Surviving Sexual Violence: Trauma and Fear in Holocaust Women

As stated before, very few women who survived rape, wanted to tell their stories. Women would try their best to forget what has happened, but the memories it left the women were traumatized. As Melissa Raphael states, “The fear of rape and sexual abuse, and the anguish of separation from babies and young children for whom they had been the primary carers were emotional traumas to which women were especially vulnerable” (1). Women feared everyday of getting raped. Sexually abused, sexually humiliated, and or forced prostitution everyday. The fear of rape caused much anxiety to the Jewish women (Ofer 336). Some women even feared rape more than death because if they survived, the memories would haunt the women forever. Many people knew about the

Most of these experimentations were taken place in concentration camps. There were many different types of experimentations that often led to death. If a person were to survive these experimentations, the person would be left with very critical wounds that would not be treated properly. The experimentations were done while the patients were awake, and were very brutal. Having children in concentration camps was a problem for the Natzi’s. The Natzi’s have tried killing the babies right after birth, but women keep having children due to the amount of rape taking place. The doctors in Ravensbrück led an experimentation trying to turn over the womb so women would be unable to have children (Weindling np). One woman named Helen Hoffman, a Slovakian Jew, had this experimentation done by doctors at Ravensbrück. Helen stated, “They used unusual instruments. The experiment was very painful. I was tied down. They used long instruments were made of iron” (Weindling np). Although very little detail was introduced, just by that statement,it is evident that women in the holocaust were used as object. Not only as sexual objects, but as objects that do not have feelings, and are not humans. Along with rape, these experimentations left the women with crucial and terrifying

Concentration camps, such as Revnsbrück and Auschwitz, had a big impact on the oppression of Jewish women in the Holocaust. The concentration camps were places where forced labor was provided or where mass execution was awaiting for people. In the concentration camps and even outside, sexual violence was taking place. Women were traumatized by the rape, sexual humiliation, and sexual abuse. Some women did not even survive rape because most men would kill the women afterwards. Unethical experimentations also had a big impact on Jewish women. These experimentations were done while the patient was awake and without the patient’s consent. The doctors were careless and did things on the women like they were objects. There are still many events from the Holocaust that have yet to be discovered, but all of these events were one of the most important factors that led to the oppression of Jewish women in the