HU Credits: 3

Degree/Cycle: 1st degree (Bachelor)

Responsible Department: Program for Undergraduate Students (y/s)

Semester: 2nd Semester

Teaching Languages: English

Campus: Mt. Scopus

Course/Module Coordinator: David Silberklang

Coordinator Email: david.silberklang@huji.ac.il

Coordinator Office Hours:

Teaching Staff:
Dr. David Silberklang

Course/Module description:
The course will examine case studies of Jewish – non-Jewish relations during the Holocaust, as well as rescue attempts – whether initiated by Jews, by non-Jews, or both. Several overlapping topics will be addressed, among them: the events in Jedwabne in July 1941; partisans and family camps; rescue efforts in several European countries; the question of the bombing of Auschwitz; and the reactions of the Pope and the Vatican; the Righteous Among the Nations.
The discussions will include an examination of literature on the subject, documents, and visual material where possible.

Course/Module aims:

Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
On completion of this course, students should have a better understanding of the complexities of Jewish – Non-Jewish Relations during the Holocaust and of rescue attempts, whether initiated (or avoided) by Jews, non-Jews, or both.

Attendance requirements(%):

Teaching arrangement and method of instruction:

Course/Module Content:
The course will examine case studies of Jewish – non-Jewish relations during the Holocaust, as well as rescue attempts – whether initiated by Jews, by non-Jews, or both. Several overlapping topics will be addressed, among them: the events in Jedwabne in July 1941; partisans and family camps; rescue efforts in several European countries; the question of the bombing of Auschwitz; and the reactions of the Pope and the Vatican; the Righteous Among the Nations.
The discussions will include an examination of literature on the subject, documents, and visual material where possible.

Required Reading:
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Rothberg International School
Division of Undergraduate Studies
Spring 2018

48417: JEWISH-NON-JEWISH RELATIONS
& RESCUE ATTEMPTS DURING THE HOLOCAUST

Mondays and Wednesdays, 4:30 – 6:00 p.m.


Dr. David Silberklang



Email: david.silberklang@huji.ac.il; david.silberklang@yadvashem.org.il

Office Hours: By appointment

Description: The course will examine case studies of Jewish – non-Jewish relations during the Holocaust, as well as rescue attempts – whether initiated by Jews, by non-Jews, or both. Several overlapping topics will be addressed, among them, the events in Jedwabne in July 1941; partisans and family camps; rescue efforts in several European countries; the question of the bombing of Auschwitz; and the reactions of the Pope and the Vatican.

The discussions will include an examination of some of the literature on the subject, documents, and visual material where possible.

Requirements:
There are 4 factors in determining the student’s grade for the course.

- Background reading on the Holocaust and an exam (10%);
- An oral presentation or a short analytical essay (5-6 pages) on one of the subjects to be discussed in the class. Keeping up with the reading and participation in class discussions will be factored into this part of the grade. (30%);
- Final Exam (essay-based) (30%);
- Term paper (10-15 pages) on a subject of the student’s choice, to be approved by the instructor. (due June 7) (30%)

The class will also include a seminar at Yad Vashem on May 21. We will leave Mount Scopus at ca. 12:00 p.m. and return at ca. 18:45. Details will follow.

Two books are required of all participants, in addition to the readings that are available on Moodle and/or reserve in the Boyar Library:
- Yehuda Bauer, A History of the Holocaust, 2nd edition (NY: Franklin Watts, 2001). Overseas Library 933.47 B344
- Jan Tomasz Gross, Neighbors (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001) E-book, Overseas Library 933.47(438) G878


Note:
* indicates readings required only for the presenter(s) or those writing an essay
** indicates classes for which the readings will be divided among the participants.

A. General Background

1-4. February 26, 28, and March 5, 7
Yehuda Bauer, A History of the Holocaust, 2nd edition (NY: Franklin Watts, 2001), esp. chapters 3-13, pp. 61-369. Overseas Library 933.47 B344

5. Mon, March 12: Exam on General Holocaust Knowledge


B. The Bright Side of Relations and Rescue?

6. Wed, March 14

Each student will prepare 2 stories of Righteous Among the Nations, using sources such as
The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations (Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2003), Overseas Library 933.472(03) Y12;
Mordecai Paldiel, The Path of the Righteous: Gentile Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust (Hoboken: Ktav, 1993). Overseas Library 933.472 P155;
and the like.


