Judaic Studies 390O - Cinema of the Holocaust

Cinema today constitutes an important source of popular historical knowledge of the Holocaust. Fiction films in particular have come to occupy a central place in our understanding and memorialization of the Jewish catastrophe. Given their importance, this course will provide a cultural history of cinematic treatments of the Holocaust, trace major trends and changes in Holocaust representations, and raise questions concerning historical memory of the Holocaust in national cinemas. The main emphasis will be on narrative cinema, but several significant documentaries will also be considered.