Sexuality, Sexual Violence, and Sexual Agency in the Auschwitz-Birkenau Women’s Camp

Feminist approaches to studying the Holocaust since the 1980s have resulted in a more nuanced understanding of sexualized violence during the Holocaust. This scholarship demonstrates that different “categories” of men, including Nazis, gentile rescuers, and Jewish men, participated in sexualized violence and that multiple factors, such as the victim’s “race,” location of the assault, and attacker’s intent, informed how and why acts of sexual violence occurred. Research has focused mainly on the motivations of attackers or the victimization of targets. Thus, much of the scholarship overlooked the agency of women, who also partook in sexual activities, and some perpetrated sexual violence against women. Sometimes, scholars contend that we cannot speak of women’s sexual agency during the Holocaust, particularly regarding Jewish women. They faced “choiceless choices,” which meant no choice at all. Others counter that, while options were severely constrained, some women carved out space in which to act, sexually and otherwise—“choiceless choices,” perhaps, but significant choices nonetheless.

In this paper, I analyze sexualized violence and sexual agency in the women’s camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi annihilation camp. I begin with a discussion of sources, continue with an explanation of terminology, followed by a description of types of sexualized violence women encountered in Auschwitz-Birkenau, and closes with an analysis of sexual agency and resistance. I argue that sexual violence and sexuality demonstrate the highly gendered organization of camp life, as well as female agency in Auschwitz.