of Holocaust Studies is still male-dominated, and as men seek to identify with other men rather than with women, the ‘Holocaust canon’ has in turn remained predominantly male (Baer and Goldenberg 2003, 24). Again, we live in a patriarchal society, and man is seen as the authoritative figure in the household and in social organizations, including political leadership. In Eva’s Story: A Survivor’s Tale by the Stepsister of Anne Frank, fifteen year old Eva explains how she feared for her life at the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. Every time the narrator tries to walk around the camp, there is always a young soldier watching her, and eventually, he started stalking her in the showers, compounds, and everywhere she went. As a result, she felt as if he
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Thus, there were more deaths at Auschwitz, than any other camps. For example, Crowe explains how Dr. Horst Schumann was able to sterilize “1,000 Jews and Poles with powerful x-rays. Most of his ‘patients’ died during the procedure. He removed the ovaries from the women and castrated his male victims” (Crowe 2008, 259). Immediately, due to the over population of women in Auschwitz II–Birkenau camp, there was a maternity ward. Auschwitz-Birkenau also “contained the facilities for a killing center. It played a central role in the German plan to kill the Jews of Europe” (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 2016). In Women in the Holocaust, Myra Goldberg analyzes “the memoir of three of Auschwitz–Birkenau and follows the threads of three common themes. The first is the translation of homemaking skills […] into life-saving adaptions in the camps. The second is the prevalence of nurturance and social bonding as coping strategies. In all three memoirs, the narrators tell us that a sister or surrogate sister or mother pulled her from hopelessness and helped her survive. The final theme is the women’s heightened physical vulnerability and fear of the possibility of sexual assault” (Ofer and Weitzman 1998, 270). As a result, women were shamed and humiliated …show more content…
Basically, both men and women were victims of the Holocaust but were targeted differently due to gender roles. Ofer argues that “gender should be conceptualized, not only just as differences, but also as similarities between the sexes, as different degrees of difference, and even as the possibility of a historical erasure of gender difference and gender identity. We need to deal with the relationship between gender difference and gender similarity and with the relationships (including differences and similarities) between as well as within the sexes” (Ofer and Weitzman 1998, 96). In other words, Ofer believes that, one should not judge and categorized the victims of the Holocaust because they were both abused and dehumanized based on gender
Thus, there were more deaths at Auschwitz, than any other camps. For example, Crowe explains how Dr. Horst Schumann was able to sterilize “1,000 Jews and Poles with powerful x-rays. Most of his ‘patients’ died during the procedure. He removed the ovaries from the women and castrated his male victims” (Crowe 2008, 259). Immediately, due to the over population of women in Auschwitz II–Birkenau camp, there was a maternity ward. Auschwitz-Birkenau also “contained the facilities for a killing center. It played a central role in the German plan to kill the Jews of Europe” (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 2016). In Women in the Holocaust, Myra Goldberg analyzes “the memoir of three of Auschwitz–Birkenau and follows the threads of three common themes. The first is the translation of homemaking skills […] into life-saving adaptions in the camps. The second is the prevalence of nurturance and social bonding as coping strategies. In all three memoirs, the narrators tell us that a sister or surrogate sister or mother pulled her from hopelessness and helped her survive. The final theme is the women’s heightened physical vulnerability and fear of the possibility of sexual assault” (Ofer and Weitzman 1998, 270). As a result, women were shamed and humiliated …show more content…
Basically, both men and women were victims of the Holocaust but were targeted differently due to gender roles. Ofer argues that “gender should be conceptualized, not only just as differences, but also as similarities between the sexes, as different degrees of difference, and even as the possibility of a historical erasure of gender difference and gender identity. We need to deal with the relationship between gender difference and gender similarity and with the relationships (including differences and similarities) between as well as within the sexes” (Ofer and Weitzman 1998, 96). In other words, Ofer believes that, one should not judge and categorized the victims of the Holocaust because they were both abused and dehumanized based on gender