A LEGACY OF REDEFINED WOMANHOOD

Curriculum Developed by:
Arlene Shenkus, Paulsboro High School AShenkus@paulsboro.k12.nj.us
Toby Kansagor, Hillsborough High School tkansagor@hillsborough.k12.nj.us

Grade Level: 11 – 12
Subject Areas: English, Humanities, Social Studies

Women’s experiences during the Holocaust were both specific to the period and unique to women. In the camps, many women strove to maintain their familiar roles as mothers, nurturers, and caretakers. In this unit, students will focus on writings by or about women who experienced the horrors of the Holocaust. These women recorded both the humanity and the inhumanity they encountered.

From Survival of the Spirit, written and illustrated by Eva Salier, used by permission of Schreiber Publishing.

Charlotte Delbo, a French non-Jewish political prisoner who writes of her experiences in Auschwitz, reveals both her own suffering as a woman and women’s difficulty fulfilling their traditional roles. Ruth Elias speaks of the devastating experience of being a new mother unable to either nourish or protect her baby. Sara Nomberg-Przytyk writes of Karola and her fellow women inmates’ desire to save and hide children, at their own peril.
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