Jødar og antisemittisme i det moderne Europa, 1789-1945

Objectives and Content:

The goal of the course is to study aspects of the position of Jewish minorities and modern antisemitism, namely beliefs and behaviors hostile to Jews because they are "Jews" (as defined by the antisemites) in Western Europe between 1789 and 1945.

The course shall convey knowledge of perceptions of and behavior towards Jewish minorities in the modern West and compare it to several other political environments.

Content: The course studies the historical context of attitudes towards and the position of Jews in modern Europe between 1789 and 1945. The course will focus in particular on French history between 1789 and 1848 and German history from 1879 to 1945. By way of individual assignments, it will explore also other Western European national contexts. It also offers two comparative contexts, namely that of premodern Western Europe and of 19th and 20th century Eastern Europe (as yet to be defined specific cases).

The student shall by the end of the course have gained the following learning outcome defined in knowledge, skills, and general competence:

Knowledge:

The student

• has basic historical knowledge of attitudes and behavior towards Jewish religious minorities in modern Europe between 1789 and 1945.
• has basic historical knowledge of the various impacts of the rise of the modern nation state and of the consequent development of modern Western political history on attitudes towards and treatment of Jews.
• is familiar with scholarly, ideological, and political debates about modern antisemitism

Skills:

The student

• can critically identify modern forms of antisemitism and their specific historical contexts
• can critically identify the main historical forces behind modern antisemitism and tolerant attitudes towards Jews.
• can make connections between these larger historical forces and specific instances of or attitudes toward antisemitism.

General competence:

The student

can utilize historical knowledge of modern variants of antisemitism, knowledge of their historical contexts, familiarity with debates on the nature of modern antisemitism, as well as the developed skills to make connections between these, to form and articulate a nuanced understanding of the nature(s) of antisemitism in the modern West.