| Dozent/in |
Jay Geller, Ph.D. |
| Veranstaltungsart |
Hauptseminar |
| Code |
HS261477 |
| Semester |
Herbstsemester 2026 |
| Durchführender Fachbereich |
Judaistik |
| Studienstufe |
Bachelor
Master |
| Termin/e |
Mo, 05.10.2026, 10:15 - 12:00 Uhr, HS 13
Mo, 12.10.2026, 10:15 - 12:00 Uhr, HS 13
Mi, 14.10.2026, 10:15 - 12:00 Uhr, 3.B48
Mo, 19.10.2026, 10:15 - 12:00 Uhr, HS 13
Mo, 26.10.2026, 10:15 - 12:00 Uhr, HS 13
Mi, 28.10.2026, 10:15 - 12:00 Uhr, 3.B48 |
| Umfang |
1 Semesterwochenstunde |
| Inhalt |
Before we can speak about its meanings and implications, we have to come to some shared sense of what the event or series of events we seek to understand entails. This applies especially to the series of events surrounding the attempted destruction of European Jewry that is commonly referred to as “the Holocaust.” The attempted destruction of European Jewry has been given a variety of names. Do they all refer to the same thing? Do the Endlösung der Judenfrage, World War II, and the Holocaust refer to the same thing? When we say an event began also conveys a sense of what we understand the event to have been about. Can the attempted destruction of European Jewry be traced back to the fifth century B.C.E. or to 1789 or to 30 January 1933 or …? When we say an event has ended too conveys a sense of what we understand the event to have been about? Can the attempted destruction of European Jewry be said to have ended on 8 May 1945 or 10 June 1967 or …? Even the numbers that we invoke—the six million or 11000000 or c. 5,693,851—convey different meanings. This seminar surveys the names, dates, and numbers that have arisen in discussion of “the Holocaust.” We will examine the meanings and implications of its diverse naming, dating, and quantifying possibilities. In the process we will also discuss associated topics including antisemitism, colonialism, genocide, modernity, revisionism, etc. For those with no previous study of “the Holocaust,” Doris Bergen, War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust (3d or 4th ed.; Rowman & Littlefield)—or a comparable text—provides a good basis for preparing the required oral presentation on the meanings and implications of situating a particular date/event in relationship to “the Holocaust.” |
| Lernziele |
- Determining what to name an event, when an event begins, when an event ends, as well as what numbers are associated with the event, are all acts of interpretation and transform what we understand as the meanings and Implications of the event or series of events commonly referred to as 'the Holocaust.’
- Pre-existence is not the same as a necessary cause: there are influences, even causes—albeit partial ones and the effect not necessarily an imagined one by the causers—but history is not self-evident and we are not omniscient.
- “History does not repeat itself, it rhymes” (ascribed to Mark Twain) // “The past is never dead; it’s not even past” (William Falkner).
- The Holocaust is an event in world history not (just) Jewish, German, or European history.
|
| Voraussetzungen |
Für Bachelorstudierende Theologie: "Einführung in die Judaistik" oder Besuch einer Vorlesung oder eines Proseminars des Fachbereichs Judaistik |
| Sprache |
Englisch |
| Leistungsnachweis |
- TF: Bestätigte Teilnahme (1 Cr) (= Bestätigte Teilnahme)
- TF: Bestätigte Teilnahme mit Referat (2 Cr) (= Bestätigte Teilnahme mit Zusatzleistung)
- TF: Benotete schriftliche Arbeit (3 Cr)
- KSF: Aktive Teilnahme (Referat) (2 Cr)* (anrechenbar als freie Studienleistungen)
* Verpflichtend und vorbehalten für Anrechnung in KSF-Modulen. Gilt nicht für RWP-Studierende. |
| Abschlussform / Credits |
TF: Bestätigte Teilnahme / 1 Credits
TF: Bestätigte Teilnahme mit Zusatzleistung / 2 Credits
TF: Benotete schriftliche Arbeit / 3 Credits
KSF: Aktive Teilnahme (Referat) / 2 Credits
kein Abschluss / 0 Credits
Aktive Teilnahme (Promotion) / 0 Credits
|
| Hinweise |
Die Teilnahme an der 1. Sitzung oder eine verbindliche vorgängige Absprache mit dem Dozenten per E-Mail ist verpflichtend. |
| Hörer-/innen |
Ja |
| Kontakt |
martin.steiner@unilu.ch |
| Literatur |
Jon Petrie, “The Secular Word Holocaust: Scholarly Sacralization and Twentieth Century Meanings,” Journal of Genocide Research 2.1 (2001): 31-63. [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/240532563_The_secular_word_Holocaust_Scholarly_myths_history_and_20th_century_meanings];
Michael André Bernstein, “Against Foreshadowing” (1-8) and “Backshadowing and Apocalyptic History” (9-41) in Foregone Conclusions: Against Apocalyptic History (UCalP, 1994);
Oren Baruch Stier, “The Holocaust as an Iconic Number: Six Million” (153-83) in Holocaust Icons: Symbolizing the Shoah in History and Memory (RutgersUP, 2015). |