Einführungsveranstaltung: Freitag, 19. Juni, 10-12 Uhr Raum KAI 1315
Exkursion nach Warschau: 28. Juni bis 1. Juli 2026
Wrap-Up: Freitag, 10. Juli, 10-12 Uhr Raum KAI 1315
This course offers an in-depth examination of the Holocaust within the broader history of Jewish life in Europe, with particular emphasis on Poland as a central site of Jewish culture, destruction, and memory. Students explore the social, political, and ideological roots of antisemitism; the rise of Nazism; ghettoization, mass violence, and genocide; Jewish responses ranging from daily survival to armed and cultural resistance; and the aftermath of the Holocaust in postwar Europe. A key dimension of the course is experiential learning that deepens students’ engagement with primary sources, material culture, and sites of memory. Through direct encounter with museums, archival materials, cemeteries, and urban spaces shaped by absence and commemoration, students analyze how Jewish communities documented their own destruction, how everyday life unfolded under occupation, and how physical landscapes reflect layered histories. The course foregrounds Jewish self-documentation, including underground archival initiatives, as well as the role of historians and heritage activists in preserving and interpreting the past.
By integrating historical scholarship with spatial analysis and memory studies, students develop a nuanced understanding of the Holocaust as both a historical event and an ongoing moral, cultural, and political challenge in contemporary Europe.
