The overarching historical question, “how did the Holocaust happen?” may be simple, but the answer is extraordinarily complex, with social, political, cultural, and psychological dimensions. Through study of various facets of this era, including the perpetrators, the victims, the bystanders, and the survivors, this course will demystify and explain the Holocaust as an historical phenomenon—contrary to those who see it as a unique and singular a event and therefore unfathomable.
Dr. David Kaufman is a professor of history, who has taught at Brown University, the University of Massachusetts, Hebrew College, and the City University of New York. From 2000 to 2009, he served on the faculty of the Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles and served for five years as the Chair of Jewish Studies at Hofstra University. As a lifelong New Yorker living on the Upper West Side, Dr. Kaufman combines a passion for teaching Jewish history with his love for New York City.