Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Dimino, Andrea

Area of Concentration

Humanities

Abstract

Works by women, though a relatively small percentage of Holocaust narratives, have made a large impact on Holocaust testimonies as a whole. In many ways, women struggled against male oppressors who used their dominance to abuse them. This thesis looks at the specific degrees of abuse depicted in Holocaust literature. In the introduction, I cover the history of the Nazi era and the implementation of the final solution; noting as well some important authors of Holocaust literature such as Primo Levi, Elie Wiesel, and Anne Frank. The first chapter explores two cases of abuse that took place outside concentration camps. The texts, Lady of the Castle (1954), a play by Lea Goldberg, and The Woman from Hamburg (1994) by Hanna Krall, depict Jewish women in hiding and emphasize the psychological trauma of their dependence on their captors. The final chapter discusses extreme physical abuse within the camps in The Kommandant's Mistress (1993) by Sherri Szeman and House of Dolls (1955) by Ka-Tzetnik 135633. Rachel undergoes abuse by being held captive in the house of a sadistic Kommandant, and Daniella is forced into a brothel where men abuse her body for their own pleasure. In the conclusion, I consider the extreme challenge of depicting the Holocaust in literature, and emphasize, for my generation and others, the great importance of reading and studying Holocaust literature and history

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