HIDDEN
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HIDDEN HISTORIES
AN OVERVIEW The list below (arranged somewhat chronologically) represents an incomplete list of narratives that are often excluded - intentionally and unintentionally - from Holocaust education and commemoration. We are compelled to ask: Why don't we usually hear these parts of Holocaust history? What patterns can we see? What lessons are lost when these narratives are excluded? And what happens when we include them? BEFORE THE NAZI ERA (before 1933) Existing prejudices against many communities in Germany and Europe 19th Century origins of eugenics in Great Britain and the United States U.S. forcible sterilizations of people with disabilities and people of color (sterilization laws passed in some 32 states, beginning in Indiana in 1907, upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court (8-1) in 1927) Early use of gas chambers in the United States (beginning in Nevada in 1924) Collaboration between British, American, and German eugenicists, including meetings of the International Eugenics Congress (London 1912, New York 1921, and New York 1932) EARLY NAZI ERA (1933 - 1939) The Nazis' persecution of political dissidents, including Communists, Socialists, Social Democrats, and trade unionists The Nazis' imprisonment of people addicted to alcohol The Nazis' persecution of people working in the sex trade (so-called prostitutes) The Nazis' round-ups of people who were homeless ‘The Reich Central Office for Combating Homosexuality and Abortion’ (founded in 1936) The Nazis' forcible sterilizations of people of African or Roma descent The Nazis' round-ups of Roma before the Nazi Olympics of 1936 The Nazis' attempts to ‘cure’ homosexuality So-called homosexuals in the Nazi camps, including people we would today refer to as gay men, bisexual men, and transgender women The Nazis' persecution of lesbians and bisexual women, including people we would today refer to as transgender men Homosexuality amongst Nazi soldiers and Nazi party members Experiences of inter-faith Jewish-Christian families Roma prisoners in the Nazi ghettos U.S. foundations (Carnegie, Rockefeller) funding of Nazi eugenicists (up until 1939) Approx. 20,000 American Nazis rally at Madison Square Gardens, NYC (February 20, 1939) WARTIME (1939 - 1945) The Nazis' kidnappings of Polish children perceived to be ‘Aryan’ The Nazis' systematic murder of children and adults with disabilities, including: people with severe physical defects, people with so-called mental retardation, people with hereditary deafness, people with hereditary blindness, people with schizophrenia, epilepsy, so-called manic-depressive disorder, and other real and perceived disabilities 'The Gray Zone' and moral ambiguity in prisoner narratives Atheism amongst Holocaust victims and survivors People who risked their lives to rescue Roma, LGBTQ+ people, and others The Nazis' prohibition of abortion for 'Aryan' women Public protests against the Nazis' murder of people with disability Nazi sexual violence against women and girls, and the so-called brothels in the Nazi camps Jewish women choosing abortions in the Nazi camps to save their lives Women prisoners committing infanticide in the Nazi camps Cannibalism amongst starving prisoners in the Nazi camps The Nazis' use of ‘excremental assault’ Humor, comedy, and laughter during the Holocaust Sexual relationships in the Nazi camps Relationships between camp prisoners and Nazi guards Revolts in Nazi camps led by Jewish, Roma, and political prisoners, for example: the Treblinka Uprising of August 1943; the Sobibor Revolt of October 1943; the Roma Camp Revolt at Auschwitz-Birkenau in May 1944; the Auschwitz-Birkenau Crematorium Revolt of October 1944 Soviet, American, British, and Canadian soldiers raping German women POST-WAR (after 1945) Trauma and suicide amongst Holocaust survivors Re-imprisonment of gay survivors, recommended by Britain and U.S. Post-war persecution and imprisonment of LGBTQ+ people Post-Holocaust anti-Jewish pogroms Denial of reparations for Roma, disabled, gay, African, and other survivors Trauma suffered by liberators Trauma suffered by perpetrators Intergenerational trauma experienced by the children of perpetrators Post-war meetings of American and British eugenicists Ongoing U.S. forcible sterilizations of people of color and with disabilities |
