Jewish women in the Holocaust refers to women who were Jewish and imprisoned in Europe in Nazi Concentration Camps or in hiding to prevent capture by the Nazis during the Holocaust between 1933 and 1945. Of the estimated six million Jews who were killed during the Holocaust, 2 million of them were women. Besides the murders, women of the Holocaust were tortured in other ways such as rape, sexual harassment, getting beaten, being the center of Nazi human experimentations, etc.
Video Jewish women in the Holocaust
Female and male comparison
Some scholars have argued that women were more inclined toward nurturing each other and that this might have posed an advantage to them. However, others have noted that men also created social support networks in the concentration camps. The more social women were with each other, the higher chance they had at survival. An interview (conducted to hear the reflections of women and the Holocaust) of a woman from the Holocaust named Rose described the bonds the women formed:
...[women were] picking each other like monkeys [for lice].... Never remember seeing the men do it. The minute they had lice they just left it alone; the women have a different instinct. Housewives. We want to clean.... Somehow the men,... the [lice] ate them alive... [During roll call] the women holding each other and keeping each other warm.... Someone puts their arm around and you remember.... Can you imagine how much it meant to us over there! Men were crouching into themselves- maybe five feet apart [Rose demonstrated how the men she saw put their arms around their own bodies, rather than around the next person for warmth].... I think more women survived.... As much as I saw in Auschwitz, the men were falling like flies. The woman was somehow stronger.... Woman friendship is different than man friendship you see.... We have these motherly instincts, friend instincts more...the men, no...the men didn't do that. Men were friends there too. They talked to each other but they didn't, wouldn't, sell their bread for an apple for the other guy. They wouldn't sacrifice nothing. See, that was the difference.
Maps Jewish women in the Holocaust
Disadvantages for women compared to men
Being Jewish and female during the Holocaust doubled one's vulnerabilities. Women's reproductive abilities came under assault as a result of the genocidal conditions. For example, several women from the Holocaust who wrote memoirs noted that they developed amenorrhea which would ultimately reduce their chances of ever having children. One of the major disadvantages, which coincided with Jewish women's vulnerabilities during the Holocaust, was the possibility of rape. Women were sometimes raped right before being murdered. One SS officer was reported to have, "had the custom of standing at the doorway... and feeling the private parts of the young women entering the gas bunker. There were also instances of SS men of all ranks pushing their fingers into the sexual organs of pretty young women."
Childbirth also came as a disadvantage to women's lives when they were in the concentration camps. This disadvantage struck them physically and emotionally. Once labor was over and the baby was born, the women vulnerable to being killed along with their baby. One memoir describes some of the sadistic acts, which were performed among those who were pregnant: "SS men and women amuse themselves by beating pregnant women with clubs and whips, [being] torn by dogs, dragged around by the hair and kicked in the stomach with heavy German boots. Then when [the pregnant Jewish women] collapsed, they were thrown into the crematory-alive."
Gender versus identity
Double jeopardy
Several Jewish women who wrote their own memoirs reflecting on the Holocaust reported there being a double jeopardy in their everyday lives as prisoners. These vulnerabilities included the biological differences compared to men, gender-specific socialization patterns, and the obligation of being a nurturer. With this said, antisemitism was not the only problem. In her reflection and interview, a Jewish Woman who survived the Holocaust described this double jeopardy: "I had two enemies: Nazis and men." Another account mentions that besides the Nazis, men acted like "animals" too. She said that one day, the SS officers decided to let the men go to the side where the women were. At this point in time, all they wanted to do was have sex. Overall, the experiences that the women faced during the Holocaust were often seen more brutal to their gender rather than their identity (Jew). "Their stories demonstrate shared fears about and experiences of sexual vulnerability as women, not only about mortal danger as Jews."
Jewish women and motherhood
It had been noted that major disparities between mother and father figures were caused by the gender roles of Jewish men and women imprisoned during the Holocaust. Women often described their experiences in the Holocaust in maternal ways. The women commonly referred to themselves as surrogate mothers. Women were able to use their nurturing and domestic nature to describe their experiences in the camps. To them, being a woman in the Holocaust meant that they were every type of woman. They considered themselves as a sister, a mother, a daughter, etc. Motherhood represented their gender as a woman, therefore, they were constantly worried and looking out for their children. One female survivor said, "We were so afraid for our children. We wouldn't let our children out of our sight when they were going down to play or something."
External links
- Spots of Light: Women in the Holocaust An online exhibition by Yad Vashem. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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