Sexual Violence against Jewish Women during the Holocaust

8: Rape and Sexual Abuse in Hiding

chapter @ 8 Rape and Sexual Abuse in Hiding ZOË WAXMAN “Thousands of women were raped during the war, but no one hears about them. . . . The Anne Franks who survived rape don’t write their stories,” as Hungarian Holocaust survivor Judith Magyar Isaacson told her daughter.1 This chapter explores the largely overlooked issues faced by women in hiding or open hiding—especially the very real danger of rape and sexual abuse. Unlike Anne Frank and her family, hiding together in an attic with the help of Gentile friends, most Jewish women did not literally hide themselves away, but instead attempted to imitate the lives of normal citizens by passing as “Aryan,” some alone and others with family members. Some acquired forged documents and moved from place to place, both in cities and small villages, hiding in convents and monasteries, in factories, and sometimes posing as non-Jews in forced labor or concentration camps. Others lived without documents and survived by concealing themselves in fields, forests, attics, and stables. The fact that Anne Frank’s story has become the paradigm of hiding has meant it is widely assumed that the only danger people in hiding faced was being caught and deported.2 However, women in hiding also faced other dangers, including threats or acts of sexual assault against them. Although ignored by most historians, the situation of Jewish women in hiding or open hiding during the Holocaust was strikingly precarious—they were surviving on the margins of society, and this made them extremely vulnerable. These women were uniquely dependent on the support and “sympathy” of the local populations to spare them from physical, emotional, and sexual vulnerability . Not only were their families and communities unable to protect them, but in many cases they had to break any contact with them in order to survive. They both lived outside the law and were fugitives from it. This circumstance provided openings for encounters leading to rape and sexual abuse. Jewish Rape and Sexual Abuse in Hiding | 125 women were abused not only by Nazis, but also by their collaborators and by Jewish men in positions of power. Factors A=ecting the Ability to Hide When it came to passing as “Aryan,” women had certain advantages over men. A particular physical one is obvious, because in Eastern Europe usually only Jewish men were circumcised. If a man was suspected of being Jewish, he was ordered to undress. In his novel Blood from the Sky, Piotr Rawicz, who attempted to flee the Nazis with his wife Anna, describes his constant fear that his circumcision would betray his Jewishness.3 Women at least knew they could not be discovered by physical examination. In Warsaw, where it is thought that more Jews went into hiding than in any other European city, it is estimated that about two-thirds of Jews in hiding on the “Aryan” side were women.4 Writing of the predominance of women among those who lived in open hiding in Poland , Lenore Weitzman noted that “it may be explained, at least in part, by the fact that women were more likely to believe that they could pass initially, and were more self-confident when they embarked on their new lives. Men, by contrast, were more reluctant to try.” She compares being circumcised to “other distinguishing physical or social characteristics, such as dark hair, or a prominent nose, or a distinctive accent.”5 In addition to stereotypically Jewish features, the markings of emotional and physical su=ering and a lack of financial resources limited men and women’s ability to pass as “Aryan.” In addition, women themselves had varying backgrounds that either facilitated or hindered their ability to hide. Their socioeconomic status, education, work experience, linguistic ability, and religious background were all relevant. The country in which they were trying to hide or “pass” mattered, insofar as knowledge of local language and culture was key. Paula Hyman writes regarding Eastern Europe: “[T]he same families that chose for their sons various forms of private Jewish education, whether of traditional or modernized curriculum, often sent their daughters to public primary schools, where they were introduced to secular culture”6—which unknowingly better prepared them to survive. Weitzman o=ers a similar explanation regarding religious Jewish girls in Poland, who were not permitted to study in the exclusively male religious schools. She writes: Ironically, the “inferior” non-Jewish education that Jewish girls were more likely to receive provided them with knowledge and contacts that helped them...