Heroines of the Holocaust: Reframing Resistance and Courage in Genocide

Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
List of Contributors
Introduction: Women’s Holocaust Heroism
	Definitions: Courage and Heroism
	Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Holocaust and Genocide
	Notes
Part I: Identifying Gendered Courage
	Chapter 1: Holocaust Heroines: Definitions and Dilemmas
		Introduction
		Images of Women’s Heroism during and Soon after the Holocaust
		A Hierarchy of Heroism
		What Makes a Holocaust Heroine?
		Food
		Accompanying One’s Child to an Unknown Fate
		Leaving One’s Family Behind
		Endangering Oneself to Save Family Members
		Religious Belief and Praxis
		Choiceless Choices
		Timing and Definitions of Heroism
		Re-questioning as Discussion
		Conclusions
		Notes
	Chapter 2: Feminine Leadership and Dual Leadership in the Jewish Resistance Organizations in Poland
		Introduction: “These Heroic Girls”
		Girls and Women in the Jewish Youth Movements
		The Role of Female Activists in the Ghettos
		Women in the Armed Underground
		The Dual Leadership Model
		Commemoration of the Women Leaders
		Notes
	Chapter 3: The Leadership Lessons of Zivia Lubetkin
		Strategic Thinking: “Zivia Was at the Center”
		Critical Reflection: Truth, Honor, and Self-Defense
		Shared Values and Creating Community
		A “Canon” of Female Heroism
		Conclusion
		Notes
Part II: Resistance by Women in Nazi Germany
	Chapter 4: Defiance and Protest of Jewish Women in Nazi Germany
		Introduction1
		Oral Protest
		Other Forms of Female Resistance
		Conclusion
		Notes
	Chapter 5: Everyday Routines as a Special Form of Female Resistance
		Introduction: Everyday Resisting?
		State of Research: Non-Jewish Female Resistance
		Four Examples of Resistant Everyday Acting: The Non-Jewish Wife: Eva Klemperer (1882–1951)
		The Non-Jewish Aunt: Marta Höriger (dates unknown)
		The Non-Jewish Friend: Angela Pohl (1918–?)
		The Non-Jewish Stranger-Helper: Margarete Bach (1907–2000)
		Various Aspects of Female Everyday Resistance
		Explanation of Female Everyday Resistance
		Identify and Exploit Opportunities
		Situational Dependencies: Instantaneity, Attitude, Shared Interpretation
		Every Day (Female) Action
		Conclusion: “A Heroism Which Was Left to Fend Entirely for Itself”
		Notes
	Chapter 6: Maria Leitner’s Undercover Reporting and Research on German National Socialism
		Leitner’s Practice of Undercover Reporting
		Industrial and Environmental Disasters in National Socialism
		“Poison Gas” Production at Hoechst
		Women’s Forced Sterilization and Sterilization through Labor
		Concluding Remarks: The Reich from Below
		Notes
Part III: Professional Women: Rethinking Survival Skills in the Holocaust
	Chapter 7: Hélène Cazès Benatar in Morocco during World War II
		Hélène Cazès Benatar
		Wartime Morocco
		Postwar Morocco
		Humanitarian and Legal Advocate or World War II Heroine?
