Giving Women Their Place in Holocaust History

Location
Learning Centre UG09
Dates
Tuesday 21 July 2015 (18:00-19:00)
Contact

rochelle-saidel197x230

Dr. Rochelle G. Saidel

Women have always been left out of history or underrepresented, and the period of the Holocaust is no exception. Although some women's memoirs were published soon after World War II, the analytical history books and Holocaust exhibitions that followed were written without considering women's experiences as women. There has certainly been progress since the first conference on women and the Holocaust in 1983, but much more needs to be done.

Co-hosted with the British Association for Holocaust Studies, this lecture will review the highlights of giving women their place in Holocaust history, as well as some examples of lost opportunities. Beginning with the 1983 conference, important steps will be discussed. After outlining the evolution of the subject of women and the Holocaust in general, the lecture will address the issue of rape and sexual abuse, the last frontier for the inclusion of women's experiences in the Holocaust narrative. Especially since the publication of Sexual Violence against Jewish Women during the Holocaust in 2010, there have been sessions and plenaries on the subject at various conferences. However, it still remains taboo among some scholars, as well as in most Holocaust museums and memorials.

Finally, the lecture will focus on examples of relatively unknown women, giving them and others in similar circumstances their places in Holocaust history.

To register to attend this lecture, please email Sarah Jeffery.