During World War II, some Jewish men and women in concentration camps faced sexual violence

 

During World War II, some Jewish men and women in concentration camps faced sexual violence, due to wartime discrimination, antisemitism, and genocidal conditions among other reasons This discrimination happened both inside concentration camps run by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime and also outside of the camps. 

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This sexual violence and discrimination happened not only in Germany but throughout Europe in areas that the Germans occupied during the war. Outside of concentration camps, sexual violence happened in many places, including but not limited to Jewish people's homes, Jewish hiding spaces, in public, and at killing sites.

There were more than 44,000 camps and sites for incarceration which were under the control of the Nazi regime between 1933 and 1945. The origins of the sexual abuse and segregation of Jewish men and women was primarily due to their race. The Nazis used these sites for a variety of reasons such as forced physical and sexual labor from their prisoners. 

There are many accounts from both men and women survivors, but often times there is erasure due to the topic's nature, and stereotypes and stigmas around the experiences. Gender-based violence, sexual violence, and antisemitic viewpoints contributed to the maltreatment and violence against Jewish men and women during the Holocaust.

It was not uncommon for Jewish women in Europe to face heightened sexual violence during wartime efforts. This sexual violence and dehumanization of Jewish people happened due to an abundance of reasons such as the culture of wartime, and misogyny

Documented histories of women in concentration campsedit

In World War II sexual violence was common in concentration camps from both guards and their fellow inmates. It wasn’t uncommon that Jewish women in the camps faced humiliation, physical assault, sexual assault, rape, and coercion into working in the Nazi brothels.

 If women became pregnant during their time in the camps they were either killed or forced to abort their child. Clothing was often taken from women as they were forced to spend their duration in the camps naked, and in unhygienic conditions. Often, prisoners were forced to do physical labour for the Nazis, unclothed. These conditions were unfavorable and contributed to the dehumanization of Jewish women in concentration camps.

Ava Dorfman is a survivor of the Holocaust who recounted her time at the Janowska camp, in Ukraine. She recounted the trauma she witnessed:

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