Syllabus
All the sessions take place in the library of CEFRES – Na Florenci 3
Program of the course in the summer semester 2019:
In contrast to the winter semester there will be a change in the structure of the course!
All students are obliged to visit guest lectures and next to this the course will be taught as a bloc seminar (in two days, in two Fridays in May). All the details will be discussed at the first session of the course which will take place at the library of CEFRES, Na Florenci 3 on 19 February at 5:30 pm. Please do not miss this session.
Guest lectures in spring 2019: 5 March
Laura Hobson Faure (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3)Becoming Refugees, Becoming Survivors? Reframing Jewish Children’s Experiences in Transnational, longue durée Perspective 2 April
Joanna Nalewajko-Kulikov (Tadeusz Manteuffel Institute of History, Polish Academy of Sciences)Who Will Edit Our History, or Challenges of Editing Holocaust Sources. The Case of Emanuel Ringelblum’s Ghetto Notes 30 April
Macos Silber (Haifa University)Subversive Conformism? Youth Culture, Jews and Rock'n'roll in 1960s' Poland 14 May
Carmen Reichert (Augsburg University)How Yiddish Writers Became Yiddish Writers
For more details about those lectures, please see http://www.jewishhistory.usd.cas.cz/
Bloc seminars will take place on 17 May and on 24 May from 9am to 12:30, we will meet at the library of CEFRES
Topics of the bloc seminars: 17 May: Jewish nationalisms 24 May: Jews under Communism
Students will have to read several primary sources and secondary literature in advance. Texts will be sent to students by the end of April.
Program of the course in the winter semester 2018/2019: 9 October 2018 guest lecture:
Karolina Szymaniak (University of Wroclaw and Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw) Minority Perspective and the Trouble with Liberal Discourses. Thinking History of Jewish/Yiddish Culture in Polish Context
For an abstract see: http://www.jewishhistory.usd.cas.cz/colloquia/clusters-and-cuts-conceptual-frameworks-for-the-study-of-yiddish-polish-cultural-contact-in-the-20th-century/ 16 October 2018
Required reading:
Jonathan Webber: Representing Jewish Culture: The Problem of Boundaries, in: Simon J. Bronner (ed.), Framing Jewish Culture: Boundaries and Representations, Jewish Cultural Studies, vol. 4, 2014, 33-76. 6 November 2018 guest lecture
Marcin Wodzinski (University of Wroclaw)
What is Hasidism?
For an abstract see: http://www.jewishhistory.usd.cas.cz/colloquia/what-is-hasidism/ 20 November 2018
Required reading:
Moshe Rosman, Founder of Hasidism. A Quest for the Historical Ba’al Shem Tov. Oxford: Littmann 2013 (Introduction to the Paperback Edition – XIII – LVII - you can skip the subchapter on Sources reconsidered which is rather for specialists; and Chapter 11 – A Person of His Time 173- 186).
Please come to the sessions with your notes from this reading.
The topic of the sessions on 6 and 20 November is both related to Hasidism. Please consider reading the parts of Moshe Rosman’s book before going to the lecture of Marcin Wodzinski. It would help you to raise relevant questions.
We will also discuss what are the specifics of academic research in the field of Jewish history. 4 December 2018 guest lecture
Agnieszka Wierzcholska (Osteuropainstitut, Freie Universität, Berlin) Microhistories from a Polish–Jewish town: 1918 – 1956
For an abstract see: http://www.jewishhistory.usd.cas.cz/colloquia/microhistories-from-a-polish-jewish-town-1918-1956/ 18 December 2018
Required reading:
Doris L. Bergen, I Am (Not) to Blame: Intent and Agency in Personal Accounts of the Holocaust. Lessons and Legacies XII, ed. by Lower, Wendy, Rossi, Lauren Faulkner, Northwestern University Press, 2017, 87-107.
Annotation
The seminar is intended to provide a platform for academic discussion about the latest research on Jewish history especially of the last three centuries. Though primarily focused on the Jews of central and east central Europe, the seminar also includes topics related to the Jews of other regions.
The seminar is composed as a combination of guest lectures of leading European scholars and sessions focused on interpretations of suggested reading.