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 Collaboration between British, American, and German eugenicists U.S. forcible sterilizations of people with disabilities and people of color Use of gas chambers in the United States EARLY NAZI ERA (1933 - 1939) The Nazis' persecution of political dissidents Nazi persecution of people with mental disabilities Nazi imprisonment of people addicted to alcohol Nazi persecution of people working in the sex trade Nazi round-ups of people who were homeless ‘The Reich Central Office for Combating Homosexuality and Abortion’ The Nazi ban of abortion for 'Aryan' women Nazi forcible sterilizations of people of African or Roma descent The Nazis' round-ups of Roma before the Nazi Olympics Nazi attempts to ‘cure’ homosexuality Homosexual prisoners in the Nazi camps 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 Approx. 20,000 American Nazis rally at Madison Square Gardens, NYC WARTIME (1939 - 1945) Nazi kidnappings of Polish children perceived to be ‘Aryan’ 'The Gray Zone' and moral ambiguity in prisoner narratives Atheism amongst Holocaust victims and survivors People who risked their lives to rescue Roma, gay people, and others Nazi sexual violence against women Jewish women choosing abortions in the Nazi camps to save their lives Women prisoners committing infanticide in the Nazi camps Cannibalism 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 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 Ongoing U.S. forcible sterilizations of people of color and with disabilities |