C. Jedwabne and Polish-Jewish Relations during the Holocaust

7. Mon, March 19: Jedwabne

Jan Tomasz Gross, Neighbors (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001) E-book; Overseas Library 933.47(438) G878

8. Wed, March 21: Polish Views of Jedwabne

Dariusz Stola, “A Monument of Words,” Yad Vashem Studies 30 (2002), pp. 21-49. Overseas Library 933.47 Y12; ERESERVE

From Antony Polonsky and Joanna Michlic, eds., The Neighbors Respond: The Controversy over the Jedwabne Massacre in Poland (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004), E-book, Overseas Library 933.47(438) G878:
“Interview with the Primate of Poland, Cardinal Józef Glemp, on the Murder of the Jews in Jedwabne, 15 May 2001,” pp. 166-172
Rev. Stanisław Musiał, “We Ask You to Help Us Be Better,” pp. 173-178
Anna Bikont, “We of Jedwabne,” pp. 267-302

**9. Mon, March 26 Polish-Jewish Relations

Emanuel Ringelblum, Polish-Jewish Relations during the Second World War (Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 1974), chapters 1, 10-12, Conclusion, pp. 1-9, 156-248. Overseas Library 933.47(438) R581; ERESERVE (ch. 10-11)

Alina Skibińska and Jakub Petelewicz, “The Participation of Poles in Crimes Against Jews in the Świętokrzyskie Region,” Yad Vashem Studies 35:1 (2007), pp. 5-48. Overseas Library 933.47 Y12; ERESERVE

Jan Grabowski, “Rewriting the History of Polish-Jewish Relations from a Nationalist Perspective: The Recent Publications of the Institute of National Remembrance,” Yad Vashem Studies 36:1 (2008), pp. 253-269. Overseas Library 933.47 Y12; ERESERVE

D. Partisans and Family Camps

10. Mon, April 9: Overview

Yitzhak Arad, “Jewish Family Camps in the Forests: An Original Means of Rescue,” in Rescue Attempts During the Holocaust (Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 1977), pp. 333-353. Overseas Library 933.47(08) G984; ERESERVE

Shalom Cholawsky, The Jews of Bielorussia During World War II (Amsterdam: Harwood, 1998), chaps. 8, 11, 12, pp. 159-183, 209-249. Main Library DS 134.734 R93 B4423; ERESERVE

Leonid Rein, “Local Collaboration in the Execution of the ‘Final Solution’ in Nazi-Occupied Belorussia,” Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 20:3 (2006), pp. 381-409. E-Journal

**11. Wed, April 11: The Bielski Group

Jack Kagan and Dov Cohen, Surviving the Holocaust with the Russian Jewish Partisans (London: Valentine Mitchell, 1998), pp. 50-84; 162-204. Overseas Library 933.47(476.5) K11, ERESERVE

*Nechama Tec, Defiance: The Bielski Partisans (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993). Overseas Library 933.47(476.5) T255

Recommended Film: Defiance (Media Library OSV 10059)

E. The Bombing of Auschwitz

12. Mon, April 16: Why Bomb, I?

David S. Wyman, “The Bombing of Auschwitz,” in idem, The Abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust, 1941-1945 (New York: Pantheon, 1984), pp. 288-307. Overseas Library 933.47 W984; ERESERVE

Michael Neufeld and Michael Berenbaum, eds., The Bombing of Auschwitz: Should the Allies Have Attempted It? (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2003). Overseas Library 933.47 N482:
Gerhard L. Weinberg, “The Allies and the Holocaust,” pp. 15-26 (notes on p. 283) ERESERVE
Martin Gilbert, “The Contemporary Case for the Feasibility of Bombing Auschwitz,” pp. 65-75 ERESERVE
Rondall R. Rice, “Bombing Auschwitz: U.S. Fifteenth Air Force and the Military Aspects of a Possible Attack,” pp. 157-179 (notes on pp. 314-318) ERESERVE

13. Mon, April 23: Why Bomb, II?

Michael Neufeld and Michael Berenbaum, eds., The Bombing of Auschwitz: Should the Allies Have Attempted It? (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2003). Overseas Library 933.47 N482:
James H. Kitchens III, “The Bombing of Auschwitz Re-Examined,” pp. 80-100 (notes on pp. 289-298). ERESERVE (p. 80-100)
Richard H. Levy, “The Bombing of Auschwitz Revisited: A Critical Analysis,” pp. 101-126 (notes on pp. 298-303), or from Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 10:3 (1996), pp. 267-293. E-journal
Documents: pp. 256-260 (Pehle and McCloy); 262-264, 266-268 (Eden and Sinclair); 273-274 (Kubowitzki and McCloy). ERESERVE

Recommended Film: Auschwitz and the Allies


F. Assorted Nationwide Rescue Attempts

**14. Wed, April 25: Slovakia, Hungary, Denmark

Gila Fatran, “The Working Group,” Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 8:2 (1994), pp. 164-201. E-Journal

Asher Cohen, “He-Halutz Underground in Hungary: March-August 1944,” Yad Vashem Studies 14 (1981), pp. 247-267. Overseas Library 933.47 Y12 ; ERESERVE

