Anti-Semitism Then and Now: Perspectives from the Middle Ages to the Present

Catalog description

In this course we will consider the history of anti-Jewish hatred from the Middle Ages through the Holocaust, and in our own times. We shall examine this history through the examination of representative case studies, texts, and films. These will include pre-modern incidents of 'fake news' such as the medieval rumor of "blood libel" that unleashed massacres and mass expulsions of Jews from countless communities. In examining the rise of modern antisemitism we shall focus on debates over Jewish assimilation and citizenship and consider the popular impact of the print media's dissemination of conspiracy theories of Jewish world domination, including the infamous forgery "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion." We will also examine cases of mass anti-Jewish violence, known as pogroms, in Eastern Europe and Russia, and the genocidal onslaught against European Jewry by the National Socialist regime. Finally, we will discuss the resurgence of antisemitism in contemporary Europe and the United States. This course meets the Dietrich Gen Ed "Perspectives on Justice and Injustice" requirement.