This document is a history dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of a BA degree. It examines whether gender-related characteristics helped women survive concentration or sub camps during the Holocaust. The dissertation consulted both secondary sources like books and journals, as well as primary sources from archives, to understand women's experiences. The findings determined that domestic, physical, and social gender traits affected women's survival. Within each chapter, certain aspects were found to contribute more to survival than others. The dissertation aimed to provide a gender-oriented perspective on the Holocaust, which has traditionally focused more on men's experiences.

1. History Dissertation
MHV322094-14-AB
Whilst examining women’s experiences in
concentration and sub camps, determine
whether or not gender-related
characteristics helped them survive.
Leigh-Ann Todd
S1109398
Dr. Ben Shepherd
2014/ 2015
This Dissertation is submitted in partial fulfilment of the BA (Hons) Degree in Social
Sciences, Glasgow School for Business and Society, Glasgow Caledonian University.

2. Contents
Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... 3
Abstract.......................................................................................................................................4
Introduction.................................................................................................................................5
Domestic chapter............................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Physical Chapter............................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Social Chapter.................................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Conclusion ....................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Bibliography..................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

3. Acknowledgements
Firstly, I would like to give a great deal of thanks to my supervisor Dr. Ben Shepherd who
helped me throughout my entire dissertation process. Without his guidance and support I
would not have been able to complete this dissertation, therefore I am extremely grateful.
Also I would like to extend my thanks to the facilities which allowed me to consult
testimonies and literature necessary for my research – the Scottish Jewish Archive Centre,
the Imperial War Museum and the Weiner Library.
Finally, thank you to my family and friends for their support and assistance during this
stressful time.

4. Abstract
The intention of this dissertation was to determine whether or not gender-related
characteristics helped women survive concentration or sub camps. The leading motivation
for conducting a study surrounding this subject area was because the majority of research
discussing the Holocaust is one sided – typically highlighting men’s perspectives – and
disregards gender as a factor. Therefore, this study aimed to discuss the Holocaust from a
gender-oriented view, with particular emphasis on characteristics women had which may or
may not have helped them survive. In order to approach this area of study, secondary and
primary sources were consulted. Several secondary sources were examined, in the form of
books and journals articles, to grasp a greater understanding of the subject as a whole.
Primary sources were accessed in the Scottish Jewish Archive Centre and the Imperial War
Museum. Testimonies examined within these archives offered further insight into women’s
experiences in concentration and sub camps. By examining first hand experiences and
consulting the literature, my findings highlighted that domestic, physical and social gender-
related characteristics affected women’s survival. Within each of these three chapters,
certain aspects were identified which contributed more to women’s survival than others.

5. Introduction
“Gender affected women’s ability to struggle against the subhuman conditions of
degradation, deprivation, terror, and even death, and being female offered benefits
yet also produced liabilities”.1
David Engel explains quite effectively the difference between concentration, extermination
and sub camps in his book ‘The Holocaust: The Third Reich and the Jews’. Engel notes that
concentration camps were built to detain groups of people, who opposed the political,
ideological or behavioural ideals of the Third Reich – such as Communists, Socialists,
Jehovah’s witnesses and homosexuals.2 Additionally, those deemed racially inferior were
also incarcerated, such as the Jews, the Roma and Sinti (‘Gypsies’), Slavic people (i.e.
Russians, Poles and others), and the mentally and physically disabled.3 Engel argues that
occasionally the extermination camps are referred to as ‘concentration camps’, however
this is “a misnomer”.4 There were a total of six extermination camps, or ‘killing centres’5,
located across Europe with a sole purpose – to implement the mass murder of the Jewish
people by asphyxiation. Due to economic needs attributable to World War II being
prolonged, the Germans exploited prisoners as a labour force within ‘sub camps’6
(Aussenlager), at “existing or new production facilities”.7 Nevertheless, the Nazis’ plan to
murder the Jews was still in place, by a process of “extermination through labour” – this...
1 Yad Vashem Studies, Vol. XXVIII,Jerusalem 2000,pp. 363-378.Accessed 4 Mar. 2014,from
http://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%203228.pdf
2 Engel, D. (2013) The Holocaust: The Third Reich and the Jews (Seminar Studies), 2nd edition,Cambridge:
Pearson Education Limited, p.5
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid.,p.67
5 Ibid.,Glossary xxii
6 Also known as ‘labour camps’,as David Engel defines in The Holocaust: The Third Reich and the Jews.
However, there were ‘labour camps’situated across Europewhich were not connected to the Final Solution;
instead they were used as ‘correction centres’ for potentially disruptiveelements in countries likeFrance and
Belgium
7 Yad Vashem (n.d.) The Holocaust Resource Centre – Labour and Forced Labour Camps. Accessed 4 March
2015,from http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/holocaust/resource_center/item.asp?gate=2-26; Gregor, N.
(ed.) (2005) Nazism, War and Genocide: New perspectives on the history of the Third Reich, Exeter: University
of Exeter Press.,p.2