Specialist options
During the programme introduction you will consult with the programme organiser, who will advise on the choice of module options. You will normally select modules from within the Department of History. In principle you will be also be able to take an option from the wider Faculty of Arts at Queen Mary and relevant modules offered throughout the University of London colleges, as long as this enhances your understanding of Jewish history and culture.
Modules offered include:
Modern Jewish History and Culture
Covering the period from the early Enlightenment leading up to the destruction of Jewish life in Europe during the Holocaust, the module will focus on the delicate political and cultural interaction between Gentile and Jewish societies, enabling you to gain a deeper understanding of the fundamental changes in Jewish life during this period. This module will look at different countries and apply a comparative perspective. Studying the relationship between Jewish and general history will help you examine some of the most important internal dynamics of general European history. You will also study how European Jews constructed, asserted and coped with 'difference' and concepts of ‘homogeneity’. Other areas of study will include the importance of the Enlightenment, the legal and political processes of emancipation, the impact of the Great War on European Jewish history, the concept of Jewish renaissance and renewal and Zionist movements in the twentieth century.
Christians and Jews in Europe: Perceptions and Encounters, 1100-1600
Professor Miri Rubin (on sabbatical, not offered in the academic year 2016/17)
This module will offer an extremely useful background for the students of the Leo Baeck MA in European Jewish History, whose expertise may be in more modern periods. It will assist the development of skills by which historians of the Jewish past might assess long-term trends in Jewish-Christian relations, a subject often at the heart of historiographical debates in Jewish History.
It will also offer rigorous training in the use of a wide range of sources: theology, sermons, religious art, religious polemics, and devotional literature, while raising and extending awareness of a rich and challenging historiographical field of Jewish-Christian relations, and the history of ethnic and religious groups. The module will also sharpen skills of critical assessment of primary sources and interpretation of imagery.
Jews, Power and Intellectual History
During this module you will engage in close readings of core texts in Jewish intellectual history. Special emphasis will be placed on German-Jewish thought during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as the most influential aspect of more recent Jewish traditions, and the question of how Jewish political thought related to modern Europe and concepts of the state. You will become familiar with authors such as Moses Mendelssohn, Moses Hess, Sigmund Freud, Walter Benjamin, Hannah Arendt and Emmanuel Levinas. Comparisons will be made with a range of other Jewish thinkers from various European countries (such as Leo Pinsker, Simon Dubnov, Simon Rawidowicz).
Antisemitism and the Holocaust
Modern European Jewish history has for centuries been profoundly affected by anti-Judaism and antisemitism, influencing Jewish life in legal, social, economic, cultural and intellectual spheres from the middle ages until today. The study of antisemitism is crucial for our understanding of the wider social and cultural context of Jewish history in Modern Europe. The programme will trace the development of antisemitism in Modern Europe, through its historical transformation under the impact of secularisation, the rise of nationalism and racial theories. The module will try to compare the history of antisemitism in different European countries, but the emphasis will be on the role of antisemitism in the Third Reich. It will survey the development of historical writing and the interpretation of antisemitism and the Holocaust, and will address forms of secular and religious antisemitism since the Holocaust.
The Holocaust and Beyond: War and Post-war Germany
Professor Christina von Hodenberg (on sabbatical, not offered in the academic year 2016/17)
The question of when, how, and to what extent postwar Germany overcame the Nazi past is at the core of a lively and multi-faceted scholarly debate. Recent research has not only shown that the aftermath of Nazism and Nazi crimes overshadowed West Germany’s new beginning, but has increasingly focused on how the contradictory processes of stabilisation, integration and liberalisation of the new state and society were linked with the Nazi past. Moreover, inquiries into post-1945 German culture have begun to differentiate carefully between remnants from the Nazi era and pre-1933 traditions that shaped postwar realities. This module provides an introduction to the relevant historiography. It highlights current controversies, methodological debates, and opportunities for new research projects. The main focus will be on occupied Germany 1945-1949 and West Germany from the 50s through the 90s, with some attention to East Germany. Topics covered include the politics of memory (eg, denazification of the masses, prosecution of Nazi criminals, and integration of perpetrators into society); changing values, lifestyles, and gender roles; relations between victims and perpetrators; and public debates on the Nazi past.
Module options are assessed by written essays of 4,000 words. Students are able to formulate their own essay topics in consultation with the module leader. The module leader also provides guidance on the planning and development of essays in one-to-one sessions during the second part of the semester.