by Wendy Lower
[>] I interviewed a survivor: Author interview with Gisela Gross, 3 Nov. 2005, Baltimore.
[>] If one chose to help victims: An SS report on the misconduct of Reich German men and women in Galicia cites a few cases in which German couples illegally employed Jewish laborers, allowed the Jews to eat in their kitchens, and allegedly provided one family with papers to escape to Romania. Frau and Herr Gilke, an architect who also managed the German railway station in Kolomea, interfered with an SS action to deport Jews from the station, and may have hidden and saved five Jews. This case, among others, was investigated by the SS and police. An official named Roth who helped Jews escape across the border to Hungary from occupied Poland was punished and sent to a concentration camp. SSPF Katzmann to HSSPF Krueger, Verhalten Reichsdeutschen in General Gouvernement, 14 May 1943, ITS.
[>] sentenced to death: Ulrich Frisse, “The Role of the Local Judiciary: The Sondergericht beim Deutschen Gericht Lemberg (Special Court at the German Court Lemberg) and Its Contribution to the Holocaust in Eastern Galicia” (Yad Vashem Summer Workshop Presentation, July 2010), pp. 8–10; archival source, Sondergericht bei dem Deutschen Gericht Lemberg, Strafsache gegen Liselotte Hassenstein wegen Judenbeherbergung, 1 Oct. 1943, 3 KLs. 103/43. See also Jill Stephenson, Women in Nazi Germany (Longman, 2001), p. 111.
[>] final months of the war: Richard Evans, The Third Reich at War (Penguin, 2010), p. 686.
[>] “The streets of Danzig . . .”: K. H. Schaefer, “Die letzten Tage von Danzig im Jahre 1945,” Pfingsten, 16 May 1946. I am grateful to Wolfgang Schaefer for sharing his father’s manuscript.
[>] I learned that one of my interview subjects: Author interview with Maria Seidenberger and Dr. Boris Neusius, 6 June and 20 Oct. 2010, Hebertshausen, Germany, deposited in USHMMA.
Index
accomplices, women as, [>]–[>]
secretaries as, [>]–[>], [>], [>]–[>], [>], [>]–[>], [>]
wives as, [>]–[>]
Aktion against Jews. See also ghettos; mass-murder operations
invitations to participate in, [>]
paperwork and, [>]–[>]
plunder from, [>]–[>]
policy against witnessing of, [>]
Allen, Ann Taylor, [>]
Altvater, Johanna, [>]
background of, [>]–[>], [>]
genocidal activities of, [>]–[>], [>], [>], [>]
photograph of, [>]
prosecution of, [>], [>]–[>]
American West, and eastern Lebensraum, [>]–[>]
animal behavior, [>]–[>]
antipartisan operations, [>], [>]
anti-Semitism. See also ideological indoctrination; Nazi propaganda
in the East and, [>]–[>], [>]
interwar propaganda and, [>]
as motive, [>]–[>], [>]
in women, [>]–[>], [>], [>]
Apfelbaum, Frau, [>]
apolitical woman, as myth, [>]–[>], [>]–[>]
Appinger, Maria, [>]
Arendt, Hannah, [>], [>], [>]
Association for the Protection of Mothers and Sexual Reform, [>]
Association of German Women (BdF), [>]
Association of the Victims of Nazism (VVN), [>]
Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, [>]
Austria. See also Vienna, Austria
Gestapo secretaries in, [>]–[>], [>]–[>] (See also Vienna, Austria)
prosecutions in, [>], [>], [>]–[>], [>], [>]
Babi Yar, Ukraine, [>]–[>], [>]
balcony shootings, [>]–[>], [>]–[>]. See also hunting trips
Baltics, Nazi-occupied, [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]. See also Latvia, Nazi-occupied; Lithuania, Nazi-occupied; Estonia, Nazi-occupied; Riga, Nazi-occupied
Bauer, Franz, [>], [>], [>]
Bauer, Yehuda, [>]–[>]
Bauman, Zygmunt, [>]
Baumeister, Roy, [>]
Baur, Eleanor (“Bloody Sister Pia”), [>]
BdF. See Association of German Women (BdF)
BdM. See League of German Girls (Bund deutscher Mädel, BdM)
Belarus, Nazi-occupied, [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]. See also Dick, Sabine; Erdmann, Brigitte; Lida; Maly Trostenets; Meier, Liselotte; Minsk
Belzec, [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]
Birkenau women’s camp, [>]
Blitzmädchen (“lightning girls”), [>]
Block, Hans, [>], [>]
Block, Josefine Krepp, [>]
background of, [>]–[>]
explanations by, [>], [>]–[>]
genocidal activities of, [>], [>]–[>], [>], [>]
prosecution of, [>]–[>], [>]
Bock, Gisela, [>]
Boere, Heinrich, [>]
Bolshevism, [>]
Brack, Viktor, [>]
Brandt, Karl, [>]
Braunsteiner, Hermine, [>], [>]
Browning, Christopher, [>], [>]–[>], [>]
“brown nurses,” [>]
brutality
choices about killing and, [>]
gender and, [>], [>]–[>]
SS wives and, [>]–[>], [>]
violent partnerships and, [>]–[>]
