CAMP SISTERS: WOMEN IN THE HOLOCAUST

Curriculum Developed by:
Melisa Baez, The College of New Jersey melisi20@hotmail.com

Grade Level: Middle and High School
Subject Area: Literature, History/Social Studies

Many memoirs written by women who survived the Holocaust testify to the power of friendship and bonding in the camps. Indeed, female survivors often report that their close relationships with women enabled them to survive. Transcending the boundaries of everyday friendship, women in the camps sometimes formed surrogate familial relationships with one another. This phenomenon, known as Lager Schwestern, figures prominently in women’s many Holocaust memories.

Lager Schwestern, or “camp sisters,” refers to women in the camps who “adopted” other prisoners as their sisters. As members of a camp “family,” women could receive – and give – sometimes life-saving support and nurturance. Isabella Leitner stated in her book, Fragments of Isabella, “If you are sisterless, you do not have the pressure, the absolute responsibility to end the day alive.” For Rozalia Berke, Cesia Brandstatter, and Sara Nomberg-Przytyk, sisterhood proved invaluable in their time of extreme hardship. Their stories illustrate that human beings can rise above even the most dire circumstances to help others in need.