The Auschwitz Women’s Camp: An Overview and Reconsideration

Sarah Cushman*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

While many know of Auschwitz and its genocidal sub-camp Birkenau, few are familiar with the women’s section. This chapter offers an overview of the women’s camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau: a place, its denizens-personnel and prisoners-and its social structures. It articulates a timeline for the women’s section and brings an approach that integrates analyses of women prisoners, prisoner functionaries, and guards. It adds to the work of others that challenge the notion of Auschwitz as a fixed site. It challenges previous scholarship that categorizes the responses of women and men prisoners as highly differentiated. It also counters two notions about prisoner functionaries: that they were primarily gentile and that they were complicit in genocide.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationThe Palgrave Handbook of Holocaust Literature and Culture
PublisherSpringer International Publishing
Pages707-724
Number of pages18
ISBN (Electronic)9783030334284
ISBN (Print)9783030334277
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2020

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Arts and Humanities
  • General Social Sciences

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