Burwitz, Gudrun, [>]
bystanders. See witnesses
Cammens, Minna, [>]–[>]
career opportunities for women, [>], [>]
in agriculture, [>]–[>]
as camp guards, [>]–[>]
eastern territories and, [>]–[>]
limitations on, [>]–[>], [>]
as nurses, [>]–[>], [>]
as office workers, [>], [>]–[>]
SS workplace and, [>]–[>]
as teachers, [>]–[>]
Catholic Center Party, [>]
Catholicism, [>]
children, atrocities against
abandonment during evacuation, [>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>]
Altvater and, [>]–[>], [>]
“euthanasia” program and, [>], [>]
Germanization and, [>]–[>], [>]
kidnapping program and, [>]–[>], [>], [>]
Krepp and, [>]
Petri and, [>]–[>], [>], [>], [>]–[>]
Claassen, Elsa, [>]
Classen, Birgit, [>]
Colonial Women’s League, [>]
Communist Party, [>], [>]
concentration camps. See also deportation operations; female camp guards; mass-murder operations; entries for specific camps
female participants in, [>], [>], [>]
German nonconformists and, [>]–[>], [>], [>]
conformity, [>]–[>], [>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>]
Conradstein. See Kocborowo (Conradstein) asylum
conversations with soldiers, [>], [>]
courageous actions, consequences of, [>], [>], [>]
cultural productions, [>]–[>], [>]. See also Nazi propaganda
“culture bearers,” [>]–[>]
Dachau concentration camp, [>], [>]
Darré, Richard Walter, [>], [>]
Davenport, Charles, [>]
“defective” Germans, [>]–[>], [>]. See also “euthanasia” program; forced sterilization; “racial hygiene”
denazification, [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>]
deportation operations. See also Miedzyrzec-Podlaski ghetto Aktion
euthansia program and, [>]
organization of, [>], [>]–[>], [>], [>], [>], [>]
refugees from, [>], [>]
treatment of Jews during, [>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>], [>]
desk murderers, [>], [>]–[>], [>], [>]. See also secretaries
de Waal, Frans, [>]
Dick, Sabine, [>], [>], [>]–[>], [>]
after the war, [>]–[>]
“Dinaric” race, [>]
Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, [>]
Doberauer family, [>]–[>]
documentation on female participants, [>]–[>], [>]–[>]
Drohobych, Ukraine, [>]–[>], [>]
duty vs. morality, [>], [>], [>]–[>], [>]
eastern Europe
an territories. See also Baltics, Nazi-occupied; Belarus, Nazi-occupied; Poland, Nazi-occupied; Riga, Nazi-occupied; Ukraine, Nazi-occupied
Einsatzgruppen reports of Jews killed in, [>], [>]
German imperialist claims and, [>]–[>]
map of, [>]
mutability of women’s roles in, [>]–[>]
Nazi visions of Lebensraum and, [>]–[>], [>]–[>]
numbers on German personnel in, [>]
nursing conditions in, [>]–[>]
stolen children and, [>]–[>]
supportive roles of women in, [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>], [>], [>], [>]
East Germany, prosecutions in, [>], [>], [>]–[>], [>], [>]
economy of the Third Reich
confiscation of Jewish property and, [>]–[>], [>]
working women and, [>], [>]
“ego documents,” [>]–[>], [>]–[>]
Eichmann, Adolf, [>], [>], [>]
Eichmann, Vera, [>]
Einsatzgruppen (mobile security units) reports, [>], [>]
environment
choices about killing and, [>]
roles of women and, [>]–[>]
Erdmann, Brigitte, [>], [>], [>], [>]–[>], [>]
Estonia, Nazi-occupied, [>], [>]
ethnic Germans in the East
anti-Semitism and, [>]–[>]
“euthanasia” program and, [>]–[>], [>]
perpetrators among, [>]–[>]
postwar treatment of, [>]–[>]
schoolchildren and, [>]–[>]
selection of, [>]–[>], [>]
eugenics movement, [>]. See also “racial hygiene”
“euthanasia” program, [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>]
Evans, Richard, [>]
everyday life during the Holocaust
ad hoc tasks and, [>]
curiosity and, [>], [>]
exposure to mass murder and, [>]–[>], [>]–[>]
normalization of violence and, [>]–[>], [>]–[>]
psychological distancing and, [>]–[>], [>]
evidence of participation
from German women, [>], [>], [>]–[>], [>]
inadequacy of, [>]–[>], [>], [>], [>]–[>]
from survivor witnesses, [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]–[>], [>], [>], [>]
typing of documentation and, [>]
female camp guards, [>], [>]–[>], [>], [>], [>]
female detectives, [>], [>]
female witnesses of atrocities, [>], [>]–[>]
effects of witnessing on, [>]–[>], [>], [>]–[>]
“ghetto” experiences of, [>]–[>]
nurses as, [>], [>]–[>], [>]
Reich secrecy and, [>]
responses by, [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>]
secretaries as, [>]–[>], [>]
