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“The Germans succeeded in making murderers of even us”: Female Jewish Prisoner Physicians and Medicine in Auschwitz-Birkenau
Elston, Grace Clara
Elston, Grace Clara
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Abstract
This thesis examines the unique experiences of and roles played by female Jewish prisoner physicians in the Auschwitz camp complex. By selecting six case studies of such individuals, this thesis evaluates the choices each woman had and how they reacted to them through Lawrence Langer’s framework of “choiceless choices,” their strategies for rescuing other prisoners, and where they fit into Primo Levi’s “gray zone” as prisoners with relative “priviledge.” This allows for a more nuanced understanding of how the prisoner society functioned in Auschwitz and how the experiences of women more broadly in the camp were uniquely gendered. This thesis also introduces necessary background information about key SS physicians in Auschwitz and their work as well as discussing the connection between Nazi racial ideology and pseudo-scientific human experimentation in Auschwitz. Moreover, it attempts to paint a group portrait, for the first time, of female Jewish prisoner physicians as their own distinct victim group, arguing that their experiences and roles were distinct from those of male Jewish inmate physicians in Auschwitz.
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2025-01-01