Women in the Holocaust | Newsletter for Holocaust Educators

Welcome to the 12th issue of Teaching the Legacy. The focus of this issue is “Women in the Holocaust,” featuring an article on this theme, an interview with the survivor Hedi Solzbach, and a critique of Charlotte Salomon’s major work of art “Life? Or Theatre?”. Also included are our regular updates on activities at the International School and within Yad Vashem, new Yad Vashem publications and recommended books. We hope you find this newsletter of interest and look forward to your feedback.

Why Study the Issue of Women during the Holocaust?

Dr. Naama Shik

In her autobiography, Ruth Bondy, survivor of Aushwitz-Birkenau, wrote: “In one of the meetings with high school students on Kibbutz Dafna, four of us survivors sat around a table and asked the students what it was about the Holocaust that was most difficult for them to endure. Three male students simultaneously said, ‘the hunger.’ And I said, ‘the filth.’”As...

The German-Jewish Artist Charlotte Salomon

Orit Margaliot

”And with dream-awakened eyes, she saw all the beauty around her, saw the sea, felt the sun, and knew she had to vanish for a while from the human plane and make every sacrifice in order to create her world anew out of the depths.”
–From “Life? Or Theatre?”, Charlotte Salomon, 1940-42Charlotte Salomon was born in 1917, to Albert Salomon, a surgeon, and Francisca Grunwald....

Interview with Hedi Solzbach (Schlanger), Holocaust survivor

Dr. Naama Shik, Yael Novogrodsky

Holocaust Survivors

IntroductionThis exclusive interview was published in our newsletter Teaching the Legacy (May, 2008). The original interview, conducted in Hebrew, first appeared in our Hebrew edition of October, 2007. While focusing on the touching wartime story of Hedi Solzbach, several issues arise which are intrinsically linked to the female experience in the Holocaust. Thus, for instance, we hear about...