Holocaust Feminist Analysis

During the Holocaust, the Nazis perceived women as weak, inferior, and sexual objects because they were useless in contributing to the warfare. An example is the way Jewish women were treated by the Nazis during the Holocaust. As a result, the Nazis viewed Jewish women as an agent of fertility, motherhood, and homebuilders. During the Holocaust, women were considered useless, especially pregnant women and mothers of small children, due to the fact that they were unable to participate in tasks of the war. This counts for the fact as to why Jewish women were subjugated by the Nazis on a sexually violent level, such as rape, being sexually humiliated, and dehumanized. The Nazi pattern of sexual-violence started against Jewish women during the
According to Person, “the pattern of female collaboration was through sex with the oppressor” (Person 2015, 104). The Nazis were disgusted by the Jews and wanted to obliterate Jewish women’s chances of fertility. As a result, Jewish women were being forced to challenge the horrifying experiences of the concentration camps, which represents an assault on motherhood and sexuality. In the Jewish family, women are responsible for the health and care of their household. In order to portray their roles and duties, Jewish “women participated in the planning and running of the soup kitchen and other aid institutions; however, they were no policy makers. They directed and worked in individual kitchens as cooks, waitresses, [and] cleaning personnel” (Ofer and Weitzman 1998, 158). The Nazis wanted Jewish women to utilize their knowledge of home cooking in the camps and ghettos. Unfortunately, this did not work because “women’s knowledge of home cooking was a limited advantage in running a large soup kitchen” (Ofer and Weitzman 1998, 159). Rather than having women working out in the field or participating in the war, they would have Jewish women participate in domesticity, and at the same time, they were subjugated to the