Let us not forget - Sexual Violence during the Holocaust

While there are numerous memorials across Germany to ensure that the millions of World War Two victims are not forgotten, let us remember the women’s and minority experiences during the Holocaust - a topic that has remained under-researched.

As historian Raul Hilberg argued, “The road to annihilation was marked by events that specifically affected men as men and women as women.” Both sexes were subjected to similar forms of persecution and violence but women had to cope with pregnancy, abortions, and invasive gynaecological examinations. Even though some Jewish men experienced various forms of sexual violence, the majority of rape victims and survivors are women.

Women were also not all victims - in fact, some 3,500 women worked as Nazi concentration camp guards, and all of them started out at Ravensbrück. Many later worked in death camps such as Auschwitz-Birkenau or Bergen-Belsen.

Check out the Ravensbrück Memorial website here. Ravensbrück was the largest women concentration camp in the German Reich.

Besides women, Germany most recently commemorated its annual International Holocaust Remembrance Day and recognised the persecution of sexual minorities. Approximately 7,000 homosexuals died from hunger, disease and maltreatment in Nazi concentration camps during Hitler's murderous 12-year regime in the 1930s and 1940s.

References:

Nicole Ephgrave, “On women’s bodies: Experiences of Dehumanization during the Holocaust,” Journal of Women's History, 28(2) (2016):14.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-55661782

https://www.dw.com/en/germany-remembers-victims-of-nazi-persecution-of-sexual-minorities/a-64533034