Module overview
The module offers a broad introduction to Jewish history from the ancient to the contemporary period. The first part of this module introduces and explains important developments for the Jewish minority in Europe, focusing on the period between the Enlightenment to the end of the inter-War period, from the late 18th century to 1933. While this history has often been regarded as a prelude to the Holocaust, our module will look at this period from a Jewish perspective. What were the opportunities, and what were the risks, that ‘modern times’ held in store for a group that moved from the margins of society to its centre? We will look at the Jewish experience in Western and Eastern Europe. The second part of the module covers the persecution of the Jews during the Nazi era and then how that history has been remembered and represented but also how the Holocaust shaped the history of Jews after 1945.