Module overview
Cold War is a peculiar conflict. Often seen as a confrontation between the Socialist East and Capitalist West, the Cold War is typically depicted as a bloodless standoff. In such interpretations, the Iron Curtain isolated Western from Eastern Europeans. Trapped in authoritarian, socialist regimes, the latter are depicted as yearning for the USA to break the stalemate and defeat the evil Soviet Empire. Jewish history helps us to shatter such stereotypical interpretations. From the vantage point of both Israel and the diaspora (Jews living outside of Israel), we can see the transnational contacts and conflicts in ways we would not see them from a solely national perspective. By following in the footsteps of Jewish survivors rebuilding their lives on both sides of the Iron Curtain, we can explore a new take on the history of the Cold War.