 21-22, 27-28, 146-150, and 151-152
September 19: Emancipation in France: The Legal/Political
Variant
Gartner, start reading chapters 3-5 for next several classes
Mendes-Flohr and Reinharz, pp. 114-136
September 21: Emancipation in Central Europe: The
Intellectual Variant
Mendes-Flohr and Reinharz, pp. 28-40, 42-44, 48-49, 70-74, and 144-145
Michael Meyer, The Origins of the Modern Jew, pp. 8-56 and 85-114 BB
Monika Richarz, ed., Jewish Life in Germany: Memoirs from
Three Centuries (Selections by Ascher
Lehmann, Isaac Thannhauser, Eduard Silbermann, and Faibel Siegel) BB
September 26: Emancipation in the Russian Empire
Gartner, chapter 6
Mendes-Flohr and Reinharz, pp. 375-386 and 400-404
September 28: Jews in Arab Lands
Gartner, chapter 7
October 3: Emancipation in Perspective
The following essays are useful summaries of what we have been discussing for the past several weeks:
Paula Hyman, The Social Contexts of Assimilation: Village
Jews and City Jews in AlsaceÓ BB
Pierre Birnbaum, ÒBetween Social and Political Assimilation:
Remarks on the History of Jews in FranceÓ BB
Michael Stanislawski, ÒRussian Jewry, the Russian State, and the Dynamics of Jewish EmancipationÓ BB
Werner Mosse, ÒFrom `SchutzjudenÕ to `Deutsche Staatsburger Judischen GlaubensÕ: The Long and Bumpy Road to Jewish Emancipation in GermanyÓ BB
October 5: Religious Reform and Counter-Reform
Mendes-Flohr and Reinharz, pp. 161, 167-173, 177-185, and 194-197
October 10: The Rejection of Emancipation and the
Emergence of Modern Antisemitism
Gartner, start reading chapter 8
Shulamit Volkov, ÒThe Written Matter and the Spoken WordÓ BB
Mendes-Flohr and Reinharz, pp. 304-305, 309-312, 325-334,
339-350, and 356-367
October 12:
Honing Your Research Skills
Meet in Computer Classroom, McCabe Library, 3rd Floor
October 24: Life in the Old Country
Isaac Bashevis Singer, ÒWhy the Geese Shrieked,Ó ÒA Major
Din Torah,Ó and ÒThe Boy PhilosopherÓ
BB
Eva Hoffmann, Shtetl, chapter
2 BB
Isaac Babel, ÒThe Story of My DovecotÓ BB
Sholem Asch, ÒKola StreetÓ BB
October 26: The Blood Libel
Helmut Walser Smith, The ButcherÕs Tale: Murder and Antisemitism in a German Town
October 31: Jewish Responses to Antisemitism: The Liberal
and Radical Variants
Mendes-Flohr and Reinharz, pp. 417-423
Vladimir Medem, ÒThe Youth of a BundistÓ BB
Leon Trotsky, ÒA Social Democrat OnlyÓ BB
Bronislaw Gasser, ÒFrom Pole to JewÓ BB
Rachel Calof, Rachel CalofÕs Story: Jewish Homesteader
on the Northern Plains
Watch the film The Yidishe Gaucho (30 minutes) for
class. On reserve in McCabe
November 7: Jewish Responses to Antisemitism: The
Nationalist Variant
Rabbi Yehuda Alkalai, ÒThe Third RedemptionÓ BB
Rabbi Zvi Kalischer, ÒSeeking ZionÓ BB
Peretz Smolenskin, ÒIt is Time to PlantÓ and Let Us Search Our WaysÓ BB
Leo Pinsker, ÒAuto-EmancipationÓ BB
November 9: Jewish Responses to Antisemitism: The
Nationalist Variant
Theodor Herzl, ÒThe Jewish StateÓ BB
Ahad Ha-Am, ÒThe Jewish State and the Jewish ProblemÓ and ÒThe Negation of the DiasporaÓ BB
Yehiel Michael Pines, ÒJewish Nationalism Cannot Be SecularÓ and ÒReligion is the Source of Jewish NationalismÓ BB
Mendes-Flohr and Reinharz, pp. 493-497, 538-543, 547-548, and 565-566
November 14: Jews and European Culture: The Reshaping of
Jewish Identity
Franz Kafka, ÒReport to the AcademyÓ BB
Mendes-Flohr and Reinharz, pp. 254-262, 267-268, 272-275, and 282-284.
Marion Kaplan, ÒGender and Jewish History in Imperial GermanyÓ BB
November 16: No Class
November 21: Jews under Communism
Mendes-Flohr and Reinharz, pp. 428-436
Gartner, start reading chapter 9
Mendes-Flohr and Reinharz, pp. 437-439 and 440-442
Ezra Mendelsohn, ÒJewish Politics in Interwar Poland: An
OverviewÓ BB
Marion Kaplan, ÒJewish Women in Nazi Germany: Daily Life, Daily StrugglesÓ BB
Watch the film Image Before My Eyes (90 minutes) for class. On reserve in McCabe
Joseph Roth, The Wandering Jews
December 5: Defining Jewishness in the Modern World
ÒOswald Rufeisen v. Minister of the InteriorÓ BB
December 7: European Jewry after the Holocaust
Philip Roth, ÒEli, the FanaticÓ BB
December 12: In-Class Final Exam
FINAL PAPER DUE ON FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22