Cold War? Post-War Conflict from a Jewish perspective

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.

Aims and Objectives

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

key primary resources relating to Jewish experiences and histories of the Cold War
Jewish experiences and histories of the Cold War, in particular how studying this conflict from a Jewish perspective challenges stereotypical readings of it
key secondary sources relating to Jewish experiences and histories of the Cold War

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

engage with secondary literature on the Cold War, and contribute to the debates relating to the Jewish experience of the conflict.
analyze critically a variety of textual, visual and material culture sources relating to the Jewish experience of the Cold War.
structure your ideas and research findings into well-ordered essays on aspects of the Jewish experience of the Cold War.

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

locate and use effective textual, visual and material culture sources in the library and on-line, synthesizing this material in order to develop cogent arguments.
research historical questions and communicate your findings convincingly and concisely in written essays and reviews.
utilize and develop your time-management skills.

Learning and Teaching

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching methods include lectures and seminars. Learning methods include close analysis of a range of primary sources and discussion of key themes and ideas.

Study time
Type	Hours
Lecture	12
Seminar	12
Preparation for scheduled sessions	76
Completion of assessment task	50
Total study time	150

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

Laron, Guy (2017). The Six-Day War : The Breaking of the Middle East. New Haven, CT.: Yale University Press.

Zertal, Idith (1998). From Catastrophe to Power : Holocaust Survivors and the Emergence of Israel.. Berkley, CA.: University of California Press.

Zahra, Tara (2011). The Lost Children : Reconstructing Europe's Families After World War II.. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press.

Fink, Carole (2019). West Germany and Israel : Foreign Relations, Domestic Politics, and the Cold War, 1965-1974.. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.

Peretz, Pauline. Translated by Ethan S Rundell. (2020). Let My People Go : The Transnational Politics of Soviet Jewish Emigration during the Cold War. London: Routledge.

Assessment

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Written assignment	40%
Essay	60%

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Resubmit assessments	100%

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Essay	60%
Written assignment	40%

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External