SPEECH OF HATE: WOMEN'S HOLOCAUST MEMORIES
Summary | Part I | Part II | Part III | Footnotes

Dr. Karin Doerr©2003
Concordia University
Classics, Modern Languages & Linguistics;
Simone de Beauvoir Institute for Women's Studies;
Montreal Institute of Genocide Research
1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West, Rm H-663
Montreal, QC, Canada, H3G 1M8
E-mail: kdoerr@alcor.concordia.ca

Summary

This study focuses on the language memories of female survivors in connection with their Holocaust experiences. The perpetrator's speech was both deceitful and humiliating to them. Seen in its historical context, Nazi German (Nazi-Deutsch) was filled with misleading euphemisms and was a mirror of a world defined by racism. It was characterized by its assumption of Germanic supremacy, dominance, and stoicism. With examples taken from interviews with female survivors, as well as from witness memoirs and academic studies, I shall demonstrate that their victimization as Jews was often exacerbated by traditional sexist prejudices.


© Copyright Judy Cohen, 2001.
All rights reserved.