LeniYahil, “The Uniqueness of the Rescue of Danish Jewry,” in Yisrael Gutman and Efraim Zuroff, eds., Rescue Attempts During the Holocaust (Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 1977), pp. 617-624. Overseas Library 933.47(08) G984; ERESERVE

Hans Kirschhoff, “The Rescue of the Danish Jews in October 1943,” in David Bankier and Israel Gutman, eds., Nazi Europe and the Final Solution (Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2003), pp. 539-555. Overseas Library 933.47 B218; ERESERVE

15. Mon, April 30: Rescue Through Baptism -Belgium, Poland

Luq Dequeker, “Baptism and Conversion of Jews in Belgium, 1939-1945,” in Dan Michman, ed., Belgium and the Holocaust (Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 1998), pp. 235-271. Overseas Library 933.47(493) M624; ERESERVE

Nahum Bogner, “The Convent Children: The Rescue of Jewish Children in Polish Convents During the Holocaust,” Yad Vashem Studies 27 (1998), pp. 235-285. Overseas Library 933.47 Y12 ; ERESERVE

**16. Wed, May 2: The Pope and the Vatican, I

Grazia Loparco, “Pius XII and Hiding in Italy: Did the Pope Give Instructions to Help or Hide Jews in Italy?” in David Bankier, Dan Michman, Iael Nidam-Orvieto, eds., Pius XII and the Holocaust: Current State of Research (Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2012), pp. 115-125. Overseas Library 933.47(493) M624; ERESERVE
Walter Zwi Bacharach, “Antisemitism, Holocaust, and the Holy See: An Appraisal of Recent Books about the Vatican and the Holocaust,” Yad Vashem Studies, 31 (2003), pp. 365-388. Overseas Library 933.47 Y12; ERESERVE

Michael Phayer, “Pope Pius XII, the Holocaust, and the Cold War,” Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 12:2 (1998), pp. 233-256. E-Journal

Susan Zuccotti, “Pope Pius XII and the Rescue of Jews in Italy: Evidence of a Papal Directive?” Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 18:2 (2004), pp. 255-273. E-Journal

Michael Phayer, “’Helping the Jews is not an easy thing to do.’ Vatican Holocaust Policy: Continuity or Change,” Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 21:3 (2007), pp. 421-446. E-Journal

17. Mon, May 7: The Pope and the Vatican, II

Pope Pius XII, “The Internal Order of States and People,” Christmas Message, December 24, 1942. Free access: https://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/P12CH42.HTM

"The Pope’s Letter to Msgr. Konrad Preysing, Archbishop of Berlin, April 30, 1943, and address to the Sacred College of Cardinals, June 2, 1943," in Saul Friedländer, Pius XII and the Third Reich: A Documentation (London: Chatto & Windus, 1966), pp. 135-143. Overseas Library 933.47 F911, ERESERVE

From Bankier, Michman, and Nidam-Orvieto, eds., Pius XII and the Holocaust: Overseas Library 933.47(493) M624:
“Dossier on a Meeting Held by the International Red Cross on the Jewish Topic, February 12, 1943,” pp. 223-224. ERESERVE
“Extract of Letter from the Mother General of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, March 1944,” pp. 236-238. ERESERVE

**18. Wed, May 9: The Righteous Among the Nations – Why Did They Rescue?

Remembering for the Future: Jews and Christians During and After the Holocaust (Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1988):
Douglas Huneke, “Glimpse of Light in a Vast Darkness: A Study of the Moral and Spiritual Development of Nazi Era Rescuers,” p. 486-493. ERESERVE
Samuel Oliner and Pearl Oliner, “Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust: Justice, Care and Religion,” pp. 506-516. ERESERVE
Mordecai Paldiel, “The Altruism of the Righteous Gentiles,” pp. 517-525. ERESERVE
Nechama Tec, “Altruism During World War II,” pp. 542-549. ERESERVE

Eva Fogelman, Conscience and Courage: Rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust (New York: Anchor Books Doubleday, 1994), 155-160, 253-270. Overseas Library 933.47 F655; ERESERVE

19. Wed, May 16: Why Did They Rescue?

David Gushee, “Many Paths to Righteousness: An Assessment of the Research on Why Righteous Gentiles Helped Jews,” Holocaust and Genocide Studies 7:3 (1993), pp. 372-401. E-Journal

Jan Grabowski, “Rescue for Money: Paid Helpers in Poland, 1939-1945,” Search and Research, 13 (2008), pp. 7-54. ERESERVE

20. Mon, May 21: Seminar at Yad Vashem
12:00 – 18:15 (Details to be announced)

21. Wed, May 23: Relations and Rescue during the Holocaust – Summing up


May 28 & May 30: No Class

Mon, June 4: Final Exam (Tentative) (16:30 – 18:30)

Thurs, June 7 : Term Papers due in program office

Additional Reading Material:

Grading Scheme :

Additional information: