*Online Course

In 1939, on the eve of the Holocaust, East European Jewry constituted the most important and influential Jewish community in the world. As a result of half a century of mass migration to the West, up to 90% of world Jewry either lived in Eastern Europe or were children of East European immigrants. This course surveys the establishment, flourishing and destruction of this once vital community in the area known as Galicia, by examining its social, economic, political, religious and cultural history from the eighteenth century – the time of the province's creation – to the Holocaust and its aftermath. While we focus on Galicia, we will regularly place Galicia in its broader East European context, particularly in the final three lectures covering the period after the demise of Galicia as a legal province at the end of the First World War.

2023-2024 Course Syllabus