Women's Voices in Holocaust Literary Memoirs

Holocaust literary memoirs by women reveal distinct gendered differences in the experience of men and women in Nazi concentration camps. These differences are the result of obvious biological differences (e.g., childbirth, menstruation), as well as subtle socially derived differences (e.g., household and mothering skills), which simultaneously disadvantaged and empowered the women. While women's literary memoirs unequivocally demonstrate the inherent perversity of Nazism, they also evoke issues that spark controversies related to gender-based analyses. As in other literary memoirs, women's memoirs raise the persistent challenge of art to express the unimaginable and unthinkable.