Conclusions

As I have researched images of the Holocaust, particularly the woman's experience in the Holocaust, I have concluded that women had an extremely different experience when compared to the man's experience. It seems as though women were much more quickly labeled with a mental disorder, particularly schizophrenia. This makes me wonder, were individuals singled out and labeled with a mental disorder just so there would be "decent" reason for that person to die?? With my knowledge of psychology, I understand that the field of psychology itself has come a long way, and perhaps in the 1940s, there were not accurate ways in which to diagnose a person with an extremely disheartening diagnosis such as schizophrenia. This causes me to ask, were this people diagnosed correctly, or were they labeled so that those people who were responsible for their life, could reduce or diminish any guilt for being responsible for sending them to be euthanized?? I feel that this is an important issue not only for discussion, but also for research so that it can be understood how and why women were targeted they way they were. Also, revealing images of the Holocaust, no matter how difficult to see, should always be used as a way to express and prevent anything like the Holocaust ever happening again.

Helene Melanie Lebel

Helene, affectionately known as Helly, was diagnosed with schizophrenia around the age of 20. In 1936 she was placed in Vienna's Steinhof Psychiatric Hospital. Two years later, in 1938, the Germans annexed Austria to Germany. Helene was confined to Steinhof and not allowed to return home even though her condition had improved. Helene was transferred to a converted prison in Brandenburg, Germany, where she was undressed, subjected to physical examination, and then sent to a shower room. Helene was one or 9, 722 persons gassed that year in the Brandenburg "Euthanasia" Center. She was officially listed as dying in her room of "acute schizophrenic excitement."

-United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Sister in Sorrow

Sister in Sorrow: Life Histories of Female Holocaust Survivors from Hungary

by Ilana Rosen

As I was browsing through the website of the USHMM shop, I came across this book that tells the story of thirteen women that survived the Holocaust. Rosen's research reveals not only the personal horrors of these women but also how they ways in which they cope with their memories.

I feel that reading personal memoirs of those who have endured such a past that we today can only imagine is an important way to fully understand the emotions behind any situation.

It was not only Jews...

This is a photograph of Hildegard Kusserow, a Jehovah's Witness. She was imprisoned for four years in several concentration camps including Ravensbrueck. This photograph was taken in Germany, date uncertain.

When I hear the word "Holocaust," I immediately think of the word "Jewish" or "Jew." It is important to realize that it was not only the Jews that suffered through the Holocaust, but also the disabled, homosexuals, gypsies, Slavic people, Communists, Socialists, and Jehovah's witnesses.


-United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Ala Gartner

This is a prewar portrait of Ala Gartner, who was later imprisoned at Auschwitz. She participated in the camp's resistance movement and was later hanged for her involvement in smuggling gunpowder that was used to destroy Crematorium 4 at Auschwitz. This photograph was taken in Bedzin, Poland, 1930s.

-United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Gerda D.

Gerda D., a holocaust victim, was a shopworker with a disputed schizophrenic diagnosis. She was eventually sterilized and Nazi authorities forbid her to marry because of the sterilization. The place and date of this photograph is unknown.

This makes me wonder, was she forbidden to marry because she was sterilized, or was she forbidden to marry because she was simply Jewish and had a mental disorder?? Those people under such unfortunate circumstances such as Gerda were forced into a terrible cycle in which there was no way out.

— Karl-Bonhoeffer-Nervenklinik Fachkrankenhaus fuer Neurologie

Unusual site

Women prisoners pull dump cars filled with stones to the camp quarry.
Plaszow Camp, Poland, 1944.

A photograph of this type would be very unusual to see in this day and age. I would consider it quite abnormal for women to be forced into such strenuous labor, at least in the United States.

— Leopold Page Photographic Collection