		Notes
	Chapter 8: Professions of Life: Social Welfare Professionals as Rescuers during the Holocaust
		Motivations
		Teachers as Rescuers
		Nurses as Rescuers
		Social Workers as Rescuers
		Conclusion
		Notes
	Chapter 9: Hadassah Bimko (Rosensaft) at Auschwitz-Birkenau and Bergen-Belsen
		Auschwitz-Birkenau
		Bergen-Belsen
		Liberation
		The Belsen Trial
		From Dentist to Healing Doctor: Defying Death by Saving Lives
		Notes
Part IV: Women’s Voices in the Ghettos, Camps, and the Partisans
	Chapter 10: Why We Need Heroines: Reflections on My Mother, Vladka Meed
		Notes
	Chapter 11: Rikle Glezer: Poet Partisan of Vilna
		The Last Night
		Disappointment
		A Summer’s Day
		Oh Ghetto, My Ghetto
		Ponar
		Partizanke70
		Velvel, a Requiem…
		No Name Befitting
		The Blood of Momma and Her Daughter
		Wandering through Rubble
		Notes
	Chapter 12: Auschwitz, October 1943: A Woman Hero without a Name
		Notes
	Chapter 13: Greek Women as Resisters and Rescuers in the Holocaust
		Resistance Female Fighters
		Jewish Greek Nurses
		Greek Jewish/Gentile Women in Illegal Immigration and Resistance
		Resistance, Rescue, and Assistance Given by Greek Jewish Women in the Death and Concentration Camps
		Conclusion
		Notes
	Chapter 14: Heroines of the Forest: Jewish Women in Partisan Units in Lithuania and Belarus
		Introduction
		Testimonies as a Bountiful Resource
		Acceptance in Partisan Units and Camp Duties as Continuity
		Women as Combatants: The Disruptive Framework
		Pregnancy and Children: The Sequential Framework
		Conclusions
		Notes
	Chapter 15: Remembering Three Ravensbrück Heroes
		Introduction
		Olga Benario Prestes’s Activism before Ravensbrück
		Brief Background about Ravensbrück
		Olga Benario Prestes’s Activism in Ravensbrück
		Dr. Käthe Pick Leichter’s Activism before Ravensbrück
		Dr. Käthe Pick Leichter’s Activism in Ravensbrück
		The Murder of Olga Benario Prestes, Dr. Käthe Pick Leichter, and Other Jewish Political Prisoners
		Gemma La Guardia Gluck’s Arrest as a Political Hostage
		Gemma La Guardia Gluck’s Activism in Ravensbrück
		Conclusions: Her Place in History
		Notes
Part V: Comparative Frameworks: The Armenian Genocide, the Porajmos, and the Genocide of the Tutsis
	Chapter 16: Women Resisters to the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Syria
		The Armenian Genocide5
		From Humanitarian Relief to Humanitarian Resistance14
		Women resisters
		Conclusion: “Let the Remnants of the Nation Not Die on the Streets”
		Notes
	Chapter 17: Spaces of Resistance of Sinti and Roma Women during the Nazi Persecution
		Public and Administrative Space: Written Petitions and Policing
		Roma Women in Concentration Camps
		In Hiding and Organized Resistance: Going Underground, Passing, and Fighting for the Partisans
		Conclusion
		Notes
	Chapter 18: The Role of Ukrainian Women in Rescuing Jews during the Holocaust in Ukraine
		Introduction
		The State of Research: Gender Studies, Gentiles, and Ukrainian Case
		The Holocaust in Occupied Ukraine: A Brief Overview
		Ukrainian Women: Numbers and Identities
		Rescue in Transnistria: Smuggling from the Tulchyn Ghetto
		Rescue in MAZ: Sheltering in Korniivka Village
		Rescue in RKU: Adoption in Nyzhni Vereshchaky Village
		Killed for Rescuing Jews: A Case in the Town of Stryi, DG
		Conclusion
		Notes
	Chapter 19: Women Rescuers in the 1994 Genocide of Tutsi in Rwanda
		Race, Gender, and the 1994 Genocide of Tutsi
		Large Acts of Courage, Small Acts of Kindness
		Félicité Niyitegeka
		Zura Karuhimbi
		Bernadette Nyiramanzi
		Notes
Part VI: After the Holocaust: Remembering Women’s Activism
	Chapter 20: Zivia Lubetkin: Her Public Story, Her Private Story
		Introduction
		“A Contemporary Jewish Heroine”: Lubetkin’s Public Story
		“I Would Like Those Times to Stay Alive in My Mind”: Lubetkin’s Private Story
		Lubetkin’s Public Story as History, Lubetkin’s Private Story as Herstory
		Notes
	Chapter 21: Thea Altaras: Reclaiming Jewish Identity After the Resistance
		Introduction
		Part I: The Jews of Yugoslavia
		Part II: Women in the Partisans: Thea Altaras
		Part III: Confronting Antisemitism
		IV: Researching the Holocaust
		Conclusion
		Notes
	Chapter 22: Afterword: On Audacity
		Notes
Bibliography
Index