HIDDEN
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50 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) 1. Existing prejudices against many communities in Germany and Europe 2. 19th Century origins of eugenics in Great Britain and the United States 3. 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) 4. Early use of gas chambers in the United States (beginning in Nevada in 1924) 5. Collaboration between British, American, and German eugenicists 6. Meetings of the International Eugenics Congress (London 1912, New York 1921, and New York 1932) EARLY NAZI ERA (1933 - 1939) 7. The Nazis' persecution of political dissidents, including Communists, Socialists, Social Democrats, and trade unionists 8. The Nazis' imprisonment of people addicted to alcohol 9. The Nazis' persecution of people working in the sex trade (so-called prostitutes) 10. The Nazis' round-ups of people who were homeless 11. ‘The Reich Central Office for Combating Homosexuality and Abortion’ (founded in 1936) 12. The Nazis' forcible sterilizations of people of African or Roma descent 13. The Nazis' round-ups of Roma before the Nazi Olympics of 1936 14. The Nazis' attempts to ‘cure’ homosexuality 15. So-called homosexuals in the Nazi camps, including people we would today refer to as gay men, bisexual men, and transgender women 16. The Nazis' persecution of lesbians and bisexual women, including people we would today refer to as transgender men 17. Homosexuality amongst Nazi soldiers and Nazi party members 18. Experiences of inter-faith Jewish-Christian families 19. Roma prisoners in the Nazi ghettos 20. U.S. foundations (Carnegie, Rockefeller) funding of Nazi eugenicists (up until 1939) 21. Approx. 20,000 American Nazis rally at Madison Square Gardens, NYC (February 20, 1939) WARTIME (1939 - 1945) 22. The Nazis' kidnappings of Polish children perceived to be ‘Aryan’ 23. 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 24. 'The Gray Zone' and moral ambiguity in prisoner narratives 25. Atheism amongst Holocaust victims and survivors 26. People who risked their lives to rescue Roma, LGBTQ+ people, and others 27. The Nazis' prohibition of abortion for 'Aryan' women 28. Public protests against the Nazis' murder of people with disability 29. Nazi sexual violence against women and girls, and the so-called brothels in the Nazi camps 30. Jewish women choosing abortions in the Nazi camps to save their lives 31. Women prisoners committing infanticide in the Nazi camps 32. Cannibalism amongst starving prisoners in the Nazi camps 33. The Nazis' use of ‘excremental assault’ 34. Humor, comedy, and laughter during the Holocaust 35. Sexual relationships in the Nazi camps 36. The exchange of sex for food and protection in the Nazi camps 37. Relationships between camp prisoners and Nazi guards 38. 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 39. Soviet, American, British, and Canadian soldiers raping German women POST-WAR (after 1945) 40. Trauma amongst Holocaust survivors 41. Suicide ideation and suicide amongst Holocaust survivors 42. Re-imprisonment of gay survivors, recommended by Britain and U.S. 43. Post-war persecution and imprisonment of LGBTQ+ people 44. Post-Holocaust anti-Jewish pogroms 45. Denial of reparations for Roma, disabled, gay, African, and other survivors 46. Trauma suffered by liberators 47. Trauma suffered by perpetrators 48. Intergenerational trauma experienced by the children of perpetrators 49. Post-war meetings of American and British eugenicists 50. Ongoing U.S. forcible sterilizations of people of color and with disabilities |
