The Holocaust

Professors Baumgarten and Kenez each present about an hour of lecture each week with Prof Kenez giving more of a history lecture and Prof Baumgarten more of a literature lecture. They often interact with each other during the videos which is where having a recording of the physical lecture is nice. Their interactions are often humorous but also enlightening especially when they disagree. They especially disagree on the notion of resistance in the context of the Holocaust and seeing that from two points of view is wonderful.

There are three written assignments that make up the grading for the course and they are graded by peer review. They are fairly short (approx 500-700 words) but it is here where I think the course runs into trouble. If you do not have access to the books then while Prof Kenez's lectures are easy to follow you lose much from Prof. Baumgarten's. One of the books that I did not purchase was "The Last of the Just" and when Prof. Baumgarten was discussing it I felt lost when compared to lectures I had watched that corresponded to books that I had read.

There are also videos that are assigned each week but unfortunately they are not easy to find for the most part, and by that I mean they are not available on Netflix. I have seen some of the films before but it is a shame that they are not more readily accessible. I was able to purchase most of the books fairly cheap from on Amazon and you could find the videos there as well but I tend not to purchase DVDs much these days

This is one of the best courses I have ever taken, either online or on campus.

It has been a great experience because of the unique partnership of the instructors -- Kenez (historian) and Baumgarten (literature scholar). Kenez provides the necessary historical framework, but the carefully selected survivor memoirs take you back to that period and help you understand what this horrific experience was like. The combination leads to a broad insight that would be impossible studying one or the other.

So kudos to the instructors for designing the course in this fashion, and for their outstanding execution.

I am also grateful to the instructional staffer, Shawna Vesco, for the extraordinary job she did with the discussion forum, which is an integral part of the learning process in any online course. She guided discussions by starting threads, and offered frequent comments to direct or redirect discussions. She also navigated the course through some early bumps and technical glitches, but most important, she seized control of the forums at a point when the were threatened by trolls, and other miscreants who were there only to inflame and disrupt.

Outstanding course! Professors Kenez and Baumgarten have taken us students, on a journey of enormous complexity. However, their approach, in which a dialogue between the Professors translated into a dialogue between History and Literature enriched the experience to a high level.

I would more than recommend this course to everyone not only for its quality but also for its importance as a constant reminder of not only what we humans are capable of doing to other humans, but also of what we humans are capable of enduring and resisting.

A big thank you to the professors' team, to University of California Santa Cruz and finally to Coursera, for the opportunity of having such courses on its platform available to all of us.

The Holocaust is my third Coursera course and the one with which I have engaged the most. It is also the one on which I have spent the most time because it is so compelling. I very much like the interplay between the historical perspective and the literary perspective that the professors present.

As a daughter of Holocaust survivors, I have had quite a lot of resistance to studying the Holocaust in any depth. I am delighted that I have taken on this course as it has helped me to understand so much more about the Holocaust and its causes. I especially appreciate the compassion, warmth and humour of the two professors in the presentation of such a delicate subject. The presence of the teaching assistant has been invaluable. I have felt accompanied by her all along and I especially like the questions that she put to the students and her comments. These have enabled me to broaden and deepen my reflection about the material. I have also found the forums to be a very valuable resource. They are stimulating, challenging and help me to clarify my thinking. A big thank you to all my fellow students.

I think, personally, that this course should be compulsory both as a warning of the potential destructiveness of human beings. On a more positive note, this course demonstrates the resilience, courage and love of which humans are capable in the most adverse conditions possible

I want to express my heartfelt thanks to all the people who have made this course possible. Without it I don’t know if I would have had the courage to study the Holocaust in any depth. My only criticism is that the professors referred to material that was projected to the students attending the lectures but were not visible to the online students.

I love this class. First of all the approach is different than any other Holocaust class I have ever taken before. It is about a 50/50 split between straight history and Holocoaust related literature. This is the way history should be taught - the literature, which are largely different kinds of memoirs, give the student a personal, experiential perspective on the factual circumstances surrounding Holocaust. Both Drs. Kenez and Baumgarten are great lecturers, with their own styles, and there were a number of interesting guest speakers.

For me the most valuable part of this class has been the forums. The opportunity to exchange ideas, compare perspectives, learn about resources and discover personal histories has been a unique and incredibly enriching experience that I think cannot be found in a live classroom. I have been studying the Holocaust for over 30 years and I have literally learned something new from my fellow students every time I have logged onto the class.

This class is not necessarily for the casual student. Though I suppose you could do as much or as little work as you choose, the full reading and media material list given in the syllabus is what one would expect in a live full semester university class. The suggested hours per week listed by Coursera (3-6) is I think substantially underestimated. have found the class to be well organized and administered. Any technical problems have been resolved quickly.

The Holocaust is a sensitive topic so forum discussions occasionally get heated - those situations have been smoothly mediated by our great online administrator, Shawna. All in all a great class. I would, and have, highly recommended it to others.