(eng) Jewish Culture in Poland 3004-KZP-OG

The aim of the course is to familiarize foreign students with the activity of Jews in Poland and their influence on the selected areas of Polish culture. Lecture participants will have the opportunity to learn about the most important events in Polish-Jewish history. Besides, they will find out why the topic of Jewish culture plays such a significant role in understanding and interpreting many historical events and phenomena in Polish culture. Students will also be presented with the achievements of famous artists and personalities of Jewish origin, texts on Jewish issues and organizations whose aim is to care for the memory of Jews and promote Jewish culture.
Classes will take the form of a seminar and lecture. The presentation of the topic by the tutor will take the form of presentation of visual and audiovisual materials with an oral commentary. Part of each meeting will be a discussion with students.
All students have access to the Campus UW platform, where presentations, materials, and information about current events related to Jewish culture in Poland will be posted. Additionally, students will submit two homework assignments on the Campus UW platform, which are part of the final grade.
1. Introduction to the Topic of the Course and Its Organization.
2. Judaism: Symbols, Rituals, Traditions.
3. Polish-Jewish Relations from the 13th to the 19th Century.
4. Polish-Jewish Relations in the 20th and 21st Centuries.
5. The Holocaust and Places of Remembrance, part 1.
6. The Holocaust and Places of Remembrance, part 2.
7. Jewish Districts and Cities Associated with Jewish Culture.
8. Artists of Jewish Origin.
9. Polish-Jewish Nobel Prize Winners.
10. The Image of the Jew in Polish Literature.
11. Culture and History of Jews in Polish Film.
12. Jewish Motifs in Music and Painting.
13. Institutions Promoting Jewish Culture. Cultivating Jewish Culture.
14. Summary and Repetition.

Type of course

general courses

Mode

Classroom

Course coordinators

Piotr Kajak
Barbara Łukaszewicz

Learning outcomes

After attending the course student will:
− know the most important facts from the history of Polish Jews,
− get familiar with the cities and districts where Jews most often settled,
− know the most important places of remembrance, monuments and other forms of commemorating historical events with the participation of Jews in Poland,
− know what the relations between Jews and Poles looked like and shaped,
− get familiar with the most famous Polish-Jewish artists,
− know how Jewish history and culture are commemorated in contemporary Poland.

Assessment criteria

20% – active attendance (two absences allowed)
40% – assignments and homework (total of 2 in the whole course)
40% – coursework essay (in English or Polish)

Bibliography

Burchard P., Pamiątki i zabytki kultury żydowskiej w Polsce, Warsaw 1990.
Jewish Space in Contemporary Poland, eds. E. Lehrer, M. Meng, K. Migalska, Cracow 1990.
Poland and Polin: New Interpretations in Polish-Jewish Studies, eds. I. Grudzińska-Gross, I. Nawrocki, Frankfurt am Mein 2016.
Poles & Jews: History – Culture – Education, eds. M. Misztal, P. Trojański, Cracow 2011.
Pytasz M., Żydzi w Polsce. In: Kultura polska. Silva rerum, eds. R. Cudak, J. Tambor, Katowice 2002, pp. 243–273.
The Jews in Poland, ed. A. K. Paluch, vol. 1–2, Cracow 1992.
1.000 Years of Jewish Life in Poland: a Timeline: https://www.taubephilanthropies.org/sites/default/files/pdf/2019-11/Timeline_1000years.pdf.
selected texts posted on websites, incl. www.sztetl.org.pl, www.culture.pl, www.time.com, www.facinghistory.org.
excerpts from selected literary texts and films, selected pieces of music and pictures.

Additional information

Information on level of this course, year of study and semester when the course unit is delivered, types and amount of class hours - can be found in course structure diagrams of apropriate study programmes. This course is related to the following study programmes:

Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system:

Description of 3004-KZP-OG in USOSweb