Rivka Baum
Young and Innocent?: The Story of Eight Dutch Women Who Became Camp Guards in KZ Herzogenbusch [Vught] and KZ Auschwitz-Birkenau
2021 | Full access
Contemporary research and public discourse have recently drawn attention to the different perspectives of men and women on their social, political, and cultural environment. However, when it comes to the topic of the identity and behavior of perpetrators in concentration and extermination camps, this perspective has not yet been fully implemented in research on genocide in general and the Holocaust in particular. This paper takes this perspective and fills the gaps in knowledge that still exist with regard to the significance of gender, age, and nationality as factors influencing behavior. By analyzing the social profile of eight young Dutch women who volunteered as camp guards in Vught and later in Auschwitz-Birkenau, their reasons for participating in systematic genocide will be explained. This micro-history uses models and theories from the field of social history to analyze the impact and the women’s experience of their employment through, until now, mostly neglected archival material, trial records and ego-documents. This analysis will show that ideology was not the most important factor in their decision-making process. Instead, external factors such as romantic relationships with Dutch SS members or German soldiers, the desire to escape from social relationships perceived as disadvantageous, and the wish to gain (financial) independence carried far more weight than antisemitic or pro-National-Socialist views. With this analysis, a more complete picture of Dutch female perpetrators emerges and offers perspectives for future research focusing on the relation of gender and genocides.
Supervisor:
Prof. Dan Michman