feminine ideals. See motherhood, Nazi ideals about; womanhood, Nazi ideals of
Final Solution
“euthanasia” program and, [>]
lack of remorse and, [>]
as official secret, [>]–[>]
“one hundred percent” orders and, [>], [>]
Fliegner (Jewish worker), [>]
Flobert rifle, [>]–[>], [>], [>]–[>]
forced sterilization, [>], [>]
Franck, Sergeant, [>]
Frank, Anne, [>], [>]
Frank, Otto, [>]
freedom of choice
Nazi suppression of, [>]–[>], [>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>]
refusal to participate and, [>], [>]
Weimar era and, [>]–[>]
Freud, Sigmund, [>]
gassing methods, [>]–[>], [>]
Geist, Michal, [>]
gender. See also motherhood, Nazi ideals about; womanhood, Nazi ideals of
brutality and, [>], [>], [>]–[>], [>], [>]
commonalities of perpetrators and, [>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>]
mutable roles of women and, [>]–[>], [>], [>], [>]–[>]
types of defenses and, [>]–[>]
generation of Nazi supporters
idealistic energy of, [>]–[>]
indoctrination of, [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>]
interwar political context and, [>]–[>], [>]–[>]
as lost generation, [>]–[>]
place of women and, [>]–[>]
political conformity and, [>]–[>], [>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>]
recruitment of female guards and, [>]–[>]
Reich policies on Jews and, [>]–[>]
youth of, [>], [>], [>]
genocidal techniques, [>], [>]–[>], [>], [>], [>], [>]. See also gassing methods; lethal injections; sadistic violence; shooting sprees
German children
exposure to atrocities, [>], [>], [>], [>]–[>]
Nazi pedagogy and, [>]–[>]
German Colonial League, [>]
German Housewives Association, [>]
Germanization, [>]
German Labor Front, [>]–[>]
German military
“mercy” killing and, [>]–[>]
military relief and, [>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>]
nurses and, [>]–[>], [>], [>], [>]–[>], [>], [>]–[>]
soldiers’ stories and, [>]–[>]
support positions in, [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>]
German Red Cross, [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]–[>], [>], [>]–[>], [>]
German women. See also accomplices, women as; career opportunities for women; female witnesses of atrocities; generation of Nazi supporters; motherhood, Nazi ideals about; nurses; perpetrators; secretaries; teachers; wives of Nazis
aftermath of Nazi defeat and, [>], [>]–[>]
cultural context and, [>]–[>]
denazification of, [>]–[>], [>]–[>]
in eastern territories, [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>], [>]
mutable roles of, [>]–[>], [>], [>], [>]–[>]
myth of apolitical woman and, [>]–[>], [>]–[>]
Nazi feminine ideals and, [>]–[>], [>], [>]
Nazi persecution of, [>]–[>]
nurturing and, [>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>]
as persecutors of other women, [>]–[>], [>]
place in Nazi system, [>]–[>]
postwar mass rapes of, [>]–[>], [>]
postwar silence of, [>]–[>], [>], [>]–[>]
as victims, [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]
in Weimar Republic, [>]–[>]
work of, in Germany, [>]–[>], [>]
ghetto liquidations, [>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>], [>]. See also Aktion against Jews; deportation operations; mass-murder operations
ghettos (“Jewish-only” districts). See also Jewish laborers; Jewish property
conditions in, [>]–[>], [>], [>]–[>]
escapees from, [>]
Jewish workshops in, [>], [>]–[>]
women’s “ghetto” experiences and, [>], [>]–[>], [>]
Gilke, Herr and Frau, [>]
Ginsburg, Leon, [>]–[>]
Globocnik, Odilo, [>]
Goebbels, Joseph, [>], [>]–[>], [>], [>]
Goldammern (“yellowhammers”), [>]
Goldhagen, Daniel, [>]–[>]
Goldsztein, Jacob, [>]–[>]
Grafeneck Castle asylum, [>]–[>], [>]
Grawitz, Ernst-Robert, [>]
Grese, Irma, [>], [>], [>]
Grzenda plantation, [>], [>]. See also Petri, Erna Kürbs
author’s visit to, [>]–[>]
killings at, [>]–[>]
Haag, Lina, [>], [>]
Hadamar asylum, [>], [>]
Hanna, Fräulein. See Altvater, Johanna
Hanweg, Hermann, [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>]
Hare, Robert, [>]
Harvey, Elizabeth, [>]
“Hay Harvest Action,” [>]
healthcare. See “racial hygiene”
hedonism, [>]–[>], [>]. See also recreational activities
Helfer, Jakob, [>]
“hemp collectors,” [>]
Herbst, Gisela Sabine. See Dick, Sabine
; Heuser, Georg, [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]
Heydrich, Reinhard, [>], [>], [>]
Hilberg, Raul, [>], [>]
Himmler, Heinrich
eastern Lebensraum and, [>]–[>]
female recruits and, [>]–[>]
General Plan East and, [>]
