Vol. 19, No. 27

April 13, 2000

Prof examines women's experiences during the Holocaust

During the Holocaust, which began when Hitler came to power in 1933 and ended with the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, more than six million people died in a mass campaign of state-sponsored extermination. This persecution, which included forced labor, mass deportation and imprisonment and death in mass concentration camps such as Auschwitz and Dachau, resulted in the loss of two-thirds of the Jews in Europe and millions of other enemies to the Nazi regime. The stories of the victims have been told in a growing body of work that includes fiction, nonfiction, drama and poetry. In recent years there has been an increased focus on the plight of women during those years of terror. Sara R. Horowitz, English, has explored the expressions of some of these women and their Holocaust memories in her first book, Voicing the Void: Muteness and Memory in Holocaust Fiction, which was awarded the Choice Award for Outstanding Academic Book. Recently, Horowitz addressed this topic at "Women and the Holocaust: New Perspectives," a symposium for educators at the Museum of Jewish Heritage–A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, in New York City. The March event was a chance for more than 100 educators to address the unique concerns and reactions of female survivors of the Holocaust, ranging from women's acts of resistance to the translation of these memories into literary works. "The conference was very stimulating," Horowitz said. "Also, the museum, which is of recent vintage, is very impressive." The museum's core exhibition is organized around three themes: "Jewish Life a Century Ago," "The War Against the Jews" and "Jewish Renewal." Housed in the collection are 23,000 photographs, 800 artifacts and 24 original documentary films presenting a unique picture of 20th-century Jewish history including the Holocaust. Horowitz's presentation at the conference was part of her current research project for her second book, Gender, Genocide and Jewish Memory. "After writing my first book, I began thinking about whether anything distinguished women's experiences from those of men, and whether the writing of women survivors differed from that of men," Horowitz said. "I found that there are differences worth investigating." One of the questions addressed by Horowitz at the conference was how did Jewish women, who were victimized by Nazi genocide, experience what was done to them as women and as Jews. "I drew upon diaries written by women in ghettos during the war, as well as memoirs written by women survivors after the war," Horowitz said."In particular, I addressed the special vulnerabilities that women experienced as mothers or as expectant mothers." In many concentration camps, women who arrived visibly pregnant or with small children were immediately gassed, along with their children. Concurrent with this theme is the role of mothers in helping families cope with Nazi atrocities, sometimes by escaping the genocidal machinery, she said. Another subject addressed by Horowitz at the symposium was the psychological significance of the memories for women survivors of their mothers, both during and after the war. "There is quite a body of Holocaust literature written by the survivors," Horowitz said. "There has also been, in recent years, work by writers of later generations." Among the works Horowitz recommended are Auschwitz and After, by Charlotte Delbo; A Scrap of Time, by Ida Fink; and The Shaw, by Cynthia Ozick, she said. Horowitz said that the area of women and the broader area of gender and Holocaust are a relatively new and controversial field of investigation. -Jerry Rhodes